8A — Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan defense
reflects on errors
Wolverines seek
improvement after
recent lapses in
performance
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
For weeks, the Michigan
football team’s defense picked
out the smallest mistakes to fix.
After back-to-back victories in
which the Wolverines gave up
seven points in each, they vowed
to prevent their opponent from
scoring at all.
After three straight shutouts,
they insisted they should not
give up even a first down.
The last two games have
brought
the
inevitable
fall
from that high, as Michigan
has allowed 53 points after
surrendering just 14 in its
previous five wins. Where the
Wolverines previously tried to
make small tweaks, they now
have big plays to avoid. That has
been the emphasis in the film
room this week.
“We just gotta finish,” said
redshirt freshman safety Jabrill
Peppers. “We gotta make plays.
We had too many almost plays. I
almost had a pick-six. Dymonte
almost had a pick. I almost took
the punt to the house. I’m just
tired of almost. We just have to
do it. That’s all it comes down
to.”
But Michigan had perspective
during its dominant weeks,
and it has perspective now. In
keeping with the adage of never
getting too high or too low, the
Wolverines know their miscues
Saturday were outliers. Correct
them Saturday against Rutgers,
and they could return to their
old form.
In a broader scope, mistakes
notwithstanding,
Michigan’s
performance Saturday was not a
disaster. While
26 points was
the
defense’s
highest
total
allowed
this
season
—
excluding
27
against
Michigan
State,
when
the
Spartans
scored
on
special
teams
during the final play — they dug
in when it counted and gave
themselves a chance to win.
“We’re not worried about it,”
said fifth-year senior linebacker
Desmond Morgan. “We’re still
confident in who we have, what
we’re capable of.”
To get back to that level, the
Wolverines will return to the
film to correct issues that seem
more obvious now than in a
30-point shutout. Their start
Saturday was not ideal, as seven
of Minnesota’s first eight drives
moved into Michigan territory
and five ended with points.
Those
numbers
won’t
be
lost on Michigan’s coaches this
week.
“I don’t know why we didn’t
come out how we were supposed
to come out, but I can say it will
not happen again,” Peppers said.
“We got (criticism) in the film
room, a lot of guys in particular.
“One
thing
about
these
coaches, they’re going to coach
you hard and they’re going to
be honest with you. They let
everyone else tell you how good
you are. They’re going to give
you the real.”
Another problem, in senior
linebacker James Ross’ eyes,
was missed assignments. The
Wolverines gave up eight plays
of 20 or more yards. On the
last
series,
Minnesota
tight
end
Drew
Wolitarsky
snuck
past
the secondary
for a 22-yard
completion to
just inside the
one-yard line.
Earlier in the
second
half,
Golden Gophers running back
Shannon Brooks leaked out on
a wheel route and picked up 40
yards.
“It’s been us giving up plays
and not teams earning them,”
Ross said. “It’s one thing if they
earned it, but we gave up a lot of
plays.”
Added Morgan: “It’s hard to
say exactly what it was. In terms
of motivation, I don’t think that
was lacking. In terms of energy, I
would say we were fresh. I don’t
know if the focus wasn’t there. I
know we were ready to play. It’s
just that we didn’t come out and
play the way we all expected us
to play.”
For
Michigan,
that
has
become a difficult standard to
follow. After all, the Wolverines
could only get worse after three
straight shutouts. Now they
have room for improvement
again, and they intend to use it.
They have the blueprint from
earlier in the season, and they
know just how to get back there.
“You just gotta make plays,
man,” Peppers said. “That’s it.
That’s what it comes down to.
Make plays.”
FOOTBALL
“It’s been us
giving up plays
and not teams
earning them.”
Carry fairy helps Johnson
during recent resurgence
By ZACH SHAW
Daily Sports Editor
With four experienced running
backs who have started games on
its roster and far less experience
in the passing game, the Michigan
football team was expected to
lean heavily on its rushing attack
this season.
For much of the season, that
strategy
has
worked.
After
struggling against Utah to begin
the
season,
the
Wolverines’
rushing outputs have been as
consistent as they have been
helpful: 225 yards against Oregon
State, 254 yards against UNLV,
254 yards against Brigham Young,
198 against Maryland and 201
against Northwestern. Michigan
averaged a cool 5.05 yards per
carry in that stretch.
But against Michigan State
and Minnesota, the Wolverines
showed flashes of the ineptitude
they had displayed in previous
seasons, missing holes, failing
to break runs into the secondary
and, most importantly, combining
for just 189 yards in the two games
and just 3.5 yards per carry.
“When we do our stuff right,
it works,” said redshirt junior
running back Drake Johnson.
“When we do things that we’re
not coached to do, we don’t block
who we’re supposed to block, we
taper off.”
The tapering off is a problem,
but suddenly, depth has become
a larger one for the backs. Junior
Ty Isaac is no longer on the depth
chart due to what Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh called an “internal
matter,”
and
junior
De’Veon
Smith is still getting evaluated
after leaving the game against
Minnesota on Saturday.
With freshman Karan Higdon
receiving single-digit carries and
Derrick Green struggling to the
tune of just 3.4 yards per rushing
attempt, that leaves only Johnson
to carry the load.
Yes, Johnson, the same player
who has torn his anterior cruciate
ligament twice and has yet to
carry a heavy load since.
Despite limited action against
Nortwhestern and missing the
Michigan State game due to
an unspecified injury, Johnson
showed capabilities of leading the
backs at Minneapolis, gaining 55
yards on 10 carries.
“Sometimes, I would say the
carry fairy allows people to run
well, and it just happened to
sprinkle a little dust on me that
day,” Johnson said.
Due to a successful back-by-
committee start, Johnson has
yet to carry the ball more than 13
times in a game but said Tuesday
that he’s recovered and ready if
the team needs him.
“That’s not for me to determine,
that’s up to the coaches, and
they’ve been doing well so far,”
Johnson said. “They’ve been
game-planning
incredibly
well, and however I fit into the
gameplan, wherever they say I
should be is what I’m going to do.
“If that’s five carries, if that’s 35
carries and I’m decrepit the next
day, that’s what needs to be done
that game to win the game.”
With a thin backfield, odds
are high that the carry fairy will
sprinkle dust on Johnson against
Rutgers, but Michigan continues
to push for a back-by-committee.
In
practice,
Johnson
said
carries are split relatively evenly,
with no one receiving preferential
treatment. Even if he had become
the
feature
back,
Johnson
wouldn’t know.
“Do I have an issue with it?
No. Are there challenges to it?
No. Does everyone want to be the
feature back? Of course,” he said.
“Idealistically, everyone wants to
be the person who gets 30 carries
a game but in a real situation
that’s not probably what’s going to
happen.
“It’s not the University of
Drake Johnson or the University
of De’Veon or Ty. The University
of Michigan is the entire team, so
it’s doing what helps the team.”
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Drake Johnson gained 55 yards on 10 carries in Michigan’s game against Minnesota on Saturday night.
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Drake Johnson has yet to carry the ball more than 13 times in a game.