4B - November 24, 2014 SportsMonday The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com I Five things we learned: Maryland FOOTBALL Most positives overshadowed By MAX COHEN Daily Sports Editor After three weeks without a loss, you had to see this coming given the way this season has progressed for the Michigan football team. The Wolverines fell to Maryland, 23-16, Saturday afternoon at the Big House. Here are five thingswe learned in the Wolverines' loss. 1. The fans got it right. Throughout the season, there hasbeenagreatdealofdiscussion about whether Michigan's fans are behind the team.At times,the divide between the program and its fans has seemed significant, with both sides pointing fingers. But when the team's 12 seniors were honored on the field priorto Saturday's game for Senior Day, each received a loud ovation for his service to the program. Because fans have been discontent throughout much of the season, the reaction the seniors would get on Senior Day was unclear before the game. But the fans who arrived early gave the players the recognition they deserved with loud applause. 2. A higher power doesn't want Michigan fans to have fun. In a season full of strife, moments of fun - even brief ones - have been hard to come by. That's why all of Michigan Stadium roared in the third quarter when junior wide receiver Dennis Norfleet picked up a bouncing punt and gashed through Maryland's coverage into the end zone. It seemed like a questionable decision at first. Cover men on the Terrapins had converged upon the ball when it had hit the ground. If Norfleet hadn't fielded the punt cleanly, it likely would've been a turnover. But when Norfleet picked up the ball and found a seam in the coverage, the crowd rose while he raced toward what would Senior quarterback Devin Gardner would have benefitted from a better performance by wide receiver Devin Funchess. have been the first touchdown of his career. When Norfleet's touchdown was erased from the scoreboard because of a penalty, so was the fun in Saturday's game. 3. This offense needs more from Funchess. Junior wide receiver Devin Funchess has been a tantalizing player all season. He's teeming with ability, the kind he displayed in his three-touchdown performanceintheseasonopener against Appalachian State. But in recent weeks, he has disappeared. Against Maryland, Funchess caught five passes for 30 yards, statistics that hardly resemble those of a team's best wide receiver. Funchess has clearly been missing something the past few weeks. He has struggled to catch passes, something that had previously not been a huge issue. On 4th-and-3 with 4:21 remaining Saturday, Gardner tried to find Funchess for a drive-extending first down, but Funchess couldn't come up with a ball that hit his hands. Though it might've been a missed defensive pass interference call, a catch in a critical situation could've ended Funchess' slump. The play ended up being theteam's final offensive play of the game. Instead, Michigan's offense will go into Columbus with a sour taste in its mouth: 4. Ojemudia is a capable replacement for Frank Clark. After senior defensive end Frank Clark was kicked off the team last week for an alleged incident involving domestic violence, Hoke pointed to junior defensive end Mario Ojemudia as his likely replacement. Though Ojemudia wasn't as dominant as Clark had been in recent weeks, his impact on the game was felt. Ojemudia recorded five tackles, including 0.5 tackles for a loss. He was also able to bat down one of quarterback C.J. Brown's pass attempts in the backfield on a hurry. The extra snaps in the final two games of the season because of Clark's absence will likely benefit Ojemudia next year when he likely would've taken Clark's place anyway. 5.Boldprediction: Michigan will stay close with Ohio State next weekend... For the first 10 minutes of the game. Ultimately, the Wolverines won't have the offensive firepower to keep up with the Buckeyes for a full 60 minutes, or maybe even a quarter. But enjoy the early portion of the game, when you'll believe an upset is possible. ByALEXA DETTELBACH Daily Sports Editor With the season on the line, the Michigan football team came up short in a 23-16 home loss to Maryland. The loss all but ended the Wolverines' hope for a bowl bid with a game at No. 7 Ohio State, the last chance for Michigan to reach six wins. The Daily picks out the good, the bad and the ugly from Saturday's Senior Day loss. The good: After a loss like Saturday's, it's hard to look at the good,but there were some standouts. Michigan's running game, which Michigan coach Brady Hoke pointed to as the team's bright spot, had its most successful game of the season against a Power 5 team. The Wolverines ran for 292 yards with redshirt sophomore runningback Drake