4B — October 5, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

Five Things We Learned

By MAX BULTMAN

Daily Sports Editor

There
was
no
Hurricane

Joaquin in College Park, and there
weren’t many surprises, either.

The No. 18 Michigan football

team rolled to a 28-0 win
over
Maryland
on
Saturday,

dispatching the Terrapins in
businesslike fashion.

Here are five things we learned

from the Wolverines’ second
consecutive shutout:

1. Shutting out BYU was no
fluke.

While the Terrapins’ offense

wasn’t as potent as the Cougars’
last week, the Wolverines’ defense
was every bit as dominant.
Michigan now owns the nation’s
second-ranked defense in both
yards and points allowed, and it
doesn’t appear to be slowing down
any time soon.

Maryland quarterbacks C.J.

Rowe and Daxx Garman were
hurried all game, just like BYU’s
Tanner Mangum a week before,
and the Wolverines allowed just
105 yards for the second game in
a row. They also racked up eight
tackles for loss, right on pace with
their season average.

Redshirt sophomore defensive

tackle Maurice Hurst, who had a
sack for the third game in a row,
delivered the most telling line
about the Wolverines’ defense
after the game Saturday. Asked
where the defense could still
improve, Hurst said: “We had a
couple plays where they got first
downs. … We’ve gotta look at that
and correct it. They shouldn’t
have anything.”

If Michigan’s goal is to not give

up anything, not even a measly
first down, opposing offenses
should be very concerned.

2. Drake Johnson is nearing
2014 form.

The redshirt junior running

back is recovered from his second
anterior cruciate ligament tear,
and he’s nearing top shape. He
had two touchdowns Saturday —
one receiving, one rushing — to
pair with 99 all-purpose yards.

If
the
Drake
Johnson
of

November 2014 can emerge for
the Wolverines, he would be an
invaluable asset as a change of
pace to bruising junior running
back De’Veon Smith.

Smith missed the Maryland

game with an ankle injury, and
his status is uncertain this week.
But with Johnson in the fold,
Michigan has an agile option
to pair with its stable of power
backs.

3. Fumble-itis is inevitable.

Until Saturday, no Wolverine

running back had fumbled all
season. But against Maryland,
redshirt sophomore Ty Isaac
fumbled twice, and fifth-year
senior quarterback Jake Rudock
also coughed one up. Isaac
recovered one drop, but the backs’
formerly perfect track record now
has a blemish.

Some of that can be attributed

to the nasty weather in College
Park, but mostly, it was a matter of
time. One lost fumble by a running
back in five games is hardly reason
for complaint.

But
No.
13
Northwestern,

which boasts the No. 1 scoring
defense in the country, comes
to Ann Arbor this week and will
be ready to capitalize on any
mistakes Michigan makes.

4. The fly sweep flies for
Michigan.

Redshirt junior receiver Jehu

Chesson scored his second rushing
— yes, rushing — touchdown of
the season on a fly sweep. Chesson
streaked down the left sideline for
66-yard touchdown, showing off
blazing speed.

Two weeks earlier, against

UNLV, Chesson scored a 36-yard
touchdown on a similar play.
Those plays add a much-needed
big-play threat to an offense that
can be otherwise simplistic.

A
simple
offense
is
not

necessarily a bad thing, but being
able to break a big gain now and
then will go a long way as the
Wolverines schedule gets more

competitive.

5. Bold Prediction: College
GameDay comes to Ann Arbor
on Oct. 17.

The narratives are almost too

juicy to resist. Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh could be fresh off
a win over No. 13 Northwestern,
the second ranked foe Michigan
would have beaten this season.

Michigan State will likely still

be ranked in the top five, setting
up a high-profile stage for a
rivalry game that hasn’t been to
Ann Arbor since 2012. If the stars
align and the Wolverines are 5-1
and the Spartans 6-0, it would be
tough to pass for ESPN.

Then again, that weekend will

also feature No. 11 Florida at No. 7
LSU, No. 8 Alabama at No. 9 Texas
A&M, and No. 17 USC at No. 15
Notre Dame. Those matchups will
all be tempting sites, especially
since GameDay hasn’t been to an
SEC school since Week 3.

Still, between Harbaugh, the

in-state rivalry and the major Big
Ten East implications it could
have, Ann Arbor will be just too
enticing to pass up.

