Harding hits late 3 to help Iowa pull away and beat Ohio State 77-70 in a Big Ten Tournament opener
Bruce Thornton converted a three-point play and then added a pullup jumper following a Harding turnover to cut the Ohio State deficit to 72-70 with 45 seconds left. Harding answered with a 3-pointer, Thornton missed a 3 on the other end and Payton Sandfort added two free throws to seal it for the Hawkeyes.
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USA Today
a minute ago
- USA Today
ESPN's Matt Barrie questions Bryce Underwood's ability to lead U-M to elite status in 2025
One of the big questions this offseason across college football has been: How good can Michigan football be this season, especially if true freshman Bryce Underwood is the quarterback right out of the gates? Analysts look back at 2024, and some say, OK, you can see the building blocks, evidenced by the late-season success with wins over Ohio State and Alabama. Others just downplay it all, look at a schedule that only features three teams with a winning record from last year, and decries it as tough -- with the expectation that there will be little-to-no improvement for the Wolverines on the field. On ESPN's Always College Football podcast hosted by Greg McElroy, Matt Barrie first discusses Underwood and his reservations, but also gives a series of caveats to go along with his concerns. "Bryce Underwood -- I mean, you want to think that (he could have a good first year), right?" Barrie said. "I mean, because Jim Harbaugh, when he was there, you just saw little by little what he was trying to build, and it all culminated in the national championship season, because he had the right guys returning at the right time to make a run. And I point that out because it's hard right now. Yeah, you'd like to think Bryce is everything he's advertised and more. You'd like to think the new offense -- you'd like to think Sherrone Moore's figured it out, and you would like to believe that Michigan's now going to get back to where they belong among the, not only the conference, but the country's elite. I just always have a hard time, Greg. I have a hard time finding a true freshman quarterback that can not only wow us, but in a power program like Michigan, from day one to day and game 14, 15, 16 nowadays, be the guy that elevates them back to the national championship conversation. "I'm not saying it can't be done, and I'm not saying he's not capable of it. It's just hard to do. It's hard to do in a league that's won the last two national championships. And so Michigan will be a problem. Hell, they've beaten Ohio State how many years in a row? Three, four, five years? Whatever the case might be, they've beaten them even when Ohio State went on to win the national championship. So it's tough. And I believe that Michigan, at some point, under Bryce Underwood, is going to be back here at the top. For me, for true freshmen, to do it from snap one to the final snap of the season, it's just so tough to do. But I wouldn't balk at a 9-3, 10-2 season." McElroy was a little hesitant, given what happened last year, with Michigan losing games to Texas, Washington, Illinois, Oregon, and Indiana. But Barrie says that those who expected the Wolverines to reload entering 2024 after losing the bulk of the 2023 national championship team, were deceiving themselves. He doesn't say this as a knock, but more optimistically about the trajectory of Sherrone Moore's maize and blue squad given the late-season rebound. "I disagree. I think Michigan -- and we can go on a whole tangent about preseason rankings," Barrie said. "Look at who Michigan lost to the NFL. So there was 8-5, 7-5, six -- there was no way they were going to do better than that. None. Because of everything that they lost. And so to assume that they were just going to be the Michigan that won the national title before, that was just short-sighted and naive. Now you give them a chance to rebuild, it took Harbaugh how many years to get it to that? Doesn't just happen overnight. So I think just like the Napier situation, the record was impressive considering what was going on." Fans will get an opportunity to see for themselves on August 30 when Michigan opens up the season at The Big House against New Mexico before taking the show on the road to face Oklahoma in Norman in Week 2.
