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