Michael Cohen

Writer of American football and college basketball

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As second by second melts away from the pregame countdown and kickoff of a college football game, the sidelines tell the story of just how important a particular team’s game really is. The bigger the occasion, the higher the stakes, the thicker the crowd of big shots, world-famous alumni and highly coveted recruits. Everyone wants to feel as close to the impending action as possible, documenting the occasion with one selfie or self-shot video after another.

The Michigan Stadium sidelines told a story of the utmost importance Saturday, about two College Football Playoff contenders from last January who found themselves embroiled in one of the most anticipated nonconference games of the season. Nearly two dozen NFL scouts and personnel executives, including at least three general managers, milled about the bench to get a glimpse of the rosters filled with future pros. Former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and former Sacramento Kings star Chris Webber chatted near center field, two famous Michigan alums enjoying the spotlight of their former home. Michael Phelps, the retired swimmer and most decorated Olympian of all time, flitted from spot to spot as the crowd of VIP guests forced security to clear a path for him. Since Michigan’s resurgence under former coach Jim Harbaugh, few games have been played with as much pageantry and crowd support as last weekend in Ann Arbor, when No. 10 Michigan took on No. 3 Texas, a benchmark for both teams and their conferences, the Big Ten and SEC, respectively.

“This is a tough place to come and win,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “They’ve obviously won 23 games in a row here, and they’re obviously a good opponent. So for our players to come and play with the composure and poise that they played with, but also the physicality and the toughness that we had to play with today, I thought they just did a really good job.”

Nearly a year after Texas stormed into Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for a season-defining victory over then-No. 3 Alabama to catapult itself into the school’s No. 1 spot in the national semifinals, the Longhorns stormed into the home plate of the reigning national champions and battered them on both sides of the ball, racing to an early lead and then sailing through the second half as dozens of fans left early. It was a performance that left little doubt about Texas’ credentials for a potential repeat of the College Football Playoff, where the Longhorns should be seen as legitimate contenders to win it all. It was the kind of beating Michigan itself had grown accustomed to inflicting during a three-year revival that relied on smash-mouth football to capture three straight Big Ten championships. It was a win from start to finish that saw the Wolverines thrashed, 31-12, and not reach the end zone until well after Sarkisian had pulled his starters.

If the win over Alabama on Sept. 9, 2023, showed that the Longhorns could beat legendary head coach Nick Saban, purveyor of the most elite program in the sport, then Saturday’s win over Michigan proved that Texas is far from gone.

“There was no leaving without a win,” linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said. “That was something we felt a little bit different (compared to beating the Crimson Tide last year). I was a young guy on that team, I was a leader. So now, this year, it felt like, ‘OK, now I know we’re going to win. We’re not losing this game.’ That’s just how it felt.”

And it probably felt that way from the game’s first drive, from the moment Sarkisian decided to receive the opening kickoff and Texas began to carve up a vaunted Wolverines defense. Quarterback Quinn Ewers, whose resume now includes wins on foreign soil at both Alabama and Michigan, said the Longhorns were well aware of how aggressive new defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale’s play calling was likely to be, how Martindale “likes to blitz and likes to, I think, win games with his calls,” a description that seemed to hint at the coach’s arrogance. So Sarkisian and Ewers simply responded in kind — “fighting fire with fire,” as Ewers put it — and exploited an inexperienced secondary with passes of 33 yards and 24 yards on the opening possession, though the latter was ultimately neutralized by a holding penalty that took a touchdown off the board.

The Longhorns’ front-foot approach began in the trenches, where an offensive line loaded with NFL prospects effectively held on to what was widely viewed as an elite defensive front — a classification that will almost certainly be called into question after the timidity of Saturday’s performance. The defensive tackle duo of Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, considered by some to be the best in college football, combined for zero sacks and just half a tackle for loss. The edge-rushing partnership of Josaiah Stewart and Derrick Moore, both admired by scouts, never sacked Ewers and hit him just once. They were equally porous against the run, allowing 5.1 yards per carry on the Longhorns’ first 25 attempts even as Texas was reduced to its fourth- and fifth-string running backs due to injury.

A missed field goal on the opening possession was remedied by four consecutive scoring drives in which Sarkisian routinely got the better of Martindale as the visitors built a 21-point lead. Ewers completed 10 of his first 13 passes and finished 24 of 36 for 246 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers. The rushing attack had 143 yards and a score, with four players each reaching 22-plus yards.

“We’re at our best offensively when we can run the ball, when we can RPO, when we can play play-action passing, when we can drop back, when we can screen,” Sarkisian said. “We try to do a lot of things. And we try to make it difficult for our opponents by defending everything we can. And if we can’t run it — and if we can’t run it with a physical mindset — then a lot of other things are going to be difficult.”

But it was Michigan that was unable to run the ball, despite facing a Longhorns defense that allowed 118 rushing yards to Colorado State last week. Texas’ dominance in the trenches extended with a revamped defensive line that stifled tailbacks Donovan Edwards (eight carries, 41 yards) and Kalel Mullings (six carries, 25 yards) despite losing tackles Byron Smith and T’Vondre Sweat to the NFL Draft, with both players selected in the first 38 picks. Even change-of-pace quarterback Alex Orji, who played sparingly in support of starter Davis Warren, finished minus-1 yard on two carries, twice failing to move the chains on crucial third downs with hordes of Longhorns bearing down on him.

What was left of the Wolverines’ offense was little more than a feeble passing attack that lacked the arm talent or the receiving prowess to overcome a multi-score deficit, so thin is Michigan’s margin for error without JJ McCarthy at quarterback and with last year’s entire offensive line in the NFL. Warren, who had two interceptions, needed until the 11th minute of the fourth quarter to surpass 100 yards through the air. And when his lone consistent target — tight end Colston Loveland — fumbled without being touched in the closing minutes of the second quarter, returning the ball to Texas for a go-ahead touchdown, it was clear the Wolverines didn’t stand a chance. A program that prides itself on its toughness was utterly outplayed.

“None of the moments should be too big for us anymore,” Sarkisian said. “And that’s exactly what I praised them for in the locker room. This is who we are. This is how we know how to play. There’s nothing better than going out there and when you have great composure and you can play that way, because that’s a way to take over a game when you can start to turn a crowd off.”

By the end of the third quarter, Sarkisian’s team had accomplished that goal, as dozens of corn-clad fans streamed toward the exits. Any traces of that electric pre-game atmosphere had vanished.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on @Michael_Cohen13.

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