The Wolverine Now

Morris began his answer in dramatic fashion, completing three straight short throws that went for 13, seven and 24 yards. Michigan kept mixing it up, and a 14-yard reverse to sophomore tight end Devin Funchess took the ball all the way to the KSU 6, but the drive stalled on near-miss throws, the Wolverines settling for junior Matt Wile's 22-yard field goal, making it 7-3 at the 3:32 mark. Lockett continued picking apart the Michigan defense on the Wildcats' next series. He returned the kickoff 40 yards to set up a 60-yard TD march and then hauled in a 29-yard Waters bomb to end it. Through one painful 14-3 quarter, quarterbacking proved the least of Michigan's problems. "We definitely had some opportunities to get off the field on third down," fifthyear senior safety Thomas Gordon said. "We've just got to execute. We had a couple of breakdowns on big, explosive plays, and that's what the game boiled down to." Morris stayed hot, hitting 9 of 10 throws in response, mostly quick hitters. He took Michigan from its own 23 to the Wildcats' 9, but once again the Wolverines stalled. Wile's 26-yard field goal at the 7:09 mark of the second quarter made it 14-6. "We didn't play well enough in a lot of areas," Hoke said. "Third-down conversions on both sides of the ball, and in the red zone we didn't play well enough." The Wildcats, who went 3-for-3 on touchdowns in first-half possessions (other than the kneel-down), simply stayed a step (or two, or three) ahead of the Michigan defense. A quick toss just over the line of scrimmage to fullback Glenn Gronkowski produced a 46-yard rumble topped with a Michigan facemask penalty. That set up Waters' eight-yard TD toss to — who else — Lockett, and the Wolverines seemingly found themselves in a shootout against a machine gun. That scenario didn't hold in the third Sophomore tight end Devin Funchess caught two passes for 21 yards, and the Wolverines notched nine of their 15 first downs via the passing game. photo by Tim Nelson THE WOLVERINE • Page 2 quarter, featuring Kansas State drives blunted by a 40-yard field goal miss and a Sams fumble that Michigan sophomore defensive end Mario Ojemudia dove on at the U-M 25. But the Wolverines couldn't move past the 50 in that span, putting themselves into desperation mode for the final quarter. A Kansas State 22-yard field goal with just 8:09 remaining moved that meter even further into the red. An 18-point deficit that took 52 minutes to build required a miracle to make vanish in the final eight. Those dreams stayed as dry as the desert in which Sun Devils Stadium makes its home. An interception and 51-yard return of a deflected Morris throw set up Kansas State's final touchdown, a one-yard plunge by Hubert. The pickoff marked Morris' only turnover mistake all night, and by then the outcome had been long since decided. Michigan scored on a three-yard option pitch from Morris to fifth-year senior Fitzgerald Toussaint with 1:15 remaining and secured a two-point conversion on a throw from fifth-year senior Jeremy Gallon to redshirt sophomore running back Justice Hayes. But there weren't enough tricks in Houdini's bag to get this one back. Gallon did manage to secure nine catches for 89 yards, giving him 1,373 yards for the 2013 campaign, the most receiving yards in a single season in the history of Michigan football. But recent history felt painful enough that Gallon wasn't close to celebrating. He noted: "The record, right now, doesn't mean anything without a win, especially with these guys … Right now, I don't care about the record." As they quietly loaded up and moved out into the night, plenty of them cared about a 7-6 record. But for now, there wasn't a thing to be done about it. ❏

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