Johnson's 94 .ards leadingthe way. Fifth-year senior quarterback Devin Gardner wasn't far behind Johnson's production, rushing for 82 yards and a touchdown in addition to his lackluster performance in the passing game - he threw for 146 yards on 13-of-24 passing. Hoke also said Gardner was healthy for the first time in five weeks, and he looked it. Gardner flashed the burst on the ground he has shown Michigan fans from time to time, and it helped keep the Terrapins' defense on its toes. Redshirt junior fullback Joe Kerridge also got in on the fun when he ran for 52 yards on a fake punt during Michigan's first possession of the game. Despite the strong ground game, it wasn't enough offense to give the Wolverines the win they needed. Thehad: After starting strong - Kerridge's run and three field goals - in the first half, Michigan's special-teams unit made two huge mistakes that arguably cost it the game. The first came early in the third quarterwhenjuniorDennis Norfleet took a punt to the house, but the play was calledback on an illegalblock inthe back almost 20 yards away from the action. The second special-teams mistake came just as the Terrapins' kicker put the ball through the uprights, when Michigan was flagged for roughing the kicker and Maryland was given a fresh set of downs. The Terrapins ultimately punched the ball into the end zone to break the tie and put them up for good. The ugly: The Michigan football team. Should it really be anything else? The Wolverines have had a long, long, long season. And every time you thought it couldn't get any worse for Michigan, it managed to surprise you. So when the Wolverines had the opportunity to end their disappointing home season with a win that would propel them into bowl season, they came up short. To add to the mess, Michigan's 100,000-plus attendancestreakisbarelyintact. When the stadium announced the attendance against Maryland to be 101,717, the crowd booed because the numbers looked like a stretch and were stillthe lowest of the season. In the end, Michigan's season is a week from ending and, honestly, it couldn't end faster. MEWS BASKETBALL Detroit game preps Michigan for Ducks The breakthrough game a By MAX BULTMAN Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's basketball team will find out Monday if it can learn from its mistakes. The Wolverines (3-0) head to New York to face Oregon in the 2014 Progressive Legends Classic hoping to find some consistency in their shooting. But if Michigan's showing against Detroit - which plays an upbeat style similar to Oregon - is any indication, the Ducks could be a tough test for a Wolverines team still trying to orient its freshmen. Like Michigan,theDucks(3-0) lost a pair of key contributors from last year's squad in Mike Moser and Jason Calliste, who averaged 13.2 and 12.7 points per game, respectively. Moser also was the team's leading rebounder, grabbing more than seven boards per contest. But senior guard Joseph Young, who was the team's key scorer a season ago, returns this year to lead the Oregon offense. The second-team All- Pac-12 selection from 2013-14 is averaging 26 points per game through the Ducks' first three games. And if Michigan stuck around the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee after its NCAA Tournament victory over Texas last season, it saw Young go off for 29 points against Wisconsin. The Wolverines will try to counter Youngwith strongguard play of their own. Junior Caris Levert is coming off a 21-point showing Thursday against the Titans, in which he scored 17 points in the second half alone. Sophomore Derrick Walton Jr. has taken a larger share of the offensive load as well, averaging 17.7 points and six boards per game. But freshman forward Kameron Chatman, a highly touted recruit, hasn't found the same type of success. Chatman is shooting 3-for-I6 from the floor in his first three college games, somewhat concerning considering the competition will only strengthen from here on out. Michigan coach John Beilein, though, said he's sticking with Chatman despite the freshman's early struggles. "(We will) continue to give him more opportunities to grow at that position," Beilein said in a teleconference Saturday. "Usually it's more defense than offense for freshmen. But he's really played well in practices. He has a great attitude. Just, in games, the shot hasn't fallen." The shots especially weren't falling in the first half of Thursday's game against Detroit, when the Wolverines went 3-of-12 from 3-point range in the opening frame. And in an offense largely dependent on shooting beyond the are, 25 percent won't cut it. Sophomore forward Zak Irvin said the Titans' defense presented a problem for the Wolverines, forcing them to shoot early in the shot clock. "We got sped up a little bit