USA Today
31 minutes ago
- USA Today
Ernest Hausmann says beating Ohio State remains Michigan's focus for 5th straight win
The Game is the most storied and hyped rivalry not only in college football, but perhaps in all of sports. And Michigan football struggled to make a game of it for nearly two decades. But in the past four years, when expected or when it appeared to be an insurmountable task, the Wolverines rose to the occasion. There's never been a time in Ann Arbor when the locker room didn't take Ohio State seriously, but still, the mentality had to change. In 2021, it did, and it's continued to evolve. There's signage asking players 'What have you done to beat Ohio State today?' inside the strength facility, as well as in the Al Glick Fieldhouse, where the team holds indoor practice. The 'Beat Ohio' drill was introduced to implement a new level of physicality. Like it was during the Bo Schembechler years, there's something that helps prepare the maize and blue every day for the scarlet and gray. So, to have four straight wins in the rivalry, it's a defining element for these Wolverines. "It means everything," senior linebacker Ernest Hausmann said at Big Ten media days. "You come to Michigan, the standard is to beat Ohio State each and every single season. And so winning that game means everything. That is your livelihood, and that's why you come to Michigan." As Buckeye fans started getting frustrated over a sudden lack of wins in the rivalry, there were informal polls that indicated that they'd prefer a win over Michigan over a national championship. They ended up getting the reverse scenario, and this offseason has been spent modulating the previous stance. But with that, despite the Wolverines players having won on the field, they've likewise had to watch Buckeye players and fans celebrate a national championship -- something many Michigan players had done the year before. Still, Hausmann says that the OSU natty does nothing to diminish the Wolverines' achievement, especially since by the time Ohio State had won it, Michigan had already moved on to the 2025 version of The Game. "For us, it doesn't change anything," Hausmann said. "We know we played that game. We played the game 60 minutes just like they did, put the helmet on, and we won that game. So it doesn't mean anything to us. It doesn't diminish our win at all. But at the same time, we understand that that's last year. It's over with. As soon as that game's over, that next day, the clock starts again. As soon as we walk into that facility after that game, the clock was on for the next game, the next season." Beating Ohio State for a fourth-straight time, especially as a three-score underdog, helped propel the maize and blue to an equally unlikely win against Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl. The team will somewhat dig into the past to help them realize what they can accomplish this upcoming season, but Hausmann says, don't expect them to rest on their laurels either -- the focus is not on what was done, but what can be done. So the four wins have happened, but a fifth is not guaranteed. It's up to the players and their work now to ensure that they continue to stack numbers in the W column. "You can use that as momentum going forward," Hausmann said. "Like I said, every year is different. It's a new roster, and you have to have that level, the same level of preparation, even more each season, understanding that it's so much harder to do the same thing again twice. And like I said, now to do it for a fifth time, it's that much harder, right? So we have to take that account every single day and make sure that we keep ourselves at standard each day."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Ohio State wide receiver gets Heisman prediction going into sophomore season
It's no shock that Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is already landing on preseason awards watch lists. He recently landed on the Maxwell Award Watch List, which is given to the player judged to be the best in the country. Given Smith's phenomenal freshman season, it's no surprise to see him on this list. It also won't be a surprise to see that some experts are predicting Smith to take home college football's most coveted individual award, the Heisman Trophy. On3's JD Pickell and host of The Hard Count has logged his prediction for Jeremiah Smith to become the seventh Buckeye to win the Heisman. That prediction not only says a lot about Smith but also what he feels will come from presumed starting quarterback Julian Sayin. If Smith is to win the eighth Heisman in Ohio State history, he will need a competent quarterback to get him the ball. Pickell is clearly all in on Sayin as plug and play. In fact, Pickell feels so strongly in the duo, he has Ohio State making it back to the national championship game. However, he would stop short of predicting back-to-back championships for the Bucks, having them fall to the LSU Tigers. Pickell has LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier finishing as the runner-up to Smith in the Heisman race. Those are some lofty expectations for the Buckeyes, but nothing that is out of the realm of possibility. If things play out the way Pickell sees it, this will be an overwhelmingly successful season, especially with the number of NFL draft picks the Buckeyes lost. Let's be honest, nothing outside of a win over Michigan and a national championship will be good enough for most og Buckeye Nation. It's a long season, and Ohio State has a tough road ahead. That road starts in just about a month when Texas comes to town for the season opener. This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith lands Heisman winning prediction
