4B — September 21, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Five Things We
Learned: UNLV
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
The Michigan football team
earned
another
unexciting
victory.
For the second straight week,
the Wolverines rolled to an
easy win at Michigan Stadium,
this time against UNLV, 28-7.
Michigan plowed through the
Rebels’ defense for 254 rushing
yards, 6.5 per carry. Though
two long plays provided a few
fireworks, the ground game again
featured mostly short runs up the
middle, while the defense stifled
UNLV to protect a comfortable
lead.
While
Saturday’s
game
unfolded in a similar fashion to
last week’s, the Wolverines did
unveil some new wrinkles in
moving to 2-1 on the season.
Here are five things we learned
from Michigan’s win:
1. Michigan has a running
back
situation,
if
not
a
controversy
After the game, Michigan
coach Jim Harbaugh refused
to
acknowledge
a
running
back controversy between the
Wolverines’ ball carriers.
“It’s as clear as I can tell you,”
Harbaugh said. “The more good
players that we can have, the
better for our football team.
We’re encouraging that as much
as we possibly can, and our
players are responding to it.”
Still,
Saturday’s
game
considered,
Michigan
has
a
decision at the very least.
Junior De’Veon Smith headed
into the day as the clear No. 1
running back after rushing 23
times for 126 yards against Oregon
State. But Smith couldn’t get
going against UNLV, totaling just
33 yards on 13 carries. Midway
through the third quarter, his
last two runs were stopped at the
line of scrimmage on 3rd- and
4th-and-1 from the UNLV 36-yard
line.
Redshirt
junior
Drake
Johnson and junior Ty Isaac —
who ran for a 76-yard touchdown
in the second quarter — took over
the workload from there.
Johnson
and
Isaac
both
dwarfed Smith in yards per carry,
perhaps giving themselves an
opportunity to see more playing
time moving forward. Smith
still received as many carries as
Johnson and Isaac combined,
though, and he’ll likely be the
starter again next week. But
Harbaugh and the staff proved
they aren’t afraid to feed the hot
hand, so Johnson or Isaac could
see their numbers called again at
some point.
2. The Michigan secondary
might finally be worth fearing
The Wolverines have insisted
they’ve seen their defense force
loads of turnovers in practice,
just not in games yet. Losing the
turnover battle likely cost them
the game at Utah in the season
opener.
So they made it a goal to
change that Saturday against an
overmatched UNLV team, and
they accomplished it.
“You’ve got to have that, or
the (opposing) offense has no
fear when it comes to throwing
the ball,” Harbaugh said. “The
more you can get your hands on
the football, the tighter you make
the quarterbacks throw, and the
execution and the timing has got
to be really good by an offense.
Can’t just feel like they can throw
it into your secondary with no
consequences.”
3. Jake Rudock’s turnover
problem is not yet solved
Michigan
passing
game
coordinator Jedd Fisch said
Wednesday that if Rudock could
just string together a few games
with no interceptions, he could
bring down his average from two
per game, where it was last week.
Rudock
is
now
averaging
fewer than two, but he did throw
his fifth pick of the year against
UNLV, bringing him to his
2014 season total at Iowa. This
one came early in the second
quarter with Michigan ahead,
14-0. Redshirt freshman Jabrill
Peppers had just returned a punt
24 yards to the Michigan 48-yard
line, so the Wolverines had a
short field to build on their lead.
Redshirt
freshman
Wilton
Speight has come in to run out
the clock in each of the past two
weeks, so Michigan’s apparent
plan is to redshirt junior Shane
Morris and stick with Rudock.
That said, Rudock will have to
limit his miscues going forward
in order for the Wolverines to
keep winning.
4. John Baxter’s methods
are showing progress
Harbaugh brought the highly-
respected Baxter to Ann Arbor to
manage the special teams after a
year off last season. Michigan’s
unit was average at best in 2014.
Baxter’s coaching appears to
be showing results, though they
might be small. The Wolverines
were within inches of blocking
multiple punts against Oregon
State, and the effort was more
tangible this week. Peppers broke
six tackles on his 24-yard punt
return — for context, Michigan
had 13 returns for 88 yards all of
last season.
5. Bold Prediction: Peppers
will score a touchdown in the
next two weeks.
Peppers
drew
tremendous
hype as a five-star defensive back
recruit last year, most notably a
comparison to Charles Woodson.
To be fair, it was probably
unrealistic to expect a player to
make significant contributions in
all three phases of the game as a
freshman.
Peppers
brought
Michigan
fans back down to Earth after
he injured his ankle early in the
season, playing in just three
games.
But he has returned to form
this year, proving that the
hype was warranted. He has
started every game at safety and
been an asset to the Michigan
secondary, so there’s always the
small possibility he could run
back an interception. He has
been the Wolverines’ most active
playmaker in the return game.
Though he has been forced to
call for several fair catches, he
has a 36-yard kick return and
Saturday’s electrifying 24-yard
punt return.
And it wouldn’t be a shock to
see him on offense when Big Ten
play starts Oct. 3 — no one in the
program has ruled it out.
There’s
a
big
difference
between almost running a kick
back and actually doing it, but
Peppers is getting closer.
FOOTBALL
THE MICHIGAN DAILY TOP-10 POLL
T-2. TCU: Is this the point where
Texas fans jump ship and claim
they were rooting for TCU all
along?
1. OHIO STATE: Number 5 ranking @ The Michigan
Daily Top Ten. Oh Wait, number 1. It’s changed,
HAPPY?
9. ALABAMA: Someday, you’ll
read all about Saturday’s loss
to Ole Miss in an unauthorized
Nick Saban biography that he
will publicly condemn.
T-2. MICHIGAN STATE:
Helmet-to-helmet contact on
a member of the United States
Armed Forces when you’re up
three touchdowns in the fourth
quarter, eh?
6. BAYLOR: Baylor had a bye
this week. Didn’t they already
do that when they played
Lamar?
4. OLE MISS: They say a tie is
like kissing your sister, but the
Rebels beat Alabama outright
on Saturday, and both teams
kissed their sisters anyway.
7. NOTRE DAME: They’re
just lucky they’re not playing
Michigan this year...
5. LSU: If you say Leonard
Fournette’s name three times in
a mirror, he will appear, and then
you will die a most painful death.
8. GEORGIA: Chubb went way
harder than the Cocks.
10. UCLA: If the Bruins’
freshman QB keeps winning,
they may rename their stadium
the Rosen Bowl.
Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with first-place votes receiving 10
points, second-place votes receiving nine and so on.
ROBERT DUNNE/Daily
Junior running back Ty Isaac ran for a team-high 114 yards on Saturday.