Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh tried to explain a walkoff fumble return for a touchdown in a 27-23 loss to No. 7 Michigan State at Michigan Stadium on Saturday in three-word fragments.

BENDER: Five things we learned | 10 seconds changed everything for Spartans

“Played really well,” Harbaugh said. “Played winning football. Competed like maniacs. Both teams did.

“Heck of a football game,” he continued. “Played winning football and didn’t get the result. Welcome to football.”

Welcome to Michigan football, where almost every coach has one of those Big House stories. Gary Moeller knows about Kordell Stewart’s Hail Mary in 1994. Lloyd Carr watched Appalachian State upset the Wolverines in 2007. The Spartans tagged Harbaugh with his first Big Ten loss, and it might go down as his most-infamous Big Ten loss. Debate the rankings of those three losses all you want.

This ranks right up there with “The Miracle at Michigan” and “The Horror.” Blake O’Neill’s fumble, corresponding punt attempt and the end result — Michigan State’s Jalen-Watts Jackson’s improbable scoop-and-score — happened in a Big Ten game. A Big Ten rivalry game. A Big Ten rivalry game against an in-state rival that has now won seven of the last nine in the series.

“Ultimately played winning football,” Harbaugh said. “What do you say about the last play? It was unfortunate. … Didn’t get the result.”

Didn’t get a win in the first year against an in-state rival. Bennie Oosterbaan is the last Michigan coach to beat Michigan State in his first season, way back in the national championship season in 1948.

Harbaugh is building toward something like that now. Jake Rudock didn’t throw an interception. The defense played tough, despite losing leading tackler Joe Bolden to a targeting penalty in the first half. Jabrill Peppers made both plays on both sides of the ball and in the return game.

This looked like the continuation of the coronation. Then that miracle mistake happened at the worst possible time, a time when you could hear a stadium filled with 111,740 collectively gasp at once. Harbaugh was left to explain his conversation with O’Neill afterward.

“Talked to him,” Harbaugh said. “He said he bobbled it. He still thought he could get the ball kicked. … It was a mistake. A mistake was made. Mistakes were made.”

This serves as a reminder that the Spartans aren’t going away anytime soon. Taking control of the state won’t come nearly as easy as it did under Bo Schembechler, who lost his first one against the Spartans but finished 17-4 against the in-state rivals. Schembechler essentially wiped Michigan State off the Big Ten landscape for two decades. Harbaugh won’t have it easy. Every game will be a fight. 

“Overcame so much, calls that were made and calls that weren’t made,” Harbaugh said. “They just kept fighting. Overcame so much in the ball game.” 

Michigan showed up for that fight. They just didn’t finish it.