8 — Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
T E A M S T A T S
MICH
OPP
Points/Game
48.0
10.7
First Downs/Game
24.7
12.9
Rush Yards/Game
251.7
107.4
Yards/Rush
5.5
3.1
Rushing TDs
36
3
Passing Yards/Game
245.8
138.9
Completion %
65.4%
44.1%
Yards/Pass
8.7
5.7
Passing TDs
17
8
Interceptions
3
10
Offensive Plays/Game
73.8
59.0
Total Offense
497.4
246.3
3rd-down Conversions
48.2%
19.0%
4th-down Conversions
61.5%
30.0%
Sacks/Game
3.3
1.3
Kick return average
17.6
21.3
Punt return average
17.9
8.8
Punting average
36.0
31.9
Field Goals-Attempts
10-15
4-9
Fumbles/Lost
8/3
12/5
Penalty Yards/Game
45.4
46.0
Time of Poss
33:37
26:23
I N D I V I D U A L S T A T S
PASSING
Player
Cmp
Att
Yds
TD
INT
Speight
149
231
2053
15
3
O’Korn
13
18
114
2
0
Morris
4
5
45
0
0
TOTALS
166
254
2212
17
3
RUSHING
Player
Att
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD
Smith, D.
109
564
5.2
42
8
Evans
57
456
8.0
57
3
Higdon
58
418
7.2
45
6
Isaac
68
404
5.9
53
4
Peppers
17
150
11.5
63
3
McDoom
13
150
11.5
33
0
Chesson
9
47
5.2
17
1
Henderson
5
37
7.4
13
1
Hill, K.
21
34
1.6
4
9
Morris
3
19
6.3
14
0
Davis
2
17
8.5
10
0
Crawford
3
15
5.0
11
0
O’Korn
6
12
2.0
3
0
Hirsch
1
2
2.0
2
0
Wilson
1
1
1.0
1
0
Beneducci
1
1
1.0
1
0
Hewlett
2
-1
-0.5
0
0
Gedeon
1
-2
-2.0
0
0
Allen
1
-11
-11.0
0
0
TEAM
10
-15
-1.5
0
0
Speight
22
-33
-1.5
10
1
TOTALS
410
2265
5.5
63
36
RECEIVING
Player
No.
Yds
Avg
Lg
TD
Darboh
42
741
17.6
46
6
Butt
34
421
12.4
37
4
Chesson
25
416
16.6
40
2
Perry
6
114
19.0
54
1
Hill
12
93
7.8
15
1
Evans
5
84
16.8
56
0
McDoom
5
59
11.8
33
0
Crawford
3
43
14.3
18
1
Smith, D.
11
38
3.5
17
0
Poggi
5
33
6.6
15
0
Wheatley
2
27
13.5
21
1
Ways
2
24
12.0
22
0
Henderson
1
23
23.0
23
0
Isaac
1
21
21.0
21
0
Asiasi
2
18
9.0
15
1
Hirsch
1
15
15.0
15
0
Jocz
1
12
12.0
12
0
McKeon
2
10
5.0
5
0
Harris
1
7
7.0
7
0
Bunting
2
6
3.0
4
0
Johnson, N.
1
4
4.0
4
0
Peppers
2
3
1.5
5
0
TOTALS
166
2212
13.3
56
17
PUNT RETURNS
Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD
Peppers
15
257
17.1
54
1
Jocz
1
27
27.0
0
0
Evans
1
15
15.0
15
0
Perry
0
6
--
6
1
TOTALS
17
305
17.9
54
2
INTERCEPTION RETURNS
Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD
Stribling
3
60
20.0
51
1
Hill, D.
3
36
12.0
27
1
McCray
1
22
22.0
22
0
Thomas
1
4
4.0
4
0
Lewis
2
0
0.0
0
0
TOTALS
10
122
12.2
51
2
FUMBLE RETURNS
Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD
Hill, L.
1
9
9.0
9
0
TOTALS
1
9
9.0
9
0
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player
No.
