Michigan Wins, 26-24--on a Left Hook : Ohio State Kicker Misses; Morris Leads Wolverines to Pasadena

One of Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler’s favorite pastimes, aside from throwing headphones, is beating Ohio State. If the Rose Bowl is the reward for the winner, which it is for the first time since 1980 in this series, so much the better.

Late Saturday afternoon, a little more than a minute after Buckeye kicker Matt Frantz missed a potential game-winning 46-yard field goal attempt, Schembechler was throwing headphones in jubilation, and Michigan players were tossing roses at one another.

The Wolverines, with a quarterback who is as brash and cunning as his coach, had done everything they set out to do. They had beaten the Buckeyes, 26-24, before a record crowd of 90,674 at Ohio Stadium and, thus, will represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl for the first time since the 1982 season.

The Wolverines and the Buckeyes tied for the Big Ten title with 7-1 records, but Michigan goes to the Rose Bowl by virtue of its head-to-head victory.

Because Frantz’s field goal attempt, which was long enough, hooked wide left, the result was just as Schembechler had hoped and Wolverine quarterback Jim Harbaugh had predicted.

Harbaugh caused quite a stir in these parts by boldly saying earlier in the week that he was guaranteeing a Michigan victory and Pasadena excursion. It might not have rated high on the Brian Bosworth scale of controversial quotes, but it certainly riled the Buckeyes even more than usual for this game.

“I stuck my neck out, but we needed that after last week’s loss (to Minnesota, an upset),” Harbaugh said. “But the other guys responded the way I wanted them to. They said that they didn’t want me to get my neck cut off. They backed me up.”

The volatile Schembechler said he didn’t mind such fighting words coming from his quarterback before the most important game of the season.

“I would’ve said it myself if I had any guts,” said Schembechler, chortling.

There was, in fact, a strategy behind the bragging. Sixth-ranked Michigan (10-1) needed to regain its confidence after last week’s disheartening loss.

“Hey, he is 22 years old and he can speak his own mind,” Schembechler said. “We needed this, and I think today we played with confidence and emotion.”

But after Ohio State (9-3) had a 14-3 first-quarter lead, it appeared that Michigan might instead back down and wind up in the Cotton Bowl, the consolation prize for the loser.

Any Ohio State hope that Harbaugh had suffered early symptoms of Cotton-mouth was proved wrong in an exceptional second-half performance by the Wolverine offense.

Directed by Harbaugh, who completed 19 of 29 passes for 261 yards, and led on the ground by running back Jamie Morris, who rushed for 210 yards, Michigan scored three second-half touchdowns to pull out its 46th win in the 83rd meeting between the schools.

In the end, though, it came down to the right foot of Frantz, a junior walk-on from Cincinnati who had made 14 of 17 field goal attempts before trying--and missing--the biggest of his career.

Were it not for Michigan’s second-half offensive resurgence, the Buckeyes wouldn’t have been in such a position.

Harbaugh’s passing and Morris’ running set up touchdown runs of four and eight yards by Morris in the third quarter as well as a seven-yard scoring run by Thomas Wilcher with 12:46 left in the game.

The 5-foot 7-inch Morris, brother of New York Giant Joe Morris, exhibited a family trait in his ability to avoid and plow through tacklers for the touchdowns. On his first touchdown, which cut the Buckeye lead to 14-13, Morris took a pitch from Harbaugh and faked rover Sonny Gordon outside, then slipped inside untouched. On Morris’ second touchdown run, exactly five minutes later, he dragged two Ohio State tacklers with him up the middle to the end zone. Schembechler did not go to Morris for the subsequent two-point conversion attempt, Harbaugh instead throwing an incomplete pass intended for tight end Jeff Brown. Schembechler, who contended that Brown was interfered with at the goal line, threw his obligatory tantrum--and, of course, his headphones.

So, Michigan had to settle for a 19-17 lead that would not be enough.

The Buckeyes, whose first-quarter touchdowns came on a four-yard Jim Karsatos-to-Cris Carter lob pass and a 46-yard run by Vince Workman, had slipped a 27-yard Krantz field goal in between Morris’ touchdowns.

Once the Wolverines had the lead, they seemed determined not to lose it.

Michigan drove 85 yards in 8 plays, highlighted by a 24-yard swing pass from Harbaugh to fullback Bob Perryman and a 20-yard run by Morris, taking a 26-17 lead on Wilcher’s touchdown run. Karsatos, who played at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, rallied the Buckeyes following a blocked Michigan field goal attempt. After passing to split end Nate Harris for 20 yards and handing off to Workman for 14 yards, Karsatos threw a perfectly placed 17-yard pass to Carter in the end zone for a touchdown.

The Buckeyes didn’t threaten again until their final possession. In a little more than two minutes, Karsatos drove Ohio State from its own 38 to Michigan’s 28-yard-line. On fourth and two from there, Ohio State Coach Earle Bruce decided to try for a field goal instead of going for a first down with 1:06 to play.

“It was a tough decision, but you have to take a chance,” Bruce said. “If you saw it, there was nothing wrong with the kick. He kicked it hard and far, but when you do that, sometimes you hook it.”

Frantz said: “I thought it was good when I got my leg into it, but it was a little bit left. I don’t know what’s going through my mind. I don’t believe it. I just didn’t make it.

“(Bruce) called time. He made the decision. He asked me if I wanted to kick it, and I said yes. It didn’t miss by much. It floated a little bit left. The kick was into the wind, so I knew I had to hit it good, and I did. That range is comfortable for me.”

Michigan safety Tony Gant said his teammates knew that would be Bruce’s decision. “Bo was the only one who thought they’d go for (the first down). I’ve been in a lot of games decided on a field goal. It seemed to both hurt us and help us this year.”

The previous week, Michigan had its aspirations of an undefeated season and a shot at the national championship ruined by a last-minute Minnesota field goal.

There was no replay Saturday, though, and a two-point difference turned out to be enough to make Schembechler’s disposition quite rosy. Schembechler now has a 9-8-1 record against Ohio State and is 4-4 against Bruce.

“In this series,” Schembechler said, “if you can win by a half a point, you take it.”