ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan football dominated Iowa everywhere but the one place it mattered most: the scoreboard.
The Wolverines
were electric offensively and stout defensively -- save for the final drive of the game, when it gave up an 11-play, 91-yard drive -- to allow Iowa to score as time expired. The result? The Hawkeyes walk off The Big House field in the same way that the Wolverines did in Week 1.It was the little things that added up. A fourth-and-1 that came up just short in the red zone. A Bryce Underwood interception, also in the red zone. A missed two-point conversion. A special teams touchdown allowed. More ill-timed penalties -- eight for 75 yards.
Michigan had opportunity after opportunity, but in the end, the scoreboard matters
most.
"We dominated them statistically, but that doesn't matter," head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game. "The final score is all that matters."
The maize and blue essentially had the game in hand as Iowa was going for a desperation play, but edge rusher John Henry Daley went down with injury. That meant that the Hawkeyes weren't going to have to rush to spike the ball with two seconds remaining, allowing Iowa to have one more shot at finding the end zone -- and it had to reach the end zone as Michigan was up by five.
Also, ironically, this was perhaps the best the offense looked all season. Bryce Underwood threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns, but had what ended up being a costly interception as the drive didn't end in points. He was 17-for-28 (61%). Both star receivers -- Andrew Marsh and JJ Buchanan -- eclipsed 100 yards receiving, with Marsh having 106 yards on seven catches while Buchanan had five catches for 130 yards. Before the final drive, the defense had allowed just 191 yards. The Hawkeyes had just 58 yards rushing in the game.
With the loss, Michigan is now 3-1 and 0-1 in Big Ten play. The Wolverines will play at Minnesota next week, while Iowa will face Ohio State.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan stunned by Iowa on final play despite dominant performance
