In Week 1 Michigan got a little help from the referees to beat Western Michigan on the final play of the game. In Week 4, the Wolverines suffered their first defeat of the season in a similar manner.
Michigan took on Iowa in a battle of top-20 programs that also served as the first in-conference game on the Wolverines’ schedule. They had been riding high with an upset win over Oklahoma and a dominant win over UTEP in the previous two weeks.
Much like the Western Michigan and Oklahome games, the Wolverines struggled to get the offense going but their defense kept the Hawkeyes’ offense in check. With two seconds remaining in the game, Iowa trailed 19-14 and had the ball at Michigan’s 16-yard line.
Iowa QB Hank Brown took the pass from the shotgun, looked left and found Reece Vander Zee in single coverage and delivered it into his hands in the endzone for the touchdown to make it 20-19 as time expired. There was no extra second on the clock this time.
The Mockery Rolls In
As with almost any Michigan loss, there was no shortage of people ready to make fun of them for the loss – especially after the controversy involving the “win” over the Broncos.
“Karma’s a Michigan fan,” one user on X declared.
“No more time left on the clock Michigan? Y’all are 2-2,” wrote another.
“Levels of poetic justice William Shakespeare himself couldn’t even write,” a third wrote.
“Why didn’t they add another second?”
“I hope all the (expletive) Michigan fans wearing those idiotic 0:01 shirts enjoyed that!!!. No playoffs for you , you have two loses already you lousy cheaters. Country still HATES Michigan. How is this for a New shirt: 0:02!!!!!”
With the loss, Michigan falls to 3-1 on the season (2-2 if you ask a large number of fans) and will probably drop out of the top-25 or at least the top-20 on Monday.
More importantly, that loss to Iowa leaves virtually no room for error as they vie for a return to the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff.
The Wolverines take on Minnesota next week for their first road game of the season then have a bye. They’ll return from that back with back-to-back home games against Penn State and Indiana, both of whom are ranked in the top-15 right now.
If Michigan loses even one of those games now they can probably kiss the College Football Playoff goodbye.