Good, bad and
ugly: Maryland

By JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

Each
week,
the
Michigan

football team gets better, and
each week, its success becomes
more legitimate.

This
week
brought
the

Wolverines’ first win on the road
and in the Big Ten, a 28-0 rout
of Maryland in College Park.
In the past four games, they
have outscored their opponents
by a combined score of 122-14,
cruising to four consecutive wins.

What may be more important,

though, is what comes next.
Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 4-1
overall) could now be considered
a contender in the Big Ten East.
While the Wolverines have been
dominant in the past month,
preseason favorites Ohio State
and Michigan State, both 5-0,
narrowly slipped by Indiana and
Purdue, respectively, on Saturday.

Michigan
faces
a
tough

test Saturday against No. 13
Northwestern (1-0 Big Ten, 5-0
overall) before hosting the third-
ranked Spartans on Oct. 16.

Before they move forward,

here are the good, the bad and the
ugly from Saturday’s game:

The good

The defense was quite good.

And it’s safe to put them in this
space for the foreseeable future.

The stats were overwhelming

again: 29 rushing yards, 76 passing
yards, three interceptions, 2.1
yards per pass attempt, 1-for-18
on third downs.

And zero points — again.
Defensive
coordinator
D.J.

Durkin’s unit is firing on all
cylinders, from the linemen who
combined for five tackles for loss,
to the linebackers who forced
extra pressure on Maryland’s
quarterbacks, to the secondary
that picked off two passes and
broke up three more passes.

Other individual performances

stood out: redshirt junior wide
receiver Jehu Chesson scored on
another end-around run from 66
yards out, redshirt junior running
back Drake Johnson (13 carries,
68 yards) moved closer to a full
workload and redshirt freshman
defensive back Jabrill Peppers
added a 29-yard punt return.

The bad

Hurricane
Joaquin,
which

moved kickoff up from 8 p.m. to
noon, held off for the duration
of the game, but the conditions
still weren’t ideal. The slippery
footballs may have played a role
in the game’s six total turnovers,
and the wind affected the special
teams game. In the first half,
Michigan senior kicker Kenny
Allen missed a 47-yard field goal,
while Maryland punted short
twice for 20 and 28 yards.

The Wolverines’ offense also

struggled to find a spark in the
first half, managing just six
points. At that point, Michigan
had just 16 carries for 43 yards,
with 20 of them coming on one
scramble by fifth-year senior
quarterback Jake Rudock.

Michigan did clean up its

mistakes in the second half,
though. Halftime adjustments,
more energy and a depleted
Maryland defense combined to
create 22 points and put the game
out of reach.

The ugly

Michigan’s turnover problem

reared its head again.

The Wolverines gave the ball

away three times, twice in their
own territory. Late in the first
quarter, Rudock fumbled as he
was sacked on 4th-and-2 at the
Maryland 29. If Michigan had
kept the drive alive, it could have
moved closer to field-goal range
and gotten on the scoreboard.

On the first play of the next

drive, junior running back Ty
Isaac lost a fumble on a run up the
middle. He later coughed the ball
up again but fell on it immediately.
And on the first series of the
second half, Rudock threw an
interception off a tipped ball to
Maryland
defensive
lineman

Quinton Jefferson.

On
a
more
serious
note,

senior defensive lineman Mario
Ojemudia left the game on
crutches in the fourth quarter, and
Michigan suspects an Achilles
injury. If it’s a torn Achilles, it
would end Ojemudia’s season and
Michigan career — a tough break
for a player who recorded half a
sack and 1.5 tackles for loss before
his injury Saturday.

FOOTBALL

THE MICHIGAN

DAILY TOP-10 POLL

2. TCU: What the Horned Frogs
did to Texas on Saturday is
almost as bad as what Texas has
been doing to itself for the last
five years.

1. OHIO STATE: We were going
to drop the Buckeyes from No.
1 in our poll, but Ezekiel Elliott
sprinted here from Columbus
and stopped us.

9. TEXAS A&M: Would Kevin
Sumlin leave to coach Texas?
I don’t know, would you leave
a 5-0 SEC team to coach the
fifth-best team in the state?

