Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Wednesday, September 14, 2016 — 7A T E A M S T A T S MICH OPP Points/Game 57.0 8.5 First Downs/Game 24.5 15.5 Rush Yards/Game 212.5 178.0 Yards/Rush 5.3 4.3 Rushing TDs 6 2 Passing Yards/Game 267.0 103.5 Completion % 72.1 40.0 Yards/Pass 8.8 4.6 Passing TDs 7 0 Interceptions 1 2 Offensive Plays/Game 70.5 64.0 Total Offense 479.5 281.5 3rd-down Conversions 60.0% 12.0% 4th-down Conversions 75.0% 42.9% Sacks/Game 3.5 1.0 Kick return average 8.2 17.2 Punt return average 18.5 12.0 Punting average 45.7 38.6 Field Goals-Attempts 3-3 1-3 Fumbles/Lost 2/0 5/2 Penalty Yards/Game 26.5 68.0 Time of Poss 31:10 28:50 I N D I V I D U A L S PASSING Player Cmp Att Yds TD INT Speight 35 50 457 7 1 O’Korn 5 7 32 0 0 Morris 4 4 45 0 0 TOTALS 44 61 534 7 1 RUSHING Player Att Yds Avg Lg TD C. Evans 17 147 8.6 43 2 Smith, D. 16 65 4.1 17 0 Isaac 12 58 4.8 12 0 Higdon 12 56 4.7 19 1 McDoom 3 50 16.7 19 0 Davis 2 17 8.5 10 0 Morris 1 14 14.0 14 0 Hill 6 13 2.2 4 3 Crawford 1 11 11.0 11 0 Chesson 2 11 5.5 15 0 O’Korn 2 4 2.0 2 0 Hirsch 1 2 2.0 2 0 Beneducci 1 1 1.0 1 0 Hewlett 1 -1 -1.0 0 0 Allen 1 -11 -11.0 0 0 Speight 2 -12 -6.0 0 0 TOTALS 80 425 5.3 43 6 RECEIVING Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD Darboh 8 153 19.1 45 3 Chesson 7 127 18.1 35 0 Butt 8 105 13.1 25 3 Ways 1 22 22.0 22 0 McDoom 3 20 6.7 8 0 Crawford 1 18 18.0 18 0 Hill 3 16 5.3 7 0 Hirsch 1 15 15.0 15 0 Poggi 3 13 4.3 8 0 Jocz 1 12 12.0 12 0 Perry 1 12 12.0 12 1 McKeon 2 10 5.0 5 0 Bunting 2 6 3.0 4 0 Smith, D. 2 3 1.5 8 0 Evans 1 2 2.0 2 0 TOTALS 44 534 12.1 45 7 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yds Avg. Long TD Peppers 4 74 18.5 35 0 TOTALS 4 74 18.5 35 0 INTERCEPTIONS Player No. Yds Avg. Long TD Stribling 1 51 51.0 51 1 Hill, D. 1 27 27.0 27 1 TOTALS 2 78 39.0 51 2 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yds Avg. Long TD Henderson 2 28 14.0 15 0 Hill, K. 2 5 2.5 5 0 TOTALS 4 33 8.3 15 0 KICKOFFS Player No. Yds Avg. TB Allen 13 840 64.6 8 Foug 7 403 57.6 2 TOTALS 20 1243 62.2 10 PUNTING Player No. Yds Avg. Lg Allen 3 137 45.7 55 TOTALS 3 137 45.7 55 FIELD GOALS Player FG Pct. 1-19 20-29 30-3940-49 50+ Lg Allen 3-3 100% 0-0 1-1 2-2 0-0 0-0 37 DEFENSE Player Solo Ast Tot TFL SK PBU Peppers 13 3 16 4.0 1.0 - McCray 9 6 15 5.0 2.0 2 Winovich 4 7 11 1.0 1.0 - Gedeon 3 7 10 3.0 1.5 - Gary 4 5 9 2.5 0.5 - Glasgow, R. 4 3 7 1.0 - - Thomas 5 2 7 - - - Godin 3 3 6 - - - Wormley 3 3 6 1.5 1.0 - Kinnel 4 1 5 - - - Watson 3 2 5 - - - Clark 4 - 4 - - 2 Stribling 3 1 4 - - - Hill, D. 2 2 4 1.0 - 1 Bush 2 1 3 - - - Wroblewski - 3 3 - - - Marshall 1 2 3 - - - Glasgow, J. 3 - 3 - - - Dwumfour 2 - 2 1.0 - - Hudson 2 - 2 - - - Hurst 1 1 2 - - - Allen - 1 1 - - - Smith, D. 1 - 1 - - - Charlton - 1 1 - - - Pearson 1 - 1 - - - Miller 1 - 1 - - - Hill, L. - - - - - 1 TOTALS 78 54 132 20.0 7.0 6 A P T O P 2 5 P O L L 1. Alabama (2-0) 14. Oklahoma (1-1) 2. Florida State (2-0) 15. Tennessee (2-0) 3. Ohio State (2-0) 16. Georgia (2-0) 4. Michigan (2-0) 17. Texas A&M (2-0) 5. Clemson (2-0) 18. Notre Dame (1-1) 6. Houston (2-0) 19. Ole Miss (1-1) 7. Stanford (1-0) 20. LSU (1-1) 8. Washington (2-0) 21. Baylor (2-0) 9. Wisconsin (2-0) 22. Oregon (2-0) 10. Louisville (2-0) 23. Florida (2-0) 11. Texas (2-0) 24. Arkansas (2-0) 12. Michigan St. (1-0) 25. Miami (2-0) 13. Iowa (2-0) 2016 SCHEDULE HAWAII (1-2) W, 63-3 (1-0) UCF (1-1) COLORADO (2-0) 3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium, BTN PENN ST. (1-1) Michigan Stadium WISCONSIN (2-0) Michigan Stadium at RUTGERS (1-1) 7 or 8 p.m., Piscataway, N.J. ILLINOIS (1-1) 3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium at MICH. ST. (1-0) East Lansing, Mich. MARYLAND (2-0) Michigan Stadium at IOWA (2-0) 8 p.m., Iowa City, Iowa INDIANA (2-0) Michigan Stadium at OHIO ST. (2-0) Columbus, Ohio 9/3 9/10 9/17 9/24 10/1 10/8 10/22 10/29 11/5 11/12 11/19 11/26 W, 51-14 (2-0) O-Line faces growing expectations By KELLY HALL Daily Sports Editor All game long, you could see the discontent from fans: the Michigan football team wasn’t having success running the ball. Though the fourth-ranked Wolverines racked up nearly 120 yards on the ground, it averaged just 2.9 yards per carry on 41 rushing attempts — not the ratio it was looking