4B — November 16, 2015
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

He 
did 
not 
flinch 
when 

Michigan trailed by seven points 
and less than three minutes 
remained on the scoreboard. 
Rudock marched the Wolverines 
right down the field.

He did not flinch when six 

seconds remained in the game 
and Michigan had the ball on 
the Hoosiers’ five-yard line on 
fourth down. Rudock threw a 
strike to redshirt junior wide 
receiver Jehu Chesson, who was 
sandwiched by defenders.

He did not flinch in the game’s 

first overtime, when Indiana had 
already scored a touchdown and 
the options were either to score 
a touchdown or kiss his team’s 
Big Ten championship dreams 
goodbye. Rudock threw a 21-yard 
touchdown to Butt on the second 
play of the possession.

And with a chance to win the 

game in the second overtime, 
Rudock 
threw 
a 
25-yard 

touchdown to redshirt junior 
wide receiver Amara Darboh, 
who was wide open.

Hill’s play on the ensuing 

possession sealed the game.

It was a game the Wolverines 

felt they had to win. First, 
there were the obvious stakes: 
If Michigan wins its next two 
games and Ohio State defeats 
Michigan State next weekend, 
the Wolverines will face the 
Buckeyes on Nov. 28 for a berth in 
the Big Ten Championship.

But then, Darboh said after 

the game, there were other 
implications. Before the game, all 
of Michigan’s players scrawled 
the hashtag “#ChadTough” on 
their helmets. The Wolverines 
decided to dedicate the game 
to Chad Carr, the grandson of 
former Michigan coach Lloyd 
Carr. The younger Carr, just 
five years old, is currently in 
hospice care while he battles an 
inoperable brain tumor.

“Any time you dedicate a game 

to someone, you obviously want 
to win,” Darboh said.

At first, the task did not 

seem like it would be a difficult 
one. Indiana (0-6 Big Ten, 4-6 
overall), has enjoyed little success 
in the conference this season. 
The Wolverines (5-1, 8-2) had 
everything on the line.

Michigan came out firing. 

Rudock and Chesson were on the 
same page from the start. They 
connected for three first-half 
touchdown passes, and Michigan 

jumped out to a 21-9 lead in the 
middle of the second quarter. 
Chesson, like Rudock, had a 
career day. He finished with four 
receiving touchdowns and 207 
yards on 10 receptions.

The 
effort 
wasn’t 
enough 

to put away the Hoosiers. The 
Wolverines’ 
defense, 
once 

infallible, 
struggled 
mightily 

at times. Indiana running back 
Jordan Howard rushed for 238 
yards and two touchdowns on 
35 carries. Michigan’s defense 
appeared 
worn 
out 
by 
the 

Hoosiers’ 
up-tempo 
offense. 

Indiana ran play after play 
within seconds of each other, 
rarely slowing down, and took its 
first lead of the game with 7:40 
remaining in the third quarter. 
The Hoosiers did not relinquish 
it until Allen kicked a field goal 
with 6:57 left in the game.

Even then, they gained it right 

back with an eight-play, 69-yard 
touchdown drive.

The Wolverines’ defense felt 

the absence of redshirt junior 
defensive tackle Ryan Glasgow, 
who missed the game with a 
pectoral injury. Harbaugh doesn’t 
expect him back during the 
team’s stretch run. Michigan is 
battered and bruised, but it could 
not be beaten Saturday.

“It’s 
suck-it-up 
time,” 

Harbaugh said.

His team received the message. 

It did not let defensive and special 
team lapses become its undoing. 
Even the offense was stagnant at 
times.

But in the end, after Hill made 

his final play and Rudock finished 
his day, those hiccups proved to 
be nothing more.

Rudock, true to form, didn’t 

emit so much as a grin in his 
postgame 
press 
conference. 

Without the aid of a stat sheet, it 
was unclear whether he threw 
for six touchdown passes or zero. 
Junior cornerback Jourdan Lewis 
reacted in a similar fashion. He 
wasn’t thrilled with how his unit 
played. His demeanor wasn’t one 
emblematic of victory.

Harbaugh, however, allowed 

himself a few grins. He hung 
around the outskirts of Memorial 
Stadium 45 minutes after the 
celebration ended as he waited to 
board the team bus. He stood just 
a few yards away from where Hill 
made the game-ending play.

Children hoarded him for 

autographs, and Michigan fans 
screamed 
his 
catchphrase, 

“Who’s got it better than us?”

The 
answer 
was 
almost 

Indiana. 

senior quarterback Jake Rudock 
lined up on the five-yard line, 
it wasn’t 4th-and-goal. It was 
4th-and-everything.

Rudock threw the ball high 

to redshirt junior receiver Jehu 
Chesson, the man who had 
matched Indiana tit-for-tat all 
game long. As all of Memorial 
Stadium watched with baited 
breath, Chesson came down with 
the ball between two defenders, 
giving Michigan second life. 
There was going to be overtime 
in Bloomington. Right?

