The Michigan Wolverines gave up a Hail Mary on the last play of the first half of Saturday’s game against Nebraska, and it all happened because of some terrible clock management.
The Wolverines had a 17-10 lead over Nebraska with just over one minute left in the second quarter of the game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Ne. Michigan had all three of its timeouts left, and sacked Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola on first down to seemingly kill off any chance of Nebraska driving quickly downfield to get points before the half.
Michigan could have used one of two of its timeouts to ensure that Nebraska would have to punt and give the ball back to the Wolverines before halftime. Instead, they let the Cornhuskers dictate the clock. Nebraska ran the ball on second down with 56 seconds left, then let the clock run down to 23 seconds before using another timeout. On third down, they got the ball near midfield, and let the clock run down to one second before using their final timeout.
This allowed Nebraska to try a Hail Mary without any consequences, as they would not be able to turn the ball over on downs with one second left. Sure enough, it worked.
Nebraska Hail Mary before half works 😱
— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) September 20, 2025
pic.twitter.com/Czn0j7cwmj
If Michigan had called timeout after the second or third down plays, Nebraska would never have tried the Hail Mary. They would not have been able to run the clock down and subsequently would have punted instead of risking an incomplete pass and a turnover on downs near midfield.
For Michigan, that's the lack of a head coach in charge of game management. Not saying that Sherrone Moore would have made the right move if he was in attendance at this game, but Biff Poggi just gave up seven points to Matt Rhule and Nebraska.
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) September 20, 2025
Wolverines could have called…
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore was serving the second game of his three-game suspension on Saturday, so assistant Biff Poggi was the interim coach in this game. He and his fellow coaches simply blew it with clock management. Yes, Michigan’s players should have defended the play better, but there is no play to defend if Michigan calls timeout at any point during that sequence.
The Wolverines have plenty of talent, but have shown signs of being poorly coached and disorganized at times this season. This is just the latest example.
