THE MICHIGAN
DAILY TOP-10 POLL
2. TCU: Horned Frogs, or
horny frogs?
1. OHIO STATE: The hairless
nuts finally decided on a
quarterback.
7. OREGON: Turns out
Eastern Washington’s math
tests are tougher than its
football team.
3. ALABAMA: Asked how he
chose his starting QB, Saban
replied, “Well, Jake Coker was
different from the rest of this
roster. He didn’t have sex with
his sister.”
9. USC: Trojans head coach
Steve Sarkisian stayed sober
for the entire game! And by
“entire game,” we mean “first
three quarters.”
4. BAYLOR: Baylor? I barely
know ‘er!
5. AUBURN: The Tigers won,
but the demon Cardinal on
Louisville’s helmet only grew
stronger.
6. MICHIGAN STATE:
Michigan State and Western
Michigan combined to score
61 points, but it would take an
entire season for those teams
to do that math.
8. NOTRE DAME: There was
a conspiracy theory on the
internet this weekend that
the popular image of Jesus
is actually Cesare Borgia.
10. GEORGIA: Chubb was
slow to start but finished hard,
leading to a 120-yard explosion.
He scored twice.
Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out
ballots, with first place votes receiving 10
points, second-place votes receiving nine,
and so on.
5B — September 8, 2015
SportsTuesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The good, the bad and the ugly
Butt catches
eight passes, but
Michigan loses
turnover battle
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
As much as we didn’t know
about the Michigan football
team going into the season
opener Thursday at Utah, most
of it shook out as expected.
Fifth-year
senior
Jake
Rudock started at quarterback.
Junior running back De’Veon
Smith started at running back
after being listed as No. 1 on the
depth chart. The defense out-
paced the offense, as it has for
most of the past two seasons.
In the end, the Wolverines
squandered some chances in
losing a back-and-forth game
in Salt Lake City. Here’s the
good, the bad and the ugly from
Thursday’s game:
The good
Junior tight end Jake Butt
was as good as advertised.
Before fall camp started, Michi-
gan coach Jim Harbaugh called
Butt the best pro tight end pros-
pect he’s ever had. Butt was
the Wolverines’ most viable
offensive
weapon,
catching
eight passes for 93 yards and
a touchdown. Michigan badly
needed the touchdown, too: He
pulled in a pass over the middle
through double coverage, cut-
ting the deficit to seven late in
the third quarter.
Butt’s
greater
impact,
though, was being a consis-
tent target in short-yardage
situations. Rudock completed
a four-yard pass to him on 3rd-
and-3 on the Wolverines’ first
possession, and he relied on
his tight end often as the game
went on.
Michigan was also strong
up front against Utah running
back Devontae Booker. Booker
ran for 1,512 yards and 10 touch-
downs last season, though just
34 of those yards came at Mich-
igan. The Wolverines limited
him again Thursday, this time
to 69 yards on 22 carries.
Smith broke a number of
tackles in limited open space.
Redshirt freshman Jabrill Pep-
pers took Michigan’s only kick
return 36 yards.
And on an off-field note, the
weather was good, the view was
beautiful and the Michigan fan
turnout strong.
The bad
The Wolverines could never
truly bottle up Utah quarter-
back Travis Wilson. The slip-
pery 6-foot-7, 233-pound senior
was more of a running threat
than in last year’s matchup,
when he rushed for just 25 yards
and missed part of the game
with an injury.
Thursday, he opened the
game by running on the first
three plays for 15 yards. He
finished with 53 yards on 12
carries, including a perfectly
executed fake jet sweep, when
he went 14 yards untouched into
the end zone. That put Michi-
gan in the first of two 14-point
deficits, though the Wolverines
had their chances.
Though improved, the run-
ning game struggled to gain
traction. Neither Smith nor
junior running back Ty Isaac
averaged more than three yards
per carry, and the longest run of
the game was seven yards.
The ugly
Michigan lost the turnover
battle, failing to improve on one
of its biggest weaknesses last
season.
After
throwing
just
five
interceptions last year, Rudock
threw three on Thursday. His
two years of experience gave
him the edge in the quarterback
competition, but miscues were
his downfall.
His first pick, which appeared
to happen because of a miscom-
munication with freshman wide
receiver Grant Perry, halted a
drive just shy of the red zone.
On his second, he overthrew
the receiver (also Perry). His
third was likely just a combi-
nation of Rudock forcing a late
throw and Utah defensive back
Justin Thomas making a play on
yet another attempted pass to
Perry. Thomas ran it back for a
touchdown to put the game out
of reach.
On the other side of the ball,
Michigan’s defense failed to
force any turnovers, save for
redshirt junior Jeremy Clark’s
interception on a Hail Mary
at the end of the first half.
Between one Michigan give-
away in scoring position, anoth-
er returned for a score and none
on the defensive end, it’s hard
not to point to turnovers as the
difference-maker.
The Wolverines have to clean
that up before Saturday’s home
opener against Oregon State.
If they do, they’ll have a good
chance to pick up the first win
of the Harbaugh era.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Junior tight end Jake Butt caught eight passes for 93 yards and a touchdown in Thursday’s 24-17 loss at Utah.