Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Tuesday, September 20, 2016 — 7

T E A M S T A T S

 

MICH
OPP

Points/Game
53.0
15.0

First Downs/Game
23.0
15.3

Rush Yards/Game
197.7
140.0

 Yards/Rush
4.9
3.6

 Rushing TDs
9
2

Passing Yards/Game
254.3
156.0

 Completion %
65.9%
45.6%

 Yards/Pass
8.4
5.9

 Passing TDs
8
3

 Interceptions
1
2

Offensive Plays/Game
70.7
65.0

Total Offense
452.0
296.0

3rd-down Conversions
48.8%
10.5%

4th-down Conversions
75.0%
37.5%

Sacks/Game
3.7
1.7

Kick return average
19.0
19.5

Punt return average
22.9
17.5

Punting average
41.2
35.8

Field Goals-Attempts
4-6
1-4

Fumbles/Lost
4/1
6/2

Penalty Yards/Game
31.3
60.7

Time of Poss
31:18
28:42

I N D I V I D U A L S

PASSING

Player
Cmp
Att
Yds
TD
INT

Speight
51
80
686
8
1

O’Korn
5
7
32
0
0

Morris
4
4
45
0
0

TOTALS
60
91
763
8
1

RUSHING

Player
Att
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD

C. Evans
21
157
7.5
43
2

Smith, D.
27
152
5.6
42
1

Isaac
22
76
3.5
12
1

Higdon
13
64
4.9
19
1

McDoom
5
55
11.0
19
0

Chesson
5
36
7.2
17
1

Peppers
2
24
12.0
17
0

Davis
2
17
8.5
10
0

Hill
7
15
2.1
4
3

Morris
1
14
14.0
14
0

Crawford
1
11
11.0
11
0

O’Korn
3
7
2.3
3
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
8
-26
-3.2
3
0

TOTALS
121
593
4.9
43
9

RECEIVING

Player
No.
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD

Darboh
10
204
20.4
45
4

Butt
15
192
12.8
25
3

Chesson
7
127
18.1
35
0

Perry
2
66
33.0
54
1

Hill
5
32
6.4
9
0

Ways
1
22
22.0
22
0

Isaac
1
21
21.0
21
0

McDoom
3
20
6.7
8
0

Crawford
1
18
18.0
18
0

Hirsch
1
15
15.0
15
0

Poggi
3
13
4.3
8
0

Jocz
1
12
12.0
12
0

McKeon
2
10
5.0
5
0

Bunting
2
6
3.0
4
0

Evans
2
5
2.5
3
0

Smith, D.
4
0
0.0
8
0

TOTALS
60
763
12.7
54
8

 

PUNT RETURNS

Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD

Peppers
8
173
21.6
54
1

Jocz
1
27
27.0
0
0

Perry
0
6
--
6
1

TOTALS
9
206
22.9
54
2

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

Peppers
2
81
40.5
55
0

Henderson
2
28
14.0
15
0

Hill, K.
2
5
2.5
5
0

TOTALS
6
114
19.0
55
0

KICKOFFS

Player
No.
Yds
Avg.
TB

Allen
21
1354
64.5
12

Foug
7
403
57.6
2

TOTALS
20
1243
62.2
10

PUNTING

Player
No.
Yds
Avg.
Lg

Allen
10
412
41.2
55

TOTALS
10
412
41.2
55

FIELD GOALS

Player
FG
Pct.
1-19 20-29 30-3940-49 50+ Lg

Allen
4-6 66.7% 0-0
1-1
3-4
0-1 0-0 39

DEFENSE

Player
Solo Ast
Tot
TFL
SK
PBU

Peppers
19
9
28
9.5
2.5
-

Gedeon
8
17
25
4.0
2.0
-

McCray
10
9
19
4.5
2.5
3

Thomas
8
8
16
-
-
1

Winovich
4
11
15
3.0
1.5
-

Gary
5
8
13
3.5
1.0
-

Hill, D.
6
5
11
2.0
-
1

Glasgow, R.
-
11
11
1.0
0.5
-

Wormley
4
5
9
1.5
1.0
-

Godin
3
6
9
1.0
-
-

Clark
6
3
9
-
-
2

Stribling
3
5
8
-
-
1

Kinnel
4
3
7
-
-
-

Bush
2
3
5
-
-
-

Hurst
2
3
5
1.0
1.0
-

Watson
2
3
5
-
-
-

Wroblewski
-
3
3
-
-
-

Glasgow, J.
3
-
3
-
-
-

Marshall, L.
1
2
3
-
-
-

Uche
1
2
3
-
-
-

Dwumfour
2
-
2
1.0
-
-

Jones
1
1
2
-
-
-

Allen
1
1
2
-
-
-

Charlton
-
2
2
-
-
-

Hudson
2
-
2
-
-
-

Pearson
1
-
1
-
-
-

McDoom
1
-
1
-
-
-

Crawford
-
1
1
-
-
-

Smith, D.
1
-
1
-
-
-

Miller
-
1
1
-
-
-

Hill, L.
-
-
-
-
-
1

TOTALS
100
122
222 32.0 11.0
9

2016 SCHEDULE

HAWAII (1-3)

