Michigan holds off Northwestern with last-second field goal despite giving up 5 turnovers

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With a kick and a prayer, Michigan stayed alive to pull off a 24-22 last-second win over Northwestern. The Wolverines committing five turnovers in the Saturday matchup at Chicago's Wrigley Field, but avoided a complete collapse with a walk-off field goal in the final seconds.

Michigan opened the game on a rough note, with kicker Dominic Zvada missing a 34-yard field goal attempt. And in the second quarter, the issues continued, with the Wolverines losing a fumble and Zvada missing another field goal just before halftime.

Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood was picked off twice by the Wildcats defense in the second half, with one of those turnovers giving Northwestern a chance to score a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

But the Wildcats' two-point conversion failed, keeping the door open for Michigan to pull ahead with one score.

Underwood's second interception came right after, followed by another fumble lost by the Wolverines in the final minutes.

But Michigan kept its hopes alive, with the help of some big defensive stops, and a wild diving catch from freshman receiver Andrew Marsh.

With two seconds remaining, Zvada, who missed two field goals kicks earlier in the game, successfully hit the walk-off field goal to give Michigan the 24-22 win.

Overall, it was a tough game for Michigan, even though they ended up getting the win. Despite racking up 496 total offensive yards — twice as many as Northwestern's 245 — the Wolverines nearly fumbled it all away with some brutal mistakes: two missed field goals, two interceptions, two lost fumbles.

But the one-score win is enough to bring Michigan to a 7-2 overall record, sitting fourth in the Big Ten with a 5-1 conference record.

Head coach Sherrone Moore said postgame that the team had some work to do, but that he was proud of how they were able to finish it.

"You don't win games with five turnovers. You're not gonna win a lot of those. The fight from our team, the resiliency of our team, even this guy, he had some plays that he wants to take back," Moore said, patting Underwood, "but just the heart, man, just going to the last second. Really proud of this group and how they fought and finished. They know that they got to clean a lot of stuff up, but winning in the Big Ten is hard."

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