Ohio State came to the ‘Big House’ and left Michigan embarrassed without planting its flag on the field. While Ryan Day finally ending his losing streak is the main headline, one particular moment had everyone talking. During the second quarter, Jeremiah Smith’s controversial touchdown could have even been ruled a touchback, but the referees ruled in the WR’s favor after the review.

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore addressed the incident in his post-game comments but refused to make it the central point of why the Wolverines lost.

“Didn’t look like he had control of it… but they said he made the catch and it was going to be upheld,” Sherrone Moore said. “It was a big piece, but we gotta do the other things.”

While Moore is correct in his overall assessment, it won’t be wrong to say that the touchdown turned the momentum in Ohio State’s favor. Michigan took the initial lead with two field goals in the first quarter by 6-3. Opening the second quarter, Jeremiah Smith crossed the goal line for a 35-yard. The on-field decision was that it was a touchdown.

However, the replays showed that Ohio State’s WR didn’t have full control of the ball when he passed the goal line. Another angle showed that when Smith established the control, he had already gone out of bounds in the end zone. That means that instead of a touchdown, it should have been ruled a touchback. Michigan should have received the possession, and the score should have still read 6-3 instead of 6-10. 

In hindsight, Ohio State’s defense would have forced another three-and-out from Michigan’s offense, and Julian Sayin and Co. would have gotten another opportunity to take the lead. All that the touchback decision could have done was delay Michigan’s suffering because the Buckeyes were in no mood to let the team up North have anyway easy today.

The Buckeyes didn’t let the Wolverines catch up with the rhythm after that. The offense led by Julian Sayin took the Wolverines’ defense for granted, dominating the line of scrimmage and time of possession. They had possession of the ball for 40 minutes, throwing 233 yards and rushing 186 yards. At the same time, the Buckeyes restricted the Wolverines to 163 yards, without allowing them to reach the end zone.

Sherrone Moore credits Ohio State & takes responsibility for Michigan’s loss

Michigan’s loss got Sherrone Moore disappointed, as the Wolverines haven’t faced a loss to the Buckeyes after Moore took over the program. The coach didn’t hold back, expressing his emotions, and at the same time gave credit to Ryan Day’s Ohio State for how they executed their game play at the Big House. “Obviously, very disappointed in the result,” said Moore, opening the post-game presser. “Credit to them and how they played and how they executed.”

“We did not to our standard,” said Moore, addressing the reason for the loss. “Started off fast, started with good rhythm offensively. Defensively held in a big goal-line stand, held in a field goal, but we didn’t execute in the red zone, which ended up being the story of the game. And in the second half, not being able to get a rhythm offensively, they did a good job, and credit to them. There’s no excuse for it. We gotta be much better, and they outplayed us today. So, yeah, we got a lot to work on.”

Moore then went on to take responsibility for the loss, but ensured that they would get better moving forward.  “I’ll put it on me. I always put stuff on me and self-reflect, self-look at, see what we need to fix, and see what we need to do. But it’s got to be better.”

With this, Michigan’s postseason dream came to an end, but Ohio State secured its birth at the Big Ten Conference game, finishing the regular season 12-0. They’ll be facing the fellow undefeated team, No.2 Indiana Hoosiers, on Nov.6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.