3. BAYLOR: Willie Nelson went
to Baylor back in the day, which
helps explain why the Bears’
offense is so high-scoring.

6. LSU: Leonard Fournette is
the most terrifying thing since
Peeple.

5. MICHIGAN STATE: Nearly
the entire student section
leaving at halftime? If only
Mark Dantonio had a word for
that...

7. CLEMSON: Dabo Swinney
said Saturday’s game against
Notre Dame was BYOG: Bring
your own guts. Florida State
has a similar saying: Bring
your orange jumpsuit.

4. UTAH: There must be
something in the water in Utah.
What’s that? It’s salt? Oh. Guess
that explains it.

8. ALABAMA: Nick Saban’s
team responded to being left out
of the Daily top 10 last week.

10. FLORIDA: They told us we
had to have 10.

Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with
first place votes receiving 10 points, second-place

votes receiving nine and so on.

‘M’ survives rally, ties Wisconsin

By LELAND MITCHINSON

Daily Sports Writer

In the 21st minute of the

Michigan men’s soccer game
Saturday,
freshman
midfielder
Francis
Atuahene received a pass at
midfield, turned his defender,
took off down the left sideline
and fired a dangerous left-footed
shot from outside the 18-yard
box.

Wisconsin goalkeeper Adrian

Remeniuk made one of his six
saves on the day but was unable
to corral it, and the ball spilled
out to a waiting Colin McAtee,
who pounced on the rebound to
put the Wolverines up 2-1. The
fifth-year
senior
midfielder’s

second goal of the contest
Saturday looked to be the game-
winner for Michigan.

It
wasn’t,
as
Wisconsin

mountain a furious rally in
the second half, forcing the
Wolverines to buckle down on
defense just to secure a 3-3 tie.

The Badgers went up early

on a shot through the legs of
Michigan
sophomore
goalie

Evan Louro, but the Wolverines
equalized minutes later when
junior defender Rylee Woods hit
an indirect free kick into the box
and McAtee used his height to
beat his defender and head the
ball in for a goal.

“I thought it was a good

battle,” McAtee said. “They were
two big boys. I wouldn’t say I
necessarily had an advantage or
disadvantage (physically) but I
thought I did well on the goal to
get around my man.”

Michigan tacked on a third

goal for good measure when
Atuahene
improved
his
Big

Ten-leading goal tally to seven
with a curling shot from the
left side of the 18-yard box that
somehow snuck through the
Wisconsin back line and past the
outstretched hand of the Badger
goaltender.

“(Atuahene) is the dribbler,

(senior
forward
William

Mellors-Blair) is kind of the
runner and (McAtee) is kind of

the target and the power,” said
Michigan coach Chaka Daley.
“We have a good combination of
all three. They got it ticking for a
little while, but the game slowed
down.”

Added McAtee: “We’re all

fast, but (Atuahene and Mellors-
Blair) are probably even a little
quicker than me, and I think I’m
more of the guy who’s better in
the air and at getting headers
and holding the ball up. You
know they want to find the ball
in space or out wide so they can
attack players one on one.”

The good times did not last

for the Wolverines, however,
as
Wisconsin
midfielder

Christopher Mueller curled a
free kick over the Michigan wall
and into the back of the net just
before the end of the first half.

The Badgers completed the

comeback just three minutes
into the second half when
forward Nick Jones capitalized
on a loose ball inside Michigan’s
18-yard line to tie the game at 3.

Throughout the second half,

Michigan and Wisconsin battled

to take the lead, though neither
team could gain an advantage,
and the game went to sudden-
death overtime.

The Wolverines’ best chance

during overtime came when
sophomore
defender
Billy

Stevens put a dangerous free
kick into the Wisconsin box, but
Michigan was unable to take
advantage of the scoring chance.
Despite controlling possession
and outshooting the Badgers
8-0, the Wolverines couldn’t put
the finishing touch on the game.

“I think we weren’t at our best

today,” Daley said. “I thought we
played OK. I think we could have
played better, certainly done
some things better at home, but
the big picture is that in the Big
Ten standings, after the halfway
point we’re on eight points, and
that’s an important thing.”

Halfway through the Big

Ten season, the Wolverines sit
atop the conference, but will
be looking to improve their
ability to close out games in
their quest for a regular-season
championship.

MEN’S SOCCER

WISCONSIN
MICHIGAN

3
3

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Michigan’s defense has suffocated its opponents in each of the past two weeks, both shutouts of BYU and Maryland.