2B — September 21, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Jim Harbaugh’s
cast of characters
T
he Michigan football
team built its lead
against UNLV on
Saturday on a receiving
touchdown
by a running
back and
a rushing
touchdown
by a receiver.
Then, a
backup
running back
broke loose
for a 76-yard
touchdown
to send the Wolverines into
halftime ahead 21-0.
Finally, to cap Michigan’s
scoring, its graduate-transfer
quarterback checked down
to a backup fullback to reach
UNLV’s half-yard line. The
backup fullback punched it in
from there.
That’s the way things went
for the Wolverines on Saturday.
Their best offensive weapon,
junior tight end Jake Butt, didn’t
catch a pass until the fourth
quarter. Their starting running
back came out of the game for
two series in the second half
and finished with just 33 yards
on 13 carries. And their defense,
which — despite the emergence
of redshirt junior defensive
lineman Chris Wormley and
a handful of other names —
lacks a true star, protected the
lead for the duration of the
afternoon.
And that’s the way things will
have to be for Michigan for the
time being. In his first season,
without time to overhaul the
roster to his liking, Michigan
coach Jim Harbaugh has pieced
together a combination of
contributors in hopes of creating
a successful season out of what
he inherited.
He wants tight ends? Fine.
He’ll rely on Butt, mix in senior
A.J. Williams and redshirt
sophomore Khalid Hill, groom
redshirt freshman Ian Bunting
and convert former defensive
end Henry Poggi.
He wants fullbacks? No
problem. He’ll start Joe
Kerridge, then go to Sione
Houma — who scored his first
career touchdown on a one-yard
run — when Kerridge leaves the
game with an ankle injury.
He wants power running? OK.
But he’ll have to do it with the
offensive line he was given, one
of the more maligned units in the
country the past two years.
And with two years of
experience
together
and the help
of the new
coaching staff,
the offensive
line has come
together to
be at least
serviceable,
paving the
way for 479
rushing yards
in the past two games.
As for who gets those rushing
yards, that depends on the week,
too. Last week against Oregon
State, it was junior De’Veon
Smith, who broke out for 23
carries, 126 yards and three
touchdowns. This week, junior
Ty Isaac was the leading rusher
with 114 yards on eight carries,
including a 76-yard touchdown
in the second quarter.
After the game, Harbaugh
denied — even mocked —
the idea of a running-back
controversy.
“I think we’ll play as many
good players as we can play and
find roles to try to put them in
as many roles as they can be
successful,” Harbaugh said. “It’s
a team game.”
Eventually, maybe Harbaugh
will want a back who carries
the ball at least 20 times every
game, who gains at least 100
yards almost every game,
who milks the clock to secure
a victory at the end of every
game.
But maybe that’s not what
he has right now. He has had a
100-yard rusher in two straight
games. If it’s two different
100-yard rushers, so be it. That
might have to do for now.
“That’s part of game planning
— putting in the player you
want for the play,” Harbaugh
said. “Trying to use everybody’s
talent. Trying
to get as
many people
involved as
possible. I
think we’re
doing a good
job of that
at multiple
positions —
running back,
fullback, tight
end.”
Fullback has been a key
position in almost all of
Harbaugh’s offenses. Saturday,
when Kerridge went down,
Harbaugh turned to Houma for
Michigan’s fourth touchdown.
He knows what he wants his
team to look like. If he has to
shuffle and swap and fill in the
gaps initially, he’ll do it.
Harbaugh acted like he
didn’t understand a question
about position controversies.
He just doesn’t worry about
them.
“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.”
The only position he was
prepared to answer was
quarterback.
Ah, yes, the quarterback. The
clear starter there is Rudock, a
makeshift solution himself who
transferred from Iowa after he
lost the starting job at the end
of last season. He had another
mixed game Saturday, finishing
14-for-22 for 123 yards with a
touchdown and an interception
— his fifth in three games,
equaling his total from all of last
season.
But he did his job, in
Harbaugh’s eyes. No one
seems to have a major role, but
everyone has some role.
“His job is to win football
games,” Harbaugh said. “I
thought he did a good job.
Managed the game well. For
the most part, the offense was
moving darn near every time we
got the ball.”
That’s more than Michigan
could say at this time last year.
