FootballSaturday, September 10, 2016
8
What to Watch: Injuries, backups
By JACOB GASE
Daily Sports Editor
After jumping into the top five
of the Associated Press poll for the
first time since before the 2007
season, the No. 5 Michigan football
team will be a heavy favorite for the
second straight week at Michigan
Stadium, this time taking on
Central Florida.
The Knights (1-0) did pick up a
38-0 win over South Carolina State
in their season opener, but they are
coming off a winless 2015 campaign
with an average margin of defeat
of 23.8 points. If all goes well for
the
Wolverines,
this
weekend
should be just another chance to
experiment in preparation for the
Big Ten season, as well as another
opportunity to give plenty of
freshmen and backups playing time.
Even if Michigan pulls off
another blowout, here are a few
things to watch for on Saturday.
1. Who’s still hurt, who’s not and
who fills in?
The
one
downside
to
the
Wolverines’ 63-3 rout of Hawaii
last week was the growing number
of injuries the team suffered, both
before the game and during it.
Senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis,
fifth-year senior offensive lineman
Ben Braden and redshirt junior
defensive tackle Maurice Hurst all
could return this week after being
held out by Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh as a precaution last week,
and senior running back De’Veon
Smith should be back in the starting
lineup after leaving the Hawaii
game with banged-up ribs.
However, the Wolverines will
likely be missing fifth-year senior
running
back
Drake
Johnson,
redshirt
sophomore
linebacker
Noah Furbush, senior defensive
end Taco Charlton and redshirt
sophomore defensive tackle Bryan
Mone. Johnson and Furbush didn’t
dress last week, and Charlton and
Mone both left the game with lower
body injuries and aren’t expected to
return Saturday.
Keep
an
eye
on
freshman
defensive linemen like Rashan
Gary, Michael Dwumfour and even
offensive lineman Michael Onwenu
(who played both sides of the ball
last week). All three might be called
upon to help fill out defensive line
coach
Greg
Mattison’s
typical
eight-man rotation. As for the
linebackers, expect the Wolverines
to get creative behind their locked-
in starters (seniors Ben Gedeon
and Mike McCray and redshirt
sophomore Jabrill Peppers) — even
redshirt
sophomore
cornerback
Brandon
Watson
has
been
mentioned as a potential fill-in at
the position.
2. Which quarterback will
emerge as the more deserving
backup?
Redshirt
sophomore
Wilton
Speight pretty much controlled
Michigan’s
quarterback
competition from start to finish,
but his backups have come a long
way as well. Redshirt juniors
John O’Korn and Shane Morris
each entered the game and led
touchdown drives last week after
the score got out of hand, and
neither threw an incomplete pass
in his limited time on the field.
O’Korn figures to have the
edge for backup duty right now,
especially given his proven mobility
in the pocket, but Morris showed
some athleticism as well with a
14-yard red-zone scramble last
week. Harbaugh has hinted that
the backup competition was still
ongoing, so the two quarterbacks
will want to be ready to show what
they can do with another inferior
opponent on deck.
3. Can the Wolverines’
secondary keep catching the
ball?
When
senior
safety
Delano
Hill
and
senior
cornerback
Channing Stribling both returned
interceptions
for
touchdowns
against the Rainbow Warriors, they
made history as just the fourth duo
in Michigan history to accomplish
the feat in the same game. This
week may provide more gifts
for the experienced Wolverines’
secondary, as UCF had the third-
highest interception rate in the
country last year.
Add in the fact that Lewis,
Michigan’s best all-around cover
man, should be back this week and
that fifth-year senior cornerback
Jeremy Clark missed out on the fun
last week after leading the team
in interceptions last year, and one
might expect the Wolverines to pull
off some more mid-air robberies on
Saturday.
4. Will any 1997 drama
resurface?
In the days leading up to the
game, much has been made of
the fact that new UCF coach
Scott Frost was once the starting
quarterback at Nebraska — a team
that infamously split the national
championship with Michigan in
1997. After both teams finished the
season undefeated and didn’t play
each other in a bowl game, Frost
was extremely vocal in persuading
voters to choose the Cornhuskers,
going so far as to say, “I can’t see
how any coach outside the Big
Ten or the Pac-10 would vote for
Michigan.”
Frost has since insisted that
the past is in the past, and that his
players will not care at all about any
lingering conflict between him and
the Wolverines. Harbaugh has been
known to, as he puts it, “fire shots
over the bow” of coaches who have
a bone to pick with Michigan, but
he was already playing in the NFL
in 1997, and none of the current
Wolverines were older than 4 when
the controversy took place. Still,
don’t be surprised if that narrative
is played up numerous times during
and after the game.
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Senior cornerback Channing Stribling was one of two Michigan defensive backs to return an interception for a touchdown Saturday against Hawaii.
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan vs. UCF
5
Michigan’s ranking in the Associated Press
poll, its highest since before the 2007
season (also No. 5)
21.3
Seconds per play run by UCF’s up-tempo
offense last week
85%
Completion rate for Michigan’s three
quarterbacks in the season opener
10-1
Combined current record of Michigan’s
last 11 opponents