Michigan escaped on Saturday with a 19-17 win over Illinois, keeping their unbeaten record intact. Though Michigan’s late-game strategies mostly paid off, there was one decision Jim Harbaugh made that nobody understood.
Michigan had a 3rd-and-5 with 13 seconds left while trailing 17-16 against the Illini. They had the ball at the Illinois 17 and were lined up for one more play out of the shotgun. Oddly, Michigan tried to throw a pass to the sidelines that went incomplete.
Nobody understood the playcall considering Michigan should have just been playing for a field goal and to not screw things up. There were so many things that could have gone wrong on the pass play, including a sack, interception, fumble, or even time expiring.
Bad game management at the end there from Jim Harbaugh. No point throwing a pass on 3rd down before the FG.
Another college kicker (!) bailing out a ridiculous coaching decision
— Chris Trapasso 🏈 (@ChrisTrapasso) November 19, 2022
More sketchy coaching decisions. Why you throwing there, Jim Harbaugh?
Michigan's going to win, but sheesh.— Scott Rabalais (@RabalaisAdv) November 19, 2022
Luckily for Michigan, the pass went incomplete, and they were able to send out kicker Jake Moody, who nailed the 35-yard winning field goal on fourth down.
Moody made three straight field goals to end the win for Michigan and was a big reason for the victory. He went 4-for-4 on his field goals and made his lone extra point attempt. There was really nothing to gain from that pass attempt, so Michigan is lucky nothing further happened there.
