4B — October 21, 2015
SportsWednesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Five Things We Learned
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
The last play of Saturday’s
game against Michigan State
spoiled the Michigan football
team’s
undefeated
Big
Ten
record, snapped its five-game
winning streak and put a serious
dent in its Big Ten championship
hopes.
But before that play, the
Wolverines and their in-state
rivals were more even than they
had been in three years. The
Spartans never led Saturday’s
game until time expired.
Michigan gets a bye this week
before its next game at Minnesota
on Oct. 31. Until then, here are five
things we learned from Saturday’s
game:
1. Jourdan Lewis vs. Aaron
Burbridge is the best wide
receiver-defensive
back
matchup we’ll see all season.
Let’s put it this way: Lewis,
who guarded Burbridge all day,
had six pass breakups in the
game — and Burbridge still pulled
down nine catches for 132 yards.
About half of Michigan State
quarterback
Connor
Cook’s
throws went to Burbridge, and
on many of them, it was hard
to find anything Burbridge or
Lewis could have done better.
If Burbridge made the catch, he
grabbed the ball at the highest
point
despite
tight
coverage
from Lewis (who is three inches
shorter). If Lewis broke it up,
Burbridge was right there, ready
to take it if not for Lewis.
Both players have drawn praise
for their play all year, and it’s no
longer a stretch to call them the
best at their positions in the Big
Ten.
Burbridge now leads the Big
Ten with 100.3 yards per game,
and Lewis now has 14 pass
breakups and two interceptions,
including one he returned for a
touchdown.
2. This rivalry is back to being
closely contested up front.
The
Spartans
dominated
Michigan at the line of scrimmage
in each of their previous two
meetings. To have a chance to win
Saturday, the Wolverines needed
to compete better in the trenches,
and they did.
Sure,
excluding
sacks
and
the muffed punt play at the end,
Michigan rushed for just 87 yards
on 29 carries. Fifth-year senior
quarterback Jake Rudock was
sacked three times. But Michigan
State didn’t fare much better:
Excluding sacks, the Spartans
totaled an almost-identical 85
yards on 28 rushes. The meager
numbers there were more a
product of both defenses being
strong.
3. Jabrill Peppers is ready to
be a threat in all three phases.
After a long year and a half of
anticipation,
Michigan
finally
broke out its wild card, playing
redshirt freshman safety Jabrill
Peppers
on
offense
against
Michigan State.
Fans had been waiting since
Peppers stepped on campus to
see the athlete in all three phases.
Injuries
hampered
him
last
season, but he made an impact on
special teams in the first six games
this season. Finally, he caught two
passes for 35 yards Saturday. He
was easily Michigan’s leader in
all-purpose yards with 164 — 35
receiving, 81 kick return and 48
punt return — despite limited
action on offense.
For now, the Wolverines’ usage
of Peppers on offense appears
to give them a psychological
edge, too. Michigan State coach
Mark
Dantonio
called
two
consecutive
timeouts
when
Harbaugh first inserted Peppers
alongside Rudock in the first
half. Considering his production,
perhaps opponents can expect
to see more of the same in the
coming weeks.
4. The passing game still hasn’t
established a consistent threat.
Michigan’s aerial attack finally
played a significant role Saturday,
after
five
straight
blowout
victories required little in the
way of downfield passing. Rudock
missed on a couple of long throws,
finishing with 168 yards on 15
completions.
Those aren’t bad numbers,
especially
considering
the
Wolverines rely more on their
power running game and defense
to push them ahead.
But with the passing game
on trial for the first time
since
the
season
opener,
there didn’t appear to be a
consistent
receiving
weapon.
Redshirt junior Amara Darboh
leads Michigan with just 28
receptions, 332 yards and two
touchdowns. His yardage total
ranks 13th in the Big Ten.
5.
Bold
Prediction:
The
Michigan defense earns another
shutout against Minnesota.
The Wolverines could respond
to Saturday’s devastating loss in
two possible ways. They could
come out flat in their next game
and let Michigan State beat
them twice, or they could come
out angry and eager to prove
themselves again. Here’s guessing
the latter.
