8A — Friday, November 11, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

What to Watch For: Iowa

The spotlight has shone on

the Michigan football team all
season, and this Saturday, the
bright lights of Kinnick Stadium
will, too.

As prevalent as the Wolverines

have been all season, they have
played only one night game, Oct.
8 at Rutgers, in one of the most
lopsided games in college football
this year. This week, Michigan
gets a true prime-time treatment
with an 8 p.m. kickoff at Iowa (3-3
Big Ten, 5-4 overall) on ABC’s
Saturday Night Football.

The eyes of many have been on

the third-ranked Wolverines (6-0,
9-0) since September, but now,
in the final quarter of the season,
the pressure ramps up even more.
Michigan will again enter the game
as a heavy favorite, and its opponent
will be searching for an upset.

In this series, the Hawkeyes

have had the edge recently. They
have won four of the past five
meetings, the first two against
Rich
Rodriguez’s
struggling

Michigan
teams.
They
also

handed Brady Hoke’s first team
one of its two losses in 2011 in
Iowa City, and they knocked off
the Wolverines again in 2013. The
teams have not played since.

Here’s what to watch for when

they battle again Saturday:

1. How does Michigan start
the game?

The Wolverines have been

dominant for almost all 60
minutes in their games this
season, but they have struggled at
times in the first series or two. On
offense, they started the season
with an interception on their first
play, and punted in under two
minutes on each of their next four
first drives. They did not score on
an opening series until Week 7,
though they have done so in every
week since.

On defense, Michigan has been

stifling for the most part, but it has
cracked in the earlygoing a couple
of times. Against Michigan State,
LJ Scott and the Spartans’ ground
game rolled over the Wolverines in
eight plays covering 80 yards, and
even last week against Maryland,
the Terrapins possessed the ball
for almost four minutes.

Michigan has given up just 11

offensive touchdowns all season,
but two have come on the first
drive. Iowa’s best chance to win
Saturday is to score a third, gain
some momentum and keep it.
If the Hawkeyes can’t establish
themselves early, the Wolverines
can coast.

2. What’s Iowa’s game plan?

In
the
past
two
weeks,

Michigan State and Maryland
have
at
least
given
future

Michigan opponents a few tips on
how to move the ball against the
Wolverines. The Spartans tried
the ground game, as Scott carried
22 times for 139 of the team’s 217

rushing yards. Then, Maryland
had some success through the air,
passing for 289 yards last week.

Both
of
those
strategies

involved
getting
playmakers

into space on outside runs or
flat passes to try to avoid the
teeth
of
Michigan’s
defense.

It’ll be interesting to see which
route Iowa takes. The Hawkeyes
don’t have many of the open-
field threats that the past two
opponents had — they rely more
on winning the battle up front and
pounding the ball between the
tackles, a tactic the Wolverines
typically stifle.

Either way, that matchup may

decide the game. Iowa is 5-0 this
season when rushing for at least
100 yards and 0-4 when missing
that mark. In the past two weeks,
the Hawkeyes have totaled just
113 yards on the ground and lost to
Wisconsin and Penn State. Iowa
also ranks 104th in the country
in third-down conversions — a
bad recipe against Michigan’s
top-ranked defense — so if the
Hawkeyes can’t figure out a way
to make those situations more
manageable with runs on first and
second down, they’ll struggle.

3. Can Wilton Speight have his
fourth straight best game of
the season?

After
last
week’s
rout
of

Maryland, Speight is officially
rolling. In just the first half
Saturday, he was 13-for-16 for 292
yards and two touchdowns. He has
also somewhat quietly put together
a touchdown-interception ratio of
15-to-3. Because of their defense,
the Wolverines haven’t needed
him to do a ton. That could change
in the final quarter of the season
as Michigan travels to Iowa and
Ohio State and hosts Indiana in
between.

This might be Speight’s toughest

test yet, too. The Hawkeyes rank
just 62nd in the country in passing
defense, but they have been
consistent except for a 49-35 win
at Purdue last month in which
they gave up 458 yards through
the air. Iowa should bring its best
performance for a home night
game at Kinnick Stadium.

Michigan’s schedule has been

kind to Speight so far, with only
one trip outside the state in the
first nine games. That was a road
night game, but it was also a
78-0 victory at Rutgers in which
Speight played only the first half
and was never tested.

