4B — October 9, 2017 SportsMonday The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Defense deserves better I t’s no secret at this point. Michigan’s defense is good enough to win a championship. Football, though, is a team game — as fifth-year senior linebacker Mike McCray alluded to after his team’s 14-10 loss to Michi- gan State. “(When the) offense (is) doing bad, we’re doing bad,” he said. “We can’t get frustrated with them; they can’t get frustrated with us.” It’s the type of answer you’d expect from McCray, the con- summate teammate who was elected captain before the sea- son. Deep down, though, you won- der if there is any frustration from him, or from any other member of the defense. And if there is — that’s easily under- standable. In the second half — before an eight-play, 26-yard drive that took just enough time off the clock to make life even more difficult for the Wolverines on their final drive of the game — the Spartans had the ball seven times. The results of those seven possessions? Six three-and-outs and one four-and-out after they elected to go for it on fourth down. It was the definition of abso- lute dominance from Michigan’s defense — the type of outing that we’ve become accustomed to seeing with Don Brown call- ing the shots. And yet that Herculean performance wasn’t enough, because as absurdly good as Michigan’s defense was, the offense simply could not exe- cute. After the game, McCray said that coming out of halftime, his unit’s goal was to give the offense the ball as many times as possible. Here’s what the Wolverines did with those eight posses- sions: three-and-out, 33-yard touchdown drive, interception, interception, interception, punt, punt and a desperate 43-yard drive that ended with the ball harmlessly falling to the turf. It was a sight for sore eyes, and it was a sight that will haunt Jim Harbaugh and his offensive coaching staff for the rest of the week, perhaps for the rest of the season. This, after all, was an easily winnable game — and the Wolverines even had the blue- print for doing so. Coming out of halftime faced with a 14-3 deficit, Michigan began a war of field position. The defense kept the Spartans pinned deep, and when a Jake Hartbarger punt was returned to the Michigan State 33-yard line, the Wolverines pounced. After yet another three-and- out forced by the defense, the offense looked poised to build on its prior success. Michigan fed junior running back Karan Higdon four consecutive times, and he turned those carries into 23 yards and two first downs. And then the Wolverines tried to pass. They were called for hold- ing. They called another pass, and O’Korn scrambled for eight yards. They called another pass — and O’Korn threw it to the other team. “When we got momentum going,” Harbaugh said, “we turned it over.” Michigan stuck with the pass stubbornly, like a puppy might do with an old chewed-out toy. It called for passes even amidst what O’Korn deemed a “torren- tial downpour,” which certainly didn’t make life any easier for him. And it got the same result nearly every time — a bad one. The Wolverines ran 13 pass plays in the second half before a desperate final drive where Michigan State played things safe and allowed easy comple- tions underneath. On those 13 plays, O’Korn completed four passes. He was sacked and forced to scramble once each. He threw three interceptions. O’Korn, as good of a team- mate as any, didn’t give much away after the game. “I wasn’t upset with any of the calls at all,” he said. “I was just upset with myself.” But, like with the defense, any frustration would’ve been understandable. After all, he himself commented on the diffi- culty of throwing in the rain. There’s merit in debating whether the players simply have to execute, or whether they were put in a position to suc- ceed Saturday night. There are now many more questions than answers facing this team after such a dispiriting loss. And yet, one thing was dev- astatingly clear: Michigan’s defense deserves better. “You can’t expect to win,” O’Korn said, “when you turn the ball over that many times.” Truer words have never been spoken. Sang can be reached at otsang@umich.edu or on Twitter @orion_sang. ORION SANG EMMA RICHTER/Daily Junior wide receiver Grant Perry was part of a Wolverine offense that let its defense down Saturday night. FOOTBALL Offensive line fails ‘M’ Fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn scrambled from the pocket all game long — rolling left, rolling right and running up the middle. He gained 24 yards on the ground. The problem for the No. 7 Michigan football team (1-1 Big Ten, 4-1 overall) was that O’Korn was never supposed to rush. “None of them were designed runs,” O’Korn said of his many scrambles. “They were all pass plays. Guys weren’t open, (Michigan State) had good coverage or protection broke down.” The struggles appeared most on the offensive line, where Michigan couldn’t contain the Spartans’ pressure. The Wolverines lost the battle in the trenches, and duly lost the game, 14-10. Midway through the second quarter, Michigan State defensive end Kenny Willekes