Perhaps only one Michigan man was not concerned after officials ruled Mike Hart had fumbled with the Wolverines clinging to a late seven-point lead.
That man was Mike Hart.
“I knew I didn’t fumble,” he said. “I would have bet a million dollars my knee was down.”
Six plays after officials used instant replay to overturn their call, Hart really cashed in. He cut left to avoid an Iowa defender and burst 10 yards for a touchdown that all but clinched the Wolverines’ 20-6 victory.
The big picture? You might bet $1 million that this year’s Michigan-Ohio State game will be one for the history books, the first 1-vs.-2 game in the 102-year series.
While second-ranked Michigan and No. 1 Ohio State play three more times before the Nov. 18 showdown in Columbus, neither plays an opponent worthy of a Halloween-quality scare.
Asked whether he thought his team had survived its last stumbling block, Hart replied, “Obviously it’s tough not to look at it that way, but you can’t.”
Receiver Steve Breaston wouldn’t even entertain the concept of looking ahead after he was asked whether the Wolverines are thinking about Ohio State.
“Northwestern’s a good team,” Breaston replied, referring to their next opponent.
Iowa produced a formidable challenge Saturday, holding Michigan to 291 total yards and three first-half points.
But the Wolverines’ intense pressure on quarterback Drew Tate took a toll. Michigan sacked Tate five times and made him play Houdini on several other occasions.
“Without question that’s the best defense we’ve played all year,” Tate said. “We hadn’t seen anything like that.”
Tate avoided the rush on a third-and-10 play in the fourth quarter, firing a pass to Dominique Douglas. Though it appeared Douglas might have been held, nothing was called.
That sent Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz into a frenzy that grew in intensity when officials agreed with Hart’s contention he hadn’t fumbled on a third-and-2 at the Iowa 35-yard line with seven minutes left.
Ferentz screamed at the referees and eventually gave a two-handed wave, signifying he thought the calls were garbage. His loud, persistent protests eventually caused a side judge to smile.
“It would probably be better if I don’t go down that road,” Ferentz said of the officiating. “Probably a lot of people will be calling in about my lack of vocabulary.”
Hart’s subsequent touchdown with 3 minutes 59 seconds to play finally allowed a Michigan Stadium crowd of 110,923 to breathe easy.
Die-hard Michigan fans came to the Big House wondering whether receiver Adrian Arrington would play Saturday after allegations of an assault surfaced late in the week on Internet message boards.
Arrington, a junior from Cedar Rapids to whom Iowa offered a scholarship during his freshman year of high school, did play and hauled in a game-high eight catches for 79 yards.
Rather than ducking the rumors, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr met with a small group of print reporters after his postgame news conference.
Measuring his words, Carr said, “There’s an issue [with Arrington] and I’m not going to discuss it except to say that I take any allegation of this type very seriously. But I do not think the allegation is supported by the facts.”
Carr wouldn’t say how he had made his determination Arrington should not be suspended over the allegation.
A Michigan spokesman said the incident generated a police report but no charges.
Michigan’s other off-the-field concern entering the game was the condition of former coach Bo Schembechler, who fell ill Friday while taping a television show.
Schembechler watched Saturday’s game from the cardiac unit at the university hospital.
A spokesman reported Schembechler was “coming along fine”–and that was when the game was tied 3-3 in the third quarter.
Michigan finally pulled away thanks to Hart’s 99 second-half rushing yards.
Ferentz mentioned Hart as a Heisman Trophy candidate, while Carr called him a “great competitor and an unbelievable football player.”
One who can admit that Ohio State is on his mind. And one who is determined not to let those thoughts affect him or his team.
“This is the toughest part of our schedule right here,” he said of the Northwestern-Ball State-Indiana stretch. “What are we going to do now? Can we come out every week and get better?”
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tgreenstein@tribune.com