Yds
Avg. Long
TD
Peppers
7
182
26.0
55
0
Lewis
3
34
11.3
18
0
Henderson
2
28
14.0
15
0
Evans
1
26
26.0
26
0
Hudson
1
6
6.0
6
0
Hill, K.
2
5
2.5
5
0
TOTALS
16
281
17.6
55
0
KICKOFFS
Player
No.
Yds
Avg.
TB
Allen
63
4038
64.1
35
Foug
8
460
57.5
2
Tice
3
189
63.0
0
TOTALS
64
4041
63.1
30
PUNTING
Player
No.
Yds
Avg.
Lg
Allen
27
1138
42.1
56
TOTALS
27
1138
42.1
56
FIELD GOALS
Player
FG
Pct.
1-19 20-29 30-3940-49 50+ Lg
Allen
10-14 71.4% 0-0 6-6 3-5
1-3 0-0 45
Tice
0-1 0.0% 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0
LEADING TACKLERS
Player
Solo Ast
Tot
TFL
SK
PBU
Gedeon
27
47
74
11.5
3.5
2
Peppers
33
20
53
13.5
3.5
-
McCray
23
26
49
10.0
3.5
4
Thomas
22
17
39
-
-
6
Hill, D.
26
10
36
2.5
-
2
Winovich
8
23
31
6.5
3.0
-
Glasgow, R.
6
22
28
5.0
2.0
1
Wormley
10
14
24
5.5
4.0
-
Hurst
12
11
23
8.5
3.0
-
Gary
8
15
23
5.0
1.0
-
Godin
8
13
21
2.0
1.0
-
Charlton
7
13
20
5.0
4.5
-
Lewis
11
5
16
2.5
-
7
Stribling
7
8
15
1.0
-
9
Kinnel
9
4
13
1.0
-
-
Watson
6
5
11
-
-
-
Bush
6
5
11
0.5
-
-
Clark
6
4
10
-
-
3
Glasgow, J.
5
4
9
-
-
-
Metellus
6
2
8
1.0
1.0
-
Hudson
3
5
8
0.5
-
1
Furbush
3
4
7
1.0
-
-
Pearson
2
5
7
-
-
-
TOTALS
275 306 581
84
30
36
2016 SCHEDULE
HAWAII (4-5)
W, 63-3 (1-0)
UCF (4-4)
COLORADO (6-2)
PENN ST. (6-2)
WISCONSIN (6-2) at RUTGERS (2-6)
ILLINOIS (2-6)
at MICH. ST. (2-6) MARYLAND (5-3)
at IOWA (5-3)
8 p.m., Iowa City, Iowa
INDIANA (4-4)
Michigan Stadium
at OHIO ST. (7-1)
Noon, Columbus, Ohio
9/3
9/10
9/17
9/24
10/1
10/8
10/22
10/29
11/5
11/12
11/19
11/26
W, 51-14 (2-0) W, 45-28 (3-0) W, 49-10 (4-0) W, 14-7 (5-0) W, 78-0 (6-0) W, 41-8 (7-0) W, 32-23 (8-0) W, 59-3 (9-0)
Hill, defense make ‘M’ dominant in Red Zone
The Michigan football team
reaches the red zone, and redshirt
junior fullback Khalid Hill smiles.
He knows his job is coming up.
The Wolverines have plenty of
big-play threats designed to put
the offense in position to score
touchdowns. They only have
one, for the most part, designed
to punch the ball in the end
zone once they come close. That
player is Hill, and he relishes his
role.
A month ago, Hill made
headlines by giving himself the
nickname
“The
Hammering
Panda.” Now, he has started to go
by the moniker “the vulture,” too.
Perhaps his uniqueness merits
more than one label.
Hill’s role as the goal-line
specialist has continued, and his
numbers have only become more
lopsided. He has carried the ball
21 times this year and not lost
yards on any of them. He has
scored on nine of those rushes,
tying for 36th in the country in
touchdowns. But he has gained
just 34 yards total, ranking ninth
on the team and tying for 735th
in the country. His longest carry
went for four yards.
As many times as Hill has
gone in for a fullback dive at
the one-yard line, Michigan’s
opponents cannot seem to stop
it. The offensive line gets a push,
redshirt sophomore quarterback
Wilton Speight hands him the
ball and Hill lunges over the goal
line. His teammates have started
to notice.
