4B — November 21, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

Five Things We Learned: Indiana

After 
redshirt 
sophomore 

quarterback 
Wilton 
Speight 

went down with a shoulder 
injury last week, the Michigan 
football team was already in for 
a challenge in its matchup with 
Indiana on Saturday.

A mid-game snow flurry, 

though, magnified the problem 
immensely. 
The 
Wolverines 

trailed at halftime, 7-3, before 
senior running back De’Veon 
Smith 
exploded 
for 
two 

touchdowns and helped them 
escape with a 20-10 victory.

Here’s what we learned from 

Michigan’s 10th victory of the 
season. (Or at least what we 
think we learned. The snow 
made it nearly impossible to see 
the field.)

1. It was unfair to expect no 

drop-off at the quarterback 
position.

After the news of Speight’s 

injury went public, his coaches 
and 
teammates 
expressed 

full confidence in his backup, 
redshirt junior John O’Korn. 
They pointed to his work ethic 
and steady focus, claiming they 
weren’t expecting much of a 
drop-off.

In hindsight, that probably 

wasn’t a fair assumption. O’Korn 
is a talented quarterback, but 
he hadn’t started in two years 
and didn’t have the 10 games 
of 
experience 
Speight 
had 

accumulated this season, and 
that showed on Saturday. O’Korn 
struggled throwing the ball — 
though the weather factor can’t 
be ignored — completing just 
seven of 16 passes for 59 yards.

He 
did 
spark 
the 
team 

with his feet, as a 30-yard 
run on 3rd-and-8 helped set 
up the Wolverines’ go-ahead 
touchdown. It was one of just 

three 
successful 
third-down 

conversions Michigan had all 
day.

2. De’Veon Smith deserves 

the trust his coaches have in 
him.

Some Wolverine fans seemed 

a bit perplexed after Smith 
received the bulk of the carries 
in last week’s loss to Iowa 
despite averaging just 2.3 yards 
a carry. Still, running backs 
coach Tyrone Wheatley made 
it clear this week that Smith is 
his most trusted back, citing his 
experience and development.

Smith didn’t wait long to 

validate 
his 
coach’s 
trust 

again, posting a career day 
Saturday with 158 yards and two 
touchdowns. His valiant effort 
in the third quarter proved to 
be the difference in the victory, 
swinging a 10-6 deficit into a 
20-10 lead that Michigan clung 
to for the rest of the game.

3. 
The 
Wolverines’ 

secondary isn’t invincible.

It’s still unwise to throw the 

ball near senior cornerbacks 
Jourdan Lewis and Channing 
Stribling — the two combined 
for four more pass breakups 
on Saturday and remain one of 
the top defensive back duos in 
the country. The Wolverines’ 

secondary allowed a few big 
plays through the air, though, 
allowing Indiana to temporarily 
seize control of the game.

In the second quarter, Hoosier 

receiver Luke Timian picked up a 
31-yard reception after Michigan 
senior safety Delano Hill fell 
down in coverage, setting up 
Indiana’s only touchdown of 
the game. Later, receiver Nick 
Westbrook made a great catch 
on a 37-yard gain despite tight 
coverage from Stribling, but 
Indiana had to settle for a field 
goal after the Wolverines picked 
up a stop on third down.

Michigan was fortunate that 

the Hoosiers failed to capitalize 
on their opportunities, but the 

Wolverines’ trend of allowing 
a few big plays per game could 
be problematic with No. 2 Ohio 
State looming next week.

4. Special teams can still 

make a difference.

Other 
than 
fifth-year 

senior kicker Kenny Allen’s 
rediscovered success, it had 
been a quiet few weeks for 
Michigan’s special teams unit. 
The Wolverines’ kick coverage 
squad got back to its old habit 
of blocking punts on Saturday, 
though, and that helped swing 
the momentum in Michigan’s 
favor.

First, it was fifth-year senior 

tight end Michael Jocz getting 
a hand on a punt in the second 
quarter, giving the Wolverines 
the ball in Indiana territory. 
They ended up kicking a field 
goal for the first points of the 
game. Later, it was freshman 
safety Khaleke Hudson who 
blocked another punt in the 
fourth quarter.

Michigan 
ultimately 

squandered the second scoring 
opportunity, but it benefited 
from great field position all 
afternoon. 
The 
Wolverines’ 

average starting position was at 
their own 39-yard line, while the 
Hoosiers’ was at their own 21 — 
thanks in large part to Allen, who 
had three 50-plus yard punts and 
four inside the 20-yard line.

5. 
BOLD 
PREDICTION: 

Michigan beats Ohio State.

Michigan may have looked 

sluggish the last two weeks, but 
“The Game” has a way of waking 
teams up quickly. Even in 2013 
and 2014, when the struggling 
Wolverines 
were 
essentially 

playing for nothing, they put 
a scare into the Buckeyes and 
threatened their national title 
hopes.

This year’s edition of the 

rivalry game has higher stakes 
than any year since 2006. 
The winner should be in the 
driver’s 
seat 
for 
a 
College 

Football Playoff berth, while 
the loser will likely be on the 
outside looking in. A surprise 
return from Speight would go 
a long way toward helping the 
Wolverines’ chances, but his 
status remains hush-hush.

Regardless, 
Michigan’s 

defense will be ready to go, and 
its offense could benefit from 
a contest with more stable 
weather conditions. It’s never 
easy to win in Columbus, but 
the Wolverines have more than 
a fighting chance.

JACOB GASE

Daily Sports Editor

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Fifth-year senior kicker Kenny Allen has rebounded nicely since an apparent midseason slump. Allen had three punts of more than 50 yards on Saturday.

