Michigan vs. Florida State, Orange Bowl 2016 : Seminoles win a classic

Michigan was without one of its most important players against Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Moments before kickoff, it was announced via ESPN’s broadcast that Wolverines linebacker Jabrill Peppers was out for the game, due to a hamstring injury.

Here you can see him before the game, favoring his left leg during warmups.

It’s been a while since boxing had itself a titanic heavyweight battle, but we’ll continue to use college football as a proxy in the meantime. Two years ago, I graded the amazing TCU-Baylor game as a 12-round fight. As a nod to how ridiculous Monday night’s Rose Bowl truly was, I’m going to give it the same treatment here.

This, from 2014 TCU-Baylor, still applies:

I am a proponent of all running backs getting paid as soon as possible. Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey opted to sit their bowls out (and that’s fine). Florida State’s Dalvin Cook decided he’d play in the Orange Bowl in his hometown in front of over 30 family members. He dazzled us in garnet and gold one last time in the win over Michigan Friday night.

Cook had 145 yards on the ground and 62 receiving, none more important than that long run that was this close to being a touchdown. But now, it’s on to bigger and better things.

Florida State 33, Michigan 32 (FINAL). The Wolverines had one last chance, and it came down to a possible offside on fourth-and-10 that wasn’t called (I didn’t really think it needed to be), but it ended on a tipped pick. FSU outgained Michigan, 371 to 252, with Dalvin Cook (207 total yards) and the Noles’ defensive front starring. Game highlights:

And some more stuff:

When in South Florida, do as South Floridians do:

Yes it was risky, and of course there is the issue of player safety on what amounts to a crotch rocket on the water. But Jet Skis are fun, so FSU should have fun. They did, in fact, have fun, per Dalvin Cook.

College football has been blessed by an embarrassment of riches at the running back position through the years.

Every decade has had its legends, and the 2010s have been no different, from the mythical Leonard Fournette to the Bama-killing Ezekiel Elliott to [insert Bama workhorse here]. Like Elliott, Florida State’s Dalvin Cook never finished higher than seventh in the Heisman voting, but he might have provided more indelible moments than anyone in the decade this side of Columbus.

Florida State beat Michigan in thrilling fashion on Friday night in the Orange Bowl. But a play that set up the FSU game-winning touchdown came close to not even happening.

After Michigan scored the go-ahead touchdown and two-point conversion, Florida State’s Keith Gavin returned the kickoff 66 yards to the Michigan 34-yard line. That play set up the game-winning touchdown pass.

Florida State won the Orange Bowl over Michigan with a touchdown in the final minute. On the extra point attempt, Michigan was able to block it and return it for a safety. Michigan got the ball back and had 30 seconds left to make a miracle play.

Florida State’s defense managed to force a fourth-and-10 for Michigan and quarterback Wilton Speight, and he would throw an interception to seal Florida State’s victory.

Florida State beat Michigan 33-32 in the most dramatic of fashions in the Orange Bowl.

The Noles scored a seemingly improbable touchdown with less than 40 seconds left to take a 33-30 lead.

Yep, this is when having a guy like Dalvin Cook on your team benefits you most. Michigan had pulled within five points against Florida State in the Orange Bowl, and the Wolverine defense had forced FSU into a third-and-22. But then, Cook happened. The junior exploded for a 71-yard run that left everyone in the dust.

The run was downed at the Michigan 16 yard line, and the Noles were able to score a touchdown to take a 27-15 lead. Cook also scored the Noles’ first touchdown in the first half.

Former Michigan and NFL quarterback Brian Griese is in the booth calling the Orange Bowl between Michigan and Florida State. During the first half of the broadcast, Brian’s father, former Miami Dolphins quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob Griese made an appearance.

Bob Griese shook Steve Levy’s hand, but then when his son Brian went for the handshake, we had one of the most awkward father-son exchanges ever.

Florida State’s mascot, Osceola, that rides out on an Appaloosa horse named Renegade before each FSU home game, had a little bit of a mishap at the Orange Bowl on Friday night. Renegade ran out on the field and bucked Osceola off its back, and he landed on the field.

The spear-planting had to happen sans horse for a change:

Jim Harbaugh is an intense individual. His intensity only rises while he’s coaching a college football game. The combination makes everything he does frantic. Even clapping.

It’s hard to tell whether Harbaugh is clapping, or trying to slap his playsheet into a pulp.

In the first quarter of the Orange Bowl, Florida State’s offense was driving, and held a 7-3 lead. But on the Noles’ second drive of the night, quarterback Deondre Francois took a big hit by Michigan’s Taco Charlton.

