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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | October 24, 2016
Stadium Sundays
At the Big House on Sunday
mornings, a community
cleans up and builds a family
» SportsMonday Column,
Page 2B
Home Cooking
Michigan won the series
opener against Michigan
Tech on Friday, 4-3, and then
rallied for a tie Saturday
» Page 3B
De’Veon Smith ran left on
the first play. De’Veon Smith
ran right on the second. Wilton
Speight threw on the third. Jim
Harbaugh threw convention
out the window on the fourth.
Three plays were all it took
for the Michigan football team
to reach into its bag of tricks
and runs circles around Illinois
for an easy touchdown drive.
Some coaches may have waited
until later in the game. Some
coaches may have waited until
next week at Michigan State,
a more formidable opponent
than the Fighting Illini were
in a 41-8 blowout Saturday at
Michigan Stadium.
Harbaugh, of course, does
not coach by convention. He
didn’t hesitate to use three
quarterbacks, play a defensive
player at two positions and even
roll out the now-famous “train”
formation on the first series.
“Our coaches dial up plays
for us that work,” said fifth-
year
senior
wide
receiver
Amara Darboh. “I think us
driving down like that is like
a statement — we always want
to start off the game executing,
not
getting
three-and-outs,
going down and putting points
on the board.”
The Wolverines began their
first drive with the power
running attack, which may
well have been enough to win
the game on its own. Smith
ran over left guard for seven
yards and then over right guard
for nine. Redshirt sophomore
quarterback
Wilton
Speight
threw behind fifth-year senior
wide receiver Jehu Chesson for
an incomplete pass — and then
he came out of the game.
In
came
redshirt
junior
quarterback Shane Morris for
the fourth snap. He tossed right
to redshirt junior running back
Ty Isaac, then promptly ran
right as a 6-foot-3, 213-pound
lead blocker.
On
3rd-and-4,
freshman
wide receiver Eddie McDoom
entered the game, which looked
like a return to the predictable.
Michigan has run the fly sweep
to McDoom almost a dozen
times this season and hardly
used the speedster for anything
else. On this play, McDoom
went in motion before the snap,
and everyone in the stadium
prepared for the same play.
Instead,
before
he
reached
Speight, McDoom cut back to
the outside, caught a pass in the
flat and ran it for 33 yards.
The Wolverines weren’t done
yet. In the red zone by that point,
they inserted redshirt sophomore
all-purpose man Jabrill Peppers
as the wildcat quarterback — the
third player to take the snap in
a six-play span. He gained four
yards. Sophomore running back
JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
Michigan 41
Illinois 8
Michigan rolls to early lead, sets up
rivalry trip to East Lansing next week
See ILLINOIS, Page 2B