Finn, ‘M’ finish second in bittersweet end

Erin Finn thought she finally had 

it.

After passing Notre Dame’s Anna 

Rohrer in the final straightway, just 
200 meters separated Finn from 
Michigan’s first individual cross 
country 
national 
championship 

since Katie McGregor in 1998.

Despite the incredible nature 

of Finn’s career — which includes 
three Big Ten Athlete of the Year 
awards — it has been marked by 
misfortune, falling just short at 
the most inopportune times: she 
lost her shoe in the 2015 National 
Championship and injured her foot 
before the 1000-meter Olympic 
qualifiers 
last 
year. 
Saturday’s 

race, which took place on her 22nd 

birthday, provided an opportunity 
for the senior to finally capture the 
crown her career deserved.

“I thought that once I passed 

Anna Rohrer and made up that 
ground, I thought that the title 
might be mine,” Finn said, “I had 
no idea that Karissa Schweizer was 
coming behind me.”

Mere seconds away from the 

finish line, Finn turned her head 
to see Schweizer pass her. It was 
a bittersweet moment, as the 
Wolverines ran to a suprising 
second-place finish — good for 
Michigan’s best-ever result — just 
one point behind Oregon. But Finn 
fell just shy of the championship 
that has eluded her for so long.

“She did everything she could — 

similar to the team,” said Wolverine 
coach Mike McGuire. “She fought 

hard to get in the lead with about 
300 meters to go, but Schweitzer 
had a great kick at the end and was 
the better athlete today. She was the 
deserving champion today, and we 
tip our hat to her.”

Finn looked poised to capture a 

triumphant moment, running the 
6,000 meters in 19:44 — just 2.6 
seconds slower than Schweizer’s.

“Unfortunately, 
it 
wasn’t 

enough,” Finn said. “I thought it 
was, but I can rest in the fact that 
I could not have tried any harder 
or given it any more. But it was 
definitely a little heartbreaking, a 
little bittersweet to come so close.” 

Even 
though 
Finn 
never 

captured that elusive individual 
national championship, McGuire 
is unequivocally sure that she’s the 
best runner in program history.

“Erin’s the best distance runner 

we’ve ever had.” he said. “I’ll put up 
her body of work, and I don’t even 
think Katie would dispute it.”

Michigan’s finish was aided by 

juniors Avery Evenson and Gina 
Sereno, who finished in 18th and 
30th, respectively, and earned All-
America honors. Freshman Maddy 
Trevison, 46th, and redshirt junior 
Jaimie Phelan, 65th, also scored.

Trevison gave Michigan an 

impressive boost, finishing seventh 
out of all freshmen runners in her 
first collegiate championship race.

“All five of our scorers — and 

even Jamie Morrissey at number six 
— had great races,” McGuire said. 
“Maddy stepped up and probably 
ran 30 seconds faster than she did 
a month ago; Jaimie Phelan really 
came on with a really strong last 
kilometer 
where 
she 
probably 

passed upwards of 20 people. So 
in our scoring positions, we really 
couldn’t have asked for much more 
than what we got.”

Despite the surprising nature of 

the second-place result — the team 
entered the race ranked fifth and 
simply desired to reach the podium 
Saturday — the “what-ifs” crept 
into the minds of Michigan runners 
following the championship, as one 
position separated the Wolverines 
from a share of the national title.

“We were all kind of sitting here 

on the bus like, ‘Where could I have 
taken one more place?’ or ‘Where 
could we have gotten that last 
point?’ ” Evenson said. “We’re never 
going to blame one person, but it’s a 
what-if sort of situation.”

“What if” is a question that has 

followed Finn in the most painful of 
ways. She will go down as one of the 
greatest athletes in school history, 
as she contributed to an all-time 
showing for her team, and, yet, she 
fought back tears when reflecting 
on her career.

“I’m going to go back to 

bittersweet,” Finn said. “It’s been 
an incredible ride, and I’m so 
grateful to be a Wolverine and have 
finished that with my teammates. 
That fact that I could trust that 
every single one of them went out 
on the course giving everything 
they had — and knowing that I was 
doing the same — there’s nothing 
more special than that.”

MARK CALCAGNO

Daily Sports Writer

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
THE MICHIGAN 

DAILY TOP-10 POLL 

2. OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes 
joined Northwestern and BYU 
in the elite club of teams that 
won in East Lansing this year.

1. ALABAMA: Let’s be honest: 
No one wants Bama.

9. COLORADO: The Buffaloes 
are high this week, which is a 
surprise to exactly no one.

3. MICHIGAN: The last 
year the Wolverines won in 
Columbus, the president-
elect lost the popular vote. 
Just saying.

6. WISCONSIN: Does TJ 
Watt get to be in all those 
commercials now?

5. WASHINGTON: By 
the transitive property, 
Washington would lose by 59 
to Bama. Boom, math’d.

7. OKLAHOMA: Just when 
you thought the Big 12 was 
dead, one team is suddenly 
kinda ‘meh’ again.

4. CLEMSON: Dabo Swinney 
is more than ready to dab on 
any haters who think Clemson 
isn’t playoff-worthy.

8. PENN STATE: Congrats to 
the Nittany Lions, who are the 
highest-ranked team to have 
lost by at least 39 points.

10. WESTERN MICHIGAN: 
We’re pretty sure Kalamazoo 
is still too hungover from 
GameDay to see the Broncos’ 
Top 10 debut.

Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, 

with first-place votes receiving 10 points, second-

place votes receiving nine and so on. 

