iortMonday
*The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I November TO, 2014
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
The Michigan football team's defense recorded six sacks, and senior defensive end Frank Clark jumped the snap on a two-point conversion to help seal the win.
'M' tops 'Cats in ugly game
Quarterback Devin Gardner had an off afternoon, throwing two interceptions.
When winning
isn't what it
should be
Wolverines stop
Northwestern on
2-point conversion
to clinch win
By MAX COHEN
Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan football team
was able to ride a strong defen-
sive performance to a win over
Northwestern on Saturday,
combining for six turnovers in
a game that was scoreless at the
half.
But the Wolverines were able
to muster enough scoring to pull
out the last-second, 10-9 victory.
The win marked the first time
Michigan has won consecutive
games in more than a year.
The Daily looks at the good,
bad and ugly from the Wolver-
ines' narrow win.
The Good:
Michigan's defense seemed
to will the team to victory. The
unit bottled up the Wildcat
offense for most of the after-
noon, particularly in the first
three quarters.
Fifth-year senior linebacker
Jake Ryan and senior defensive
end Frank Clark were seemingly
all over the field throughout the
game. Ryan had 11 tackles and
an interception, consistently
anchoring the Wolverine line-
backer corps.
Clark helped make the game's
defining play, pursuing North-
western quarterback Trevor
Siemian on his two-point con-
version attempt until he slipped.
Clark spent much of the after-
noon in the Wildcats' backfield,
recording 2.5 tackles for a loss
and 1.5 sacks.
Michigan's defense had been
hoping for an increase in big,
game-altering plays after mak-
ing just a handfull of them in
previous weeks, and it came
through with six sacks and two
interceptions.
The Bad:
The Wolverine offense strug-
gled mightily throughout most
of the game. Because of the work
of the defense, the offense was
gifted tremendous field position
multiple times throughout the
game, but was frequently unable
to convert.
See UGLY, Page 2B
et me paint you a picture.
Ryan Field is so empty
at -
kickoff that
when North-
western
comes out of
the tunnel
you're almost
unaware of
the small ALEXA
crowd - half DETTELBACH
of which
is rooting
for Michigan - that doesn't
make much noise. An incred-
ible rendition of the National
Anthem from Jim Cornelison
opens up, and is one of the few
highlights on the afternoon.
And the crowd spends the next
three hours doing more laugh-
ing and groaning from missed
opportunities than cheering,
as the game ends with two
touchdowns and six combined
turnovers.
But most glaring of all, in
Michigan's ugly, ugly, ugly 10-9
See NOT PRETTY, Page 2B
LET'S BALL
The Michigan football team isn't the
attraction it once was. That role has been
taken over by the basketball team.
SportsMonday Column, Page 2B
BREAKING EVEN
The Michigan football team's win
brought it back to .500 and within a
victory of reaching bowl eligibility.
Page 4B