Overheard outside Michigan’s locker room: One big play away and back to the drawing board

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl featured a little bit of everything.

It also marked the end of Michigan’s 2022 season. The second-ranked Wolverines’ late comeback attempt fell short, falling to No. 3 TCU 51-45 in a shootout at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Michigan (13-1) faced its largest deficit of the season when it fell behind 41-22 late in the third quarter. However, it had a chance to win in the last minute, starting a drive at its own 25-yard line with 52 seconds remaining. A J.J. McCarthy dropped snap on fourth down, though, quashed the Wolverines’ national title hopes.

MORE: Takeaways, observations from Michigan’s Fiesta Bowl loss to TCU

Here are notable quotes from head coach Jim Harbaugh and Wolverines players following Saturday’s loss:

“There’s a winner. There’s a non-winner. But the winner was football. It was a great game by them. I’m really proud of our guys. Talked to our guys about, ‘You don’t quit, you don’t give up. You never let up. You never give in. You just keep playing one play at a time. I could have been easily standing in our locker room at the end of our ballgame and congratulating the whole locker room of heroes, because that’s what they are. That’s what they have been this entire season, and including this game. It was a great effort by both teams. One less big play, one more big play by us; one more opportunistic play by us, one less opportunistic play by them and it would be a different situation.”

– Harbaugh summarizing Saturday’s game. There were momentum shifts and big plays on both sides. Each team had three turnovers, but two of Michigan’s went for TCU touchdowns.

“It was everything we prepared for. There were no surprises. They didn’t throw no curve balls at us. We knew the game plan well. Just a couple mistakes here and there, a couple big plays that we gave up. We didn’t stop the run game the way we wanted to. To be the defense we are, giving up 51 points isn’t up to our standard. I think that’s just the summary of the game. We didn’t play at our level.”

– Defensive back Mike Sainristil on Michigan’s struggles against TCU’s offense. The Horned Frogs totaled 488 yards of offense, including 263 on the ground.

“We thought it would work. I take full responsibility for it not working, and should have had something different called. Put that one on me. They had it wired and they had it well-defended. Sitting here now, definitely wish I would have called a different one.”

– Harbaugh on calling a trick play on fourth down on the team’s opening drive. TCU sniffed out the “Philly Special” and tackled tight end Colston Loveland at the TCU 10 for an 8-yard loss after he got the ball on the reverse.

“They won the game in the 60 minutes that was played. They’re a good football team. Fought our hearts out. There’s a lot of things that we could have done better today. Can’t wait to watch the tape, but we’ll be back. I promise that.”

– McCarthy on TCU. The sophomore quarterback finished 20 of 34 passing for 343 yards and two touchdowns but also threw two pick-sixes.

“Jake Moody made a legendary GOAT kick. That’s why he is the GOAT of Michigan field goal kicker. We just had to bring our energy up. That was it. That’s what we addressed on the field.”

– Running back Donovan Edwards on Jake Moody’s 59-yard field goal that gave Michigan momentum at the end of the first half. The 59-yarder is a program record and is the second-longest in any bowl game ever.

“We’re going to learn from this one. Once we get back to the drawing board, it’s just time to rebuild, refocus. There’s nothing we can do about it now, but learn from the mistakes and do the best we can this offseason to put ourselves in the best situation for the beginning of next year.”

– Sainristil on if it felt like Michigan beat itself with how many mistakes it made Saturday

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