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Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh explains how his team overturned the 20-17 victory over Northwestern on Sept. 29 in Evanston, IL.
Nick Baumgardner, press

Jim Harbaugh is arguing with the referees on Saturday.(Photo: Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images)

It was the call waiting for March, as told Fox Sports announcer Joel Klatt.

With the Michigan football team tied for 17-13, near the start of the fourth quarter, quarterback Shea Patterson fired the ball over an area read and took off for 20 yards.

The officials, however, had thrown a flag on the game. The call? Holding, offensive midfielder Karan Higdon – attacked by a Northwest Linebacker after Patterson decided to keep the ball and run.

The penalty canceled the big race, brought the Wolverines back to second and 18th place, and propelled the drive. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh did not seem happy with the game.

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When asked for the first time about the call, Harbaugh said: "Warde Manuel (sports director) has told me to let him handle it, so no comment on that."

Meanwhile, Manuel was standing in the back of the room and saying, "No, no, no" while laughing.

Later, Harbaugh gave more details about what he did after the call.

"Yeah, I asked specifically to make sure they would not come back later and say that he was another player," Harbaugh said. "They called on the 22nd, they called him on Karan, so I asked the referee," go ask the judge of instruction who he called ", so he did not There was no different explanation in the coming days.

"Then he came back and said that he was on the half-rider who was holding back the linebacker.All the stadium saw that the linebacker attacked our half-off.It was an area to read."

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Patterson had the same feeling as his coach.

"I do not even know what happened," Patterson said. "Did he have the call on hold? Yeah, it's pretty weird, because it was not addressed? This game just describes how to call the game. Yeah, I'm not not really aware of that one. "

Dominant defensive line

Michigan's defense started slowly.

But Chase Winovich and the defensive line have made sure that it does not get worse.

Winovich led the team with nine tackles (three for the loss) and one sack, setting the tone for a defense that collected and posted a record of six sacks and ten tackles for the loss against Northwestern.

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Kwity Pay fired Clayton Thorson in first period. (Photo: Quinn Harris, USA TODAY Sports)

It was a group effort. Defender sophomore Kwity Paye had four tackles and two sacks, second-year redshirt Josh Uche had two sacks and redshirt second-generation defensive tackle Carlo Kemp lost two tackles.

Junior Rashan Gary had three tackles, and redshirt forward Michael Dwumfour added a sack.

While Gary appeared to be suffering from an upper-body injury, leaving the game at one point in the third quarter, that did not affect the production of the line. And the line appeared in the last quarter, with three bags – two from Uche and one from Paye.

"It was really impressive," Harbaugh said. "The guys in the middle, (Bryan) Mone and Lawrence Marshall, then Dwumfour would come in, he was really active all night at the end.I think Chase (Winovich) had one of his best ball games, just like he was flying and jostling all night.I mean, playing after playing after playing.Kwity Paye is also introduced.As I said, Josh Uche .The speed races seemed fast and powerful .

It was a remarkable performance for Uche, who helped senior Noah Furbush as a strong linebacker, but who has the versatility to play elsewhere.

"The coaches just told me to go out and rush after the quarterback," said Uche. "He just wanted us to go get him, and that's what we did."

Hart's strong performance

This is not a fluke.

After losing his first job last fall, Will Hart has become one of the country's best bettors.

The sophomore was in third place Saturday in the country with an average of 52.6 yards per punt.

This average will drop. But not a lot.

Against the North West, Hart hit six times for 306 yards, averaging 51 yards per punt. Hart had a long pass of 56, four more than 50 yards and he blocked the Wildcats twice.

In a game where neither of the two offensives were able to gain much attention, Hart turned out to be an essential difference. His counterpart, Northwestern hitter Jake Collins, has only 39.3 yards on average on seven kicks.

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Free Press sports journalists discuss the Michigan win (20-17) over Northwestern and wonder why the Wolverines can not start well on the road, September 29, 2018.
Nick Baumgardner, press