4. Which Detroit star shines
brighter?

For just the second time in their

college careers, Michigan senior
cornerback Jourdan Lewis and
Iowa senior cornerback Desmond
King will face off on the field. But
the history between the two goes
back to their high school days,
when Lewis starred at Detroit
Cass Tech and King led Detroit
Crockett and then East English
Village Prep.

Both
players
earned
All-

American honors last season, and
both saw the field as freshmen
when
the
Wolverines
and

Hawkeyes last played in 2013. King
edged Lewis on the stat sheet (three
tackles and two pass breakups
versus two tackles) and on the
scoreboard (Iowa won, 24-21).
Since then, both have had much
more success, becoming two of the
best cornerbacks in the nation.

Lewis, who often talks about

his playing days at Cass Tech, still
remembers their earlier meetings,
such as Crockett’s two victories in
the matchup in 2011. He and King
will have plenty of opportunities
to make the final statement in
the last collegiate edition of their
rivalry Saturday.

Michigan gears up for BU

Two weeks ago, the No. 18

Michigan hockey team kicked
off its schedule away from
home on the East Coast, where
it recorded losses to Vermont
and Dartmouth. Last week, the
Wolverines completely switched
gears on the opposite end of the
country, tallying a win against
Arizona State, 4-1.

With a 4-3-1 record in tow, the

Wolverines will return home this
weekend to battle No. 4 Boston
University in a pair of home
games Friday and Saturday for
their second Autism Awareness
series in program history.

The Terriers boast a 4-2-1

record for the season so far,
almost identical to Michigan, save
for a single loss. However, Boston
possesses one of the strongest
defensive and offensive rosters in
the nation with four first-round
NHL Entry Draft picks.

“Their defense, they don’t give

you much,” said Michigan coach
Red Berenson. “Their goalie, I
think he had three shutouts in
a row, a kid named Oettinger.
We recruited him and he went
to Boston. And he’s gotten
better, he’s off to a good start,
he’s a freshman goalie from the
program. (Freshman forward
Will Lockwood) played with
him last year. So, their defense is
a challenge.

“Their defense will be good,

and their offense, they’ve got two
top lines that can score. They’re
way ahead of us in scoring. And
those guys are leading the way,
so we’ve really got to be aware of
their good players.”

One
of
those
players
is

freshman forward Clayton Keller,
who was just named Hockey East
Rookie of the Week. He leads the
Terriers in scoring with five goals
and is second in points with nine.
He falls behind only freshman
forward Patrick Harper, who has
tallied 11 points so far this season.

In goal, Boston is likely to start

Jake Oettinger in front of the net.
So far this season, he’s played in all
seven of the Terriers’ games, and
he has a save percentage of .941.

But even with two top scoring

lines saddled with players like
Keller and Harper, and a defense
led by Oettinger, Boston will
still face a challenge against the
Wolverines.

Lockwood, who played with

Oettinger in the United States
National
Team
Development

Program, is leading Michigan in
goals and points with five and
eight, respectively. This number
also ties him at third for rookies
in NCAA Division I hockey and
puts him in a good matchup
against Keller.

Freshman
forwards
Sam

Piazza and Jake Slaker have
both
scored
the
second-

highest number of goals for the
Wolverines with three each,
while Piazza is also following
Lockwood in points with seven.

Overall, the Wolverines will

have a tough weekend ahead.
Boston’s
heavy
roster
and

highlighted players will pose
a serious threat to Michigan,
despite
Lockwood’s
presence

on the ice and the Wolverines’
depth in the goaltender position.
The Terriers have had success
in suppressing their opponent’s
offense
and
capitalizing
on

opportunities,
averaging
3.9

goals per game and limiting their
opponents to only 1.7.

It’ll be an uphill battle for

Michigan. Despite the challenge
Boston
poses,
though,
the

Wolverines will be fueled by the
opportunity to beat a team ranked
as highly as the Terriers.

“We’re working on things to

be better,” said Berenson. “We
don’t just work on the opponent,
we’re working on us. We’ve got
to be better at whatever it is. I
think we’re building our game,
but we know the game that we’re
going to need when we play them.
Tomorrow we’ll put it all together.”

