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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
September 18, 2017 — 3B
Five Things We Learned: Air Force
What’s the first rule about
playing Air Force?
Never play Air Force.
No. 8 Michigan slogged its way
to a mostly unsatisfying 29-13 win
over the Falcons on Saturday. The
Wolverines did well in shutting
down Air Force’s triple-option
attack. But their own offense
struggled to convert deep in
Falcon territory, settling for a field
goal on all four trips into the red
zone.
Here are five things we learned
from Saturday’s game:
1. Ty Isaac is a home-run
hitter
It didn’t take long for the fifth-
year senior to wrest the starting
running back job away from Chris
Evans — only one week, to be exact.
And Isaac hasn’t showed any signs
of slowing down, either. He’s
been Michigan’s most consistent
runner and is a constant threat to
break a long run.
Against Air Force, he had two
that were this close to going the
distance — a 32-yarder in the first
quarter that displayed impressive
burst, and a 26-yarder in the third
that would’ve been a touchdown
had sophomore receiver Kekoa
Crawford not been flagged for
holding.
On the season, Evans and
Higdon are averaging 3.7 and 4.6
yards per carry. Isaac, meanwhile,
is averaging 7.1, and last week, The
Athletic ranked him the 26th most
efficient runner in the nation.
He’s been a significant difference-
maker out of the backfield, and
if the injury he suffered late
in Saturday’s game is serious,
Michigan’s run game will suffer.
2.
Don
Brown
remains
unstoppable
Michigan’s
defensive
coordinator may find his name
in conversations for the Broyles
Award — given to the nation’s best
assistant coach — at the end of
the season. He’s taken a relatively
inexperienced unit and kept it
running just as smoothly as last
year’s historically elite defense.
That’s
nothing
short
of
remarkable.
On Saturday, Air Force —
which had won seven straight
games — was the latest team to
run into Brown’s buzzsaw of a
defense. Aside from one big bust
in the passing game that went for
a 64-yard touchdown, Michigan
shut down the Falcons. Air Force
ran the ball 49 times for just 168
yards — 3.4 yards per carry. That
was its second-lowest rushing
output since 2014.
Brown could have his hands
full next week with a rejuvenated
Purdue
attack
led
by
new
coach Jeff Brohm and veteran
quarterback David Blough. But,
given the results up to this point,
does anyone doubt that he’ll have
the defense ready to go?
3. Success with the ‘VIPER’
Khaleke Hudson hasn’t played
offense.
He
hasn’t
returned
punts or kicks, either. Those are
components of Jabrill Peppers’
game that Hudson will probably
never be able to replicate. What the
sophomore has done, though, is fill
in capably at the ‘VIPER’ position,
perhaps the most important spot
in Don Brown’s defense.
Hudson, who played safety in
high school, has been stout against
the run. He’s also been a pleasant
surprise in defending the pass.
Against Air Force, he covered a
deep route comfortably, knocking
the ball to the ground. And his
most impressive play in coverage
wasn’t even his first recorded
interception, which came late
on a desperate heave from Air
Force’s Nate Romine — it was an
unsuccessful attempt at a pick,
when Hudson nearly snagged a
pass with one hand.
He doesn’t wear No. 5. But
Saturday’s disruptive performance
may have reminded some viewers
of the last ‘VIPER’ Michigan had.
4. The 3-3-5 is here to stay
Michigan has spent most of
its first three games in the new
3-3-5 stack formation that was
debuted
against
then-No.
17
Florida. It doesn’t matter what
type of offense the Wolverines
have faced — their new scheme
has successfully thrown off all of
their opponents.
It shut down Air Force’s lethally
efficient flexbone option Saturday,
it shut down Cincinnati’s mess
of an offense last week and it
destroyed Doug Nussmeier’s pro-
style, zone-blocking scheme in the
opener.
Most importantly, Michigan
still retains the flexibility to switch
back to its more conventional
4-2-5 look. Redshirt junior nose
guard Bryan Mone, who is subbed
out in favor of redshirt junior SAM
linebacker Noah Furbush in the
3-3-5, is still strong enough to take
on double teams and beat single
blockers. That may come in handy
against heftier pro-style attacks
such as Wisconsin, and being
able to successfully employ both
schemes may help the Wolverines
confuse Penn State and Ohio
State’s no-huddle spread attacks,
as well.
5.
BOLD
PREDICTION:
Devin Bush Jr. will be an All-
American
Michigan’s lightning bolt of a
linebacker stood out once again,
leading the team with 11 tackles
Saturday. The sophomore is now
on pace to finish the regular season
with 18 tackles-for-loss and 14
sacks. What may be scarier for
opponents is that the stats aren’t
a fluke. Bush has simply been that
good, and in Brown’s scheme,
which favors constant blitzes from
the linebackers, it would be unwise
to expect him to slow down.
