6A — Thursday, September 14, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Drevno emphasizing correctable details ahead of Air Force contest

Tim Drevno gets a rush out 

of the light-bulb moments.

Luckily for him, with this 

inexperienced 
Wolverine 

squad, 
there’s 
plenty 
of 

opportunity for those.

“They’re 
young, 
which 

is great, and they’re very 
talented,” Drevno said. “But 
every day is a new day. It 
doesn’t matter if you’re a 
fifth-year guy, a fourth-year 
guy or a first-year guy. You’ve 
got to teach it to them like 
they’ve never heard it before 
and 
be 
dynamic 
the 
way 

you’re teaching it so they do 
understand it.

“And then have them ask 

questions back to you and then 
you ask them questions to make 
sure they fully understand. 
That excites me, as a coach, 
is being able to teach and 
then 
getting 
it 
and 
then 

understanding it, executing it.”

That dialogue may be more 

rampant 
than 
ever 
right 

now. 
Wednesday 
afternoon, 

when 
Michigan’s 
offensive 

coordinator 
addressed 
the 

media, 
he 
was 
quick 
to 

emphasize that 
practice 
has 

been 
focused 

on 
the 
easily 

correctable 
details 
that 

plagued 
the 

Wolverines 
against 
Cincinnati.

The 
two 

fumbles against 
the 
Bearcats 

may be the most 
obvious of those 
details, but the issues stretch 
beyond that.

“The fly sweeps, the motions, 

not fumbling the ball, not 
giving up a sack — I mean those 
are all correctable things,” 

Drevno said. “... Just being 
really 
detailed 
orientated. 

Those are the things we’re 
really focused on and we focus 
on them every week. When it 
happens in a game, it magnifies 
like everything magnifies, and 

you 
put 
your 

eyes on it like, 
‘Hey, how can 
we do it better 
as 
coaches 
so 

they understand 
it?’ ”

Drevno 

emphasized that 
players have to 
be comfortable 
with 
making 

adjustments, 
adding 
that 

he is doing his 

part by “crossing every T and 
dotting every I” to ensure the 
game plan is sound. 

One 
adjustment 
came 

against Cincinnati when two 
defensive 
linemen 
twisted 

on Nolan Ulizio and Michael 
Onwenu twice. Both times, 
Michigan’s 
inexperienced 

offensive 
line 
duo 
were 

beat, 
and 
redshirt 
junior 

quarterback Wilton Speight 
faced pressure.

The 
third 

time, 
though, 

the 
Bearcats 

weren’t 
so 

successful. 
Ulizio 
and 

Onwenu 
each 

picked up on 
it, and Speight 
had the pocket 
to himself. Call 
it a light-bulb 
moment.

“That’s 

exciting,” Drevno said of the 
in-game adjustment. “When a 
guy fixes a problem that you’ve 
talked to him about — they fix 
it and they do it — and it’s like 
‘Hey, right on, we’re getting 

one step closer to (being) 
really good.’ ”

Onwenu 
and 
Ulizio’s 

correction 
was 
only 
one 

example of a larger trend that 
Drevno 
has 
followed 
with 

this 
developing 

group. As he put 
it, 
Michigan’s 

offense 
is 

one 
with 

every 
player’s 

fingerprints 
on 

it.

According 
to 

Drevno, a process 
such 
as 
that 

happens 
almost 

universally — in 
practice, 
games 

and the meeting 

rooms alike.

And while that strategy is 

already working well, there is 
a certain sense of urgency to 
correcting the mistakes. After 
all, Air Force is the only team 

standing between Michigan 
and its Big Ten opener.

The 
Falcons 
aren’t 
a 

cakewalk, either. As Drevno 
explained, 
Michigan 

will face a fast and well-
disciplined defense with an 
unconventional scheme that 
isn’t afraid to blitz. They are 
technically sound — capable of 
making the tackles they need 
to and reading routes in the 
secondary.

Against that defense, Drevno 

could use a few more light-bulb 
moments.

“A mistake happens — bam, 

you put it down and it’s done,” 
Drevno said. “You don’t want 
to ever see it again. Is it gonna 
happen again? It might. You 
don’t want (it) to, but at least 
you’ve addressed it, you’ve 
coached it and they understand 
the 
adjustments 
off 
that 

mistake and what needs to 
happen.”

Michigan’s offensive coordinator has pushed his developing linemen toward a steady pattern of growth over time 

KEVIN SANTO

Managing Sports Editor

“ ‘Hey, right on, 
we’re getting 
one step closer 
to (being) really 

good.’ ”

“You’ve got to 
teach it to them 

like they’ve 
never heard it 

before.”

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Redshirt sophomore right tackle Nolan Ulizio provided a good example of what Drevno considers a light-bulb moment.

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan offensive coordinator Tim Drevno teaches the Wolverines to clean up their mistakes as soon as possible.

Notable Quotable

“I thought he had 

some spectacular plays. 