Not necessarily. There was 

still an extra point to kick. For 
a team that entered the game 
No. 1 nationally in special teams 
efficiency, that shouldn’t have 
been much concern.

But Michigan had already 

had its heart ripped out on a 
“gimme” special teams play 
against the Spartans. It had 

already given up a punt return 
for a touchdown against the 
Hoosiers, and a low snap earlier 
in the game led to a missed field 
goal. There was no comfort. 
There was only terror.

And indeed, Scott 

Sypniewski’s snap was low. 
Fortunately for Michigan, 
though, Blake O’Neill corralled it 
just time for Kenny Allen to send 
it to overtime.

In the extra period, Indiana 

scored, then Michigan 
countered, then the Wolverines 
struck again. Indiana drove 
right down to the 2-yard line, in 
position to punch it in again and 
continue the agony.

The ball was in Mitchell 

Paige’s hands.

* * *

Delano Hill’s gut told him 

Indiana would run. It was 
only logical, after Howard’s 
domination, that the Hoosiers 
would leave their fate in his 

hands. Instead, they went to the 
air.

In retrospect, the fourth-

down play wouldn’t have even 
happened without Hill, who 
kept Sudfeld out of the end zone 
one play earlier. Michigan coach 
Jim Harbaugh said he saw 
Sudfeld targeting the matchup 
on Hill as the play developed. 
Hill didn’t know they would 
throw at him.

It’s fitting that the play that 

could have cost Michigan its 
season came down to instinct. 
Instinct is fickle and, of course, 
chaotic. After all, O’Neill was just 
following instinct when he tried 
to punt the ball after fumbling it 
against the Spartans, and it cost 
him dearly.

But when Hill reached into 

Paige’s hands and plucked out 
the ball, his aggression paid off. 
Like O’Neill, he didn’t have time 
to hesitate. He saw the ball was 
coming, and he had to get it out. 
His instincts came through. The 
season lived.

* * *

When the press conferences 

ended and the field cleared out, 
a large group of fans waited 
just behind the end zone where 
Hill made his stand. Harbaugh 
came out, and kids and parents 
alike clamored for pictures and 
autographs. Harbaugh met them 
along a fence, trying to appease 
them until it was clear he 
couldn’t possibly get to them all.

They shouted to him, with 

their hopes still high, as 
Harbaugh walked away. He had a 
bus to catch.

Soon, across the stadium, the 

buses were exiting the parking 
lot, honking continuously in 
celebration. Their cargo was on 
its way back to Ann Arbor with 
a game to prepare for next week 
at Penn State.

Somehow, it still matters.

Bultman can be reached at 

bultmanm@umich.edu and 

on Twitter @m_bultman.

THE MICHIGAN 

DAILY TOP-10 POLL 

2. OHIO STATE: Turns out JT 
Barrett was the first college 
athlete to steal crab legs. But 
he said, “I’m the quarterback of 
Ohio State,” and his problems 
were solved.

1. CLEMSON: The Tigers only 
beat Syracuse by 10. But don’t 
ask Dabo about Clemsoning ...

9. MICHIGAN STATE: Connor 
Cook isn’t injured. His 
shoulder just felt disrespected.

3. ALABAMA: Listen, we 
know the Tide have been 
rolling. But you heard it here 
first: Charleston Southern 21, 
Alabama 20.

6. OKLAHOMA: We knew 
they’d be back in the poll 
Sooner or later.

5. NOTRE DAME: Touchdown 
Jesus exorcised its Demon 
(Deacons).

7. IOWA: The Hawkeyes 
scored eight fewer points than 
Michigan this weekend. If only 
they had a quarterback like 
Jake Rudock ...

4. OKLAHOMA STATE: T. 
Boone Pickens done did good.

8. FLORIDA: The Gators 
chomped on the Cocks.

10. BAYLOR: Oklahoma beat 
Baylor? It’s like we barely even 
know ’er anymore.

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

votes receiving nine and so on. 

RUDOCK
From Page 1A

BULTMAN
From Page 1B

Five things we learned from Saturday

Rudock playing 

bigger than ever, but 
Glasgow’s absence 
could prove costly

By ZACH SHAW

Daily Sports Editor

Very little went as expected 

for the Michigan football team 
Saturday. 
The 
14th-ranked 

Wolverines won, beating Indiana 
48-41 in double-overtime, but 
the game played out in dissimilar 
fashion than most have this 
season.

The defense, previously the 

best in the country, gave up a 
season-high 41 points, while 
fifth-year 
senior 
quarterback 

Jake Rudock set a school record 
with six touchdown passes to 
go along with 504 total yards of 
offense.

Though Michigan won as 

expected, there were plenty 
of lessons learned about the 
Wolverines. The Daily breaks 
down five things we learned 
from Saturday.