The hit was big enough that Francois had to exit the game, and backup Sean Maguire came off the bench for the redshirt freshman. Francois came back for Florida State’s next series, and a few plays later, he threw this beautiful 92-yard touchdown bomb.

Florida State forced Michigan into a punt following its first possession, and things were looking good for the Noles, already up 7-0. But as FSU’s Nyqwan Murray attempted to field the punt, he muffed it. It was fumbled, and then recovered by Michigan’s Dymonte Thomas on FSU’s 1-yard line.

The play gave Michigan great field position, which it got off a field goal to make it a 7-3 game early in the first quarter. The Noles defense obviously did a good job holding the Wolverines to just a field goal, but Murray is lucky his mistake didn’t result in a Michigan touchdown.

This year’s Orange Bowl looks to be one of the juiciest and most exciting games of the entire bowl season. You couldn’t ask for a better draw for this game — Florida State, led by running back Dalvin Cook, and Michigan, whose talented defense is just one part of what makes this game look so good. The way that both of these teams’ seasons have gone reflects just how nice of a consolation prize the Orange Bowl is for them.

Florida State entered the 2016 season with one of the most talented and deep rosters Tallahassee had seen in years, so the expectations were at a National Title-like high. However, a blowout loss on the road to Louisville, paired with losses at home to both North Carolina and Clemson, knocked the Noles out of Playoff conversations. But after finishing the season with four straight wins, including a blowout victory over archrival Florida, the Noles’ body of work is a good one.

Two of the best games of the year: Ohio State’s win vs. Michigan and Clemson’s win at Florida State. They were also two of the most hollered-about. The losing teams meet in the Orange Bowl (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) on Friday night.

You remember The Spot in Columbus.

Before the season, I thought Florida State and Michigan were likely to end up playing each other in college football’s postseason. I just expected it to be in the Playoff. Instead, it’ll be in an Orange Bowl that might feature the most 2017 NFL talent of any pre-Championship bowl this season (8 p.m. ET Friday, ESPN).

When you get two annual title contenders, you have a showcase of big-time talent. This one’s loaded with great battles. Here are a few of them.

Maybe we should call this the blue bowl, because there are straight up Blue bloods in this year’s Orange Bowl. Florida State and Michigan meet in Miami in what is an interesting matchup.

One team (Michigan) nearly lived up to lofty expectations, coming just one win away from a Big Ten Championship berth and the doorstep of the Playoff. Florida State came into this season with all the talent in the world, but was unable to gel early in the season and suffered an embarrassing loss against Louisville before getting tripped up at home against North Carolina and losing to Clemson, as well.

The Michigan football team is in Miami to play Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Friday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). That means Jim Harbaugh had to give a pregame press conference on Thursday. Some intrepid reporter decided to put forward one of the weirder lines of questioning you’ll ever see.

The transcript, via ASAP Sports:

The Michigan Wolverines are 3-7 straight up and 4-5-1 against the spread in their last 10 postseason games. The Wolverines can win back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2001 with a win in the Orange Bowl over the Florida State Seminoles.

Michigan is a 7-point favorite in Miami at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. In their last four games coming off an ATS win, the Wolverines are 0-4 ATS.

Look at us, being relevant this week! LET’S TALK PLAYOFF.

Topics:

The whole college football season matters. That’s what we tell ourselves. A baseball team could go 83-78 and win the World Series. An NFL team can go 9-7 and win the Super Bowl. An NBA team can go 44-38 and win the NBA title. But that doesn’t happen in college football.

If it did, USC or Florida State might be a title favorite. Or hey, maybe Western Kentucky.

A Michigan fan’s mother was nice enough to order him a Wolverines jersey for Christmas. The mother requested to the jersey-maker that the manufacturer “leave off” a last name on the back. Here’s how that turned out.

Officially, teams can’t sell jerseys with players’ last names on them. That’s because players are “amateurs,” and it would look weird to profit off the name of those players without allowing those players to profit, too. So we just pretend the numbers on the jerseys fans buy are wholly unrelated to the players who actually wear them. We could argue all day about how this system works and whether it’s equitable.

This is not a post about the J.T. Barrett spot. I mean it.

But the Big Ten is now formally acknowledging other mistakes from Michigan’s loss at Ohio State on Nov. 26, which landed the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff and knocked the Wolverines out. They come from a Chicago Tribune interview with Bill Carollo, the Big Ten’s football officials coordinator.