FootballSaturday, November 5, 2016
6
Breakdown: Michigan vs. Maryland
The Michigan football team’s
home-heavy
schedule
has
the
Wolverines back at the Big House
this weekend.
There, they have won six straight
games by a combined score of 263-
70. They have trailed for just 27:50,
all in the Colorado game on Sept. 17.
They have suddenly beaten three
top-15 teams — No. 15 Colorado, No.
12 Penn State and No. 8 Wisconsin
— according to the first College
Football Playoff rankings released
Tuesday night.
Michigan lost twice on its home
field last season, but has not done so
yet this year. The Wolverines have
two more chances to play in front of
the largest crowd in college football,
the first coming this weekend
against an upstart Maryland team
(5-3) looking to become bowl-
eligible after a 3-9 finish last season.
Once again Michigan is a heavy
favorite, expected to deliver a
performance as dominant as the ones
it has put on already this year. Here’s
how this week’s matchup looks:
Michigan
rush
offense
vs.
Maryland rush defense
Michigan’s ground game took
another big step forward last
weekend. The Wolverines racked
up 192 rushing yards against
Michigan State at 4.6 per carry,
a number that — like the score —
was stained by a lackluster fourth
quarter. For most of the first three
quarters, they gashed the Spartans’
front, marching toward six scoring
drives in seven series, though three
ended in field goals.
Michigan’s
rushing
leaders
look similar, with senior De’Veon
Smith, freshman Chris Evans and
sophomore Karan Higdon each over
400 yards on the season. The leading
rusher last week was freshman
wide receiver Eddie McDoom with
53 yards, and redshirt sophomore
Jabrill Peppers finished fourth with
24. He has seen more time at wildcat
quarterback in recent weeks, and
the Wolverines might use all of their
tricks in the final third of the season
to make their case for the College
Football Playoff.
Maryland’s
rush
defense,
meanwhile, took a big step backward
last weekend. The Terrapins couldn’t
handle Indiana’s up-tempo spread
offense, giving up 414 yards on 57
carries. The Hoosiers had three 100-
yard rushers and 650 total yards in a
42-36 victory in Bloomington.
That
performance
dropped
Maryland to 108th in the country in
rush defense at 220.1 yards per game,
the kind of front that Michigan
typically
steamrolls.
But
both
sides will know a little more about
the other than usual, with former
Michigan defensive coordinator D.J.
Durkin coming in as the head coach
of the Terrapins. He’ll be familiar
with the Wolverines’ scheme from
last year, though Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh can say the same.
Edge: Michigan
Michigan
pass
offense
vs.
Maryland pass defense
One of Michigan’s more curious
stats is its national ranking in
passing yards — 71st, at 228.1 per
game. A major reason is that the
Wolverines have played almost only
blowouts this season and haven’t
needed to throw the ball downfield.
If
redshirt
sophomore
quarterback Wilton Speight finds
himself in a situation where he
needs to pick up some yards
through the air, he knows who to
look for. Fifth-year senior wideout
Amara Darboh’s eight catches for
165 yards against Michigan State
gave him a big lead as the team’s top
receiver with 664 yards.
Speight has been consistent all
year with just three interceptions,
and turnovers shouldn’t be an issue
Saturday against a Maryland defense
with just four picks on the year. But
in many other areas, the Terrapins
already look like a Durkin defense
with 27 pass breakups. They have
also given up just 181.4 yards per
game, good for 18th in the country
and a strength of the team. This
will be one of the toughest defensive
backfields Michigan has faced.
Edge: Maryland
Maryland
rush
offense
vs.
Michigan rush defense
Maryland’s
rushing
attack
might be even more diverse than
Michigan’s. It’s a toss-up: The
Wolverines feature four different
running backs, a speedy wide receiver
and a linebacker, while the Terrapins
roll out three running backs, a wide
receiver and two quarterbacks.
Ty Johnson is the Terrapins’
leading rusher with 624 yards. He
is the big-play threat, averaging 10.4
yards per carry and breaking loose
for a 66-yard touchdown last week
at Indiana. Lorenzo Harrison is the
workhorse, with the most carries
(79) for 575 yards.
Kenneth Goins is a 5-foot-9, 233-
pound bruising back, and Maryland
also has Jake Funk and Wes Brown
as backups. The team’s depth chart
this week lists five players with an
“OR” between each one, and Trey
Edmunds might be a sixth if he
hadn’t broken his foot last month.
In all, Maryland ranks 12th in the
country with 252 yards per game.
The
Wolverines
should
be
prepared, though. Expect their
defense to correct the mistakes
that helped Michigan State become
the second team this season to
rush for more than 100 yards
against Michigan. Despite that, the
Wolverines still rank 15th in the
country in rush defense and have
piled up 71 tackles for loss from
18 different players. They should
come out fired up after seeing what
happened last week, and Maryland
hasn’t seen a defense of that caliber.
Edge: Michigan
Maryland
pass
offense
vs.
Michigan pass defense
Maryland’s passing statistics are
skewed a bit by the injuries to Hills,
who didn’t play against Minnesota
on Oct. 15 and missed parts of other
games, too. The Terrapins threw
for a season-high 248 yards against
Indiana, and they’re much more
of a threat with Hills in the game
than with the run-first Pigrome. At
the end of the day, this is a run-first
team, too, with 351 rushes against
just 205 passes.
Some creative play-calling might
be the Terrapins’ best shot against
a stifling defense. Michigan’s top-
ranked secondary again forced
its opponent to use multiple
quarterbacks in last week’s game.
That unit, led by senior All-
American Jourdan Lewis, also
deserves most of the credit for the
Wolverines’ sterling performance
on third down. Opponents are
converting
a
nation-low
15.5
percent of their opportunities, in
large part because of Michigan’s
lock-down defense.
Last year, that defense completed
its second of three straight shutouts
in Week 5 against Maryland,
intercepting
three
passes
and
overwhelming quarterbacks Caleb
Rowe and Daxx Garman. In that
game, Michigan’s defense held
down a slim lead until a struggling
offense managed 28 points in the
end. This year, with the Wolverines
JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis and Michigan took advantage of an undermanned Maryland offense last year, and the Wolverines’ secondary has the edge again.