4B — October 31, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Five Things We Learned: Michigan State
The day Michigan fans awaited
for a year finally arrived, and the
Michigan football team came
home with the trophy it expected.
For the first time since 2012, and
the first time in East Lansing
since 2007, the Wolverines beat
Michigan State on Saturday, 32-23.
The
spread
closed
with
Michigan favored by 24.5, and
many expected the game to be
even more lopsided. A good-sized
contingent of maize and blue-clad
fans dotted Spartan Stadium and
generated a few “Let’s Go Blue”
chants throughout the afternoon.
The Wolverines weren’t satisfied
with their performance, but their
offense was efficient, their defense
mostly strong and their special
teams solid. They struggled in
the first quarter, dominated in
the middle quarters and held on
at the end. The latter is the most
important result — Michigan is 8-0
and still No. 2 in the country.
Here are five things we learned
from its latest win:
1. LJ Scott is the best back
Michigan has faced this season.
Michigan State gave its fans a
good reason to celebrate after the
first series, and Michigan fans
must have been a bit antsy. To open
Saturday’s game, Scott did what no
player or team had done against the
Wolverines all season: He ran the
ball into the teeth of their defense.
The opening drive went 75
yards in 12 plays over 7:02. Scott
carried the ball for 10 of those
plays, gaining 49 yards and a
touchdown. He added a 12-yard
reception on the only third down
Michigan State faced. Michigan
had given up long touchdowns
before, but the Wolverines had
not been dominated up front for
an entire series. Scott was quick to
get into space and elude the front
seven, and he broke a couple of
tackles to reach the second level.
The sophomore became the
first player to rush for 100 yards
against Michigan this season —
in fact, only one team (Central
Florida) had reached that mark
before Saturday. And perhaps if
the Spartans had given Scott the
ball more, the game would have
been much different. On their next
series, they again marched into
Michigan territory on a 10-play
drive but didn’t run any plays for
Scott. Starting at the Michigan
47-yard line, backup running back
Gerald Holmes carried four times
for nine yards, turning the ball
over on downs. The Wolverines
never trailed again.
2. Kenny Allen is Kenny Allen
again.
Michigan’s
fifth-year
senior
kicker has had a rough year, going
1-for-5 on field goals in a three-
game span from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1.
After that stretch, head coach Jim
Harbaugh reopened the kicking
competition between him, walk-
on Ryan Tice and true freshman
Quinn Nordin, and then he didn’t
send the field-goal team out against
Rutgers. Allen, though, maintained
his job, and said Saturday his
confidence never wavered.
“We’ve
been
practicing
different situations in practice,
and I’ve kicked more balls than I
care to count,” Allen said. “I just
knew if I went out there, just did
what I knew how to do, then it
would work out fine.”
Two conversions from 23 and
27 yards against Illinois began to
move the needle a bit, and then
Allen hit two more chip shots
against Michigan State. Then
came
the
most
encouraging
sign, a season-high 45-yarder
early in the fourth quarter that
put Michigan up 30-10. It’s not a
season-changer, but Allen now
looks more like himself — he’s
9-for-13 on the year heading into
a final stretch in which Michigan
will need him.
3. Michigan still has plenty
in the playbook for Eddie
McDoom.
After a solid early stretch against
two
overmatched
opponents,
Michigan went away from its
freshman speedster for a while.
Opponents started to game plan for
McDoom’s signature jet sweep, too
— Colorado and Penn State each
sniffed out plays and caused five-
yard losses, and McDoom didn’t
touch the ball against Wisconsin.
Last week against Illinois,
though, Harbaugh made sure
McDoom was still a threat in the
offense. He started McDoom on
the left, motioned him right as if to
take a handoff, then sent him back
left for a screen pass that netted 33
yards. Saturday, Michigan threw
another curveball when redshirt
sophomore Jabrill Peppers took
the snap as a wildcat quarterback
and found McDoom on a reverse
for a 33-yard pickup.
Whenever the Wolverines can
get McDoom in space, it usually
works out well for them. The
freshman was the team’s leading
rusher Saturday with 53 yards,
and he’s up to 138 on the season —
as a wide receiver.
4. Ben Braden is Michigan’s left
tackle.
Even after Braden started last
week against Illinois, Harbaugh
wouldn’t commit to keeping
him at left tackle going forward.
Michigan
started
redshirt
sophomore
Juwann
Bushell-
Beatty in that position against
Rutgers after Grant Newsome
suffered a season-ending injury
Oct. 1, but after the bye week,
Harbaugh switched things up
and moved Braden from left
guard to left tackle and inserted
freshman Ben Bredeson at left
guard.
After
Saturday’s
win,
it
appears that’s how the lineup
will stay. The Wolverines did not
allow a sack against Michigan
State, and they did a nice job
of handling Spartan defensive
lineman Malik McDowell. Up
next is a Maryland team, led
by former Michigan defensive
coordinator D.J. Durkin, that’s
averaging 2.5 sacks this season.
5. BOLD PREDICTION: Jabrill
Peppers ends up leading this
team in sacks, too.
Michigan’s
do-everything
man
already
has
near-
insurmountable leads in punt-
return and kick-return yards.
He has 249 and 153, respectively,
while the next player in each
category has 27 and 28. He has
also pulled into first by a wide
margin in tackles for loss with
12.5, and he ranks second on the
team in all-purpose yards per
game while playing primarily
defense.
