The Wolverine Now

OCT. 21, 2012 KICKING THE HABIT T his one wasn't about bru- nette girls, the tougher team, or even shutting up the green-clad neighbors. This was about freeing Paul Bun- yan, held hostage in East Lan- sing for four long years, and preventing an unprecedented Michigan State win streak in a truly bitter rivalry. For Michigan, there was more, when redshirt junior placekicker Brendan Gibbons slammed through a 38-yard field goal with five seconds re- maining, giving the Wolverines a wildly celebrated 12-10 win. It was about another step to- ward the prize for the 5-2 Wol- verines, who are still perfect in the Big Ten at 3-0. "It's an in-state rival," U-M head coach Brady Hoke af- firmed, stiff-arming a chance to revel. "But we have bigger expectations." Those hopes almost took a Seconds later, he made another huge Wolverines Snap Ugly Streak On Game-Winning Field Goal BY JOHN BORTON catch — as the holder for Gibbons' game- winner. "Drew is not the biggest guy, he's not everybody ran on the field." Robinson, who rushed 20 times for 96 yards and went 14-of-29 passing for 163 yards, kept his eyes wide open leading up to the historic kick. Trailing 10-9 with exactly two minutes remaining, Robinson had one last chance. He'd snapped off a 44-yard run on Michigan's previous possession, only to see penalties torpedo a shot at a game-winning field goal. Now, after Michigan's de- fense secured a crucial stop, the Wolverines saw one more opportunity, from their own 38. Senior Vincent Smith im- mediately broke off a 12-yard run, and Robinson himself stretched out on a crucial two- yard pickup to the MSU 40 on third down. Robinson then scrambled forearm to the throat against Michigan State (4-4 overall, 1-3 Big Ten), whose defense didn't yield a touchdown all afternoon. When Gibbons hit the clincher, some couldn't even look. "I didn't watch," senior quarterback De- Redshirt junior placekicker Brendan Gibbons provided the winning margin when he booted a 38-yard field goal with five seconds remaining. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL nard Robinson admitted. "I just took a knee and prayed. I was just thanking the man above for giving us the opportunity to step on the field today. I didn't see it until and found the giant killer of the day — junior wideout Drew Dileo (four catches, 92 yards), who snagged a 20-yard pass to the MSU 21. "We knew their DBs didn't really cover once the quarterback started scrambling, so I just got open, he found me, threw a good ball, and I caught it," Dileo noted. the fastest guy, but the one thing Drew is, he is a football player," Hoke said. The Wolverines all stood a little taller, after surviving a head-knocking defensive struggle that saw the Spartans' Le'Veon Bell rush 26 times for only 68 yards, and MSU quarterback Andrew Maxwell go 12 10 21-of-34 for 192 yards and the game's only touchdown. This one was about hanging on, and the Wolverines did so at times like a man clinging to a skyscraper ledge. The game turned dramatically early in the fourth quarter on MSU's longest run of the day — not by Bell, but by Michi- gan State punter Mike Sadler. The U-M defense had done its job, bottling up the Spartans at their own 23-yard line. With the clock ticking away, it looked as if Michigan would get great field position with a 9-7 lead. Instead, Sadler took the long snap and bolted right, finding no resistance from the Wolverines' punt return team. He rumbled 26 yards for a first down, the key play in MSU's 90-yard, 18-play, field goal drive. "They saw we weren't leveraging the outside … that got them some hope, got them in the game," Hoke said. "We told the defense, keep them to a field goal and

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