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Michigan's 'Surrender Cobra' fan basks in fame of infamous loss
It’s not often that a reaction to one of the most bonkers endings in college football history overshadows the final play of the game, itself, but that’s been the story of Chris Baldwin’s life since Oct. 17, 2015.
It was on that date that national TV cameras caught Baldwin, then a sophomore engineering major at the University of Michigan, with his hands on his head and his mouth agape in the immediate aftermath of the Wolverines’ stunning defeat at the hands of intrastate rival Michigan State.
Screen shots of a crestfallen Baldwin circulated rapidly around the web in the hours that followed, and though Baldwin’s “surrender cobra” pose hasn’t exactly become the next crying Jordan in the months since, his life has still changed forever as a result.
“I definitely did not expect it,” Baldwin told FOX Sports of his newfound fame earlier this week, as Michigan prepares to face Michigan State for the first time since the loss. “Of course, soon after the game I saw my picture and realized that it was a big talking point, at least for that day. But I figured we’d move on to the 8:00 games that night, and we’d move on to NFL Sunday, and certainly by the next Saturday, when the new slate of college football rolls around, it’s not even on the top of everybody’s mind.
“So I thought that would pretty much be the end of it, that maybe you’d see it in a end-of-season recap kind of thing,” Baldwin, 20, continued. “And I certainly didn’t see it living through the offseason. But now it’s even more popular as the game approaches.”
Moments before Baldwin’s post-loss cameo, No. 12 Michigan held a 23-21 lead over No. 7 Michigan State and faced a 4th-and-2 from the Spartans’ 47-yard line with 10 seconds to play. All the Wolverines needed was to get a punt off and the game would have likely been over, and with one of the Big Ten’s top punters in Blake O’Neill to rely on, the victory seemed like a virtual lock.
Instead, O’Neill mishandled a low but field-able snap from Scott Sypniewski, then tried to get the kick off rather than take a sack as the Spartans' rush overtook the backfield. The result was an O’Neill fumble at the Michigan 40 that landed directly in the lap of Michigan State safety Jalen Watts-Jackson at the Wolverines’ 37.
At that point, the only Michigan player standing between Watts-Jackson and the end zone was fifth-year senior defensive back Wayne Lyons, and after Spartans cornerback Jermaine Edmondson put a block on Lyons, Watts-Jackson’s path to the end zone -- and to victory -- was clear.
“As it unfolded, I was mostly in shock,” Baldwin recalled. “The play was coming right at me, basically -- I was sitting in that corner -- so I really got a good view of it, and I remember looking at the clock as Watts-Jackson was getting closer and closer to me and to the end zone and thinking about whether time was going to expire if we could force him out or get a tackle.
“Because if they tackled him short of the goal line with even a second left, they’d probably get a chip shot field goal and the game would be over anyway,” Baldwin continued. “So I was more concerned, really, with the clock, while trusting that our guys were going to get to him. But they never did.”
The resulting loss was Michigan’s seventh in its last eight meetings with Michigan State and effectively ended the team’s Big Ten and national championship hopes. While many criticized coach Jim Harbaugh’s decision to punt, Baldwin says he doesn’t second-guess the call.
“My friends and I talked about it in the moment, and there’s been talk of whether they should have snapped it to (quarterback Jake) Rudock and let him run around and throw it away with a couple seconds left,” Baldwin said. “But Blake O’Neill had done so good all season and in that game specifically, that you certainly don’t expect anything to go that wrong.
“It seems odd to think of a punter as an MVP candidate for the team, but he was that good, really, all season,” he added. “So you definitely felt confident, even more so than you would with any other punter, that things would go well.”
Baldwin said he also doesn’t question O’Neill’s handling of the play after bobbling the snap.
“You could argue that he probably should have fallen on the ball, but that’s a tough thought to have, really, any time,” Baldwin said. “But even if he does the exact same things that he does, you still have to have Watts-Jackson, basically, in perfect position. It was such a lucky bounce that the ball pretty much hit him in stride. If there’s any sort of delay in the ball getting to him or him picking up the ball, there’s a good chance he doesn’t take it all the way to the end zone.”
However, that’s not to say Baldwin didn’t take the loss as hard as it appeared on television.
A Saginaw native and lifelong Michigan fan, Baldwin had a childhood neighbor with UM season tickets. He grew up going to games at the Big House, and called the defeat the most deflating Wolverines loss he can recall -- worse than the team’s historic loss to then-FCS Appalachian State at home in the first game of the 2007 season.
“I can’t think of anything that really comes close,” Baldwin said. “We’ve had some dark years overall as a program, but the expectations for the season were still super high. It was nearly a top 10 matchup, both teams with a shot at the Big Ten title, a shot at the playoffs, and it was going to be a statement win, not only for the season, but for the direction of the program.
“It was going to validate all the work the team had put in,” he continued. “And it was going to be the real beginning of the Harbaugh era, where we really saw that things were changing.”
Instead, Michigan had to settle for a berth in the Citrus Bowl, while Michigan State overcame a loss to Nebraska two weeks later to win the Big Ten championship game over Iowa and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff. Fortunately for Baldwin and the majority of the rest of the 111,739 Michigan fans in attendance for the Week 7 loss, Alabama beat the Spartans 38-0 in the national semifinal, ending the Spartans’ title run in Arlington, Texas.
“Of course I was rooting against them,” Baldwin said, “Because you didn’t want them to realize the potential that you thought your own team might have had.”
Michigan has continued to improve in its second season under Harbaugh and sits at 7-0 and No. 2 in the country heading into Saturday’s rematch in East Lansing. Michigan State, meanwhile, will enter the game looking to snap a five-game losing streak. After last year, Baldwin knows better than to take any win for granted.
“You don’t want to be talking about playing in the Big Ten title game or playing in the playoffs yet, but it’s certainly a thought in your mind because it’s just the reality of being undefeated and ranked No. 2,” he said. “But at the same time, I remember when I was growing up and Michigan generally was a better team than Michigan State and it didn’t seem to matter. State always seemed to play their best game when they had to face Michigan.
“You just never really know,” Baldwin concluded. “And I guess in college football that’s just kind of how it goes.”
You can follow Sam Gardner on Twitter or email him at samgardnerfox@gmail.com.
Michigan's 'Surrender Cobra' fan enjoyed the spotlight, but now hopes to celebrate https://t.co/5UKAulOKAz
— MLive (@MLive) October 27, 2016