burst through the offensive line to sack O’Korn. Willekes had lined up to the left, matching up with redshirt sophomore right tackle Nolan Ulizio. Ulizio was beat, and O’Korn was taken down. After Ulizio’s struggles, the coaches subbed him out for redshirt junior Juwann Bushell- Beatty. The substitution wasn’t part of the original game plan, according to coach Jim Harbaugh, but the coaches felt that they had to make a change. However, nothing really changed. O’Korn was sacked again before halftime — Michigan State’s third sack of the second quarter. By the end of the game, the Spartans had sacked O’Korn four times for a total of 33 yards. Ulizio and Bushell-Beatty split the duties Saturday. Despite plenty of options at the position — redshirt sophomore Jon Runyan has also appeared there — few have seemed to work. “Those two guys — Juwann and Nolan — they compete their butts off,” said senior left tackle Mason Cole. “They’ll continue to do that. Our coaches will put the best guys out there. Whether it be Nolan in the first half or Juwann in the second half, it doesn’t matter. “We trust Nolan out there. We trust Juwann out there. Doesn’t matter to us.” But it should matter. The right tackle position has been Michigan’s weakest link this season. The offensive line struggles go from left to right. Cole, a veteran and the offensive captain, lines up out left and is one of Michigan’s strongest players. Next to him at left guard is sophomore Ben Bredeson, another highly-touted lineman who molded well to the college game. At center is fifth-year senior Patrick Kugler, who came off the bench in the past few years, and finally earned a starting role. To the right of Kugler is sophomore Michael Onwenu, the Wolverines’ best option at right guard. And then comes right tackle. Nobody has proven themselves as the worthy starter. Cole and other teammates talked about how Ulizio and Bushell-Beatty keep competing — just as they did through spring training and fall camp. Yet after all this time, neither has separated from the pack, and it’s showing. O’Korn simply isn’t getting much time to pass. “Protection all this year has been a big focus for us,” Cole said. Cole and O’Korn stood by their teammates, but it’s clear that the position is contributing to the issues of an already dysfunctional offense. The offensive line broke against the Spartans, and it is hard to foresee an improvement when Michigan still has to play Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State. “Part of it is on me,” O’Korn said. “I’ve got to get us in the right protection.” A small part of it is on O’Korn. A bigger part of it is on the offensive line. TED JANES Daily Sports Writer Five Things We Learned: Michigan State Talk about a season killer. It’s hard to imagine No. 17 Michigan (1-1 Big Ten, 4-1 overall) competing for the Big Ten Championship — or the College Football Playoff — after No. 21 Michigan State came out victorious in the night game this weekend. The 14-10 loss revealed what many expected would happen at some point in the season: The Wolverines’ offensive struggles would catch up to them, and Michigan would dig itself a hole that was too big to crawl out of. Here are five things we learned from the Wolverines’ loss on Saturday. 1. Michigan can’t just rely on its defense Once again, Michigan’s defense — the top-ranked unit in the country in yards allowed per game with 213 — shut down its opponent in the second half. The Spartans didn’t tally a second-half first down until their final drive of the game. The Wolverines failed to get a sack for the first time this season, but tallied three quarterback hurries. Two sophomores, cornerback Lavert Hill and safety Josh Metellus, combined for four pass breakups and played a big part in holding Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke to just 98 passing yards. Michigan shut Lewerke down after halftime, but there was little the defense could do to help when the offense turned the ball over five times. 2. O’Korn’s performance against Purdue might not be representative Two hundred and seventy yards, a touchdown and a 69 percent completion rate? That’s what O’Korn threw for when he came off the sideline to replace an injured Wilton Speight two weeks ago against Purdue. Expecting him to perform that well every weekend, though, might not be fair. While Speight’s efforts were criticized left and right in the beginning of the season, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh continued to back up his decision that Speight was the team’s best option at quarterback. When Speight went down, it was tough to imagine how the Wolverines would respond. Reasonably though, Michigan fans were less worried after O’Korn lit up the Boilermakers, hitting his receivers and tight ends the entire afternoon. But against the Spartans’ lockdown coverage, the fifth-year senior and transfer from Houston couldn’t produce like he had the week before. O’Korn completed just 38 percent of his passes and gave up three interceptions. O’Korn’s best throw of the game came on a 17-yard pass to junior receiver Grant Perry, who landed on