4B — October 18, 2017
SportsWednesday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Hill highlights strong showing from secondary
BLOOMINGTON
—
As
Lavert Hill sat in the bowels
of
Memorial
Stadium,
he
was asked if his brother had
texted him. The sophomore
cornerback admitted he hadn’t
checked his phone yet, but it’s
easy to understand why a detail
like that could peak curiosity.
It was just two years ago,
after all, that Michigan found
itself in a double-overtime
game in Bloomington — one not
too different from the overtime
thriller of Saturday afternoon.
That one came down to the
final play too.
Then-Hoosier
quarterback
Nate Sudfeld lined up in the
shotgun from the two-yard
line, and looked right. Mitchell
Paige ran a curl route and
Sudfeld took aim. The ball
was in Paige’s hands, and the
Wolverines’ season was about
to
be
rendered
irrelevant.
Then-junior safety Delano Hill
— Lavert’s older brother — had
other plans, ripping the ball
from Paige’s grasp.
Saturday
afternoon’s
conclusion
wasn’t
quite
as
dramatic,
nor
convenient.
Indiana
had
a
chance
to
ruin
Michigan’s
season
in
Bloomington once again, but
this time, the final pass never
reached a receiver’s hands. The
younger Hill didn’t replicate
Delano’s
game-ending
play.
Junior safety Tyree Kinnel did.
“I (remember) watching that
play a couple years ago, it was
pretty exciting,” Hill said. “I
thought about that during this
game. I just wanted to go out
there and ball out.”
That is exactly what Hill
did, even if he wasn’t the one to
capture the final highlight.
And if he had checked his
phone after the game, there’s
a chance he would have seen
a tweet from Jourdan Lewis
calling him an All-American.
He may not be there yet, but
Saturday made it look like he is
well on his way.
“He’s been pretty high all
season, he really has,” said
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
“Lavert’s been a really good
player for us. (I) was gonna
say steady, but he’s been better
than steady. He’s been playing
at a really high level — had
some
great
defenses
on
balls,
pass
break
ups,
interception,
tight coverage.
“That’s why
we
brought
him here.”
Hill put his
stamp on the
game
from
the get-go. On
Indiana’s second drive of the
game. Ramsey dropped back
to pass, only to watch Hill pick
him off near the Hoosiers’ own
25-yard line. A questionable
pass interference call brought
the play back, but Hill would
still have his moment.
On 2nd-and-2 in the fourth
quarter, Indiana quarterback
Peyton
Ramsey
targeted
wide receiver Taysir Mack
on the sideline. In doing so,
he targeted Hill too. It was a
decision he’d soon regret.
Hill boxed out Mack —
forcing him toward the hash
marks — all while shadowing
him on the inside, eventually
contorting
his
body and high-
pointing the ball
to come down to
the turf with an
interception.
Theoretically,
Hill’s
pick
should have put
the game to bed.
It
came
with just over
six
minutes
remaining in the game and
the Wolverines held a 10-point
lead.
Instead, despite having only
one
timeout,
the
Hoosiers
managed to push the game to
overtime with a field goal that
went through the uprights as
the clock expired.
Hill’s counterpart in the
secondary
eventually
gave
Michigan its victory.
Ramsey
rolled
to
his
left, carrying with him the
Hoosiers’ final hopes of keeping
the chance of an upset alive in
Bloomington. He retreated to
the 15-yard line with defensive
end Chase Winovich collapsing
on him fast.
And just as he absorbed
the hit, he floated the ball
into the end zone, albeit to
no one in particular. Kinnel
took full advantage, rising up
uncontested to nab the ball out
of the air and simultaneously
put the Wolverines on the right
side of their second consecutive
upset scare.
What you may have missed,
however, is what made it so
easy for Kinnel to pick the
ball off. There was only one
receiver that Ramsey could
have been targeting on the
play — Indiana’s top wideout,
Simmie Cobbs Jr. But he was
taken out of the play.
Lavert Hill was the one
guarding him.
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Sophomore cornerback Lavert Hill recorded an interception in Bloomington, continuing his solid start to the season.
I just wanted
to go out
there and ball
out.
FOOTBALL
Higdon leads ‘M’ in OT
BLOOMINGTON — Junior
running back Karan Higdon sat
in the press conference room
with a wide smile across his face.
Deep below the stands of
Indiana’s
Memorial
Stadium,
Higdon
had
just
finished
answering questions, and as he
got up to leave, he passed by his
coach, Jim Harbaugh.
The two bumped fists.
“Good job,” Harbaugh told him.