with the way they were playing defensively," he said. Oregon plays a similar tempo to Detroit, which could mean more of the same offensive options for Michigan. College basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy has the Ducks' competition-adjusted tempo rating listed at 70.3, nearly identical to the Titans' 69.9. Michigan, meanwhile, plays at a 64.8 tempo. Pomeroy's ratings are based on how many possessions ateam would have in a game against an average Division I team, and the disparity between the Wolverines and the Ducks aligns with Irvin's assessment of the Detroit game. Against Oregon, which is even more athletic than Detroit, the Wolverines won't be able to afford similar lapses. At longlast, the Michigan hockeyteam had its breakthrough. At long last, the team with enough talentto garner a top-10 national ranking looked the part. Consider this a warning. In the first 10 games, the ZACH Wolverines SHAW had been unable to put the pieces together. Whether it was nightmarish defensive miscues, a stymied offense or sloppy goaltending, something seemed to prevent Michigan from clicking for an entire game, resulting in the team's worst start in 28 years. But that all changed in Saturday night's 8-1 win over Penn State. The team with great expectations finally met them on the ice, dominating in all areas in its breakthrough win. At long last, Boo Nieves looks like the star he was supposed to be all along. Findingnew life on the second line, the junior forward maneuvered his way around a defender before firinga backhand shot over Penn State goaltender Eamon McAdam's left shoulder, breaking the scoreless tie early in the second period. The tally was the second in three games for Nieves, already matching last season's total for the former second-round NHL draft pick. At long last, scoring came easy. Through the first four periods of the weekend series, McAdams had stopped 51 of 53 shots, bringing back haunting memories of teammate Matthew Skoff's dominant performance that denied Michigan a postseason berth last season. But following Nieves' goal, things were different. The Wolverines scored two more times in the period, thentacked a 4 JAMES COLLER/Daily The Michigan hockey team finally lived up to its potential Saturday in an 8-1 thrashing of Penn State at Yost Ice Arena. on five more in the third on just 12 shots. With swift passing, strong shifts and timely shots, the Wolverines - once dead last in the Big Ten in scoring - are now No. 4 nationally with,3.64 goals per game. At long last, JT Compher is on the board. With a spoon-fed pass from The tea junior Max Shuart, great exp Compher didn't finally n think twice about the opportunity. All season, the competitive sophomore forward had grown frustrated at his inability to score. Officials, reviews, posts, position changes, hot goalies - everything seemed to come between Compher and the back of the net. But with eight-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game, Compher would not be denied. Michigan's second-leading scorer last season rifled a one- timer past McAdams on a shot so pure, Compher celebrated before the puck officially made it in. The reawakened forward wasn't done. Less than four minutes later, Compher struck again, sounding the horn and sending a message to the rest of college hockey that he is willing and able to make up for lost time. Im with At long last, Zach ectatons Nagelvoort doesn't just net them hold the starting goaltender job; he owns it. For many teams, position battles are a good problem that promote depth and competition, but when neither Nagelvoortnor junior Steve Racine appeared up to the task, the goalie battle became a distraction capable of swallowing Michigan alive. Despite less-than-stellar performances, Michigan coach Red Berenson stuck with Nagelvoort, mercifully bringing consistency to the team. The sophomore reinforced his coach's faith and finally looked like a worthy starter Saturday, stopping 40 shots and scrambling all around to keep Michigan alive when the game was close, and agonizing the Nittany Lions when it wasn't. For the first time all season, there was no doubt in Yost Ice Arena that Nagelvoort was right where he belonged. At long last, the Wolverines look like themselves. Dominant on offense, defense and in goal - this was the game Michigan fans had been waiting for all season. A game the Wolverines needed if they want to return to the postseason. Immediately following the goal that started it all, Nieves dragged his hand across the Yost ice longer than usual before pumping his fist to the screaming crowd - feeling the moment, soaking up the success and having fun. At long last, his team is now ready to do the same. You've been warned. Shaw can be reached at zachshaw@umich.edu and on Twitter at @_zachshaw. /.