Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 — 7
Michigan defense forges
on with aggressiveness
Wolverines look
to fight for one
another after tough
loss vs. MSU
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
When Dymonte Thomas was
growing up, his father had some
words of wisdom for him and his
family: “You fight one, you fight
us all.”
Fighting them all would be a
tall task — Thomas has two older
brothers, two little sisters and a
little brother on his dad’s side, and
an older brother, older sister and
two little brothers on his mom’s
side.
Now, as a junior safety for the
Michigan football team, Thomas
applies that mindset to the
Wolverines. Fight the offense,
and you fight the defense, too.
Fight the defense, and you fight
the offense, too. Fight one player,
and you fight the whole team.
That mindset was on display
last Saturday when Michigan
took on Michigan State in a
crucial rivalry game at Michigan
Stadium.
On
2nd-and-9
from
the
Michigan 45-yard line, Michigan
State quarterback Connor Cook
ran up the middle, sliding for
a gain of six. As he lay on the
ground, Bolden and Spartans
left tackle Jack Conklin were
locked in a one-on-one battle,
and
Conklin
pushed
Bolden
onto Cook. The officials called
the penalty, and immediately
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh,
defensive
coordinator
D.J.
Durkin and defensive line coach
Greg Mattison started shouting
and gesturing in protest.
“Hard to fathom,” Harbaugh
said after the game.
Replay upheld the ruling, and
when the referee said Bolden
was disqualified, Bolden turned
around with a look of disbelief.
He pointed to himself as if to ask,
“Me?” He loosened his helmet
and pleaded his case, but it wasn’t
enough. Eventually, he did a half-
lap around the field, raising his
arms to pump up the crowd on his
way into the tunnel. The Spartans
needed just two more plays to get
into the end zone and tie the game
at seven.
One member of the Michigan
defense had been scorned. All
were eager for retribution.
“That’s the kind of mentality
we build,” Thomas said. “One
man out, next man up and we
gotta compete and fill that hole.
Being a ‘we’
team, it allows
us to be able to
do that. Next
guy
coming
in is already
ready,
and
the guy who
just went out
is most likely
telling
him,
‘Hey, you gotta
do this, watch
out for that,’ and then he’ll walk
off the field.”
On the next series, after the
Wolverines took the lead with
a field goal and then gave up a
quick first down, they smelled
blood. On 3rd-and-8 from the
Michigan
State
44,
redshirt
junior defensive lineman Chris
Wormley shed his block and
hammered Cook in the backfield.
The Spartans had to punt, and
they gave redshirt freshman
Jabrill Peppers an opportunity
for a big play. As he took the ball
up the sideline and a Michigan
State coverage man chased him,
Thomas came in from the side
and
blindsided
the
Spartan,
knocking him to the ground. He
earned more than a few pats on
the back as he returned to the
sideline.
Everyone
remembers
what
happened on the final play of the
game, when the Spartans ran back
a fumbled punt snap for a game-
winning touchdown. Most people
even remember Bolden’s targeting
penalty. What gets lost sometimes
is what happened right after the
penalty.
You probably only saw the
ejection, and not the sack that
followed it. Or you saw Peppers’
return, and not the hit that sprung
it. But the Wolverines’ message
had been sent. It was the same
one Thomas’ father gave him: You
fight one of them, you fight all of
them.
“Guys are willing to throw it
all on the line for each other,”
Thomas
said.
“That
family
bond is really
important.
That’s
a
big
difference
—
we’re
all
playing
for
each
other.
There’s no ‘me’
guys out there
—
everyone’s
playing
for
each other, and
we’re more like
a ‘me’ team than an ‘I’ or a ‘me.’ ”
Wormley’s
sack,
Thomas’
hit and Peppers’ return helped
Michigan hold down its lead —
until the final play. Of course, that
caveat has taken the luster off of
statements about Michigan’s play
against Michigan State.
But
the
Wolverines
insist
they are unshakeable, much like
they were after the adversity
of Bolden’s ejection, and senior
linebacker James Ross’ the week
before that.
“We knew that play wasn’t the
way it was supposed to be ruled,
but ain’t nothing we can do about
it,” Thomas said. “We know when
one (player) goes out, everyone’s
got to step it up. The next man’s
got to step it up.”
Michigan returns to the field
at Minnesota on Saturday night.
Ross will start, as will Bolden.
Thomas’ family on defense may
have faced a setback, but it’s back
at full strength now.
FOOTBALL
“Guys are
willing to throw
it all on the line
for each other.”
Wolverines’ third line
excels early in season
By JASON RUBINSTEIN
Daily Sports Editor
Opposing teams might consider
the
Michigan
hockey
team’s
first line its best and its second
line the most
annoying. But
they
should
start fearing its third line — its
most steady.
