Some observations on the final sequence:
1) It appeared that both teams had 1 player line up offsides, very close, if you look at the black line drawn for the LOS. The MSU player that was borderline was standing upright, over to the Long Snapper, most if not all of his helmet was within the black line drawn for the LOS.
2) Michigan had 2 gunners, 1 Long Snapper, 1 Punter, 4 Lineman and 3 Up Blockers. Farthest gunner was wide open, ie, uncovered. Needless to say, he didn't block. Bottom gunner went downfield and was followed by the only Sparty to not rush. No idea why on both counts. MSU rushed 10. UM Long Snapper was bowled over and did a back flip or two towards the P, couple of more and maybe he makes the tackle lol. Illegal hit nonetheless, hell, could have called targeting (slightly tongue in cheek there). After the initial 10 on 8 contact, 3 UM 'blockers' actually proceeded downfield, the quickest was #3 (D Mo?) he had a helluva start on downing the Punt and celebrating during the roll. One of the Up Blocker who took 1 step upfield was Wormley, and he didn't touch anyone.
3) Now some math for the 'We didn't need to Punt at all' crowd. Michigan got the ball back prior to the Punt with 1:47. With MSU having 1 TO, 80 seconds, or 1:20 was going to come off the 40 second play clock, leaving 27 seconds to kill in 4 plays. 6.75 seconds per play. Play #1 went off left tackle for 5 yards to the Michigan 49, took 5 seconds as MSU called TO immediately at 1:42. Play #2, a run to the zero hole, took between 5 and 6 seconds, gained 3 yards to the MSU 48. The 40 second countdown began around the 1:36/1:37 mark. Meaning after 40 seconds, there would be 56 or 57 seconds left. JH called TO and the clock was in fact at 56 seconds. Play #3 was snapped on the right hash, went off right tackle, for 1 yard to the MSU 47, and was whistled at the 51 second mark, but the 40 second play clock had a 9 second differential. Michigan called TO at 10 seconds but could have took a delay of game to get it to 9 seconds had they preferred, which is inconsequential at this point.
4) Now, assuming a 4th down run would have been between the tackles AND the first down was NOT picked up, the evidence shows that there would have been 4 or 5 seconds left for MSU. What this means is, that by simply running between the tackles in an attempt to run out 27 seconds, Michigan would have run out 22 or 23 seconds instead.. in 4 plays. Lets go with 5 seconds left. That means the average length of the most pedestrian running plays, which needed to be 6.75 seconds, were 5.5 seconds. Further meaning, each of the 4 plays had to last an AVERAGE of 1.25 seconds LONGER. 1.25 seconds per play does NOT equate to dancing around near our goaline, etc. That could be accomplished with 4 Sweeps to the wide side, losing a handful of yardage each time, and could have been done by the QB himself, student body left, then right, etc. Any limited 'dancing' before falling to the ground by the sidelines would be OPTIONAL, as you only need to take off 1.25 more seconds than 4 runs between the tackles, which hypothetically gained less than 10 yards collectively. It would have been conceiveable to take of the 27 seconds in just 3 sweeps at 9 seconds each, but certainly not necessary. Remeber that the field is 53 Yards wide, and it is 33 yards from a wide has to the opposite sideline.
5) On handling punts as if there is no or limited risk, less than a week ago, during an NFL punt, the snap was good, and the punter dropped the ball towards his foot for the Punt, and the defender had his hand on the ball BEFORE the Punter's foot struck the ball. That's how fast an untouched player can cover 12 yards. Punts are blocked when there are good snaps and good catches. Also on Saturday, during Rutgers 25 pt comeback vs IU in the last 20 minutes, they returned a botched punt for a TD. MSU had 3 untouched players, all coming predictably from the side opposite the where the P was going to go for a quick rugby kick. The eventual returner was let thru the initinal LOS and blocked by Braden who released the block not knowing there was an issue with the snap.
6) Any Hail Mary attempt would have been about 60 yards into a wind that was knocking down everything all day AND Connor Cook is NOT known for not having the strongest arm, in fact earliler in the game he graded out a B- for arm strength. What if he wasn't even capable of throwing a hail mary 60 yards, or 55? I can't find any clip of him throwing that far, which he should be able to do, however not necessarily dealing with the same wind that produced an 80 yd punt earlier in the day.
7) When the ball is on your opponents side of the field, there is something I don't like about the phrase 'If we get this punt off, the clock runs out and the game is over'. Which was indeed the case. At your own 30, then sure, but in this case, see #4.
