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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

