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.

