4B — January 6, 2016
SportsWednesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Five Things We Learned

By ZACH SHAW

Daily Sports Editor

For the first time since 2011, 

the Michigan football team ended 
its season with a win. In one 
of their most complete efforts 
of the season, the 14th-ranked 
Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 10-3 
overall) dominated No. 19 Florida 
(7-1 
Southeastern 
Conference, 

10-4 
overall) 
through 
and 

through, putting a finishing touch 
on what Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh called his “favorite 
year in football.”

There were plenty of highlights 

to be found in Orlando. Here 
are five things we learned from 
Michigan’s 
41-7 
Citrus 
Bowl 

trouncing of the Gators.

1. The run game isn’t dead.

After being the motor for 

Michigan’s offense in the first 
half of the season, the Wolverines’ 
stable of running backs sputtered 
to close the year. Yards per carry 
dropped from 4.8 in the first six 
games to 3.1 in the second, and 
yards per game dropped from 
201.3 to 99.

But 
against 
the 
Gators, 

Michigan showed new life on the 
ground. Addressing a strong pass 
coverage and blitz-heavy front 
line, the Wolverines compiled 225 
yards and two touchdowns on 
46 carries. Junior running back 
De’Veon Smith led the way with 
109 yards, while redshirt junior 
Drake Johnson added 58 yards 
and a score.

With the run game and pass 

game both clicking, Michigan’s 
offense looked as good as it had in 
recent memory.

“De’Veon was a man possessed 

running the football,” Harbaugh 
said. “I don’t think I’ve seen our 
offense play better.

“I’ve never seen a back like this 

that breaks as many tackles. Well, 
maybe Frank Gore.”

After 
the 
game, 
Johnson 

noted that the time off from 

games improved the health of the 
bruised backs, and building an 
early lead opened up lanes late in 
the game. But Smith noted that 
a change in mindset was the key 
factor and a good sign with plenty 
of talent coming back next season.

“We just came out there and 

competed today, and it showed 
that work and work and work 
actually pays off,” Smith said. “So 
I know (the Wolverines are) going 
to keep that going on into 2016.”

2. Jehu Chesson is still the 

team’s MVP.

When redshirt junior wide 

receiver Jehu Chesson was named 
the 
Bo 
Schembechler 
Most 

Valuable Player the Michigan 
football team’s annual banquet 
last month, it turned some heads. 
Chesson began the season as 
the pass game’s third option, 
and failed to haul in a receiving 
touchdown until the seventh 
game of the season.

But against Florida, Chesson 

looked 
as 
valuable 
as 
ever, 

totaling 118 receiving yards and 
a touchdown against two-time 
All-America cornerback Vernon 
Hargreaves III.

“Jehu Chesson, the MVP. He’s 

a great player,” Harbaugh said. 
“He’s one of those guys covering 
those kicks, and it was great to 
get a post route. It was great to 
hit that. … I mean, Florida is so 
athletic and has so much speed 
that there’s only tiny windows to 
make those throws and complete 
those catches.”

Chesson ended the season with 

919 total yards and 12 touchdowns 
— nine of which came in the final 
seven games. Despite not even 
being the team’s best receiver 
for much of the season, Chesson 
ended it as the team’s best player.

“Pardon my French, but Jehu’s 

got his shit together,” Johnson 
said of his roommate. “Like if 
there’s someone on our team who 
really has their stuff together, 
Jehu has his shit together.”

3. The defense was an all-

time unit.

Before the game began, many 

expected the Citrus Bowl to be 
a battle of two stout defenses. 
Florida faltered, but Michigan 
held up its end of the stick. The 
Wolverines allowed just 253 
yards, seven points and forced 
two turnovers in the trouncing.

“Our defense was magnificent,” 

Harbaugh said. “The three and 
outs, the stops, the play on third 
down, everybody playing great 
team defense, it was — it was 
really good.”

The performance capped a 

historic season for Michigan’s 
defense. 
In 
an 
era 
where 

scoring is as high as ever, the 
Wolverines finished in the top 
10 nationally in nearly every 
defensive category, and had 
their third-best total defense 
since 1985 — falling short of the 
2006 unit that finished 11-2 and 
the 1997 unit that won a national 
championship.