Bush’s unique blend of speed,
explosiveness and tackling makes
him the complete package in the
middle of the defense, and if he
continues to pile up stats, the rest
of college football will be sure to
take notice — if it hasn’t already.
EVAN AARON/Daily
Fifth-year senior running back Ty Isaac has undoubtedly emerged as Michigan’s starting running back, and his undisclosed injury could hurt the ground game.
ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan vs. Air Force
1
Pass completed by Air Force
quarterback Arion Worthman.
79
Yard return on Donovan Peoples-
Jones’ first collegiate touchdown.
10 %
Of Michigan’s red zone possesions
have resuled in touchdowns.
17
Points scored by kicker Quinn Nordin
in Saturday’s game.
The good, the bad and the ugly
For an undefeated team, No. 8
Michigan (3-0) hasn’t looked all
that convincing.
Another Saturday into the
2017 season and the Wolverines
still haven’t presented a clear
picture of who they are and
what they are capable of this
year. After double-digit wins
over Florida and Cincinnati
that left much to be desired,
Michigan fell victim to the same
fate against Air Force.
The defense carried the load
while the offense struggled to
find a groove, but the Wolverines
managed to capture yet another
victory. The Daily breaks down
the good, the bad and the ugly
from Saturday’s 29-13 win.
The good
Michigan’s defense may have
faced its toughest task of the
year Saturday when the Falcons
and their complex triple-option
scheme rolled into town, but
their performance didn’t show
it.
Air Force rushed the ball a
whopping 49 times, but gained a
measly 168 yards — an average of
3.4 yards per carry. Though the
Falcons tried to pound the ball
down the Wolverines’ throat,
Michigan controlled the line of
scrimmage from start to finish.
Air Force’s pass game fared
much
worse.
The
Falcons
attempted nine passes. They
completed only one.
That one pass resulted in
Air Force’s only touchdown of
the game. Junior safety Tyree
Kinnel was caught off guard at
the snap and Air Force receiver
Ronald Cleveland got the jump
on him. Cleveland caught the
ball in motion and sprinted 64
yards across the field. Kinnel
couldn’t recover in time to catch
him before he reached the end
zone.
The Wolverines terrorized
Falcon
quarterback
Arion
Worthman
all
day,
sacking
him three times and forcing
a fumble. With the amount of
hard hits he took in the contest,
Worthman would have needed
to take a long ice bath Saturday
night.
The linebacker unit earned
top marks, as senior Mike
McCray and sophomore Devin
Bush Jr. each tallied 11 tackles.
The ends weren’t far behind
in that race, as redshirt junior
Chase Winovich and sophomore
Rashan Gary recorded nine and
six tackles, respectively.
After
a
mistake-riddled
outing
against
Cincinnati,
the special teams unit also
got back on track against Air
Force,
courtesy
of
redshirt
freshman kicker Quinn Nordin
and freshman receiver Donovan
Peoples-Jones.
Nordin had a perfect day,
nailing all five of his field goals
to notch a career high and equal
a
program
record.
Peoples-
Jones, for his part, provided
the highlight of the day with a
79-yard punt return touchdown.
It was Michigan’s first trip into
the end zone, and it gave the
Wolverines the breathing room
they desperately needed.
The bad
Though
disastrous
pick-
sixes and fumbles were placed
firmly in the rearview mirror,
Michigan’s
offense
didn’t
look
particularly
impressive
Saturday.
Coming into the matchup,
Air Force’s offense seemed to
be of principal concern to the
Wolverines. But with the way
the game panned out, they
should have been warier of the
Falcons’ defense.
Redshirt junior quarterback
Wilton Speight completed 14 of
23 attempts for 169 yards, but
he couldn’t seem to connect
on the most important passes.
Michigan found its way into
the red zone four times, yet
not once did the Wolverines
come away with a touchdown.
After the game, Speight said Air
Force disguised its blitzes really
well, holding its positioning
until he called for the snap, and
therefore making it difficult for
him to pick up on the scheme.
Even Michigan’s run game,
which had proved to be a steady
force in its first two games,
looked relatively contained by
the Falcons’ game plan. Fifth-
year senior running back Ty
Isaac came closest to scoring,
but both times he reached the
end zone, the play was called
back.
The ugly
The score at halftime was 9-6.
For a football game, that’s never
a good sign.
While it may have been nice
for Nordin and Air Force kicker
Luke Strebel to go mano-a-
mano in a quasi-kick-off, neither
offense will enjoy watching
the tape of their first-half
performance — just as the crowd
of 111,387 at Michigan Stadium
probably didn’t enjoy watching
it in person.
With both teams unable to
find the end zone, the most
exciting plays of the first half
were a 50-yard field goal from
Strebel and a 49-yarder from
Nordin. But even “exciting”
would be generous.
The Daily breaks down what went right, and what went
wrong, for the Wolverines in their win Saturday afternoon.
BETELHEM ASHAME
Managing Sports Editor
The defense
carried the load
while the offense
struggled to find
a groove