4B — September 28, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

momentum churning. He threw 
Davis off of his body for good. 
It was a move straight out of a 
Marshawn Lynch highlight video.

Smith capped the 60-yard 

touchdown with a little hop 
into the end zone before he was 
mobbed by his teammates.

Davis stared off, shaking his 

head.

“Once I got to the second level, 

I knew for a fact I was not letting 
No. 15 tackle me,” Smith said with 
a smirk.

Davis had been emasculated 

to the point that his name was 
hardly of importance to Smith. He 
was just an obstacle in the way, 
another tackler that he had to get 
rid of. He was not alone.

By the time the first half ended 

and Michigan led, 31-0, it was 
clear that the Wolverines felt the 
same way about Davis’ entire 
team.

BYU entered the game with a 

national ranking and an offense 
that had continued to produce 
even with a backup quarterback. 
The Cougars had not scored fewer 
than 23 points in their first three 
games.

That was not the case Saturday. 

And Michigan was not even 
content with the shutout. After 
all, BYU managed to gain more 
than 100 yards in the game, a 
milestone it surpassed in the 
waning moments of the fourth 
quarter.

“I think the thing that I’m still 

kind of irked about is we wanted 
that 100-yard mark too, that they 
hit at the end,” said Desmond 
Morgan.

The Cougars finished the game 

with 105 total yards of offense. 
They had gained at least 381 yards 
in their first three games. By the 
way Morgan and others reacted to 
the shutout, it was as if Michigan 
had no idea.

Amara Darboh, one of 

America’s newest citizens, didn’t 

seem to think much of what BYU 
could or couldn’t do in the first 
quarter, either. When a Jake 
Rudock pass came his way, one he 
had little chance of catching, he 
jumped into the air.

His body turned in the opposite 

direction of the ball as he reached 
out with his right arm. Still, he 
made the catch. Memes sprouted 
on the Internet that compared the 
play to a play Odell Beckham Jr. 
made for the New York Giants last 
season, the one some consider to 
be the best catch in the history of 
the sport.

It was that kind of day 

Saturday, one where almost 
everything went right. Michigan 
blew out an opponent — this 
time a good one — for the third 
straight weekend. The Wolverines 
appear to have rid themselves of 
any shred of self-doubt that can 
accompany a 5-7 season. There 
is a new standard, one that was 
punctuated Saturday.

The standard is not one based 

off other teams. Michigan’s 

players insist they care only about 
what they are capable of doing 
in any given game and any given 
practice.

It was difficult to envision the 

Wolverines doing much more 
Saturday. After losing nine of 
its last 10 games against ranked 
teams, Michigan won this one 
with authority.

The man at the helm of this 

renaissance, Jim Harbaugh, said 
he planned to take six hours to 
enjoy his team’s latest win. Then 
he will move forward, just like 
Smith did after he threw Davis to 
the ground. Smith said nothing to 
his unworthy adversary after he 
left him sprawled on the grass.

“I wish I would have said 

something,” Smith quipped.

But he didn’t have to. The 

Wolverines’ play did all of the 
talking, and they didn’t care about 
anything else.

Cohen can be reached at 

maxac@umich.edu and on 

Twitter @MaxACohen.

COHEN
From Page 1B

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Fifth-year senior quarterback Jake Rudock turned in his best performance of the 
season on Saturday, accounting for three touchdowns without turning the ball over.

