‘Not on our clock:’ Michigan rejects Nebraska’s shocked offer to remain invincible

LINCOLN, Neb. – Michigan was not behind at any point this season before Saturday night against Nebraska. Thanks to his unbeaten season, Wolverines made plays to win.

Let’s start with defensive Brad Hawkins.

With the score tied and less than two minutes left, Nebraska got the ball and a chance to drive to the winning point. Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez immediately grabbed the third and one and was stopped. But Hawkins constantly hits the ball, loosely detaches it and causes a touch.

Hawkins recovered, and Michigan kicker Jake Moody nailed the 39-yard field goal to keep the Wolverines undefeated with a win of 32-29 in harsh conditions on Saturday night.

Michigan hit the first deficit of the season, giving the Huskers 22 points in the third quarter. As the crowd almost wanted Huskers to move forward, Michigan players found a way to respond.

“The atmosphere and the environment – it showed a lot of balance and harassment from our friends,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “There’s no doubt they wanted to storm the field, tear off the paint poles, but not on our friends’ watch. It was pretty cool.”

For Nebraska, it was the same old story – which turned out to be painfully short in a game it felt like winning.

“I’m not going to get up here and make excuses for myself,” Martinez said. “I can’t be careless with football. I thought the play was over. I was standing when I was standing right now and I thought it was done. But despite this fact, I feel a lot of responsibility and I can’t make plays that hurt our team.”

Nebraska coach Scott Frost didn’t want to discuss the refereeing and just said, “Adrian is a warrior and he’s an amazing player. Offended him. I don’t know if his pace has stopped or not. We can’t expect to get those breaks. We have to take them.”

Michigan made them when it was needed by most.

After taking a 13-0 halftime lead, Michigan found himself at 22-19 and moved on to the fourth quarter. But Cade McNamara led a 10-game 75-yard drive that acted in response. Martinez controlled an eight-game 75-yard drive to get Nebraska back.

Wolverines tied it on the next run — thanks in large part to Hassan Haskins ’50-yard run highlight. But when Nebraska got the ball back after 3 minutes, the crowd got to their feet.

Frost described it this way: “I think everyone thought we would win this game. It wasn’t ‘What’s going wrong?’ “” But in the end, Hawkins made a decisive game that helped determine the outcome.

“We practice hitting the ball, undressing the ball, taking the ball out, and at the moment, hitting the ball, undressing the ball, it came free,” Hawkins said.

Michigan is now 6-0 for the first time since 2016, when the team started 9-0, with an open date ahead. “I knew they wouldn’t waver,” Harbaugh said. “Hardness, roughness … … It was Clint Eastwood’s victory, and we’re going to enjoy it.”