“I’ve got to give Michigan 

all the credit in the world,” said 
Florida coach Jim McElwain. 
“They took it to us, beat us up 
front, did a great job in the red 
area, kept us off balance and, I 
think more than anything, played 
with a pad level.”

4. One-year quarterbacks can 

still leave a legacy.

Historically, 
one-year 

quarterbacks 
are 
rarely 
a 

good thing for Michigan. The 
title 
was 
usually 
reserved 

for unmemorable starters or 
gunslingers who struggled their 
way out of the position.

But 
fifth-year 
senior 

quarterback Jake Rudock proved 
to be an exception to the rule, 
and was as good as ever Friday. 
Rudock completed 20 of 31 
passes for 278 yards and three 
touchdowns en route to being 
named the game’s MVP.

In the fourth quarter, Rudock 

also became just the second 
Wolverine to throw for 3,000 
yards in a season, and ended 
his career first all-time in 
completion percentage.

“Jake Rudock was fabulous — 

on the money today,” Harbaugh 
said. “I mean, darn-near flawless, 
… getting hit and passes against 
corners that were going to be 
playing in the NFL. He’s going to 
be drafted.”

Though his future in football 

is still uncertain, it’s clear that, 
even with only one season to 
do so, Rudock made his mark in 
Michigan history.

5. BOLD PREDICTION: 
Michigan’s 77-year draft 
streak continues … barely.

For all 77 years of the NFL 

Draft, a Michigan player has 
been selected at some point. 
It’s an impressive feat that only 
Southern California can match, 
but it may be in jeopardy. With 
highly touted prospects Butt, 
Lewis, Chesson and Wormley 
all reportedly staying for next 
season, the Wolverines have 
no 
surefire 
draft 
prospects 

graduating or leaving early.

But after thumping Florida, 

Harbaugh was adamant many 
of his seniors were ready for the 
next level.

“Probably about 10, 11 guys on 

this team that won’t be back next 
year,” he said. “But we’ll watch 
them in August. We’ll take a few 
hours off and watch you guys 
play in the NFL.”

Among the players Harbaugh 

mentioned were senior safety 
Jarrod Wilson, fifth-year senior 
center Graham Glasgow and 
Rudock. Linebackers Joe Bolden 
and James Ross III will also play 
in senior All-Star games.

No draft board has a Michigan 

player being taken, but after 
arguably its best performance 
of the season, expect to see at 
least one player’s name called 
on draft day.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Sione Houma finally had a chance to win a championship in his senior season.

Embattled 

seniors go out 

with a win

O

RLANDO, Fla. — 
Minutes after Friday’s 
Citrus Bowl ended, 

senior fullback Sione Houma 
stood near midfield, trying to put 
on his championship T-shirt. It 
started off as a simple process. 
He put his arms through the 
sleeves with 
ease, eager 
to show off 
his team’s 
victory. But 
then his pads 
got in the 
way, leaving 
the shirt 
rumpled up 
above his 
midsection.

Houma called one of his 

teammates over, and with 
assistance, he was finally able 
to do something he had never 
done in his collegiate career: 
be officially recognized as a 
champion.

Sure, it wasn’t the national 

championship, a Rose Bowl 
championship or a Big Ten 
championship, but for one day, 
it seemed like none of that 
mattered. Friday wasn’t the day 
to minimize Michigan’s feats.

The senior class Jim Harbaugh 

inherited for one season is 
one that arrived just after of 
Michigan’s Sugar Bowl victory 
to cap the 2011 season, right 
before the program suffered the 
downturn that led to the firing 
of Brady Hoke. Among the fifth-
year seniors, only linebacker 
Desmond Morgan played in that 
Sugar Bowl.

The rest of them had never 

appeared in a game that ended 
with them wearing shirts that 
had the words “Michigan” and 
“champions” on the front.

A loss Friday would have 

put Michigan’s seniors in 
unfortunate territory: The last 
four-year period in which the 
Wolverines won neither a Big Ten 
championship nor a bowl game 
culminated in 1968.

The previous three seasons 

for the senior class ended like 
this: a heartbreaking loss in the 
Outback Bowl to South Carolina 
in 2012, a blowout loss to Kansas 
State in the Buffalo Wild Wings 
Bowl in 2013 and them sitting on 
their couches last season while 
10 other Big Ten teams played in 
bowls. Somehow, it did not crush 
their resolve.

