8A — Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Rudock praised
for composure
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
With 2:52 left in regulation
of the Michigan football team’s
game at Indiana on Saturday,
fifth-year
senior
quarterback
Jake Rudock had to lead one of
his biggest drives as a Wolverine.
Michigan set up at its own 34,
down by seven. Rudock quickly
led his team down the field: an
in route to junior tight end Jake
Butt for 16 yards, an out route to
Butt for nine more. Two plays
later, he found redshirt junior
wide receiver Jehu Chesson for
41 yards to the Indiana two-yard
line.
But
then,
the Wolverines
began to let
time tick off
the
clock,
putting
pressure
on
Rudock.
The
crowd ramped
up
to
the
loudest it had been all day, and
the students crowded into the
first few rows of their section. If
Rudock didn’t lead Michigan into
the end zone, they would rush
the field to celebrate Indiana’s
first win in the series since 1987.
The quarterback entered the
huddle to call the play.
“He was the exact same he was
the entire game,” said fifth-year
senior center Graham Glasgow.
“He literally was the exact same.
He came out to the huddle, made
eye contact with us and didn’t
really say anything besides the
play call. I had a feeling we were
going to complete the pass and be
good to go.”
The fans stayed put. After
three rushing plays stalled inside
the five-yard line, Rudock calmly
took the snap and delivered a
touchdown throw to Chesson
with two seconds left.
After
the
game,
Rudock
maintained the same even keel.
He avoided getting too high
after the win, just as he avoided
getting too low after a season-
opening loss to Utah in which he
threw three interceptions.
“He’s
very
mature,”
said
redshirt junior offensive lineman
Erik Magnuson. “He’s played a
lot of games. He’s had ups and
downs, but the biggest thing is
he’s consistent. If he throws an
interception
or he throws
a touchdown,
he’s the same
guy. He’s not
going to melt
down
or
all
that type of
stuff.”
It
was
that kind of
quarterback,
an
experienced
two-year starter at Iowa, whom
the Wolverines knew they were
getting when they recruited
him as a graduate transfer this
summer. After mixed results
earlier in the season, Rudock has
proved to be a capable leader of
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s
offense.
“Myself, I look at him and
go, ‘I gotta be more like Jake,’
” Harbaugh said. “It’s working
really well for him. (I’ll) see if I
can’t incorporate that into my
own game, my own personality.”
Harbaugh entrusted Rudock
with the keys to the offense in his
first season in part because of his
leadership. In Rudock’s opinion,
a quarterback doesn’t have to be
a big “rah-rah guy” to be a leader.
Rudock prefers to talk with a small
group individually and make sure
they’re on the same page.
“It’s nice to have that type of
guy leading the team, instead of
somebody who comes into the
huddle screaming, or somebody
who seems like he needs to be
screamed at,” Glasgow said.
Rudock, his teammates say, is
the same way off the field. At 22,
he’s one of the oldest members of
the team, though his personality
makes him seem much older in
the eyes of his teammates. He
doesn’t normally frequent bars
or parties after games, preferring
instead to stay in. He isn’t much
for social media, which puzzles
the other players.
He has already graduated from
Iowa and hopes to attend medical
school one day, finding helpful
resources at Michigan’s hospital
and master’s program to that end.
Soon after he arrived this
summer, his persona earned
him a nickname from the other
quarterbacks:
“Dad.”
Rudock
said he doesn’t mind it, though
not everyone joins in.
“No, I don’t call him Dad!”
Glasgow said. “I’m older than
him!”
The other quarterbacks, on
the other hand, stand in stark
contrast to Rudock.
“The QBs are kind of like
‘Mean Girls,’ ” Glasgow said.
“They talk about girls and stuff,
and gossip.”
Rudock doesn’t take part.
“He
doesn’t
want
to
be
bothered with that, you know?”
Glasgow said. “He’s just all
business all the time, and that’s
what I like.”
“The QBs are
kind of like
‘Mean Girls.’ ”
FOOTBALL
Clark improves at new position
By MAX COHEN
Managing Sports Editor
Jim
Harbaugh
asked
his
team a question during its first
meeting of the week Monday.
On the surface, it was a simple
one. But within the context
of a long season nearing its
conclusion, it was not.
“He looked at us and he asked
us if we were tired as a whole
team,”
said
redshirt
junior
cornerback Jeremy Clark.
The players had reason to say
yes, mentally and physically.
They have been dealt their
share of injuries, the most
recent being the loss of redshirt
junior defensive tackle Ryan
Glasgow’s pectoral injury. They
have also had to combat the
mental stress that comes with
three out of their last four games
being decided on the final play.
