6A — Thursday, November 17, 2016 Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com T E A M S T A T S MICH OPP Points/Game 44.5 11.0 First Downs/Game 23.6 13.3 Rush Yards/Game 236.3 113.1 Yards/Rush 5.3 3.1 Rushing TDs 37 3 Passing Yards/Game 231.5 131.6 Completion % 63.2% 43.9% Yards/Pass 8.3 5.5 Passing TDs 17 9 Interceptions 4 11 Offensive Plays/Game 72.5 59.9 Total Offense 467.8 244.7 3rd-down Conversions 46.5% 19.7% 4th-down Conversions 61.5% 34.8% Sacks/Game 3.3 1.4 Kick return average 17.8 21.0 Punt return average 18.0 8.1 Punting average 41.9 39.0 Field Goals-Attempts 12-17 6-12 Fumbles/Lost 10/4 12/5 Penalty Yards/Game 45.7 43.8 Time of Poss 32:59 27:01 I N D I V I D U A L S T A T S PASSING Player Cmp Att Yds TD INT Speight 160 257 2156 15 4 O’Korn 13 18 114 2 0 Morris 4 5 45 0 0 TOTALS 177 280 2315 17 4 RUSHING Player Att Yds Avg Lg TD Smith, D. 121 592 4.9 42 8 Evans 65 508 7.8 57 3 Higdon 61 415 6.8 45 6 Isaac 69 411 6.0 53 5 Peppers 21 161 7.7 63 3 McDoom 15 154 10.3 33 0 Chesson 9 47 5.2 17 1 Henderson 5 37 7.4 13 1 Hill, K. 22 36 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 26 -36 -1.4 10 1 TOTALS 445 2363 5.3 63 37 RECEIVING Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD Darboh 43 746 17.3 46 6 Butt 38 460 12.1 37 4 Chesson 27 446 16.5 40 2 Perry 7 124 17.7 54 1 Hill 12 93 7.8 15 1 Evans 6 87 14.5 56 0 McDoom 5 59 11.8 33 0 Poggi 6 45 7.5 15 0 Crawford 3 43 14.3 18 1 Smith, D. 11 38 3.5 17 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 Harris 2 11 5.5 7 0 McKeon 2 10 5.0 5 0 Bunting 2 6 3.0 4 0 Johnson, N. 1 4 4.0 4 0 Peppers 2 3 1.5 5 0 TOTALS 177 2315 13.1 56 17 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yds Avg. Long TD Peppers 16 276 17.2 54 1 Jocz 1 27 27.0 0 0 Evans 1 15 15.0 15 0 Perry 0 6 -- 6 1 TOTALS 18 324 18.0 54 2 INTERCEPTION RETURNS Player No. Yds Avg. Long TD Stribling 4 60 15.0 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 11 122 11.1 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 8 198 24.8 55 0 Lewis 3 34 11.3 18 0 Hill, K. 3 28 9.3 13 0 Henderson 2 28 14.0 15 0 Evans 1 26 26.0 26 0 Hudson 1 6 6.0 6 0 TOTALS 18 320 17.8 55 0 KICKOFFS Player No. Yds Avg. TB Allen 68 4356 64.1 36 Foug 8 460 57.5 2 Tice 3 189 63.0 0 TOTALS 79 5005 63.4 38 PUNTING Player No. Yds Avg. Lg Allen 33 1382 41.9 56 TOTALS 27 1138 42.1 56 FIELD GOALS Player FG Pct. 1-19 20-29 30-3940-49 50+ Lg Allen 12-16 75.0% 0-0 7-7 3-5 1-3 1-1 51 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 31 53 84 13.0 3.5 2 Peppers 38 21 59 14.0 4.0 - McCray 27 29 56 9.5 3.5 4 Thomas 29 21 50 - - 6 Hill, D. 29 11 40 3.5 - 3 Winovich 9 23 32 7.5 4.0 - Wormley 14 16 30 7.5 5.0 - Glasgow 8 22 30 5.0 2.0 1 Hurst 16 12 28 8.5 3.0 - Gary 10 15 25 5.0 1.0 - Charlton 10 14 24 5.5 5.0 - Godin 9 14 23 2.0 1.0 - Lewis 13 5 18 2.5 - 7 Stribling 10 8 18 1.0 - 9 Kinnel 10 4 14 1.0 - - Watson 6 5 11 - - - Bush 6 5 11 0.5 - - Clark 6 4 10 - - 3 Glasgow, J. 7 4 11 - - - Metellus 6 2 8 1.0 1.0 - Hudson 3 5 8 0.5 - 1 Furbush 3 5 8 1.0 - - Pearson 2 5 7 - - - TOTALS 325 328 653 90 33 37 2016 SCHEDULE HAWAII (4-7) W, 63-3 (1-0) UCF (6-4) COLORADO (8-2) PENN ST. (8-2) WISCONSIN (8-2) at RUTGERS (2-8) ILLINOIS (3-7) at MICH. ST. (3-7) MARYLAND (5-5) at IOWA (6-4) INDIANA (5-5) 3:30 Michigan Stadium at OHIO ST. (9-1) 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) L, 14-13 (9-1) O’Korn has teammates’ confidence In all likelihood, John O’Korn is now the starting quarterback of the Michigan football team. That was a sentence a lot of fans expected to read before the first game of the season, before the emergence of redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight ultimately relegated O’Korn to a backup role. But now, with Speight sustaining an unspecified shoulder injury in a loss to Iowa last week, the starting job appears to finally be in O’Korn’s hands. For a team with College Football Playoff hopes — the third-ranked Wolverines (6-1 Big Ten, 9-1 overall) still