1. Ryan Glasgow’s absence 
is a big loss — literally and 
figuratively.

By the time redshirt junior 

defensive tackle Ryan Glasgow 
left midway through Michigan’s 
49-16 
win 
over 
Rutgers 
a 

weekend ago, the Scarlet Knights 
were too far behind to capitalize.

But with a week to prepare, 

the Hoosiers saw the hole the 
6-foot-7, 297-pound lineman’s 
absence created. Indiana rushed 
for 307 yards Saturday — more 
than 
doubling 
the 
previous 

high of 144 yards allowed by 
Michigan’s defense.

Running 
back 
Jordan 

Howard ran for 248 yards and 
two touchdowns. The previous 
best individual rushing output 
against the Wolverines was just 

81 yards.

Things grew worse after the 

game, however, when Michigan 
coach Jim Harbaugh announced 
that Glasgow would likely be out 
for the season with a pectoral 
injury.

Players and coaches reiterated 

all week that the rotation-heavy 
defensive front was deep enough 
to survive, but the results in the 
game showed otherwise.

“It looked like we were playing 

like we were undermanned. 
We were tired,” Harbaugh said. 
“We’re just going to have to 
suck it up. ... There’s nothing in 
football you hate to see more 
than when a team goes on a long 
drive and only runs the football. 
That was all they did.”

2. Jake Rudock can carry the 

Wolverines.

Things looked much brighter 

on the other side of the ball, as 
Rudock had a career day. The 
504 yards of offense and six 
touchdowns will stay in the 
record books, but it was his 
leadership that allowed him to 
lead the Wolverines on a last-
minute drive to tie the game with 
two seconds left, which means 
more in the present.

“He is unflappable,” Harbaugh 

said. “He just does not flinch, 
does 
not 
matter 
what 
the 

situation is. He talks, he gives 
feedback, he’s exactly the same 
all the time. He’s got ice water in 
his veins.”

Aside from a few setbacks, 

Rudock has gotten better as the 
season progresses, throwing for 

777 yards and eight touchdowns 
in the last two weeks. Because 
Rudock was unable to work with 
the Michigan coaching staff 
or the full team until August, 
there’s a chance he’s just now 
hitting his stride.

If that’s the case, Michigan’s 

upcoming 
matchups 
against 

Penn 
State 
(7-3) 
and 
Ohio 

State (10-0) seem much more 
manageable.

3. Facing Ohio State at 9-2 is 
far from inevitable.

Though the matchups can 

be manageable if Rudock plays 
otherworldly, 
the 
odds 
of 

that happening are very slim. 
Rutgers (119th in the nation 
in passing yards allowed) and 
Indiana (127th) have the worst 

pass defenses in the Big Ten 
by a wide margin, while Penn 
State (second) and Ohio State 
(seventh) are not only among the 
conference’s best, but also the 
nation’s.

After Michigan’s blowout win 

over Rutgers, many had begun 
to assume that the Wolverines 
would blow past the Hoosiers 
and Nittany Lions to enter the 
Nov. 28 matchup against the 
Buckeyes with a shot at the Big 
Ten East title.

But 
after 
showing 
major 

defensive holes and failing to 
receive 
production 
from 
its 

running backs (82 yards on 21 
carries), it has become clear 
that Michigan is far from the 
unrelenting force many thought 
it was earlier in the season.

Instead, the Wolverines have 

become a team susceptible to 
upsets 
and 
underwhelming 

performances.

4. Michigan has recovered 
from its late-game woes.

For much of the past three 

seasons, Michigan has struggled 
mightily in close-yet-winnable 
games. Whether it was blowing 
late 
leads, 
comebacks 
that 

fell just short or catastrophic 
fumbled punts, the Wolverines 
have had difficulty walking away 
with wins when they should.

But in its last two close 

games, Michigan has stood tall. 
Against Minnesota, a goal-line 
stand put an end to a wild win 
after the team nearly blew a 
lead. And against Indiana, the 
Wolverines regained a lead they 
had previously blown.

Part of the change can be 

attributed to an older and wiser 
team than in past years, but 
much of it is simply learning 
how to win close games. Even 
in an uncharacteristically bad 
game for the defense and an 
exhausting day for the offense, 
Michigan was able to close it 
out.

“Our guys found a way to 

win,” Harbaugh said. “As good a 
win as you’ll ever have.”

5. BOLD PREDICTION: Jehu 
Chesson wins the team MVP.

Despite a quiet start to the 

season (190 yards and zero 
touchdowns receiving in his first 
seven games), the redshirt junior 
wide receiver has exploded on 
the scene, racking up 276 yards 
and seven touchdowns in his last 
three games.

More importantly, Chesson 

emerged Saturday as Rudock’s 
top 
target. 
With 
Michigan 

leaning more on the passing game 
in recent weeks, look for Chesson 
to run away with not only more 
touchdowns, but the title as the 
Wolverines’ best player.

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Michigan’s defensive line will have a major void to fill with redshirt junior Ryan Glasgow out for the season with a pectoral injury.