“The trust and intensity these 

boys had, given everything that 
happened, we all stuck together,” 
Houma said. “And the bond we 
created, I’ll never forget that.”

They had never experienced 

anything like Friday’s postgame: 
Jake Rudock, Joe Bolden, Joe 
Kerridge and Jehu Chesson 
standing on a podium with a 
trophy they had won, maize and 
blue confetti enveloping them; 
half of a stadium in Florida, the 
state where its opponent resided, 
screaming “It’s great to be a 
Michigan Wolverine”; players 
who not only didn’t want to leave 
the field after the game, but who 
stayed so long to run around and 
give fans high-fives that they 
needed to hustle so they wouldn’t 
delay the team’s TSA airport 

security check on the way out of 
the stadium.

The fans were relentless, 

screaming for Jim Harbaugh, 
chanting his name. But he stood 
to the side of the stage, out of the 
spotlight and among a crowd, 
holding his son Jack in his arms. 
Harbaugh took pictures with a 
never-ending line of fans and 
donors, stopping only to tell 
passing game coordinator Jedd 
Fisch that Friday’s offensive 
performance was as good as he 
has ever seen.

Harbaugh’s handprint on the 

win, on his team, was evident 
through it all. Michigan was 
relentless Friday, pounding 
Florida’s top-10 defense from 
start to finish. Things weren’t 
much different on the other side 
of the ball — Bolden said he was 
surprised Florida managed to 
score seven points. But if every 
day of 2015 was about Harbaugh, 
the first day of 2016 wasn’t really 
about him at all: It was about 
Michigan’s senior class.

Bolden, as much as anyone 

else, is emblematic of the 
struggles of his classmates. His 
teams have suffered through four 
losses to Ohio State, nothing easy 
to cope with for an Ohio native; 
he was ejected from Michigan’s 
game against Michigan State 
for a questionable targeting call 
that changed the complexion 
of the game; and last year, in 
the middle of a 5-7 season, he 
was called upon as one of a few 
team representatives charged 
with frequently explaining the 
inexplicable to the media.

But Friday eased much of 

that pain. There will, Bolden 
noted after the game, be 
a banner commemorating 
this bowl victory hanging in 
Schembechler Hall for decades. 
The final game of his career was 
a victory, and the dominating 
fashion in which they won made 
it all the more satisfying.

“It’s also memorable that 

you beat the runner up in the 
SEC that bad,” Bolden said. “If 
I remember correctly, I think it 
was worse than ’Bama beat them. 
It goes to show that when we’re 
clicking on all cylinders, in my 
opinion, we can beat anyone in 
the NCAA.”

The Wolverines will try to 

prove that in 2016, when this 
year’s senior class has moved on 
to other endeavors. Harbaugh 
will have to try to top this 
year, his favorite season in 
football. He had a team full of 
“jackhammers,” players who not 
only bought into his message, 
but lived it every day. They 
helped bring Michigan back into 
national prominence, and did it 
while mentoring the players who 
will follow them.

And in their final act as 

Wolverines, the senior class 
helped give the younger players 
their first chance to put on 
championship T-shirts. And 
for next time, they’ll have had 
practice. They won’t have to worry 
about the shirts getting stuck.

Cohen can be reached at 

maxac@umich.edu and on 

Twitter @MaxACohen.

MAX
COHEN

The good, the bad and the ugly

By JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

Jim 
Harbaugh’s 
highly 

publicized first year as Michigan 
football coach made stops all over 
the country before wrapping up 
in Orlando, Fla., last week for the 
Citrus Bowl against Florida (7-1 
SEC, 10-4 overall).

The game also concluded 

a season of highs and lows. 
The Wolverines reestablished 
their identity and had twice as 
many wins than their five in 
2014, but they also suffered a 
heartbreaking loss to Michigan 
State and a blowout defeat 
against Ohio State, finishing 
behind both rivals in the Big 
Ten standings.