control their own destiny despite the loss — losing a starting quarterback with just two regular-season games remaining might be a cause for panic. O’Korn’s teammates, though, don’t seem to have that mindset. “We’re gonna be running the same exact plays,” said senior tight end Jake Butt. “John’s been doing a great job understanding his role, and he’s been ready every single week and preparing every single week as if he were the starter. If his number is called, I’m confident — everyone’s confident — that John will be able to get this job done for us.” It doesn’t seem to be blind confidence, either. Several of O’Korn’s teammates pointed to his methods of preparation and said they’re not expecting much of a drop-off. That preparation started last season, when O’Korn had to sit out a year after transferring from Houston. He couldn’t play in games, but he was the quarterback of the scout team and earned scout player of the week honors several times. Even after losing the job this year, O’Korn didn’t scale his preparation back. According to Butt, O’Korn likes to sit in the front row at meetings, is one of the first players to watch film and is one of the best note-takers on the team. Though he hasn’t been calling the shots on the field, O’Korn has earned the respect of his teammates — including fifth- year senior defensive lineman Chris Wormley, who said he wishes he spent as much time preparing as O’Korn did. “John’s done a great job all year of being a leader, whether (he’s) playing or not,” Wormley said. “He’s still a leader in my eyes, at least. He watches film after practice probably more than anybody I’ve ever seen at the college level, which is weird for somebody that isn’t asked to play as much as he does. ... But with him doing that for the last two, three months, it’s gonna help him out big time if he’s starting on Saturday.” O’Korn won’t have Speight’s 10 games of preparation under his belt, but he does have one extra tool to help him out: his feet. Standing two inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter than Speight, O’Korn has a proven ability to move around in the pocket and even pull off designed runs — as evidenced by his performance in this year’s Spring Game, where he tallied 28 rushing yards and a touchdown. “You see Wilton try and scramble and it looks like it hurts,” Wormley said. “But for O’Korn, he’s a little shiftier, a little faster and more athletic. He’s got a great arm, so I’m excited to see what he can do too.” The rest of the team seems quietly confident, as well — according to running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley, it’s “plug and play.” Wheatley confessed that in practice, he’s usually zoned in on his own position group, but he’s noticed no peripheral difference under center. For Michigan to accomplish its lofty goals — starting with beating Indiana on Saturday and winning a possible playoff- deciding matchup at No. 2 Ohio State after that — it will need those differences to be as muted as O’Korn’s teammates expect them to be. “O’Korn is gonna do well — you don’t look at it as a drop-off, you don’t look at it as anything different,” Wheatley said. “It’s the next guy in. Game normal.” SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily Redshirt junior quarterback John O’Korn may be thrust into action on Saturday if redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight is unable to play. JACOB GASE Daily Sports Editor “We’re gonna be running the same exact plays.” Wolverines look back on chaotic finishes Chris Wormley had been in the situation before. He looked, then took a deep breath. And then he had one thought: Get off the field. Iowa’s Keith Duncan had just kicked a game-winning 33-yard field goal as time expired, and then came the Hawkeye fans streaming onto the field. Wormley knew he wouldn’t want to be caught up in that chaos. And as he hurried off the field — his only prerogative to get to the locker room quickly — an