Through four games, that
line — consisting of freshman
forwards Brendan Warren and
Cooper Marody and sophomore
forward Tony Calderone — has
combined for seven goals and five
assists. While that might not be
the highest total for a Michigan
line, it’s certainly a surprise that it
has been this productive thus far,
considering the line’s youth.
“You never know about young
players,” said Michigan coach
Red Berenson. “Tony isn’t a
young player, even though he is
a sophomore. But he’s fit in well
with the other two. Cooper was
the big question mark heading
into the year, playing center and
playing the role that our centers
need to play.”
It
definitely
surprised
Rensselaer
Polytechnical
Institute on Saturday. Warren,
Calderone and Marody combined
for seven points against the
Engineers
and
boasted
a
combined plus-8 rating.
Against RPI, the trio had goal-
scoring opportunities on most of
its shifts, and Warren found twine
twice.
In the first period, Mardoy
battled for a loose puck behind
the net and slid the puck to an
open Warren, who wristed one
home. Later, it was Calderone
who weaved by two defenders
and fired a shot that Warren
ultimately redirected in.
“Brendan Warren has played
really well in every game,”
Berenson said.
And in the third period,
Calderone lit the lamp himself
after he found the puck in the
slot and sniped one past RPI
netminder Jason Kasdorf.
Prior to the weekend, Marody
and
Calderone
each
scored
against Mercyhurst.
Warren attributes their success
to the immediate chemistry they
formed the first week of practice.
Warren said all three of them
enjoy playing in the dirty areas and
have a similar mindset on the ice.
“It just clicked from the start,”
Warren said. “We all want to play
with speed and down low behind
the other team’s net, cycle the
puck well, get it back to the front
of the net and make plays that
way.”
Specifically, Warren likes to
play in the dirty areas and score
his goals that way, whereas
Calderone boast one of the
team’s strongest shots. This is
all facilitated by Marody, who is
strong on breakouts and facilitates
the puck the extremely well.
Warren said he can’t remember
playing on a line that has clicked
this fast. And Berenson loves that
his team has one of the best third
lines in the country.
GOALTENDING
QUESTIONS:
Statistically,
it
appears
junior
netminder
Zach Nagelvoort has outplayed
senior Steve Racine. Nagelvoort
has allowed four goals in his
two starts, while Racine has
surrendered nine in the same
amount of games.
However, to Berenson, the
competition is still close. While
Racine has let in a few soft goals,
many of his goals are the result
of porous line changes and poor
backchecking from the forwards.
So for now, Berenson will
continue to let the competition
unfold and won’t name Friday’s
starter yet.
“I was a one-goalie coach for
a long time when we had one
guy who was just the dominant
goalie,”
Berenson
said.
“We
haven’t had that since Al Montoya
(2002 to 2005). You hear (Toronto
Maple Leafs coach) Mike Babcock
talk about his dilemma in Toronto,
and he said ‘Geez, I’ve never had
to worry about goalies this much
as I am now.’ Well, I’ve been doing
that for the past five years.
“It doesn’t matter what a
perfect world is; we have to live in
the world we’re living in. I’ve seen
good things out of both of them.
I’m pretty open-minded. I’m not
trying to force the situation into
something it can’t be.”
INJURIES: Senior forward
Boo
Nieves
didn’t
play
in
Saturday’s game against RPI due
to an upper-body injury. Berenson
said he is day to day, and the senior
hasn’t resumed practicing.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Freshman forward Brendan Warren scored two goals against RPI on Saturday.
NOTEBOOK
Seven stages of grief: The play
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Editor
The thought of the play still
stings the hearts of Michigan fans.
In 10 short seconds, a defeat of a top-
10 team and in-state rival turned
into the Wolverines’ seventh loss
in eight games against Michigan
State. The play — in which fifth-
year punter Blake O’Neill fumbled
a low snap into the arms of Spartan
safety Jalen Watts-Jackson, who
ran it 38 yards for a touchdown and
a 27-23 victory — has been shown
frequently on seemingly every
sports channel in the country for
many of the nine days since it
occurred.
The stunned crowd of 111,740
couldn’t believe it, and neither
could the players. But with games
once again on the horizon after
a bye week, both are moving
forward.
Like any major grievance,
recovering from the loss to
the Spartans was a multi-step
process.
Putting on our therapist hats,
the Daily takes a look at the team’s
seven-step process of recovering
from the loss.
1) Denial
Michigan fans will remember
this one well. As Michigan State
piled into the end zone, the fans
who packed the stands didn’t
move, unable to comprehend
what had happened — unable
to believe it to be true and
desperately
hoping
that
it
wasn’t.
The Wolverines left the field,
but they were just as unclear
about how the game ended.
“It wasn’t until the next day
that I believed it was real,” said
senior
defensive
end
Royce
Jenkins-Stone
on
Monday.
“Definitely the way we lost was,
like, unbelievable. Nobody would
have thought we would have lost
that way. Just losing to State,
didn’t want to do that.”