W, 63-3 (1-0)

UCF (1-2)
COLORADO (2-1)
PENN ST. (2-1)

3:30, Michigan Stadium, ABC

WISCONSIN (3-0)

3:30, Michigan Stadium

at RUTGERS (2-1)

7 or 8 p.m., Piscataway, N.J.

ILLINOIS (1-2)

3:30 p.m., Michigan Stadium

at MICH. ST. (2-0)

East Lansing, Mich.

MARYLAND (3-0)

Michigan Stadium

at IOWA (2-1)

8 p.m., Iowa City, Iowa

INDIANA (2-0)

Michigan Stadium

at OHIO ST. (3-0)

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) W, 45-28 (3-0)

Defense learns from first-quarter test

Just after the No. 4 Michigan 

football team started to gain 
momentum off a blocked punt-
turned-touchdown 
to 
draw 

within a score of Colorado, 
redshirt junior linebacker Mike 
McCray jumped offside on the 
Buffaloes’ ensuing drive.

The penalty gave Colorado 

the first down it needed, and 
just under four minutes later, an 
efficient 67-yard, 10-play drive 
gave the Buffaloes a 21-7 lead to 
close out the first quarter.

In the season opener against 

Hawaii, McCray didn’t have 
any such miscues. In his first 
game after missing all of 2015 
due to injury, he recorded 
nine tackles, 3.5 for loss, two 
sacks and a forced fumble — 
garnering Big Ten Defensive 
Player of the Week honors. 
Though 
Saturday’s 
game 

against Colorado wasn’t perfect, 
McCray isn’t focused too much 
on his misstep.

“I don’t think I’m struggling 

— I just think I’m just out there 
trying to play hard and have 
fun,” McCray said Monday. “I 
don’t think about my mistakes 
during 
the 
game, 
because 

mistakes are going to happen, 
so we gotta keep playing and 
moving on to help the team.”

The Wolverines ultimately 

fought back to victory, and so 
did McCray, who collected five 
tackles and half a sack. After 
allowing three touchdowns, 
Michigan scored 17 unanswered 
points to take its first lead of 
the game.

McCray said that coming out 

of halftime, the message was 
to be patient. As a linebacker 
dealing with plenty of play-
action passes, he wanted to 
stop the running game first, 
which hurt the team. But 
after halftime, he felt like the 

linebackers adjusted well.

Going 
into 
the 
season, 

the linebackers heard a lot 
about how they would be the 
most inexperienced unit on 
Michigan’s 
defense. 
McCray 

and senior Ben Gedeon were 
the 
only 
two 
experienced 

linebackers to return in 2016, not 
counting redshirt sophomore 
Jabrill Peppers, who recently 
made the switch to the position. 
Though the rawness showed on 
Saturday, the unit also displayed 
its ability to bounce back.

“We didn’t get a lot of respect 

coming into the year, and I 
feel like we still don’t have 
the respect that we deserve,” 
McCray said. “I feel like we’re 
still in the process of getting 
that respect, but as a whole, I 
feel like we’ve gotten a lot better 

since spring ball.”

After 
the 
first-quarter 

ambush, defensive coordinator 
Don Brown, who is known 
for being fiery and spirited, 
managed 
to 

calm 
down 

not 
just 
the 

linebackers, but 
all of his players.

“He was real 

level-headed 
— 
he 
wasn’t 

being 
rowdy 

or 
anything,” 

McCray 
said. 

“He 
was 
just 

keeping 
us 

upbeat 
and 

confident, getting (us) ready 
to go back out there. I feel like 
that helped us a lot after the 
first quarter. It settled us down. 

‘We got this.’ I feel like we 
proved ourselves after facing 
adversity.”

Michigan 
coach 
Jim 

Harbaugh also likes to watch 

the 
defensive 

fight, and said 
Monday that he 
likes to watch 
the players, even 
when he should 
be planning the 
next series.

The 
support 

from the head 
coach 
instills 

necessary 
confidence 
in 

players 
like 

McCray.

“I feel like (Harbaugh) trusts 

the defense a lot and talks about 
us in practice all the time, and I 

feel like he knows what we’re 
capable of,” McCray said. “I think 
he just wants to see us go out 
there and compete and have fun.”