Kieffer-Wright shows athleticism,
sparks Michigan against Indiana

After finishing the first set

on an 8-2 run and starting the
second on a similar streak,
the Michigan volleyball team
saw its momentum evaporate
midway
through
the
set.

Indiana had climbed back
to take a 10-9 lead, and the
Wolverines needed a spark.

Enter Claire Kieffer-Wright.
The junior middle blocker

came up with a kill after a
lengthy
rally,
kick-starting

Michigan to a 6-0 run in which
Kieffer-Wright registered two
blocks and two kills. It was
sequences such as this one
that defined the contest for the
Wolverines. Whenever they
needed someone to step up
and make an impact, Kieffer-
Wright was there.

“We just realized that we

can’t wait for Indiana to lose,”
Kieffer-Wright said. “We have
to come out there and we have
to attack them. We were out for
blood the whole night.”

Overall,
Kieffer-Wright

registered 12 kills, 7 blocks and
an attack percentage of .421
in No. 17 Michigan’s three-
set sweep of Indiana. Her
athleticism and energy has
been vital for the Wolverines,
as coach Mark Rosen stated
that they are somewhat lacking
in those categories.

“She uses her athleticism

really well,” Rosen said. “She’s
fast, she’s really explosive
off one foot, and in the last
couple weeks she’s been really
producing a lot offensively
because of that speed.”

This description shouldn’t

be surprising to those familiar
with the Michigan women’s
track and field team, as Kieffer-
Wright stars as a high jumper
for the Wolverines in the

spring. But Rosen also touted
her impact beyond just her
physical qualities or statistics.

“(Her contribution) is not

only the points she’s scoring
and her athleticism, but her
personality,”
Rosen
said.

“She’s super competitive, fiery
— whenever she gets a kill,
there’s an emotional charge
from that. We talk a lot in
our program about producers
versus consumers, and she’s
constantly producing in every
way that she
can.”

All
season

long,
Rosen

has
been

impressed
with
his

team’s
next-

person-up
mentality,
and
the

potential
for

any one player
to be dominant any game.
Wednesday
night,
it
was

Kieffer-Wright’s turn.

Dominating from the start,

she scored the first point of
the match on a kill, and she
registered another after the
Hoosiers
had
jumped
out

to the next five points. The
timeliness of her contributions
was of great importance as
well, especially in the second
set.
After
powering
the

Wolverines’
surge
midway

through the set, she combined
with senior outside hitter Kelly
Murphy on a block to finish off
the set and send the match to
intermission.

The
previous
meeting

between Michigan and Indiana
resulted
in
disappointment

for
the
Wolverines,
as

they
returned
home
from

Bloomington on Oct. 29 with
a 3-1 loss. In that match, they
allowed the Hoosiers’ middle

blockers to control the game.
On
Wednesday,
Kieffer-

Wright and the Wolverines’
other middle blocker, senior
Abby Cole, were able to almost
completely flip that script.

“One of our main points

this week in practice that we
worked on with (the Hoosiers)
in mind was serving and
getting them off balance,”
Kieffer-Wright said. “We were
really capitalizing on blocking
their middles.”

With

Michigan’s
relative
deficiency
in
athletic

ability, it may
have to rely
on
Kieffer-

Wright
more

and
more,

especially
heading
into

one of its most

challenging stretches of the
season. To close out the regular
season, the Wolverines will
face the top three teams in the
nation — Nebraska, Minnesota
and Wisconsin, respectively
— and will also meet No. 15
Michigan State twice.

“We gotta continue to get

better against teams that bring
speed,” Rosen said. “We’re
going to see that against
Minnesota,
they’re
faster

than Indiana and Indiana’s
really fast. ... Michigan State’s
probably one of the top five or
six (most physical) teams in
the country. They’re just big,
and they’ll get after you.”

Coming off of a strong recent

stretch
of
performances,

Kieffer-Wright
adds
an

important
and
different

definition to the Wolverines.
As they continue to grow
as a team, she might be the
embodiment of this evolution.

Junior middle blocker sparked Wolverines with crucial
run, 12 kills, seven blocks in Wednesday sweep of Indiana

VOLLEYBALL

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“She’s constantly

producing in
every way she

can.”

JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

GRANT HARDY/Daily

The Michigan football team looks to keep rolling against Iowa on Saturday.

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Sam Piazza has three goals on the season heading into this weekend’s series.

LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Writer