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.

