The waiting game

For the third straight year, 

the Michigan women’s soccer 
team is on the bubble, hoping 

to see their name Monday
» SportsMonday Column, 

Page 2B

Aerial attack

Wilton Speight again played 
his best game of the season 
as Michigan shredded 
Maryland’s passing defense
» Page 4B

Michigan 59, Maryland 3

B
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | November 7, 2016

The tales are now famous, 

those of the physical, bloody, 
all-out basketball game that 
DJ Durkin and Jim Harbaugh 
once played at Stanford when 
Harbaugh was the head coach 
and Durkin the defensive 
ends 
coach. 
The 
game 

started spontaneously out of 
an informal meeting at the 
team’s facility.

Each man shoved the other, 

and both had too much pride 
to call fouls. They played to 
seven, as the countless stories 
have recounted. The game took 
more than an hour, the two 
coaches brawling with each 
other for every point, neither 
willing to surrender an inch.

The 
intensity 
and 

competitiveness they showed 
on that basketball court has 
led them up the ranks of their 
profession, Harbaugh to the 
helm of the No. 3 Michigan 
football team and Durkin to 
his first head coaching job at 
Maryland at age 38. They have 
spent time together since then, 
and each spoke highly of the 
other in the week leading up 
to their first matchup against 
each other.

Around 
2:50 
Saturday 

afternoon, 
Durkin 
— 

Harbaugh’s 
defensive 

coordinator in 2015 — stood at 
the 25-yard line at Michigan 
Stadium and snuck a peek at 
his former boss’ team on the 
other side of the field. Moments 
later, 
the 
two 
exchanged 

what appeared to be a cordial 
greeting.

But soon thereafter, they 

were back on that same Palo 
Alto basketball court. This 
time, Harbaugh’s team was 
simply better and left no doubt 
about it. Michigan demolished 

Durkin’s Terrapins, 59-3.

“We knew he was going to 

have those boys fired up and 
coming ready to play, so we’re 
going to approach it like any 
other game, but we’re going 
to play with a chip on our 
shoulder for sure, because we 
know what type of mentality 
Coach Durkin brings,” said 
senior running back De’Veon 
Smith. “And we want to match 
it, and actually go forth and put 
’em down in the dirt, really.”

The Wolverines (6-0 Big 

Ten, 9-0 overall) never let 
up, dealing one of their most 
dominant beatings of the year 
in a season full of them. They 
gained 31 first downs and 
amassed 660 total yards, their 
most of 2016, even greater 
than in their 78-0 thrashing of 
Rutgers.

From the outset, Michigan 

gave Maryland (2-4 Big Ten, 
5-4 overall) no breaks. On the 
first play from scrimmage, 
Speight threw incomplete to 
fifth-year senior wide receiver 
Amara Darboh down the right 
sideline. Harbaugh erupted, 
wanting a pass interference 
call, and he broke out his 
“train” 
formation 
on 
the 

next play. The Wolverines 
converted their ensuing third 
down and did not face another 
until they led 21-0.

Harbaugh 
unleashed 

another new trick play on the 
next series, again utilizing 
do-it-all redshirt sophomore 
Jabrill 
Peppers. 
Redshirt 

sophomore 
quarterback 

Wilton Speight handed off to 
Peppers, who threw across 
the field back to Speight, who 
hit a wide-open Jehu Chesson 
downfield. Two plays later, the 
6-foot-6, 243-pound Speight 
— who had minus-49 rushing 
yards on the season entering 
Saturday — scampered 10 yards 

into the end zone untouched.

“It’s not a one-dimensional 

offense where we’re trying 
to let one person dominate 
the 
game, 
and 
everybody 

understands that, so nobody’s 
going to be complaining if balls 
don’t come their way, or if they 
don’t get opportunities,” said 
senior tight end Jake Butt. 
“Because right now, we’ve got 
a great thing going, and we’re 
winning games.”

Of Michigan’s nine wins 

on the season, six have been 
decided 
by 
halftime, 
and 

Saturday’s was no different. The 
Wolverines led 35-0 at the break, 
extending their advantage in 
first halves this season to a total 
of 264-38. As in many of those 
games, the offense faced almost 
no resistance.

“That’s the players — that’s 

the guys that are out there 
doing it, and it deserves 
recognition, deserves a pat 
on the back,” Harbaugh said. 
“They’re the ones that are 
doing it. That’s what I would 
say to the offense.”

Durkin’s 
team 
stayed 

competitive for most of the 
first quarter as Michigan’s 
defense showed some cracks, 
giving up its second-highest 
yardage total of the season at 
367 (Michigan State gained 
401 last week). The Terrapins 
managed to move the ball early 
with their 12th-ranked rushing 
attack, and their first two 
drives lasted a combined 9:02, 
attempting to keep Michigan’s 
offense off the field.

But Maryland could never 

do enough to keep the game 
close. On their second drive, 
the Terrapins rolled all the way 
to the 1-yard line before they 
moved backward three times 
and then clanked a 29-yard 
field goal off the right upright.

JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
See FOOTBALL, Page 4B

