Michigan vs. Minnesota: Score, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

A game-winning drive from backup quarterback Wilton Speight, coupled with a goal-line stand in the final seconds, secured a 29-26 win for the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday night.

After Speight hit wide receiver Jehu Chesson for his second touchdown reception of the game with four minutes, 57 seconds to play, Minnesota drove down the field to Michigan's 1-yard line with 19 seconds left.

Seemingly unaware the clock was still running, Minnesota took 17 seconds to run its next play—an incomplete pass—which left two seconds on the clock. 

With kicker Ryan Santoso—who had already hit four field goals on the day—available for a chip shot, Minnesota interim head coach Tracy Claeys, who stepped in after Jerry Kill retired this week, decided to go for the touchdown. But the Michigan defense stopped Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner's keeper as time expired.

ESPN shared the replay:

Smart Football's Chris B. Brown couldn't comprehend what he saw:

Michigan was sitting pretty four minutes into the second quarter. A 13-yard touchdown reception from Chesson helped put the Wolverines up 14-3. ESPN College Football shared the replay of Chesson's touchdown:

This was something new for Chesson, who had run for two touchdowns this season but hadn't caught one, as Matt Pargoff of Maize and Blue News pointed out:

Back came Minnesota, who used a 52-yard pass from Leidner to Rashad Still to get within one point. 

Bleacher Report (via ESPN) provided the highlight of the big play:

ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberger thought this was something the Golden Gophers should have been doing all game:

The Gophers' most valuable player in the first half was Santoso, who knocked through three field goals. His last of the first half came from 32 yards out as time expired, giving Minnesota a 16-14 lead.

Seeing opposing kickers succeed is an odd occurrence for Michigan, as Mike Hendrickson of the Minnesota Daily observed:

Michigan came up with an answer to start the second half, with Jabrill Peppers' six-yard touchdown run capping off a seven-play, 75-yard drive.

Michigan Football (via ESPN) shared the replay:

It was Peppers' first career touchdown, and the safety had to run over a Minnesota defender to hit paydirt out of the Wildcat. 

Adam Schnepp of MGoBlog liked what he saw from Peppers in the offensive alignment:

It was quite a night for Peppers, who also had a career-long punt return in the first half. 

Minnesota and Leidner came back, with the quarterback sprinting for a 24-yard touchdown to put the Gophers back up by two points. ESPN showed Leidner's run:

Not the most agile of quarterbacks, Leidner surprised Scout.com's Ryan Burns:

Talk show host Steve Deace, on the other hand, was not happy, and he was looking to go to extremes with the Michigan coaching staff:

To make matters worse for Michigan, starting quarterback Jake Rudock was forced to leave the game toward the end of the third after taking a hit to the head area while scrambling. While he has struggled this season, it was still a tough loss, as Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch pointed out:

In stepped Speight, who had never completed a pass in his college career, facing a five-point deficit in the fourth quarter after Santoso's fourth field goal of the game. 

With about five minutes left in the game, Speight delivered Michigan the lead with a 12-yard TD pass to Chesson.

While Speight was not given a warm welcome on Twitter, his performance down the stretch surely changed some minds. Or so the New York Times' John U. Bacon thought:

A two-point conversion gave the Wolverines a three-point lead with 4:57 left in the game before Minnesota's final drive. 

The defense came up big to ensure that Michigan didn't lose a second straight heartbreaker in the game's final seconds, as the Wolverines kept their slim College Football Playoff hopes alive for another week. 

Postgame Reaction

Going to the backup quarterback in the fourth quarter while trailing isn't the best situation to be in, but somehow the Wolverines managed to pull it out. 

They mostly have to give thanks to Minnesota interim head coach Tracy Claeys, who made the decision to go for the win instead of the tie. 

But he didn't seem too broken up about it after the game, according to CBS' Patrick Kessler:

For Jim Harbaugh, the message was simple after the game, according to the Michigan Daily's Max Cohen:

When it came to the last play, he said defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin knew what was coming, per MLive.com's Nick Baumgardner:

He also explained why Speight took the field instead of Shane Morris, who was widely regarded as the No. 2 quarterback behind Rudock, per Baumgardner:

Baumgardner also reported that Harbaugh believes that Rudock will be ready for next week but said "we'll see."

The Wolverines would have been beyond devastated from another last-second loss. They had two weeks to stew over their dramatic loss to Michigan State, and following it up with another to a weaker opponent would have doomed their season. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.