Harbaugh hasn’t magically
turned any players into
superstars — as some may
have thought he would — but
the improvement is clear. One
of the effects of the constant
competition he enforces is that
one player is always ready to
step in.
Together, they make up an
interesting cast of characters.
A receiving running back, a
running receiver, a backup
running back and a backup
fullback might not be the ideal
situation for Harbaugh in the
long run. But they’re what he
has for now, so he has to make
it work.
Lourim can be reached
at jlourim@umich.edu or
on Twitter @jakelourim.
JAKE
LOURIM
“His job is to win
football games. I
thought he did a
good job.”
Waves, wins
and worry-
free football
The tension in the Big House
was palpable in the dwindling
minutes of the third quarter of
Saturday’s
Michigan
football
game. The
fans, all
108,683 of
them, were
attempting
to complete
an entire
cycle of the
traditional
Michigan
Stadium wave.
The first time around, they
raised their arms in normal
wave fashion, rhythmically
lifting themselves from their
benches only to sit back down a
moment later. They transitioned
into a slow-motion wave and
then a fast wave that flashed
around the stadium in a blur.
When that lap was finished, they
reversed directions and sent the
wave around the stadium the
other way. It was nice and easy,
creating a relaxed atmosphere
that led to reverberating cheers.
But then came the tough part:
the split wave. It was a daring
feat, one that only the bravest
fans could pull off. “Oohs” and
“aahs” were audible in the crowd.
The fans sent the wave in two
opposite directions at the same
time, until the two separate
waves met in the middle and
continued on their respective
paths. The stadium roared.
They’d pulled off the most
difficult feat of them all.
Beneath them, the Wolverines
were playing a game, and nobody
cared.
It was a beautiful kind of
apathy. For the first time in
years, the reason people didn’t
care wasn’t because the students
were too drunk or the alumni too
disgruntled at the prospect of
another lost season.
It was because nobody in
Michigan Stadium experienced
a second of doubt Saturday that
the Wolverines could possibly
lose to UNLV. This might seem
trivial to older Michigan fans, the
ones who have lived most of their
lives watching Michigan beat the
slobber out of inferior opponents.
But for several years now,
those moments of supreme
confidence have disappeared.
Sure, Jake Rudock might not
have played to your liking, and
Michigan should probably have
converted on that pesky drive
when it ran the ball on 3rd-and-1
and 4th-and-1. But look at that
scoreboard! It read, “Michigan
21, UNLV 0.”
Cue the wave.
When was the last time
Michigan won two games
in a row by at least three
touchdowns like it has the
last two weekends? October
2012. This year’s seniors were
freshmen, and the Wolverines
trounced an inept Illinois team
on Oct. 13 for the second of those
three-touchdown wins. Three
years ago, it poured throughout
the day, just like it did before
Saturday’s game. But Saturday,
the rain dissipated just in time
for Jim Harbaugh to run onto
the field to coach the Wolverines
at home for the second time.
There are naysayers who
claim that Harbaugh hasn’t
done anything yet, that all of the
hype is overblown for somebody
who probably won’t even win
the Big Ten for a few years. But
if you were at the Big House
on Saturday, you know that
something is different. It feels
different.
For two straight weeks, you’ve
been able to watch Michigan
cruise past a lesser team and
then go home and sit on your
couch and watch as other
historically proud programs
struggle against MAC teams
and the like. Did you see that
Ohio State game? Spoiler alert:
The Buckeyes won, but come on.
Those fans weren’t doing the
wave in the third quarter.
For once, the team threatened
by an upset wasn’t Michigan.
There won’t be an Appalachian
State or an Akron or a Toledo
this year. There haven’t been
nails gnawed to the point of
blood or hair ripped from the
scalp because of close games
in the fourth quarter against a
weak non-conference opponent.
For the first time in too long,
things have unfolded exactly
the way they were supposed to,
two weeks in a row. UNLV was
overmatched this week, and so
was Oregon State last week.
Twice, Michigan gave you a
Saturday free of worry. Twice,
the other side had no hope, save
for a few minutes in the first
quarter when Oregon State stood
a slight chance.
The wins were so easy, so
automatic, that Ryan Glasgow
was angry that Michigan had
allowed UNLV to score at all,
and Harbaugh ranted that he
will never use the word satisfied
in terms of football, that even
blowout wins aren’t enough.