But his sack of Michigan State
quarterback Brian Lewerke on
Saturday gave him 3.5 for the
season, trailing only defensive
ends Chris Wormley and Taco
Charlton, who have four each.
Peppers keeps finding ways to
do more, and should he get the
opportunity in the last four
games, he could end up pacing
the team in sacks as well — a
remarkable achievement for a
player who plays all three phases
of the game.
JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
THE MICHIGAN
DAILY TOP-10 POLL
2. MICHIGAN: It’s great that
Paul Bunyan is back in Ann
Arbor, but we’re not even sure
he’s good enough to start for
Michigan’s D-line.
1. ALABAMA: Say what you
want about their brutal SEC
schedule, but the Crimson
Tide didn’t play ANYONE
this week.
9. NEBRASKA: No one
noticed they lost because
everyone else did, too.
3. CLEMSON: Dabo
Swinney may be a man of
God, but it sure seems like
his team made a deal with
the devil.
6. OHIO STATE: No offense to
the Buckeyes, they just really
don’t seem to have one.
5. LOUISVILLE: Having a
Heisman moment against
Virginia is basically the
college football equivalent
of a tree falling in the forest
when nobody’s around.
7. TEXAS A&M: Get this,
the Aggies faced off against
the Aggies. That’s wild,
man.
4. WASHINGTON: This team
is just getting higher and
higher.
8. WISCONSIN: Have
two teams in the Big Ten
East ever wanted to play
Wisconsin again so badly?
10. AUBURN: There were
really only nine good teams
this week.
Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots,
with first-place votes receiving 10 points, second-
place votes receiving nine and so on.
Darboh validates No. 1 receiver status
EAST
LANSING
—
After
Michigan State turned the ball
over on downs on the Michigan
football team’s 4-yard line in the
third quarter, the Wolverines
(5-0 Big Ten, 8-0 overall) knew
they had their work cut out for
them if they wanted to get back
in enemy territory.
The first play fizzled out
quickly after sophomore running
back
Karan
Higdon
picked
up two yards, but redshirt
sophomore quarterback Wilton
Speight saw a golden opportunity
on the following play.
Michigan State cornerback
Justin Layne was glued to wide
receiver Amara Darboh, but
Speight threw the ball to the
fifth-year senior anyway, hurling
it 39 yards down the left sideline.
While falling, Darboh reeled it
in with his left hand for the final
catch of his career day.
“There was that deep ball
down the left-hand side where
Amara
couldn’t
really
get
his
right
hand
up
because he was
being held, so he
was able to pull
it in with one
arm,”
Speight
said.
“To
get
from the 5-yard
line
to
close
to the 50-yard
line — that’s a
momentum-
shifter. It makes my job easier
when I have a bigger target.”
The drive ultimately ended in
a field goal, and though the final
score of 32-23 may not reflect it,
the game was close well into the
fourth quarter. Darboh hadn’t
experienced a Michigan win over
the Spartans since he redshirted
in
2012,
but
in
Saturday’s
victory, he made the difference
the
Wolverines
needed.
Darboh
was
the recipient of
half of Speight’s
completions,
catching
eight
passes
for
165
yards.
“His
game
is
very
high-
level,”
said
Michigan
coach
Jim
Harbaugh.
“Some of the highest I’ve seen of a
college receiver. I think he’s well-
established as a great playmaker
and also disciplined in every single
route he runs. He blocks, great
teammate — just, he does it all, and
does it the best he can possibly do.
He’s got a lot of God-given talent
and a great work ethic.
“It was a premier game for
him today.”
After celebrating having the
Paul Bunyan Trophy back in the
Wolverines’ locker room, Darboh
returned to business as usual and
met with the media.
Nothing was more special
about
winning
this
in-state
rivalry game in East Lansing,
he said. He didn’t do anything
differently in preparation for
Michigan State (0-5, 2-6). He just
practiced well during the week,
and Speight put the ball where it
needed to be. That was enough to
make the difference Saturday.
“He showed up to play,” said
senior running back De’Veon
Smith. “He made some great
plays. I think he had two one-
handed
grabs
today.
Hey,
with the way the kid works at
practice, it shows up on the field.
He will give you 100 percent
every single play.”
Though it isn’t easy by any
means to lob a pass half a football
field down the left sideline, it
may be more challenging to
trust your receivers to make a
play. Speight showed no qualms
about
throwing
to
Darboh,
allowing him to average 20.6
yards per reception.
“There was a couple times
here and there where they
weren’t exactly open — they
were covered — but when you’re
throwing to guys like Jake Butt
or Amara Darboh, that’s not
really considered covered in the
quarterback’s eyes,” Speight said.
“I was able to throw them a couple
of high balls because I knew they
would be able to go and get it over
the top of the corner.”
Darboh
showed
why
he’s
leading Michigan in receiving
yards, making five catches for
103 yards in the second quarter
alone.
Before
the
season,
Harbaugh indicated that Darboh
had become the Wolverines’ No.
1 receiver.
Saturday’s
performance
illustrated why.
Fifth-year senior powers Wolverines’ offense with eight catches for 146 yards
KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Editor
“I think he’s
well-established
as a great
playmaker.”
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Freshman wide receiver Eddie McDoom made another big play in space on Saturday, a 33-yard rush on a reverse handoff from wildcat quarterback Jabrill Peppers.