Michigan State’s one-yard line. 3. The offensive line struggles are the source of the problem… Redshirt sophomore Nolan Ulizio got the start at right tackle. After he got beat on a second- quarter sack, redshirt junior Juwann Bushell-Beatty replaced him, but Bushell-Beatty was not any more effective. The struggles at the position gave O’Korn little time to work in the pocket, as Michigan State’s pressing defense continued to break through the offensive line. O’Korn was sacked four times and only passed for 86 yards in the second half. If the offensive line can’t create gaps or protect the quarterback, there isn’t enough time for any components of the offense to get to work. 4. But the receivers are struggling too On the third-to-last play of the game, sophomore receiver Eddie McDoom dropped a wide open pass from O’Korn. Michigan would’ve been at the Spartans’ 31-yard line with 21 seconds left, but McDoom couldn’t reel in the catch. O’Korn connected with four receivers in the second half, throwing for just 86 yards after the break. Junior Grant Perry has stepped up as Michigan’s leading receiver since freshman Tarik Black’s season was cut short due to a foot injury. But other receivers like freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones and sophomore Kekoa Crawford just haven’t made a big impact. The Wolverines needed big plays to swing momentum, but they never got any and couldn’t overcome their errors. 5. Not-so-bold Prediction: The Minnesota game probably won’t be at night The Nov. 4 game between Michigan and Minnesota is the only home game left on the Wolverines’ schedule that does not yet have an announced time for kick off. The game against Michigan State was held at night due to the national attention it would receive. It had all the dimensions to be an instant classic: the in-state rivalry, a highly-ranked team and the first time the Spartans came to Ann Arbor since the botched punt. A game against Minnesota won’t have any of those factors. And after this first loss, it’s tough to imagine the Wolverines beating No. 3 Penn State on the road in two weeks. If Michigan is 6-2 going into a matchup with the irrelevant Golden Gophers, a national television network will have no desire to air that game on primetime. TED JANES Daily Sports Writer VOLLEYBALL Wolverines plagued by inability to finish With the Michigan volleyball team (2-4 Big Ten, 12-6 overall) facing match point against No. 6 Minnesota, senior outside hitter Adeja Lambert tracked the ball, soaring into the air and connecting her hand to the ball with sheer force. Her spike flew straight into the net. She looked down at the floor in disappointment as the Golden Gophers’ cheers washed over the otherwise quiet Cliff Keen Arena. Suddenly, Michigan had lost its third set — and the match. Saturday afternoon, the Wolverines were swept by No. 6 Minnesota (4-2, 14-2), losing 25-21, 25-21, 25-20. It was their first home loss of the season. Despite the sweep, Michigan appeared to have victory in its clutches in all three sets. It held several large leads, including a 17-12 advantage in the first set and a seemingly insurmountable 16-8 lead in the second set. For large stretches, the Wolverines looked tremendous, dominating one of the best teams in the nation. But the Wolverines never capitalized on those leads. “We have to get better,” said coach Mark Rosen. “We don’t have to get monumentally better, but we’ve got to get better. Especially when it really matters — in the crunch points, at key times.” Toward the ends of sets, Michigan wilted while Minnesota flourished. In the first set, Minnesota won six of the last seven points. In the third set, the Golden Gophers scored the last five points. These two massive runs were both fueled by a combination of stifling defense from Minnesota, who stuffed the Wolverines with 14 blocks, and what Rosen called a one-dimensional Michigan attack. “We’ve got to have more options and use more options,” Rosen said. “I thought we did that early on in sets but I think when it got late, we got a little more predictable.” There were moments, though, when the Wolverines did utilize their role players well, such as senior opposite hitter Katherine Mahlke. Mahlke’s left-handed strikes added a much-needed variety to the Michigan attack, temporarily confusing the Minnesota blockers. Midway through the second set, she pounded a kill down the middle of the court to halt a seven-point run for the Gophers. Mahlke had three kills on just four attempts, leading the Wolverines with an excellent attack percentage of 0.750. However, her performance was indicative of her entire team’s performance — good, but not good enough. Going forward, Rosen believes he can solve his team’s late-game issues. “Balance is gonna be really important for us moving forward,” he said. “That’s what’s gonna help us close games out.” DYLAN CHUNG For the Daily I think when it got late, we got a little more predictable. AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily Sophomore wide receiver Eddie McDoom struggled to bring in a crucial pass on Michigan’s final drive of the game.