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Michigan went into Saturday’s game against Army as a 22.5 favorite and received a bit of a gut check in their double-overtime win by a score of 24-21. The Black Knights had the second longest win streak in the country and almost knocked off Oklahoma last year in overtime. Their triple option offense and lack of mistakes created a tough situation for Michigan.
Drew Hallett finely crafted this tweet to basically summarize it for us.
Remember when Michigan lost 3 fumbles, had a TD taken away on a premature whistle, missed a FG, was a yard away from being down 21-7, failed on 4th & 2 twice, held its breath on an Army 50-yard FG miss, jumped offsides on 3rd & 4 in OT, and won?
— Drew Hallett (@DrewCHallett) September 8, 2019
I must be hallucinating.
We polled our staff on the game balls from the effort and the results are in!
Offense
For the second week in a row, freshman running back Zach Charbonnet gets the game ball on offense. He ran for 100 years on 33 carries with three touchdowns for the day. He’s turning into a back that could be one many refer to as Mike Hart part two. Here are all three of his touchdowns.
All THREE of Zach Charbonnet's touchdowns from today's game. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/cdE54e604e
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) September 7, 2019
Defense
Aidan Hutchinson sat at the post game with the game ball they snatched from Army in double overtime.
He had a monster game against the Black Knights with 10 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack and forced fumble. Here’s the final play of the game that sealed the win for Michigan.
September 7th, 2019: Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson force a game-winning fumble recovery to defeat Army in double OT. @KwityPaye_19 @aidanhutch97 pic.twitter.com/PAWNlueZuE
— Michigan Moments (@UofMMoments) September 7, 2019
Special Teams
The trick play nobody was expecting was when Michigan set up for the punt and sophomore Michael Barrett took a direct snap and threw it to an open Daxton Hill to get the first down. Here’s the replay if you missed it.
Five-star true freshman S Daxton Hill with a big catch on a fake punt to extend Michigan'd drive. pic.twitter.com/eAUgFK1HbN
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) September 7, 2019
Honorable Mention
The final game ball goes to Lavert Hill. His interception led Michigan down the field for a 78-yard drive for a touchdown to tie the game in the third quarter. That Army drive could have given them a 21-7 lead with time on their side to seal the deal.
Who do you have for a game ball? Sound off below!