for. Central Florida was jamming five to six Knights in the box throughout all four quarters, quieting Michigan’s rushing efforts. Though the Wolverines still emerged victorious in a 51-14 rout, some fans were upset with the running game, and a great deal of that blame was put on the offensive line. Fifth-year senior right tackle Kyle Kalis wasn’t too upset with the finger- pointing, though. He’s grown used to it after hearing about it in previous years. “(The fans) gotta relax,” Kalis said. “They gotta relax. We’re fine. … Most fans don’t understand, they don’t really understand the game of football to the level that people who play it do. When they stack the box like that and they stop the run game, you don’t get mad as an O-lineman, you pass the ball because that’s just, scheme- wise, that’s the only option you have. So that’s what we did.” Back in 2014, when Michigan finished 115th in FBS Total Offense rankings, the offensive line took a lot of the criticism for its 5-7 season. Thinking back to it now, Kalis still thinks the blame was misattributed, but he understands how fans easily grew frustrated with the offensive line and used it as a scapegoat. That criticism will remain as expectations grow for the highly touted Wolverines. “Hopefully one day, the old stink will be gone,” Kalis said. “I think we’re doing a good job of trying to eliminate that, because it’s not there, I’m telling you.” The matchup with UCF proved that Michigan can handle pressure against the run by changing gears, and, if anything, it was good exposure for what may come later in the season. “As an offensive line, it’s nice, because even if we aren’t that successful in the run, just getting the practice at that, getting the practice to see that many guys in the box,” Kalis said. “Eventually, down the season, down the line, we may have to play a team that does it again to us in a dire situation when we have to run the ball, so we have to be prepared.” Throughout Saturday’s game, the Wolverines did what they needed to do and what they will need to do in the future when they can’t run the ball: they went through the air. Redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns, including a 45-yard touchdown pass to fifth- year senior wide receiver Amara Darboh for his longest pass of the season. “Coach Harbaugh was actually talking about it the other day, about how he hasn’t had a quarterback who could complete the deep post route in like five or six years or something, on a consistent basis,” Kalis said. “Wilton, being able to complete those big passes this early on is a good thing for all of us.” Kalis thinks that Speight is doing a “hell of a job,” and when you couple that with the prolific wide receivers and the protection coming from the offensive line, Michigan has a winning recipe. On the offensive line itself, three fifth- year senior starters (Kalis, Erik Magnuson and Ben Braden) have led the way with help from junior center Mason Cole and sophomore left tackle Grant Newsome. Competition from newcomers like freshmen Ben Bredeson and Michael Onwenu has made the group even hotter. Without a doubt, the offensive line is experiencing the most depth it has had in recent years. Finally, after playing with teams much less experienced than the 2016 Wolverines, Kalis is getting to see what it’s like to play for the No. 4 team in the nation, which is as high of an honor Michigan has seen since the 2007 Rose Bowl. “A lot of guys might say, ‘The rankings don’t mean anything, we don’t care about the rankings,’ but no, we care about the rankings,” Kalis said. “We want to be the highest ranked as we can possibly be. The expectation is getting higher every week, so that’s the goal.” Kinnel becoming a special teams ace Sophomore safety tipped two game- changing punts Saturday vs. UCF By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor Tyree Kinnel didn’t have to wait long for the moment he had anticipated. About 80 seconds into Michigan’s game against Central Florida on Saturday, Kinnel lined up on the punt-block team — Grant Perry to his left, Brandon Watson to his right. Kinnel knew one of the three was going to get a hand on the ball. All week, Michigan had observed weaknesses to exploit in UCF’s punt team and saw an