The latest rendition, Saturday’s
win against Indiana, took two
overtimes.
Still, they were resolute in
their answer.
“We all said, ‘No,’ ” Clark
said. “And then he said, ‘All right
then.’ ”
According to Clark, Harbaugh
believes much of the fatigue is
mental and can be cured with a
positive attitude. Still, Michigan
is taking measures to reduce the
fatigue and wear and tear that
comes with the late stages of a
football season.
Though Clark agreed the
Wolverines do have a bounce
in their step, as Harbaugh said
Monday,
players
are
taking
fewer snaps in practice for
preservation purposes.
The
fatigue
was
evident
at times during against the
Hoosiers,
when
Indiana’s
up-tempo
offense
gashed
Michigan’s defense to the tune
of 527 yards. The performance
was not a pretty one.
The
wear
and
tear
also
extended to Michigan’s special
teams
unit.
Special
teams
coordinator
John
Baxter
diagnosed Indiana’s punt return
touchdown in the third quarter
as the result of having tired
bodies on the unit.
The
Wolverines
will
be
extended a reprieve Saturday
against Penn State. The Nittany
Lions’ offense operates much
slower than Indiana’s. While
the Hoosiers run 80.8 plays
per game, Penn State runs
66.1, the fewest in the Big
Ten. Michigan’s offense is in
between, running 70.3 plays per
game.
“We were trying to get the
three-and-outs so fast and stay
off the field,” Clark said of the
game against Indiana. “But
once we weren’t getting them,
you could just see the pace was
taking its toll on us.”
Clark, in his first year as a
cornerback, has had the added
task of working across from
junior
cornerback
Jourdan
Lewis.
Though
Lewis
has
developed a reputation as a
shut-down
defender,
playing
alongside him presents its own
challenges.
As the season has progressed,
Clark
has
felt
as
though
opponents have shied away from
targeting Lewis, a semifinalist
for
the
Bednarik
Award,
awarded to the top defensive
player in college football.
According to Pro Football
Focus,
Lewis
has
been
the
fourth-most
targeted
cornerback in college football
this season. Still, Clark thinks
teams have become more aware
of Lewis’ prowess and have
been
throwing
Clark’s
way
more frequently.
“When you try the other side,
you’ve got Jourdan Lewis over
there, so you’re pretty much not
going to get anything, so I don’t
blame the teams for trying,”
Clark said.
Clark believes the key to
ensuring he’s not beat on deep
balls
when
opponents
are
consistently targeting him is
staying with receivers on the
line of scrimmage. Last year,
when Clark played safety, he was
already deep in the secondary
from the start of the play, so
there was less to do in terms of
tracking the ball and staying
with receivers from the line of
scrimmage.
With two games left in the
regular season, Clark finally
feels as though the game has
slowed down at the new position.
Earlier in the season, he would
sometimes lose track of his man
at the line of scrimmage and
panic would set in.
“Everything
just
starts
racing,” Clark said. “I’m trying
to just stay calm.”
At least, if his answer to
Harbaugh’s
question
at
the
beginning of the week was true,
he won’t be tired if that situation
arises Saturday.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Jeremy Clark has become more comfortable at cornerback as his first season at the position progresses.
‘M’ prepares for loud
crowd at Penn State
By MAX BULTMAN
Daily Sports Editor
As the Michigan football team
prepares for its toughest road
environment of the season, the
Wolverines are getting used to
not being able to hear.
Penn State’s Beaver Stadium
is the nation’s second-largest
college football stadium behind
only Michigan Stadium. It seats
106,572 people.
And with hoards of Nittany
Lions fans ready to scream their
lungs out when the Wolverines
visit State College on Saturday,
Michigan is bracing for the noise
using two differing approaches:
incessant music and complete
silence.
“Whenever we play away
games, we’ll always practice
with music on,” said redshirt
junior guard Erik Magnuson.
“There will be speakers all
throughout the field, and it will
be really loud and you won’t be
able to hear anything. And then
if we’re not doing that, we’ll try
to eliminate talking. Take out
the sound … nobody can talk, or
the quarterback only whispers,
stuff like that. (We) try to
practice without being able to
hear.”
Saturday’s matchup has major
Big Ten East title implications,
as the Wolverines can keep their
conference championship hopes
alive with a win.
But after scares in its past two
road contests — a three-point
win at Minnesota and a double-
overtime
victory
at
Indiana
— it’s crucial that Michigan is
better prepared for a nasty road
environment this week.
“We struggled a little bit
last
week,”
Magnuson
said.
“Atmosphere was a little bit more
than we were expecting. We
didn’t expect it to be that loud,
so it got to us at times. We had
to adjust throughout the game,
going to a silent cadence, stuff
like that.”