The Wolverines are still a
rebuilding team, far from a
finished product. Harbaugh
didn’t recruit most of the
athletes on the field, and even
the most experienced Michigan
players have barely had a taste
of winning at the college level.
They have almost lost to Akron
and Connecticut in the final
minutes of games, and they have
been destroyed by better teams
from the first quarter on. But
for two games in September,
in the year when everything is
supposed to be changing, the
Wolverines showed signs of
being a competent football team.
“They did what we asked
them to do, and that was take
care of business,” Harbaugh said.
It might not seem like much,
but that’s exactly what the
Wolverines needed the last two
weeks. Nobody knows how this
team will deal with Big Ten play
or even a solid BYU team next
week. Michigan’s flaws could
rear their ugly heads, or the
confidence from two blowout
wins could create momentum.
But just in case things turn
out well, the fans will be ready.
They’ve already had practice
doing the wave.
Cohen can be reached at
maxac@umich.edu and on
Twitter @MaxACohen.
The good, bad and
ugly: ‘M’ vs. UNLV
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan football team
cruised to its second win of the
season Saturday, downing UNLV,
28-7. For the most part, it was a
boring affair.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
ran his usual ground-and-pound
offense, wearing down the Rebels
and the clock in a game that went
by fast but felt slow.
The
Daily
looks
at
the
good, bad and ugly from the
Wolverines’ win.
The good
Explosive runs worked for the
Wolverines on Saturday.
Up 7-0 in the first, redshirt
junior receiver Jehu Chesson
took a jet sweep 36 yards for
a score. Then junior running
back Ty Isaac broke a 76-yard
touchdown
along
the
left
sideline on a play that Harbaugh
initially thought would result in
a tackle for loss. Fortunately for
Harbaugh and Isaac, fifth-year
senior center Graham Glasgow
got out ahead and plowed the
way for Michigan’s longest rush
since 2012.
Redshirt junior running back
Drake
Johnson
carried
five
times for 28 yards on the day, an
encouraging sight for a player
coming off his second anterior
cruciate
ligimant
tear
last
November.
On defense, the Wolverines
had two interceptions, winning
the turnover battle for just the
second time in their last 16 games.
Redshirt junior Jeremy Clark
picked off his second pass of the
season at the end of the third
quarter, and junior cornerback
Channing Stribling snatched the
first pick of his career.
The bad
Fifth-year senior quarterback
Jake
Rudock
looked
underwhelming, at best, against
the Rebels.
Rudock
totaled
just
123
yards on 14-of-22 passing to go
with a touchdown pass and an
interception, and neither the
touchdown nor the interception
was particularly consequential.
The score was a dump off to
De’Veon Smith, who did most of
the work, and the interception
came when the game was out of
hand.
Harbaugh
said
after
the
game he was happy with the
timing between Rudock and
his receivers, but on multiple
occasions, it seemed out of sync.
In the third quarter, Rudock
missed
a
wide-open
Drake
Johnson in the flat with an entire
field in front of him.
The wind swirling through
the stadium during the game
could
help
explain
it,
but
Rudock missed other receivers
throughout the day, too.
Rudock was billed as a steady
option
at
quarterback,
not
winning games on his own but
not losing them, either. But so far,
he hasn’t exactly been the picture
of consistency.
Through three games, Rudock
has as many interceptions — five
— as he did all of last season.
His Total QBR, a stat created by
ESPN to measure quarterback
performance, is 36.9, a stark
drop-off from the 70.5 mark he
posted last year.
The ugly
Has anyone ever called fashion
model-turned-punter
Blake
O’Neill ugly?
Admittedly,
the
fifth-year
senior
who
transferred
to
Michigan from Weber State
this year has been every bit as
good as expected. But there
wasn’t anything truly ugly about
yesterday’s game for Michigan,
and O’Neill did make one bad
play. So his 17-yard shanked punt
has to take the fall.
The rest of the day, O’Neill
was phenomenal, hammering
one 59-yard punt and downing
another at the three-yard line.
FOOTBALL
SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
MAX
COHEN
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Jim Harbaugh’s team has inspired confidence with a 2-1 start to the season.