The reason is a combination of a
bye this week, a relentless mindset
from Harbaugh and what’s sure to
be a fiery performance by senior
linebacker Joe Bolden, who can’t
be happy about being ejected from
his final Michigan State game.
Meanwhile, Minnesota dropped
to 4-3 with a 48-25 home loss to
Nebraska on Saturday.
Powered by an impassioned
captain in Bolden, Michigan’s
defense has all the tools to get
back to its dominating ways in
Minneapolis in two weeks.
THE MICHIGAN
DAILY TOP-10 POLL
2. BAYLOR: The Bears get Iowa
State at home this weekend,
because that trip to Kansas a
couple of weeks ago took a lot
out of them.
1. OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes
are undefeated, but not
undefeated enough. They will
switch quarterbacks this week
to J.T. Barrett. Must be nice.
9. FLORIDA STATE: The
Seminoles blew out Louisville,
41-21. The NCAA will do
much, much worse.
3. UTAH: The Utes beat
Arizona State on Saturday,
which isn’t really fair, because
if the Sun Devils don’t have
sports, what do they have?
6. CLEMSON: Dabo Swinney is
letting the wins get to his head.
He was seen doing the whip in
the Home Depot power tools
section.
5. LSU: Unfortunately, the
NCAA found out one of the
Gators was taking steroids
BEFORE they played Leonard
Fournette.
7. ALABAMA: Saban for USC!
4. TCU: If defense wins
championships then, uh, sorry,
Horned Frogs.
8. MICHIGAN STATE: Friday,
in the weekend’s real rivalry
game, The Michigan Daily
defeated The State News in
touch football for the 11th
consecutive year.
10. STANFORD: David Shaw
is probably the best coach
Stanford has ever had, right?
Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with
first-place votes receiving 10 points, second-place
votes receiving nine and so on.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Jourdan Lewis played tough defense against Michigan State’s Aaron Burbridge.
FOOTBALL
O’Neill comes to
terms with punt
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Even after one of the most
devastating losses in Michigan
football history, Blake O’Neill
isn’t making excuses. He doesn’t
seem to be losing much sleep,
either.
What the fifth-year senior
punter is doing is getting back to
work, moving past the fumble on
the final play of Saturday’s 27-23
loss to Michigan State to get on
with his life.
O’Neill
met
with
the
media Tuesday at Michigan’s
Schembechler Hall, choosing to
face the sudden burst of attention
coming his way, not run from it.
“Why not?” O’Neill said of
speaking to the media. “I think
football is a very interesting game.
There’s ups and downs, highs and
lows, and I think that’s the beauty
of it. I’m happy to speak if people
are willing to listen.”
When faced with questions
about the logistics of the play,
O’Neill dispelled rumors of trick
play options and refused to make
excuses for the play that ultimately
lost the Wolverines the game.
“I mean the protection was
good, the snap was, sort of, in
my catch zone,” O’Neill said. “If
anything, put me back out there
for the next one, I’m sure I’d make
the kick.”
After the game, the Australian-
rules football convert said he paid
no attention to Twitter, deciding
to let the issue cool off before
checking his account. And when
he left the locker room, his family
was in town from Australia. The
O’Neill family still is, in fact,
taking in the sights and sounds of
Ann Arbor.
And for any backlash he
received, there has also been
ample positive reinforcement.
“A lot of support from the
Michigan
fan
base,
from
teammates, even people back
home,” O’Neill said. “It’s funny
that a game over here could get
all the way back to Australia,
but it did. But mate, it’s been
overwhelming, the support I’ve
received.”
Of course, there are some people
who can relate to what O’Neill is
going through better than others,
including former Michigan and
NFL kicker Jay Feely. Feely and
O’Neill got a chance to speak this
week, and O’Neill was pleased
with their chat.
As for his teammates, there
is one that can share the pain
with O’Neill more than anyone
else. Redshirt sophomore long
snapper Scott Sypniewski was
the one snapping to O’Neill, and
while the punter maintained
it was catchable, the two can
commiserate over the fumble.
“I think we’ll probably be
bound at the hip for the rest of our
lives because of that play,” O’Neill
said.