With a “white out” crowd
looming at Penn State, the
atmosphere is only going to get
more hostile.
So far this year, the Wolverines
have posted a 3-1 road record
with a plus-31 point differential.
But that number is buoyed by a
28-0 win at Maryland, a game
in which Michigan won in a
blowout without looking its best.
Every
other
game
has
been close, dating back to the
Wolverines’ season opener at
Utah, which the Utes won, 24-17.
“I think we’ve come a long
way,” Magnuson said. “That was
a hard game to start the season
off with, tough place to play. But
I think we’ve improved a lot.
Jake’s gotten a lot better, been
really consistent. The last two
games were career highs for him,
but I think everyone’s getting
better the whole year.”
And
while
Magnuson
acknowledged how loud the
stadium would be on Saturday,
he also put it into perspective.
“All loud stadiums are the
same,” Magnuson said. “(If) you
can’t hear, you can’t hear. There’s
no difference.”
With their Big Ten East
destiny largely in their own
hands, the Wolverines don’t need
to win pretty on Saturday.
Like their wins over the
Hoosiers and Golden Gophers,
an ugly victory still gets the job
done. But that doesn’t mean
Magnuson wouldn’t appreciate
a chance to make the Nittany
Lions’ loud crowd go quiet.
“I like playing in front of our
crowd better, but it’s fun going
into a hostile environment,”
Magnuson said. “Kind of being,
like, the bad guys.”
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Erik Magnuson believes all loud stadiums impact games the same way.
Freshmen ready
for road challenge
By KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Writer
It was Oct. 23, and Messa
Rink
erupted
in
shouts
of
discouragement and boos of
disapproval as the Michigan
hockey
team’s
lineup
was
announced. Wooden bleachers
were packed with Union faithful,
all united in their hostility
toward that night’s villain: the
Wolverines.
For Michigan, the voyage to
upstate New York was its first
road trip of the season.
For the freshmen, it was their
first trip to enemy territory in
their collegiate careers.
Now
seven
games
into
the
season,
the
12th-ranked
Wolverines — and specifically
their freshmen — are tasked with
stealing two wins from No. 11
Boston University on away ice, in
an environment that will likely
make the reception at Union look
like a warm welcome.
Though some would expect
road-game jitters, Michigan’s
young talent is embracing the
obstacle ahead of them with
enthusiasm.
“Sometimes it’s good to be the
bad guy,” said freshman forward
Cooper Marody. “You just have to
embrace it. When they’re booing,
and they’re silent when you score,
you kind of shut them up. So it’s
good for us to go on the road and
win games, and we like doing it.”
The
young
Wolverines’
eagerness to face top opponents
away from home stems slightly
from their experience in Union’s
intimidating rink, but primarily
from their respective paths that
led them to Michigan.
Marody,
Cecconi
and
freshman forward Kyle Connor
all spent time in the United States
Hockey League. As they traveled
to different venues in small cities
such as Dubuque and Sioux Falls,
they encountered hotbeds of
passionate fans who would pound
on the glass.
Freshman
defenseman
Nicholas Boka and freshman
forward Brendan Warren, on the
other hand, had experience that
prepared them even more for the
clash with the Terriers.
As members of the United
States
National
Team
Development
Program,
the
duo had the opportunity to
scrimmage college teams — one
of which was Boston University
just last year.
While their collegiate and
junior
league
experience
in
hostile
environments
can’t
compare
to
the
6,150-seat
Agganis Arena they will face
on Saturday, the freshmen feel
capable of continuing to make an
impact against ranked opponents.
Connor and Marody lead the
team in scoring with nine points
each, while Warren trails the
duo with eight points. The trio
is playing well on both ends of
the ice too, as they are all plus-3
through seven games.
In the defensive zone, Cecconi
and Boka have played every game
for the Wolverines, earning praise
from
sophomore
defenseman
Zach Werenski for the physicality
they brought to the ice.
To have success against the
Terriers, Michigan will need
its freshmen to play without
intimidation and replicate the
success they have had through
seven games.
Michigan coach Red Berenson
is confident that his rookies can
rise to the occasion.
“I think they will (perform at
the same level they have been),”
Berenson said. “I think they feel
part of the team, and they just
play hard like we do every night,
no matter who we play against.
But the freshmen don’t seem to be
fazed by anything.”
Agganis Arena will be a sea
of red and white on Friday, but
don’t expect the freshmen to be
shaken up or to shrink under the
pressure. The Wolverines will
look forward to being the villains
in what could be their biggest
game of the year.
ICE HOCKEY