Second half dooms Michigan Wolverines

• Michigan has not defeated Ohio State in Columbus since 2000
• Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson had a spectacular first half, minus-2 yards in the second
• Michigan had three turnovers in the second half

COLUMBUS, Ohio – There was no emotion.

The Michigan football players and coach Brady Hoke sat underneath Ohio Stadium with little expression, just frustrated at their Saturday.

It was the last Saturday of their season and it ended with not enough fight in a 26-21 loss to Ohio State, one that apparently drained everything from them.

They knew the feeling of beating the Buckeyes from last season's streak-busting win in Ann Arbor and they knew what the intense past week of preparation felt like.

That left them only with reality, most of which was the knowledge that they let themselves down.

In the end, it was simple, the disappointment for the seniors.

"You don't want to come down here and lose," UM co-captain Jordan Kovacs said.

While it sounds obvious, limping to defeat makes it more difficult to take.

The second half for No. 20 Michigan (8-4, 6-2 Big Ten Legends) was agonizing: 57 yards of offense, three turnovers and the realization that even the impressive defense couldn't completely stop the slow death.

As Ohio State (12-0, 8-0 Leaders) kicked one field goal to take the lead and another to create the insurmountable five-point margin, Michigan kept looking for something special.

But special was standing on the sideline.

Denard Robinson, Michigan's four-year hero and the most productive quarterback in the program's 133-year history, was just watching on the final two drives. Not because he was injured, which had kept him out of 2½ games earlier this season, but because that's where the offensive coaches thought he belonged as they tried to pass their way (unsuccessfully) back into the game.

Robinson and Hoke said that was simply by design, the package Michigan was running. Yet it seemed like the end of Robinson's regular-season career and that of all the seniors could have been different than the Ohio State fans swarming the field to cheer their undefeated Buckeyes.

That was among the biggest frustrations for this Michigan team to look across and see Ohio State's perfect season, a team that beat them by less than a touchdown, and know that kept them from their first win in Columbus since 2000.

"It hurt, but we've just got to look at film and look at the mistakes that we made," Michigan senior receiver Roy Roundtree said.

At this point, with the bowl game five weeks away, there will be no rush. There's no Big Ten title game next week and no excitement about an outside shot at a BCS game for them. Just a few weeks of this game's disappointment setting in.

Without a running back after Fitz Toussaint's broken leg last week, Robinson became the tailback in the first half, even if often from the quarterback position. He starred with 124 rushing yards, including one more breakthrough memory with his 67-yard burst, tearing through two tacklers who sandwiched him at once.

But then it vanished after halftime with just minus-2 rushing yards as the Ohio State safeties stopped respecting his ability to pass -- he didn't attempt one, despite saying he was able to with his healing right elbow -- and kept the pressure on. The Buckeyes stuffed Robinson on a critical fourth-and-2 to open the second half and later forced Robinson and usual quarterback Devin Gardner to fumble and Gardner to throw a late interception.

That was enough to shut down the Wolverines, even though the Michigan defense did its best to hold the Buckeyes to field goals, even in adverse situations.

"It's hard to win football games when you turn the ball over four times, when you don't convert in short-yardage, and we didn't do that in the second half," Hoke said. "When you don't do that, you put more stress on your team."

This team has created enough stress this season, dropping all four key games away from home, each marred by turnover problems.

So the last Saturday seemed to fit unfortunately well.

Mark Snyder writes for the Detroit Free Press