Michigan’s loss to Iowa was painful enough as the Wolverines controlled much of Saturday’s game, led late, and still found a way to lose 20-19 on a last-second touchdown. But the ending carried some extra weight because of what happened earlier this season.
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In the same stadium where Michigan was given an additional second to beat Western Michigan, Iowa got its own chance to run one final play. That was enough for $250 million Michigan donor Dave Portnoy to see something bigger in the Hawkeyes’ stunning finish.
“I guess I am a believer in karma,” Portnoy said on Wake Up Barstool. “Maybe we shouldn’t have gotten that first win. It’s fair and square. No, I mean, we didn’t deserve to beat Western Michigan. You beat them. But this kind of even the score because Iowa had no business winning this game. None. They made one play, and it was the last one.”
Portnoy was not wrong about Michigan having control of the game as the Wolverines moved the ball, played strong defense for stretches, and appeared to have Iowa in trouble multiple times. The problem was that Michigan never turned that control into enough points.
“I was live tweeting. I’m like, we’re only up six. That makes me nervous because you can’t dominate a game. We’re only up,” Portnoy continued.
The Wolverines left too many opportunities on the field, as Michigan went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Iowa 18 and was stopped. Quarterback Bryce Underwood was later intercepted at the Iowa 2. Michigan also finished with only 2 of 4 in the red zone, while Iowa scored touchdowns on both of its trips inside the 20.
Then the mistakes started piling up with Michigan committing an unnecessary roughness penalty on third down at midfield during Iowa’s final drive, extending the Hawkeyes’ possession.
Iowa QB Hank Brown then connected with Addison Ostrenga for 29 yards, putting Iowa in position to make one final play. With two seconds remaining, Brown found Reece Vander Zee for a 16-yard touchdown.
Iowa had gone 91 yards on the decisive drive, turning what had been a game Michigan appeared to control into one of the most painful losses of Kyle Whittingham’s tenure. But from Portnoy’s perspective, that made the comparison to Western Michigan almost impossible to ignore.
Michigan beat Western Michigan 13-12 in Week 1, but the ending is still being argued about. Michigan threw a Hail Mary that fell incomplete, and the officials then reviewed the play and put one second back on the clock.
The Big Ten explained the call that the Western Michigan safety Micah Davis was the first to touch the ball, and the league said that happened with one second left on the internal clock. He had also started his jump from a set position out of bounds, which is why the play was ruled the way it was.
That gave Underwood one more shot, and he hit JJ Buchanan in the end zone on the final play. The TV broadcast made things messier, though. It seemed to show the clock hitting zero before anyone touched the ball, and that is what fueled the backlash. But the Big Ten stood by the ruling in the end, and the result stayed as it was.
Now, Michigan had watched Iowa benefit from the final seconds in the same building. The Hawkeyes already had two seconds left after Michigan’s penalties helped extend the drive.
Underwood threw two touchdown passes, including a 49-yarder to Buchanan that gave the Wolverines a 19-14 lead early in the fourth quarter, and on one play, everything flipped with a box score of 20-19.
Michigan also saw its 47-game streak of winning when leading at halftime come to an end. That was the longest active streak in the FBS. Iowa got something out of it too, picking up its first road win over a ranked Big Ten opponent since 2015.
Portnoy’s karma theory can’t really be proven, but you can see why people brought it up. Against Western Michigan, Michigan got an extra second and used it to win and against Iowa, the Wolverines had two seconds left to protect a lead, and they couldn’t do it.