opportunity to strike early. Sure enough, with seven Wolverines against five Knights on the line of scrimmage, two UCF players leaked out to cover the punt. “We were bringing quite a few up the middle, and I knew they had overloaded a side,” Kinnel said. Kinnel was the difference- maker. Perry engaged with one member of the last line of blockers, and Watson took the other two. That freed space up the middle for Kinnel to lunge and tip the kick. The altered punt traveled just 13 yards, but Michigan’s offense went three-and-out on the ensuing possession. So the defense forced another Knights punt, the Wolverines lined up in the same formation and Kinnel got there again. This time, the punt went 27 yards, and Michigan took over in UCF territory and scored on each of its next six possessions. Whatever may have happened without that edge in field position, it was clear Kinnel’s fingertips changed the game. The sophomore safety from Wayne, Ohio, has been close before. Last year, Kinnel nearly blocked a punt against Ohio State in the regular-season finale, only to draw a flag for roughing the kicker and extend the drive. The Buckeyes scored the first points of the game four plays later and went on to win 42-13. “(This time,) Coach just told me, ‘Don’t go after it, just go get it,’ ” Kinnel said. “And if you’re taught the right way, you’ll go get it.” By now, Kinnel is familiar with fine lines. He knows the difference between blocking punts and coming close, between seeing the field and standing on the sidelines, even between winning programs and losing programs. Kinnel’s senior year of high school was the infamous 2014 season, in which Michigan finished 5-7 and ousted coach Brady Hoke, to whom Kinnel committed. Unlike several other recruits, Kinnel honored his commitment and started attending Michigan last fall. Since then, he has fought to see the field. He was a standout on offense and defense in high school, but never played special teams. Only when he arrived in Ann Arbor did he see the unit as his path onto the field. “It’s just attitude and effort when it comes to special teams,” Kinnel said. “It’s about knowing who wants it more, knowing it’s a key factor in the game.” He learned that lesson from former special teams coordinator John Baxter, who spent one season at Michigan last year before returning to Southern California. Many regard Baxter as one of the top special teams coaches in the country, citing his track record of blocked kicks. But the Wolverines didn’t connect on any last season before tipping two punts and two field-goal attempts Saturday. “The schemes aren’t really much different,” Kinnel said. “I think we’re just giving more effort.” Just more than a year after trying special teams for the first time, Kinnel now sees that job as his role on the team, certainly a vital one Saturday. As for defense, Kinnel has made progress there, too, seeing time as a reserve safety behind seniors Delano Hill and Dymonte Thomas. To a coaching staff that values every effort, his success in the punting game has to be of value. “I don’t think it goes ignored,” Kinnel said. “(I) ended up getting special teams player of the week, so they like it. It’s a coaches’ thing, how that goes.” For the time being, Kinnel still wants more on special teams. He thinks he may soon be able to fully block a kick, getting a hand on it instead of just a fingertip. The punt block is one of the fastest plays in sports, where milliseconds separate an altered kick and a perfectly executed one. But in many aspects, Kinnel has learned to trust his preparation. He knew the punt block unit could break through Saturday, and it did. And in 2014, he knew Michigan’s fortunes would change, and they did. “In high school, when they were struggling, I think I always wanted to be here,” Kinnel said. “I think things were going to change regardless.” GRANT HARDY/Daily Sophomore safety Tyree Kinnel (left) is one of Michigan’s biggest contributors on special teams. “It’s just attitude and effort when it comes to special teams.” GRANT HARDY/Daily Fifth-year senior guard Kyle Kalis (67) is pleased with the offensive line’s progress despite a down week statistically against Central Florida on Saturday. “Hopefully one day, the old stink will be gone.”