It’s easy to see why. In No. 17
Michigan’s 27-20 overtime win,
Higdon put the team on his back,
running for three touchdowns
and 200 yards on 25 carries.
He became the first Michigan
player to rush for at least 200
yards since Devin Gardner in
2012, and he became the first
running back to do so since Mike
Hart in 2007.
Higdon’s
final
touchdown
was the difference maker, as
the Wolverines (2-1 Big Ten,
5-1 overall) recovered from last
week’s loss to Michigan State.
On the first play of overtime,
the coaches called for Higdon
to run up the gut, but once he
got the ball, the offensive line
was stuffed. He ran into his own
teammate, but bounced left for a
footrace to the end zone.
He sped past the Hoosiers’
defense and carried the ball 25
yards for a touchdown.
The play mirrored his first
touchdown in the second quarter,
when he also had to adjust on the
fly and skip out wide for the score.
In fact, it was the same play.
“We called that play earlier,
and I broke out for a nice little
touchdown run,” Higdon said.
“So we felt good going back to it.
I got the ball, saw the hole was
clogged and decided to make
something happen. So I bounced
it, saw the defense overpursued
and it was off to the races.”
Added Harbaugh: “He was
phenomenal. I don’t know how
many yards he got after contact,
but those were tough yards. It
looked like there’d be a tackle for
loss, a small gain or no gain, and
he found a way to get four or five
yards out of it.”
Running
Higdon
up
the
middle had worked well all game.
He averaged eight yards per
carry, and the offensive line was
blocking for him and the other
running backs better than they
had all season.
Oddly enough, two of his three
touchdowns came on plays where
the blocking didn’t pan out.
His longest rush, though — a
59-yard touchdown — arrived in
the fourth quarter.
The Wolverines led by just six
points, and they were starting a
drive from their own 16-yard line.
After handing the ball to Higdon
three straight times, the coaches
subbed him out for one play.
When he came back on to the
field, though, they called his
number again. This time, all of
the blocks arrived, and Higdon
found a hole.
He followed his blocker, burst
through the gap, and streaked to
the end zone.
“We went with the run game
a little more today,” Higdon said.
“… We had a salty taste in our
mouth from last week, and we
just stuck to the game plan and
trusted it. All of the guys did their
job.”
While Michigan’s pass offense
struggled against the Hoosiers
— totaling just 59 yards all game
— the game plan this week had
been to run. The passing game
had also proven to be a problem
against Michigan State, and
Higdon’s physical run game was
seen as the solution.
“It was going to be more run
heavy,” Harbaugh said. “We
thought we could move the ball
and be successful.
“We wanted to play that
kind of a ball game. We ran the
isolation, we ran the power, we
ran the counters. … It was just
part of the plan.”
The plan worked.
TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
Five Things We Learned: Higdon a weapon, penalties a problem
Those
who
hoped
that
the Michigan football team
would follow up an upset
loss to Michigan State with a
no-doubter
against
Indiana
were left sorely disappointed
Saturday.
The Hoosiers pushed the
19th-ranked
Wolverines
to
overtime with a field goal in the
final two seconds of regulation
before Michigan sealed a 27-20
victory
with
a
touchdown
rush from junior running back
Karan Higdon and a goal line
stand that was capped off by
junior safety Tyree Kinnel’s
game-ending interception.
Next up for Michigan is a
date with No. 2 Penn State in
State College — a contest that
has earned ESPN’s “College
GameDay” treatment.
Before the Wolverines get
there, though, here are five things
we learned in Bloomington.
1. Hill can be a shutdown
corner
If it wasn’t clear enough
already, losing Jourdan Lewis
may not be so detrimental after
all.
Sophomore
cornerback
Lavert Hill has looked like
a shutdown corner through
Michigan’s first six games, and
if you don’t want to take our
word for it, then his numbers
can speak for themselves.
According to Pro Football
Focus, Hill has been targeted
21 times this season. On those
targets, opposing quarterbacks
have a 18.8 quarterback rating,
while receivers have managed
just eight catches with zero
touchdowns. On top of that,
Hill has recorded six pass
breakups and two interceptions
— the latest of which came
against Indiana.
With just over six minutes
remaining
in
the
fourth
quarter, Hill covered Taysir
Mack perfectly before making
an impressive play on the
ball to pick off quarterback
Peyton Ramsey. If not for
an
uninspiring
offensive
effort to kill the clock, Hill’s
interception could have iced
the game.
Hill had another pick on the
Hoosiers’ second drive of the
game, but it was called back on a
questionable pass interference
call.
The Wolverines now rank as
the third-best passing defense
in the nation, allowing 138
yards per game through the air.