Added senior defensive tackle
Willie Henry after the loss: “You
go out there and play your hearts
out with your teammates, and to
lose something like that. … It’s
just hard to gather right now.”
2) Pain and guilt
Once the loss proved to be
inescapable, the sheer pain of
such a deflating play set in. The
loss almost certainly eliminated
Michigan
from
playoff
contention, and stacks the odds
against it winning the Big Ten.
In addition, it meant another
year of thinking about what could
have been, and hearing about it
from the Wolverines’ in-state
rival.
“I’m still not over it. It’s in
my mind that we lost, but we’ve
just got to move on,” said junior
cornerback Jourdan Lewis last
Tuesday. “We take that loss as a
lesson, just execute better and
just work on the things we have
to work on.”
Though the play was on nearly
every TV station and dominated
social
media
conversations,
the players did their best and
“shied away” from the memory,
knowing that it wouldn’t go away,
but hoping it would.
“I mean, I don’t know how
many times you can see that
(play happen),” said senior center
Graham Glasgow. “There were a
lot of things that had to go their
way. I would consider it more like
a miracle than a fluke for them.
Everything really went more
their way as opposed to things
not going our way, but good for
them.”
3) Anger and bargaining
As time passed, the Wolverines’
perspective changed. No longer
was it about avoiding the play;
it was about wishing the loss
couldn’t be pinned on O’Neill,
placing the focus on all the other
plays that contributed to the loss.
“That play didn’t lose us the
game,” Jenkins-Stone said. “We
had plenty of opportunities to
win that game before that play. I
know I left plays on that field —
we all did.”
O’Neill’s play will forever be
remembered by football fans as
the defining moment of the game,
but the players on the team will
remember which plays they didn’t
make, and would do anything to
try again.
“I know everyone thinks that
it’s on that last play,” said redshirt
junior
wide
receiver
Amara
Darboh. “But there were that we
could’ve made, and I’m just kind
of going over it again in my head
and what I could’ve done better …
This one just took a little longer.”
4) Reflection
Fortunately
for
the
Wolverines, time was on their
side in recovery. With a chance
to go home during fall break, and
return to practices that Michigan
coach Jim Harbaugh said were
only 50 percent gameplan and 50
percent individual development,
Michigan got to reflect not only
on its goals on the field, but also
on who it is as a team.
“We had Sunday off, had
Monday off, so it just gave us
time to relax and think about the
game,” said senior defensive back
Dymonte Thomas. “When we
came back in, Coach Harbaugh
said when we go outside, that’s
our medicine. Whatever’s going
on, the fresh breeze, the football
field, the turf and grass and all
that should just clear your mind
of anything that’s going on.”
Harbaugh was also quick to
squash the hypothetical talks
of last week in his weekly press
conference Monday.
“(I’m) not into the ‘if-this,
if-that’
type
of
scenarios,”
Harbaugh said. “If worms had
machine guns, then birds (would)
be scared of them. We’re looking
to (define) our season over the
next number of games that we
play.”
5) Upward turn
The Wolverines did just that,
using every hit, play and sprint
at practice to cope with the
miracle loss. The players who
had embraced all of Harbaugh’s
intense quirks — such as doing
extra sprints for winning — once
again looked to their leader for the
cure. Despite the unique loss, the
antidote was nothing new.
“We’re doing something very
special!”
Harbaugh
quipped.
“(It’s a) dirty, four-letter word:
W-O-R-K.”
6) Reconstruction
By step six of the seven steps,
the grievers are supposed to have
some grasp on what happened
and seek realistic solutions to
coping in the long term. For the
Wolverines, this meant planning
for Minnesota, and understanding
that there are still at least five
games left to win.
“It’s on us to start winning
again and just keep winning every
game we can,” Henry said. “The
best way to wash out a bad loss is
a good win.”
Next up comes Minnesota,
another trophy game, and — with
the Golden Gophers struggling
to a 4-3 start without any quality
wins — a great opportunity for the
Wolverines to rebuild after the loss.
“I feel bad for Minnesota,”
Jenkins-Stone said. “We’re going
to be coming out with a lot of
energy now.”
7) Acceptance and hope
It didn’t happen overnight for
everyone, but Michigan enters
the week at 5-2, ranked 15th in
the country, with lofty goals still
in play and plenty of optimism
to
make
them
happen.
The
Wolverines are two-touchdown
favorites in their upcoming trip
to Minnesota, and have a new
outlook on their previous loss.
“I look back it and just laugh
about it,” said junior running back
De’Veon Smith. “Because it was a
crazy play, a great play by them. I
laughed in disbelief it happened
to you because you only see that
happen to other teams and it just
so happened to our team.”
Added Harbaugh: “It’s kind of
like a book: the prologue has been
written and now if it’s going to be
a great book, then it’s got to have
one heck of a conclusion.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Jale n Watts-Jackson returned the fumble that sent Michigan into seven stages of grief over the last nine days.