The first-quarter test against 

Colorado 
proved 
to 
be 
an 

important 
learning 
moment 

for McCray and the rest of the 
defense. Now, heading into 
Michigan’s 
first 
conference 

matchup of the season, it has the 
experience it needs to deal with 
more efficient offenses.

“We weren’t thinking as 

much as we were in the first 
quarter,” McCray said. “I feel 
like we were thinking a lot — 
thinking too much, really — and 
I feel like we calmed down. We 
consider ourselves one of the 
best defenses in the country, 
and we wanted to go out and 
prove that.”

KELLY HALL

Daily Sports Editor

“I feel like we 
still don’t have 
the respect that 

we deserve.”

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Redshirt junior linebacker Mike McCray, who had five tackles and a half-sack against Colorado, thought Michigan’s defense responded well to early mistakes.

Magnuson, Michigan offensive line go ‘piggin’

He wore a blue-collared shirt 

with his name on it, but Erik 
Magnuson wasn’t there to make 
metaphors 
about 
lunch-pail 

workmanship.

Instead, as Michigan’s fifth-

year senior tackle spoke to 
reporters in the Crisler Center 
media room Monday, Magnuson 
revealed another purpose for 
his attire.

“It’s 
my 
piggin’ 
shirt,” 

Magnuson explained. “Wear it 
when we go piggin’.”

A hulking right tackle with 

a beard that would make Paul 
Bunyan proud, Magnuson was 
initially hesitant to explain the 
meaning. But then he did anyway.

“Setting me up to be a 

headline on the other team,” he 
said. “So I can’t really say, but 
just understand, defensive line’s 
a bunch of pigs. Gotta get ’em.”

Against Colorado on Saturday, 

Magnuson did just that. He 
was Michigan’s highest-graded 
offensive lineman for the game, 
according 
to 
Pro 
Football 

Focus, and Michigan coach 
Jim Harbaugh said “Mags” has 
probably been the team’s top 
pass protector so far.

He was named to the watch 

list for the Outland Trophy 
(awarded to the nation’s best 
interior lineman) this past 
summer, and he has lived up 
to it so far. Magnuson said 
Monday that he has not yet 
given up a sack, knocking on 
wood after he answered.

That’s 
an 
indication 
his 

early-season quest to fend off 
the “pigs” has been successful. 
Magnuson 
is 
no 
newcomer 

to animal metaphors — he 
compared Jabrill Peppers to 
a tiger last year — but for this 

one, he is sharing the credit 
with fellow fifth-year senior 
Kyle Kalis. Magnuson said he 
and Kalis, his former roommate, 
originated the term piggin’, and 
now others on the offensive line 
are in on it.

As early as Monday night, 

Magnuson proclaimed, the pair 
might release a web show called 
“Gone Piggin’ ” in the mold of 
Wayne’s World.

“There will be a show,” 

Magnuson said. “Whether or 
not it’s going to be available for 
you to see, yet to be determined.”

He declined to say where 

the studio would be, and he 
even declined to say whether 
it would even be released for 
public consumption “depending 
on 
how 
much 
criticism 

Coach thinks we’ll get for it.” 
Magnuson said they plan to 
have guests — senior tight end 
Jake Butt confirmed he had been 
invited on the show — and that 
they planned to film Monday. 

Late 
Monday 
evening, 
a 

photo 
including 
Magnuson 

and Kalis appeared on the 
Instagram page of the WOLV-
TV show Wolverine Women, 
announcing “Gone Piggin’ ” as 

a new weekly segment.

“It could be launching tonight, 

or tomorrow, or never,” Magnuson 
said Monday. “Stay tuned.”

But coming off a game in 

which 
redshirt 
sophomore 

quarterback Wilton Speight was 
sacked three times, Magnuson 
also knows he can’t rest on his 
piggin’ laurels.

“We 
can 
get 
better 
at 

piggin’,” 
Magnuson 
said. 

“Every week you can improve 
on your piggin’, but it depends 
on the attitude going into that. 
That’s why you’ve gotta wear 
the piggin’ shirt.”

Asked what the defensive line 

thought of the “pig” nicknames, 
Magnuson said it was a friendly 
nickname and that the defense 
had names for the offensive line, 
too. He did not specify what 
the names were, but perhaps 
redshirt junior defensive tackle 
Maurice Hurst gave a hint 
earlier in the afternoon.

As both Magnuson and Hurst 

sat at a podium, they were asked 
why offensive linemen were 
more prone to grow long beards 
than defensive linemen.

Hardly missing a beat, Hurst 

responded: “Uh, they’re ugly.”

Experienced, cohesive line looks to go after ‘pigs’ on defensive line, and has fun off the field, too

MAX BULTMAN

Managing Sports Editor

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Fifth-year senior right tackle Erik Magnuson (78) said he has not allowed a sack all season but can still find ways to improve alongside right guard Kyle Kalis (67).