In 
the 
end, 
Michigan’s 

season finished at a peak. The 
Wolverines (6-2 Big Ten, 10-3 
overall) played their best game 
of the season, dismantling the 
Gators, 41-7, on Friday. After a 
slow start on defense left the 
outcome in doubt for about a 
half, Michigan came out firing 
on all cylinders after the break. 
By the end of the game, most of 
the Florida fans who made the 
short trip to Orlando had left 
the stadium.

The Daily breaks down the 

good, the bad and the ugly from 
Friday’s game:

The good

For 
most 
of 
the 
game, 

everything clicked for Michigan. 
The game MVP was fifth-year 
senior Jake Rudock, who finished 
his career with another strong 
performance by throwing for 
278 yards and three touchdowns 
on 
20-for-31 
passing. 
After 

earning the second-most single-
season passing yards in program 
history, he continued to force 
NFL teams to give him a look.

Perhaps 
the 
Wolverines’ 

standout 
performer 
was 

redshirt junior wide receiver 
Jehu 
Chesson. 
Matched 
up 

with Florida cornerback Vernon 
Hargreaves III — a first-round 
NFL talent who announced 
Monday his intention to declare 
for the draft — Chesson had the 
edge all afternoon. Twice, he 

beat Hargreaves deep — once 
with a double move and once 
on a deep post route — finishing 
with five catches for 118 yards 
and a touchdown. He said he 
didn’t submit for an NFL Draft 
evaluation, so he will almost 
certainly be back in 2016 with 
plenty of chances to be in this 
space again.

More surprising for Michigan 

was the success of the running 
game, which was trending in 
the opposite direction of the 
passing attack toward the end 
of the season. Junior running 
back De’Veon Smith showed his 
ability to break tackles on his 
way to 25 carries for 109 yards, 
making Harbaugh compare him 
to NFL running back Frank 
Gore. Redshirt junior running 
back Drake Johnson and senior 
fullback 
Sione 
Houma 
each 

added touchdowns.

On the other side of the 

ball, the defense feasted on an 
outmatched 
Florida 
offense. 

Senior 
linebacker 
Royce 

Jenkins-Stone 
and 
redshirt 

junior defensive lineman Chris 
Wormley each made sacks, and 
the Wolverines combined for six 
tackles for loss. In their previous 
game, 
they 
surrendered 
42 

points at home against Ohio 
State, so they, too, ended the 
season on a high note.

The success of the offense 

and defense in tandem allowed 
Michigan to possess the ball 
for 11:32 in the third quarter as 
it pulled away and 11:53 in the 
fourth as it ran out the clock. The 
offense rolled down the field, and 
the defense picked up quick stops, 
sending the offense back out and 
wearing down the Gators.

The bad

The 
Wolverines’ 
miscues 

were few and far between in the 
bowl game. A dropped pass by 
junior tight end Jake Butt and 
a touchback on a 57-yard punt 
by senior Kenny Allen were 
both small mistakes, far from 
impactful on the final outcome. 
Michigan’s 
arduous 
bowl 

preparation showed, as the team 
played a clean game.

Off the field, injuries brought 

the season to an early end for 
a couple of players. Redshirt 
freshman safety Jabrill Peppers 
did not play with a hand injury, 
and fifth-year senior punter 
Blake O’Neill, who had a brace 
on his knee, did not punt in his 

final 
career 
game. 
Redshirt 

junior wide receiver Amara 
Darboh also left the game in the 
fourth quarter when a Florida 
defender ripped his helmet off. 
Darboh did not return.

The ugly

Michigan left little to be 

desired after the first few drives, 
but the defense did show some 
holes early on. Adjusting from 
former defensive coordinator 
D.J. 
Durkin 
to 
interim 

coordinator 
Greg 
Mattison, 

the Wolverines allowed 200 
yards on their first four series 
on defense. Florida reached the 
red zone three times, but threw 
interceptions on two of them.

In their three longest drives, 

the Gators strung together seven 
plays of 15 yards or more: two 
quarterback scrambles and five 
passes. Michigan also committed 
two penalties in that time, the 
only span of the game during 
which the outcome was contested.

When senior safety Jarrod 

Wilson intercepted a pass in the 
end zone in the second quarter, 
the Wolverines halted Florida’s 
momentum and rolled for the 
rest of the game.

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

Jehu Chesson proved worthy of team MVP honors with two long catches, one for a touchdown, against Florida.