In the days since, videos of the
fumble and ensuing touchdown
return have been running on
SportsCenter and other highlight
shows seemingly around the
clock.
But while it would be easy
to dwell on the play, O’Neill
is instead declining to watch
replays outside of his viewings
with Michigan special teams
coach John Baxter.
“To me, it’s an error in a game,
and if you can learn from it, it’s
worth looking into,” O’Neill said.
“But we’ve sort of figured out
what we can do better and moved
forward.”
From start to finish of his
Tuesday
press
conference,
that much was clear. O’Neill
recognizes his error on the game’s
final play. But he won’t let it derail
him further.
The good, the bad and the ugly
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan football team
finds itself with a bye week at
either the best or worst possible
time,
depending
on
your
perspective.
After a deflating last-second
loss
to
Michigan
State
on
Saturday, the Wolverines now
have two full weeks to prepare
for
their
Halloween
night
matchup against Minnesota.
The Daily looks back on the
good, the bad and the ugly from
Saturday’s 27-23 loss.
The good
Redshirt
freshman
Jabrill
Peppers finally stole the show,
and
he
was
breathtaking.
Peppers accumulated 129 return
yards, giving Michigan stellar
field position throughout the
game. Fans also got their first
look at him on offense, where
his mere presence was enough
to force Michigan State coach
Mark Dantonio into consecutive
timeouts in the second quarter.
When
he
finally
got
an
offensive touch, a reception in
the third quarter, he took it for
28 yards to set up 1st-and-goal.
He had another catch late in the
game that was just shy of a first
down.
Rounding out his impact in
every phase of the game, he
added two tackles on defense.
Elsewhere in the secondary,
junior
cornerback
Jourdan
Lewis was in full view all night.
Tasked with guarding likely
All-Big
Ten
receiver
Aaron
Burbridge, the two Detroit-area
standouts battled throughout
the game.
Burbridge finished with nine
catches for 132 yards, but Lewis
broke up six passes and made
seven tackles.
Through seven games, Lewis
has now broken up 14 passes, just
four shy of Michigan’s single-
season record.
The bad
The “bad” really came down
to one play. No, not that play.
We’ll get to that later.
In
the
fourth
quarter,
Michigan
State
quarterback
Connor Cook found his fullback
wide open on a 75-yard wheel
route. He at first appeared to
score on the play, but after
review, he was called down at the
one-yard line. LJ Scott punched
it in for Michigan State to cut the
Wolverines’ lead to two, and you
know the rest.
The fact that a fullback
went 75 yards is both a credit
to the Spartans’ play design
and indicative of some kind
of
coverage
breakdown
for
Michigan. Fullbacks just aren’t
built to go 75 yards if properly
covered.
These things happen, and
Michigan has had its own share
of big plays from fullbacks this
year, but it’s hard to ignore the
importance of this one gaffe
given the final result of this
game.
The ugly
Perhaps you’ve seen it by now.
On the final play of the game,
fifth-year senior punter Blake
O’Neill bobbled a low snap and
tried to get the punt off anyway.
As he turned to make the ill-
advised second effort, he was
hit, sending the ball into the
waiting arms of Jalen Watts-
Jackson.
Watts-Jackson
ran
down
the sideline and into the end
zone as time expired, ending
the game in the most shocking
fashion imaginable. Michigan
State dominated the yardage all
game, but the Michigan defense
and special teams had been
good enough to earn a win on
Saturday.
It’s never simply one play
that costs a team the game, but
the Wolverines looked secure in
their lead until this one.
O’Neill had been excellent all
day, even booming an 80-yard
punt earlier in the game, the
longest in the Football Bowl
Subdivision this season. That’s
one reason that this one ugly
play is so hard to swallow for
Michigan fans.
After a few upset fans made
unruly comments to O’Neill on
Twitter, there was an outpouring
of support from the Michigan
community
to
the
graduate
transfer
punter,
including
interim Athletic Director Jim
Hackett, who posted an open
letter Sunday afternoon asking
students to pledge support and
not turn to spite.
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Redshirt freshman Jabrill Peppers totaled a team-high 164 all-purpose yards (35 receiving, 81 kick return, 48 punt return) Saturday against Michigan State.