STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Three yards and a mile away.



Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown sat in a folding chair facing his defense on the sideline, his back to the field and his eyes lasered into the video board atop the south end zone inside Beaver Stadium. Brown’s defensive line coach, Shaun Nua, paced back and forth as U-M’s offense — after all the disappointment, mistakes and fizzles — stood 3 yards away from possibly giving this team one more chance.



Some 20 yards to Brown’s left, Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis frantically worked with staffers to signal in what he hoped was anything but the final play of the night for an offense that, perhaps for the first time all year, looked capable of moving the football consistently against a formidable foe.



If you’ve ever seen pressure up close before, this was it: an entire group of people hanging on a moment, hoping and wishing for something — anything...