Florida State holds off Michigan in crazy Orange Bowl finish

Since Jim Harbaugh took over as head coach at Michigan, he’s been one of the most entertaining coaches to follow in college football. So it was no surprise that his team was involved in the most entertaining postseason game – and the most entertaining final five minutes – of the year.

In the end, the Wolverines fell short losing 33-32 to Florida State in the Capital One Orange Bowl, but both teams put on a show that kicked off the 2016-17 New Year’s Six Bowls in extraordinary fashion.

In the final five minutes of the game, Michigan and Florida State combined for three touchdowns and a blocked extra point returned for a score. But it was an interception with 16 seconds remaining that gave the Seminoles the victory after they had lost and regained the lead in the two minutes prior.

Florida State hadn’t trailed coming into the fourth quarter and took a 27-15 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the game. But Michigan scored with 5:22 remaining and added another score when runnign back Chris Evans dodged several FSU defenders for a 30-yard touchdown run that put the Wolverines on top by a point. Quarterback Wilton Speight found Amara Darboh for the two-point conversion and Michigan had its first lead at 30-27.

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But the good feelings about that lead lasted all of 20 seconds as Florida State returner Keith Gavin made an odd decision to take the kickoff out of the end zone and ended up running it 66 yards to the Michigan 34-yard line. The Seminoles, not content with a field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime, pressed and quarterback Deondre Francois found Nyqwan Murray for a 12-yard touchdown with 36 seconds remaining. It was Murray’s second touchdown of the game.

And that would have been a fine, entertaining way to end this contest, but Michigan wasn’t done yet.

The Wolverines blocked the point after try and ran it back for two points to put themselves within a field goal of the victory. However, it was not to be. Speight couldn’t get the offense going and on fourth down threw an interception to Carlos Becker, which essentially ended the game.

Michigan nearly pulled off the come-from behind win despite not having star Jabrill Peppers, who didn’t play because of a hamstring injury, and tight end Jake Butt, who was injured in the first half and didn’t return. But the Florida State defense was too much for the Wolverines. It had 15 tackles for loss and held Michigan to just 252 yards of total offense. Two of Michigan touchdowns were because of mistakes by Florida State, including a pick-six by Francoise at his own 14-yard line.

If Friday’s Orange Bowl was running back Dalvin Cook’s final game for Florida State, he can be pleased with the way his collegiate career ended. Cook rushed 20 times for 145 yards and a touchdown and had three catches for 62 yards en route to being named the Orange Bowl MVP.

Florida State wins its first bowl game since 2014 while Michigan suffered its third bowl loss in the past four seasons.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!