Michigan football is sent off in a 24-17 win over Michigan State

It didn't matter what it looked like or how it happened, it just had to happen.

Michigan Football was winless in the month of October and was booed by its home crowd midway through the second quarter after failing to reach midfield on its first three drives and having only managed 37 total yards to that point. But in the final moments of the first half, the Wolverines' offense woke up.

Quarterback Davis Warren found Colston Loveland on a play-action touchdown pass with 29 seconds left in the half before Josaiah Stewart came up with a strip sack of MSU's Aidan Chiles, who was tied up by Kenneth Grant, and Dominic Zvada had one 17 seconds later 37-yard field goal for the Wolverines' first lead.

After being outscored 29-31 in the first half, UM scored nine points to close out the first half and continued the momentum in the second half, defeating rival Michigan State 24-17 under the lights at Michigan Stadium defeated.

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Warren made his first start since being benched in Week 3, and while he was erratic at times, the former backup was largely calm and making plays. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Most importantly, UM didn't make any sales.

The rushing offense wasn't great for the most part, rushing 30 times for 120 yards. But a huge 29-yard run by Alex Orji in the third quarter proved to be the game-changer and he led UM with six carries for 64 yards. The game finally seemed to change with 13:29 left when Warren threw the ball directly to Edwards, who was waiting, and then threw a pass downfield to Loveland behind the deepest MSU defender for a 23-yard touchdown achieve.

But MSU responded. Chiles led the Spartans on a 13-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 7:08 and included several conversions on third-and-10 or longer, including a 20-yard touchdown strike to Nick Marsh.

When the Wolverines got the ball back, they went three-and-out, giving MSU one last gasp. Chiles was warned for intentional grounding, leading to second-and-25 yards, but MSU gained 15 and then 29 yards on a checkdown to Nate Carter to put the Spartans near UM's red zone.

The defense, which allowed MSU to convert nine of 15 third downs, eventually forced a fourth down and Chiles failed to make contact with a receiver in the end zone with under two minutes remaining. Orji ran twice on the ensuing possession and picked up a first down on third-and-5 to virtually end the game.

Michigan (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) faces No. 1 Oregon next week at home (3:30 p.m., CBS).

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Change in the second half

UM led by two points and faced a third-and-8 early in the second half when Warren Semaj beat Morgan on a curl route for a 9-point lead. UM then replaced Orji on the next play; He ran the season-long rebound for 29 yards before Warren came back and flea-flickered Tyler Morris for a 23-yard lead.

Six plays later, Orji held the ball from the 2nd on third-and-goal when MSU appeared to be in a late substitution and ran off a touchdown, sparked by a block by Kalel Mullings, to make it 16 with 9:49 left. 7 took the lead in the third.

The Spartans didn't do themselves any favors when the wrong man called for a fair catch on the next drive, so they had to start from their 5, but reached midfield on third-and-2 thanks to a 30-yard pass. It was 3-1 at the UM 26 when Grant used a swim move to bring down Carter and set up a Kim field goal from 46 yards to make it 16-10.

On the final play of the third quarter, Orji held the ball up the middle, but a targeted call by Jordan Turner resulted in a first down and moved into MSU territory. After Warren found Kendrick Bell on third-and-3 for a lead of 12, UM accelerated the trick play from Warren to Edwards to Loveland, and Loveland grabbed the 2-point conversion catch to take a 24-10 lead.

Survive a first blow

The Spartans marched down the field on the first possession, ran into the teeth of the UM defense and then caught Wink Martindale's unit off guard on screen passes to Nate Carter with six plays of 6 yards or more in the series.

MSU made it to 3rd when Enow Etta stuffed a run by Kay'ron Lynch-Adams. UM then forced an incompletion on third-and-goal.

After suffering a delay in the game, MSU took on reigning special teams player of the week Jonathan Kim, but he missed a 25-yard chip shot wide of the right goal.

Michigan's offense failed to capitalize and went out on a three-pointer, punching right back to MSU, who took the lead again. This time it was a nine-play, 62-yard march, and instead of kicking fourth down inside the 2, MSU passed the ball to Nate Carter, who thumped the early touchdown.

At the end of the first quarter, MSU led 135-15 total yards and had a possession advantage of 13:21 to 1:39.

After a couple of punts, MSU appeared poised to go into halftime with a touchdown, but on third-and-six, Warren rolled to his right, threw across his body and found Morgan for a lead of 7 and a first down. The senior then gained 15 yards to Peyton O'Leary and nine yards on an out route to Loveland before four consecutive Edwards carries on second-and-8 and a play-action touchdown in the back left corner from Warren to Loveland prepared.

UM missed the extra point — Tommy Doman dropped the snap — and it was 7-6 with 29 seconds left, but MSU wasn't content to go into the break. After a 14-yard first-down run by Carter with 20 seconds left, Chiles dropped back to pass, rolling to his right and never feeling the pressure on his butt.

Stewart hit him, the ball came out and Grant fell on it, setting up a 37-yard kick from Dominic Zvada with two seconds left to take a 9-7 lead into halftime.

Change in the second half

Survive a first blow

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