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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
BYU’s miracles resemble 1994
Michigan Stadium Hail Mary
Cougars come in at
2-1 after two last-
minute victories
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Editor
Like a bad dream, Michigan
fans toss and turn, wishing the
Hail Mary would go away.
Since the “Miracle at Michigan”
that
gave
No.
7
Colorado
a
stunning
last-
second
victory
over the then-
fourth-ranked
Wolverines
on
Sept.
24,
1994, any Hail
Mary
brings
back
memories
of
Buffaloes’
quarterback
Kordell
Stewart’s
heavenly heave.
Twenty-one
years and two days later, the 2015
Michigan football team will do
anything it can to avoid replicating
that dreaded day.
It will be no small task, though,
as the Wolverines (2-1) take on a
No. 22 BYU team that has already
beaten Nebraska and Boise State
on last-second Hail Mary plays,
and very nearly did it again against
No. 9 UCLA.
“It’s tough to watch, especially
as a secondary coach, to see
those kind of throws from the
quarterback,”
said
Michigan
secondary coach Mike Zordich.
“But it just adds to our challenge.
… You play hard the whole game
and you’re winning by one, two,
three, maybe five points, whatever
it is, you’d certainly hate for that
last play to put the stamp on (the
game).”
Hail Mary threat aside, slowing
down the Cougars’ receivers,
four of them 6-foot-4 or taller, is
literally no small task.
“A big, big challenge,” Zordich
said. “They’ve got four or five
really good receivers that they’re
rolling in every down, so they’re
going to be fresh. We’ve got a big
challenge ahead of us.
“Just physically, when you line
Jourdan Lewis up against a 6-foot-
6 guy, as scrappy as Jourdan is,
that’s a tough matchup. But that’s
how we’re going to play it. They’ve
got to fight.”
Even before the final plays, the
Cougars have some bite to them.
The most notable weapon is true
freshman
quarterback
Tanner
Mangum. Though years removed
from his last competitive football
days and fresh off a two-year
missionary trip in Chile, Mangum
has filled in admirably for the
injured Taysom Hill.
Mangum doesn’t possess Hill’s
mobility, but has kept BYU’s
goals alive with a 62.3 completion
percentage, 664 yards passing
and four touchdowns. They aren’t
award-winning numbers, but the
big-play potential is there.
“He’s
a
playmaker,”
said
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
“He went in there with no shyness
whatsoever. Already being in
big
situations
and
prevailed.
Sometimes it takes years before
something like that happens, but
he’s already been through it, so
he’s already been battle-tested and
won in those situations.”
Though Mangum and his big
receivers pose a threat, Michigan’s
secondary looks poised to rise to
the occasion.
In the Wolverines’ 28-7 win
over UNLV last week, junior
cornerback Channing Stribling
and redshirt-junior cornerback
Jeremy
Clark
each
grabbed
interceptions,
while
junior
cornerback Jourdan Lewis tallied
a career-high four pass break-ups.
“They’re ascending,” Harbaugh
said of the secondary. “Getting
their hands on the ball, breaking
up passes, intercepting passes and
defending the deep ball. I think
they’re doing a better job at that.”
On defense, BYU doesn’t have
as much to boast about, and
with starting nose tackle Travis
Tuiloma out of the game with
an injury, Michigan will have a
chance to continue developing
a run game that has piled on 479
total rushing yards in its last two
games.
The Wolverines’ coaching staff
stated that junior running back
De’Veon Smith would get the bulk
of the carries. But with junior Ty
Isaac gaining 114 yards last week
and redshirt junior Drake Johnson
continuing to progress, Michigan
can count on options.
“We’ll
see
power
about
5,000 times. Well, that’s an
exaggeration,”
quipped
BYU
coach Bronco Mendenhall in his
weekly teleconference Tuesday.
Added
Cougar
defensive
lineman
Graham
Rowley
on
Wednesday: “You just dig into the
dirt and power back. I’m excited
for that.”
Across the board, Michigan
matches up well with BYU. Both
are still developing with first-
year quarterbacks and looking for
consistency that can keep them
performing at a high level.
Which presents the question:
Do the Miracle Mormons have
another Hail Mary ending in the
making? If they do, Zordich has a
plan.
“Personally, I just think guys
relax,” he said. “Guys think,
‘It’s not going to come my way,’
and they don’t do what they’re
supposed to do. If you watch
the Nebraska game, and I’m not
picking on anybody because it
certainly can happen to anybody,
but one guy’s just watching. He’s
watching the game, you know, and
you just can’t do that.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Junior cornerbacks Channing Stribling (top) and Jourdan Lewis (bottom) will
match up with BYU’s big receivers at Michigan Stadium on Saturday.
BYU at
Michigan
Matchup:
BYU 2-1;
Michigan 2-1
When:
Saturday
12 P.M.
Where:
Michigan
Stadium
TV/Radio:
ABC