“In the huddle, hearing the
guys talking to me and stuff like
that, just being like, ‘Khalid,
let’s get it,’ ” Hill said. “It’s good
to hear the guys trusting me,
trusting me to get the job done.
I appreciate those guys for that.”
Hill’s ability to score from short
yardage is a significant asset for
the Wolverines — because it’s no
easy task, as Michigan’s defense
has proven. Of all the statistical
mismatches the Wolverines own
this season, red-zone efficiency
may be the most staggering.
Led by Hill, Michigan’s offense
has ventured into the red zone
54 times and scored 49 times, 39
touchdowns and 10 field goals, for
an average of 5.63 points per trip.
“I think it’s just the mentality,”
Hill said. “Our mentality is, when
we get in the red zone, let’s score.
Let’s finish it off. What’s the point
of going through all that on a
70-yard drive or 60-yard drive
and we get to the red zone and
get stopped? It’s pointless. You
wasted your time. You wasted all
that breath, that hard work for
nothing.”
Michigan’s
opponents,
meanwhile, have reached the
red zone just 14 times in nine
games. And on those series, the
Wolverines’ defense has allowed
points on just eight (including
three of six against Michigan
State) for a total of 47 points, 3.36
per trip.
In a close game, that makes a
big difference. In East Lansing,
for example, both teams drove
into the red zone six times, but
Michigan outscored Michigan
State by 10 in those situations —
and won the game by nine.
Saturday was another glaring
instance. The Wolverines twice
allowed Maryland to reach their
1-yard line but didn’t allow points
either time. On the first occasion,
the Terrapins moved backward
from there and then missed a field
goal, and on the second, redshirt
junior linebacker ran down a
receiver and stopped him a yard
shy of the goal line just as the first
half ended.
“And not allowing them to be
in until they’re in, I think that’s
a great quality of a defense,”
Harbaugh said. “They hit a long
screen play, and it was down
inside the 20, the 15, the 10, the 5
and then we make the tackle on
the 2- or 3-yard line. They’re not
in until they’re in. That mentality,
playing on their side of the line
of scrimmage, with multiple,
double-digit tackles for loss.”
The
defense’s
strength
in
holding its own goal line dates
back to last year, when the unit
was similarly dominant in those
situations. Former coordinator
DJ Durkin often talked about
just needing a “place to stand”
and making use of it, and the
Wolverines have done so again.
Harbaugh mentioned that in
general, conversion rates in the
red zone are lower than anywhere
else on the field, because teams
often dig in and stack the box like
Michigan does. No team has been
as stifling as the Wolverines in
those situations, though.
“It’s a tough thing to do as an
offense, to score from inside the
5-yard line,” Harbaugh said. “So
there’s that, and you know, just
get ’em down. They’re not in until
they’re in, and you don’t give in.”
Michigan’s offense, though,
does not have the same problem.
The Wolverines are tied for 15th
in the country at converting red-
zone chances into touchdowns,
because even if they can’t score
on a big play, they have Hill as a
second option.
Saturday against Maryland,
freshman running back Chris
Evans took a screen pass 56
yards and nearly scored, but after
review, the officials called him
down at the 1-yard line, giving
Hill another opportunity to finish
the job. That and other similar
occasions throughout the year
have opened “the vulture” up to
some good-natured ribbing.
“Everybody kind of gets on me
about that,” Hill said, then added
with a smile, “People call me the
vulture because I always get the
touchdown, but it’s not my fault
— you should have got in the end
zone.”
JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Redshirt junior fullback Khalid Hill has become Michigan’s go-to player when the Wolverines’ offense gets down to the goal line.
Harbaugh visits
Obama’s speech
When
President
Barack
Obama arrived in Ann Arbor to
speak to roughly 9,000 attendees
Monday, Michigan made sure
he was greeted by an important
campus figure. Obama was in
town as part of a get-out-the vote
effort on behalf of Democratic
Presidential nominee Hillary
Clinton on the eve of Election
Day, and according to the White
House Press Office, Michigan
football coach Jim Harbaugh
was there to welcome Obama to
the University.
