MISSISSIPPI ST. 52, MICHIGAN 14: Mississippi State routs Michigan football team in Gator Bowl
Posted: Jan 1, 2011 at 4:05 PM [Today]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - An extra four weeks of practice, an opportunity to heal from key injuries and a change in venue.
None of it mattered Saturday.
When the Michigan football team finally took the field for the Gator Bowl, it turned in a performance reminiscent of so many others from this tumultuous season.
The offense flashed encouraging signs, including big runs from Denard Robinson on the game’s opening drive. But the Wolverines defense and special teams were dreadful.
The offense flashed encouraging signs, including big runs from Denard Robinson on the game’s opening drive. But the Wolverines defense and special teams were dreadful.
The result was an 52-14 loss to No. 21 Mississippi State at EverBank Stadium in the team’s first bowl appearance in three years, a game that may be Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez’s last in Ann Arbor.
His future was not immediately addressed after the game, but Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon has repeatedly said he would render his evaluation of the program following the Gator Bowl.
As it turned out, he need not have waited.
The game was a carbon copy of so many others Michigan played this season - promising start, an undersized defense overpowered and special teams gaffes.
Robinson, Michigan’s MVP, threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to give the Wolverines a 14-10 lead. But Mississippi State (9-4) outscored the Wolverines, 21-0, in the second quarter and took control.
Michigan mistakes keyed their surge.
Robinson threw an interception on a third-and-13 play with 11 minutes left in the second quarter. When Mississippi State took over, their ground-oriented attack bulldozed the Michigan defense on a 12-play, 43-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown.
Earlier, Mississippi State’s Marvin Bure blocked a Will Hagerup punt. The Bulldogs capitalized with a 42-yard field goal from Derek Depasquale. By halftime, Michigan trailed 31-14.
True to their season-long form, the Wolverines tried to find their way back into the game in the third quarter.
But they wasted a 53-yard punt return from Junior Hemingway when kicker Brendan Gibbons missed a 35-yard field goal attempt.
On the season, Gibbons was 1-for-5. Overall, Michigan kickers went 4-for-14 on field-goal attempts.
Their last chance to climb back in the game came with 1:13 remaining in the third quarter. Trailing 38-14, the Wolverines charged down the field. But they again came away with no points when Robinson fired an incomplete pass into the end zone on 4th and goal from the MSU 7-yard line.
For the Wolverines, it marked a dismal end to the season. Michigan started the season on a five-game winning streak and ended it on a three-game losing streak.
For Rodriguez and Brandon, now comes the hard part.
Pete Bigelow covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2556, via e-mail at petebigelow@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @PeterCBigelow.
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