Avoiding the tackle for a 

loss, free runner on the 

edge, that was significant. 

His long run on the 

sweep on a corner who 

was unblocked, thought 

that was outstanding. He 

had one called back due 

to a penalty and missed 

assignment. He had two or 

three opportunities called 

back or taken away because 

of execution. So, he’s taking 

his opportunity this year. 

It’s very important for 

him.”

-Coach Jim Harbaugh on 

Running back Ty Isaac

‘M’ impresses in draw at No. 1 Indiana

Robbie Mertz lept, whipped 

his head toward the ball, and 
scored one of the biggest goals 
the Michigan men’s soccer 
team has had this decade. 

The Wolverines went to 

Bloomington and played No. 
1 Indiana to a 1-1 stalemate 
on Wednesday night. After a 
4-0-1 start to the season – its 
best since 2008 – this game 
was No. 18 Michigan’s chance 
to prove itself a contender. 
Consider it done.

Mertz’s 
goal 
came 
50 

minutes 
into 
the 
game. 

Freshman midfielder Umar 
Farouk Osman set it up with 
a run down the right wing 
and a well-placed cross. Trey 
Muse, 
Indiana’s 
freshman 

goalkeeper, had a chance to 
punch it out. Mertz got there 
first.

The Hoosiers scored the 

game’s opening goal just 11 
minutes into play. A Wolverine 
turnover in their own half 
gave Indiana a 3-on-2 chance. 
For a fleeting second it looked 
like 
sophomore 
goalkeeper 

Andrew 
Verdi 
might 
play 

the hero, as he saved two 
consecutive shots from two 
different 
Hoosier 
players. 

On the third – from junior 
defender Andrew Gutman – 
 

Verdi was helpless.

For the rest of the first half, 

Indiana put on a defensive 
clinic.

Michigan didn’t record its 

first shot on goal until the 
40th minute. Osman found 
himself on the right side of 
the box with space – a rarity 
against 
a 
team 
with 
the 

Hoosiers’ defensive caliber – 
but his shot was easily stopped 
by Muse. When the whistle 
blew signaling the end of the 
first half, it looked like an 
impending beatdown.

“I think we were fortunate 

to only concede one (in the 
first half),” said Michigan 
head coach Chaka Daley after 
the game. “You could tell by 
the shots and stats that (in) 

the first 15 minutes, they kind 
of had us on the ropes.”

After halftime, everything 

changed.

“We just asked them to 

step up slightly and focus 
more on some minor details 
defensively,” Daley said. “And 
it 
certainly 

proved 
fruitful.”

Indiana 

freshman 
forward Griffin 
Dorsey forced a 
diving save out 
of Verdi in the 
58th 
minute. 

His 
shot 
was 

directed at the 
far 
post, 
but 

not far enough. That ended 
up being the best chance the 
Hoosiers had for the rest of 
regulation. 

The closest the Wolverines 

came to taking a lead was 
in the 73rd minute. After 
Muse saved senior midfielder 
Tristan 
Jacob’s 
shot, 
the 

ensuing rebound looked like 
a goal-in-waiting. Michigan 
had a numbers advantage in 
Indiana’s box, but couldn’t 
take the upper hand. 

“I think guys were trying 

to find out who could get to 
it first and who could get a 

toe 
poke 
to 

it,” Daley said. 
“I think guys 
were 
kind 
of 

in the way and 
someone 
just 

needed to kind 
of knock it or 
toe poke it.”

Pouring 

rain 
over 

Bloomington 
went 
on 
as 

long as the game. In college 
soccer, a tie game goes to 
two 
10-minute 
overtimes 

before it gets called. For the 
Wolverines, those 20 minutes 
were as stressful as you might 
expect.

The 
first 
overtime 
was 

largely 
devoid 
of 
scoring 

chances for both teams. Verdi’s 
only save came off a Hoosier 
free kick, and that didn’t 
come until the 99th minute. 
Redshirt 
junior 
defender 

Timmy Mehl’s header was on 
goal, but Verdi swallowed it up 
easily.

Indiana was able to lay 

claim to the best chance of 
the second overtime as well. 
In the 107th minute, a cross 
found its way into Michigan’s 
box and looked dangerous, 
but redshirt junior midfielder 
Cory Thomas couldn’t put it 
away.

When 
the 
game 
finally 

ended, the Wolverines came 
away with perhaps their most 
important result in years. But 
Daley isn’t celebrating just yet.

“Two 
games 
in, 
people 

are going to put rankings 
on people. They’re number 
one, we’re eighteen – it’s not 
relevant,” Daley said. “We 
just continue to keep our 
head up and keep things in 
perspective.”

ETHAN SEARS

For the Daily

KATELYN MULCAHY /Daily

Junior midfielder Robbie Mertz scored the game-tying goal in the 50th minute in Bloomington to earn a draw.

“We just 

continue to 

keep our head 

up.”