Though most students had
to wait in a line that wrapped
around the University’s athletic
campus to hear Obama speak at
Ray Fisher Stadium, Harbaugh
and Athletic Director Warde
Manuel arrived just before
Obama did and were given
two seats in prime view of the
President.
Harbaugh may have had the
best seat in the house, but his
son, James, wasn’t as lucky. On
the Inside Michigan Football
Radio Show Monday night,
Harbaugh said James — a
student at the University — got
in line at 5:30 a.m. in order to see
the president speak after getting
a ticket yesterday.
“You’ve got to think a student
that attends a speech of the
President of the United States
— the leader of the free world
— that’s something that’s going
to be a signature moment in
their educational experience
at the University of Michigan
and in their college career,”
Harbaugh said, noting that fifth-
year senior wide receiver Jehu
Chesson was also in attendance.
Harbaugh
found
it
neat
that
Obama
was
speaking
“literally
feet,
yards”
from
where the Wolverines practice
at Schembechler Hall. Though
he didn’t give away his own
Election Day plans, he did
mention that it would be fifth-
year senior wide receiver Amara
Darboh’s
first
opportunity
to vote after receiving his
citizenship just last year.
“That’s
as
good
as
it
gets,” Harbaugh said. “It’s a
tremendous thing. Living the
American Dream.”
‘M’ makes NCAA Tournament
“Relieved” was the word that
Michigan women’s soccer coach
Greg Ryan and senior forward
Nicky Waldeck used to describe
the Wolverines’ first selection
to the NCAA Tournament since
2013.
Michigan (10-5-4) was picked
for the 64-team field announced
by
the
selection
committee
Monday afternoon and will host
Illinois State in the first-round of
the championship Saturday night.
“I was definitely relieved —
we were pretty nervous all day,”
Waldeck said. “When we saw our
name, we just jumped up.”
The Wolverines are 44th in
Rating Percentage Index, with
two wins and a tie against top-
25 teams, including a victory
over then-19th-ranked Rutgers.
But even with a respectable
resume, Ryan wasn’t certain his
team would be given an at-large
selection after two consecutive
years of missing the cut.
“Based on the last two years,
I was really nervous going into
the selection,” Ryan said. “We’ve
watched that show in the same
position as we were this year in
terms of the RPI numbers, so it
was nice to see our players finally
getting rewarded for a great
season.”
Illinois State, the winner of the
Missouri Valley Conference, owns
an RPI of 144, a 14-5-1 record and
a seven-game winning streak
heading into its match against the
Wolverines. The two first-round
foes shared a common opponent
in this year in now-No. 10 Notre
Dame, to which the Red Birds
fell after Michigan handed the
Fighting Irish a resounding 2-0
loss a week prior.
For the Wolverine seniors, led
by Waldeck and defender Anna
Sorccorsi, the matchup will give
the group another opportunity to
take the field with one another.
“All
the
seniors
watched
(the selection show) together,”
Waldeck said. “We’re just really
happy to get a chance to play with
our best friends and enjoy the time
we have left together.”
This
marks
the
second
appearance for the class of 2017 in
the NCAA Tournament — the first
of which resulted in a magnificent
run to the quarterfinals in 2013
and included a victory over Illinois
State in the second round.
“(The selection) is just fantastic
for this group of seniors,” Ryan
said. “It’s fantastic for (the seniors)
to be rewarded, especially after
the last couple years of seemingly
doing everything to get into the
NCAA Tournament, and then not
quite getting there. So for us, it
couldn’t be better than this.”
As the Wolverines make their
fourth
postseason
appearance
under
Ryan
with
another
opportunity to play at U-M Soccer
Stadium, it’s safe to say that
Monday was a welcomed change
from years prior. It certainly
brought a sense of relief for Ryan
and his team.
DAVID SONG/Daily
The Michigan women’s soccer team was selected for its first NCAA Tournament since 2013 on Monday.
MARK CALCAGNO
For The Daily
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel watch President Barack Obama speak.
KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Editor