Hill has played no small part in
that.
2. Running the ball, with
Higdon, is Michigan’s best
weapon on offense
It took five years, but a
Wolverine finally rushed for
200 yards again.
Denard Robinson did so in in
2012, and on Saturday, junior
running back Karan Higdon hit
exactly 200 rushing yards on
the Wolverines’ final offensive
play of the game — a 25-yard
touchdown dash in overtime.
Higdon
earned
the
start
over fifth-year senior Ty Isaac
and sophomore Chris Evans,
and averaged eight yards per
carry. A handful of Wolverines
mentioned
last
week
that
reestablishing the run game
would be crucial to Michigan’s
success, and it turned out they
were right. And Higdon was the
reason why.
Harbaugh
complimented
Higdon after the game for
his ability to gain yards after
contact. A handful of times
against
Indiana,
Michigan’s
offensive line failed to get the
right blocks in place, making it
difficult for Higdon to find the
designed gaps.
Nonetheless,
he
created
positive
yards
by
breaking
tackles and finding open space.
He leads the Wolverines with
five rushing touchdowns this
season, and as the passing game
continues to struggle, it’s likely
that the Wolverines will have to
rely on their running backs to
carry the weight against Penn
State.
Higdon’s physical run game
seems to be the best option.
3.
Peoples-Jones
is
far
more than a punt returner
The bad news for Michigan
fans is that the Wolverines
mustered just 58 yards through
the air. The good news is that
Donovan
Peoples-Jones
is
coming into his own in the
receiving game.
The freshman led Michigan
with
four
receptions
and
accounted
for
34
of
the
Wolverines’ passing yards —
including an impressive over-
the-head catch on 3rd-and-7
for a 17-yard gain in the second
quarter.
That’s without mentioning
that
Peoples-Jones
should
have had a 60-yard touchdown
reception.
In
the
first
quarter,
on
1st-and-10
from
Michigan’s
own 40-yard line, Peoples-
Jones
streaked
through
Indiana’s secondary and beat
his coverage in a foot race on a
go route, only to watch as fifth-
year senior quarterback John
O’Korn overthrew him.
Still, after a shaky start to the
year serving as the Wolverines’
punt returner, Peoples-Jones
has shown he has all the tools
to become a viable receiving
threat in the wake of fellow
freshman Tarik Black’s injury.
4. Penalties are a problem
on both sides of the ball
“I tell my six-year-old not to
spill the milk, and gosh darnit,
the next thing you know, he’s
spilled the milk.”
That’s
the
metaphor
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
used in comparison to the
program-record 16 penalties
the Wolverines committed.
Just as he tells his son not
spill milk, he tells the team
not to commit penalties. But
penalties happen anyway.
Michigan’s offense caused
four of them and the special
teams units had three flags
thrown against them on returns.
On one play in the second
quarter,
the
Wolverines’
defense was flagged three times
on a single play. Sophomore
defensive back Khaleke Hudson
was called offsides, and redshirt
junior defensive back Brandon
Watson held his receiver.
Then fifth-year senior tackle
Maurice Hurst rammed into
Indiana’s quarterback late and
was flagged for roughing the
passer.
It’s not often that you see
three flags on one play, but
Michigan made it happen. It
still came away with the win
in Bloomington, but staying
disciplined will be far more
important against the three
top-six teams remaining on
Michigan’s schedule.
5.
BOLD
PREDICTION:
Peters gets snaps against
Penn State
It wasn’t too long ago that
the Michigan faithful were
calling for O’Korn to replace
redshirt
junior
quarterback
Wilton Speight under center.
As it turns out, the grass isn’t
always greener on the other
side.
O’Korn
has
started
two
games
since
replacing
an
injured
Speight
against
Purdue and throwing for 270
yards and a touchdown. Since
then, the results haven’t been
encouraging.
With Speight still suffering
from three fractured vertebrae,
the Wolverines have averaged
just 4.65 yards per attempt in
the passing game. In the last
two weeks, O’Korn has posted
just 256 yards with a 47.3
percent completion rate and
three interceptions.
For
redshirt
freshman
Brandon Peters to see time
as
Michigan’s
quarterback
in
State
College,
O’Korn’s
struggles will need to persist.
It’s hard to imagine Harbaugh
thrusting Peters into the fire
midway through the game, but
a catastrophe wouldn’t rule
anything out.
One thing is certain: O’Korn
has
played
himself
into
a
situation where the Wolverines
need to at least entertain the
thought of Peters.
TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Freshman wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones has proven that he is capable of becoming a viable threat in the passing game just halfway through his first season.