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).