Long after the Ohio State Buckeyes stormed the Michigan Stadium turf from the visitors' sideline to celebrate their 25-21 come-from-behind victory over the Wolverines on Saturday, the Michigan student section remained. Standing silently in shock and disbelief, the blue-clad, blue-faced fans in the Big House's northwest corner seemed to be standing vigil over the Wolverines' dead Big Ten championship hopes.

The crowd had gradually deflated as Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith orchestrated a nearly flawless 12-play, 88-yard drive capped off by tailback Antonio Pittman's three-yard touchdown run with 24 seconds left on the clock. After the Wolverines' last-ditch drive stalled near midfield, the Michigan faithful descended from their jubilant early fourth-quarter enthusiasm to a catatonic state.

But the Buckeyes' game-winning drive, executed with surgical precision, should have come as no surprise. The warning signs were there.

Michigan's opponents had marched down the field and scored to take the lead or force overtime in the final minute of regulation on four occasions this season prior to Saturday.

In the end, it was simple.

The Michigan defense needed a stop. Instead, as it had so often this year, it collapsed.

"It's huge disappointment and hurt," fifth-year senior cornerback Grant Mason said of his emotions. "You never want to go out like that - with a loss."

Michigan (5-3 Big Ten, 7-4 overall) led, 21-12, with under seven minutes to play. But the Wolverines' defensive unit, which had held Ohio State (7-1, 9-2) scoreless since late in the first half, folded in spectacular fashion.

The Buckeyes overwhelmed Michigan with two big plays - a 27-yard pass from Smith to wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez and a thrilling 14-yard third-down scramble by the Ohio State signal-caller - before striking quickly to close the gap to two points on Santonio Holmes's 26-yard touchdown catch with 6:40 left.

The Wolverines took over near midfield after a short kickoff by Ohio State's Josh Huston. Holmes's unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for diving into the end zone on his touchdown reception had forced Huston to kick off from Ohio State's 20-yard line. But during a disastrous series, tight end Mike Massey dropped a pass from quarterback Chad Henne, backup running back Kevin Grady lost yardage, Michigan burned a timeout because of a miscommunication, and left guard Leo Henige broke his right leg.

Garrett Rivas's pooch punt pinned the Buckeyes on their own 12 with 4:18 left. Ohio State needed to drive all the way down the field for a shot at a winning field goal.

"We had the mindset, 'Let's get this stop, fellas. It's on us,' " Mason said of the defense's final series. "Everybody went into it with confidence. - I really felt like we were going to get the stop. We didn't find a way to."

The Buckeyes strung together six first downs - without facing a single third down - on the pivotal series, combining short- and medium-range passes to Holmes and Ted Ginn Jr. with Smith's highlight-reel maneuvers and another back-breaking completion to Gonzalez. The receiver snagged a 26-yard reception by leaping over Mason. Ohio State moved the ball inside Michigan's five-yard line on the play, and Pittman plunged in from three yards out two snaps later.

"Obviously, we talk about (closing opponents out) all the time," defensive line coach Steve Stripling said. "The big word is 'finish,' and we knew we were going to be in that situation. We knew it was going to be a close game today, one way or the other. We felt, if the defense had a chance to be on the field, that would be great with us and we'd go out there and get the job done. But we just didn't. The attitude is right. We're just not making enough plays."

But Michigan didn't just falter on defense. Despite a solid performance by Henne, the Wolverines mustered a paltry 32 yards rushing for the entire game. Ohio State accumulated 118 yards on the ground. Star running back Mike Hart carried nine times for 15 yards before he left the game for good with an injury. As Hart's replacement, Grady picked up 11 yards on six carries against the Buckeyes' aggressive front seven.

"You can't win if you can't run," running backs coach Fred Jackson said. "You talk about how great Troy (Smith) is and some of the guys, and they are, but if you can keep them off the field, you have to be able to run the ball some. We struggled running, and that hurt us.

"We tried different schemes. Zone schemes, gap schemes, man schemes. We had a hard time. We tried to get it going, and after the third time, you say, 'OK, if you're not getting anything rushing, you're going to have to do what you have to do to win.' That's probably why we abandoned (the running game)."

Hart explained Michigan's lack of a running attack with a laundry list of faults.