Iowa fan accidentally collided with the 6-foot-6, 302-pound defensive lineman and flew backward to the turf. “I was heading for the locker room after that loss, so I wasn’t thinking too much about who was in my way, who’s not in my way,” Wormley said Tuesday. “I hope he’s doing OK.” It looked like a scary moment at first, but Wormley said he feels better about it now that he knows the fan is OK. The fifth- year senior even joked that he’d be willing to be the “poster child” for a brochure at every game called “Field Storming 101” that taught fans how to avoid injury. The fact is, Wormley has been through plenty of moments like Saturday’s, though that was the first iteration in the past two years that induced a rush of fans from the seats. In that span, the Wolverines have played in four games decided on the final play, winning two (at Minnesota last Oct. 31 and at Indiana last Nov. 14) and losing two (versus Michigan State last Oct. 17 and at Iowa on Saturday). “It wasn’t the greatest feeling I’ve ever had, I would say that,” said redshirt sophomore tight end Ian Bunting about Saturday. “I kind of just walked off the field quickly to avoid as many people as I could. It was just … it sucks to lose. It’s never good to lose. Especially when you’ve won all your games this season other than that one.” The most famous crucial play of the four, of course, was last year’s muffed punt snap against Michigan State, which the Spartans returned for a touchdown and a 27-23 victory. That time, a full crowd of 111,740 watched in shock as the game changed and the visiting players piled on each other in the end zone with no time left. Michigan followed that up with last-second escapes in two of the next three weeks. At Minnesota, the Wolverines trailed for most of the second half and lost starting quarterback Jake Rudock to an injury. But then-backup Wilton Speight stepped in and threw a go-ahead touchdown to Jehu Chesson with 4:57 left and added a two-point conversion that put his team up by three. The Golden Gophers marched down the field on a 13-play, 74-yard drive and landed inside the 1-yard line. There, Michigan’s defense stuffed a quarterback sneak as time expired, a play that — like the others — many watched with bated breath. “I guess just everything’s out of your control at that point,” said redshirt junior defensive tackle Maurice Hurst. “… There’s nothing you can really do. You really (don’t) want to just have to have that feeling that you wish you could have done more. … That’d be terrible if you felt like you could have done a little bit more to change the outcome of the game.” Yet the Wolverines found themselves in a similar position two weeks later at Indiana. Depleted on the defensive line and facing an up-tempo spread offense, they again trailed in the fourth quarter before forcing overtime on a touchdown pass from Rudock to Chesson with two seconds left. In the second overtime, safety Delano Hill broke up a fourth-down pass to preserve the victory and bring his teammates rushing onto the field to celebrate. Michigan had coasted in seven of its first nine wins this year by at least 17 points, and Saturday was the latest drama it had faced in a game all season. This time, the Wolverines ended up on the wrong end of it. They have seen both sides enough to know that it makes for a nerve-racking finish in either case. “It depends on what side you end up on,” Bunting said with a wry smile. “If you end up on the side that we were on last week, it’s disappointing and it’s frustrating. But that’s football, and it’s gonna happen. That’s what we sign up for. We sign up for, when we come to Michigan, to play in games like that and to win games like that.” SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily Fifth-year senior defensive end Chris Wormley has seen more than his fair share of last-second finishes in his career, including Saturday at Iowa. JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor