The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsWednesday
October 18. 2017 — 3B
Michigan should see what it has in Peters
B
LOOMINGTON — For
those who thought
Michigan would avoid any
more quarterback controversy
this year, I’m sorry to be the
bearer of
bad news.
It may
be time
for Jim
Harbaugh
and the
Wolverines
to give
redshirt
freshman
backup
Brandon
Peters a shot. They had a chance
to do so in the second half against
Indiana, and next week’s road
game in a raucous environment
against No. 3 Penn State may not
be as good of an opportunity.
But, with how abysmal
Michigan’s passing offense has
been the past couple weeks, it still
seems worth trying.
Michigan’s offensive woes
looked to be solved after John
O’Korn’s stellar performance
on the road against Purdue. We
haven’t seen that same player in
the two games since.
It would be one thing if
O’Korn fit the category of ‘game-
manager.’ That’s a term that often
carries a negative connotation.
But right now, a game manager
under center wouldn’t be all that
bad.
With how absurdly good
the Wolverines are on defense,
someone who could make the
easy throws and reads while
limiting turnovers would be a
lifesaver. Couple that with an
improving run game — Michigan
rushed 44 times for 271 yards
with two touchdowns Saturday —
and you have a recipe for success.
But O’Korn hasn’t been a game
manager. Quite simply, he has
regressed since that big game
against the Boilermakers.
In last week’s dreary,
rain-soaked 14-10 loss to
Michigan State, he threw
three interceptions on three
consecutive drives, killing
any momentum Michigan had
gained with an early second-half
touchdown. That game could’ve
easily been won. The turnovers
made things harder.
O’Korn didn’t turn the ball
over once against the Hoosiers on
Saturday afternoon. But he still
left precious points on the board
after completing 10-of-20 passes
for just 58 yards.
In the first quarter, he
overthrew a wide-open Donovan
Peoples-Jones on a sure
touchdown. On the same drive,
O’Korn left one a little too high
for Grant Perry on 3rd-and-12,
and Michigan settled for a field
goal.
He may have made a bigger
mistake in the third quarter on a
play that developed beautifully.
After the Wolverines sold a run
fake, redshirt sophomore tight
end Zach Gentry ran an ‘over’
route, cutting across the field, and
broke wide open.
The throw was there. Acres
of wide-open turf — and a
game-changing touchdown —
beckoned.
But Gentry was left throwing
his arms up in the air as he
watched the ball fall harmlessly
to the turf 20 yards away from
him, the pass intended for a
blanketed Kekoa Crawford.
Two drives later, O’Korn did
look for Gentry. It came off play-
action once again. This time,
though, Gentry wasn’t open.
The ball was nearly picked off,
and Michigan’s offense listlessly
trudged off the field after yet
another misfire.
Besides the missed throws,
there were simple mistakes that
one wouldn’t expect from a fifth-
year senior. Michigan took two
delay of game penalties, including
one that inexcusably negated a
beautifully-designed shovel pass
to Khalid Hill that would’ve kept
the drive alive.
Conservatively, all those
missed opportunities cost the
Wolverines 11 points — points
that would’ve been a buffer
against Indiana’s late push to
force overtime. No. 3 Penn State
isn’t as likely to be so forgiving of
such errors.
O’Korn was defensive when
asked what he thought it would
take to fix the passing game.
“We ran for over 200 yards,”
O’Korn said. “That was what was
working. I don’t know that we
need to necessarily fix anything.
We went with what was working,
and we won the game.”
Harbaugh, meanwhile, took a
‘wait-and-see’ approach with his
assessment of O’Korn after the
game.
“Well, we have to really
look at the tape before I go into
that,” he said. “ … We had some
opportunities. Not a lot — we
were grinding some meat out
there today.
“There wasn’t a plan to throw
25 times, 30 times or 20 times.
Had some opportunities. Made
some plays. … Overthrew an open
go route to Donovan (Peoples-
Jones). Got to look at it before I
say anything.”
But with a passing game that
has averaged just 4.65 yards per
attempt the past two weeks, meat
grinding can only take a team
so far — especially with games
against the Nittany Lions, No. 7
Wisconsin and No. 9 Ohio State
remaining on the schedule.
So here we are, yet again,
embroiled in another debate over
the quarterback situation.
After today, though, the
answer seems clear: at this point,
Michigan should see what it has
with its backup quarterback.
It knows what it has from its
starter. And if Saturday was it,
there’s no sense in not checking
what else is there.
Sang can be reached at
otsang@umich.edu or on
Twitter @orion_sang.
ORION
SANG
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn has averaged just 4.65 yards per attempt in two starts, making Brandon Peters worthy of consideration.
It’s not easy to stop a Heisman-
candidate running back, and it’s
a lot harder to do so on the road
during one of college football’s
most
recognizable
traditions
— the whiteout game in Happy
Valley.
But that’s the task the No. 19
Michigan football team (2-1 Big
Ten, 5-1 overall) is faced with
this week as it prepares for No.
2 Penn State (3-0 Big Ten, 6-0
overall) and Saquon Barkley.
Barkley is third in the Big
Ten for total scoring with two
receiving
touchdowns,
six
rushing touchdowns, one kick
return touchdown and even a
passing touchdown.
He averages 108 rushing yards
per game and 6.4 yards per carry.
Keeping
Barkley’s
contributions to a minimum will
be tough to say the least, even for
Michigan, which leads the nation
in total defense.
“It’ll
be
a
team
effort
defensively to go against a great
player, and a really outstanding
offense,” said Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh.
“… (Barkley) can catch the
ball out of the backfield. He can
run all of the assortment of runs,
inside the tackles and on the
edge. Very good pass protector.
He is a multi-purpose back that
can do everything well.”
Barkley’s presence pits an elite
offense against an elite defense.
The Wolverines’ two starting
linebackers, senior Mike McCray
and sophomore Devin Bush Jr.,
will have a lot on their hands.
“I’m going to be matched up
on him all game,” Bush said. “I’m
going to have to stop him in the
run game and the pass game, so I
know he’s going to test me.”
Linebackers played a big role
in shutting down the Nittany
Lions last year, when Michigan
steamrolled Penn State, 49-10.
Former linebacker Ben Gedeon
racked up 11 tackles, and VIPER
Jabrill Peppers had five tackles
and a quarterback hurry.
But Barkley has only gotten
better, and sophomore Khaleke
Hudson is the new VIPER. Him,
McCray and Bush have to ensure
that Barkley doesn’t break loose
for big gains.
“That’s something we pride
ourselves on,” Bush said. “You
know, they’re going to get those
three- or five-yard (runs), but
as long as they’re not breaking
20-yard runs consistently, we’re
going to be fine.”
Michigan’s defense has shut
down opponents’ running backs
so far. It has allowed just 2.64
yard per carry and has given up
only three rushing touchdowns.
The Wolverines should also
take notes out of some fellow Big
Ten teams’ playbooks.
Two weeks ago, Northwestern
completely eliminated Barkley
from the game in the first half
despite ultimately losing, 31-7.
For the first 30 minutes in
Evanston, Barkley ran just eight
times for negative one yards.
The Wildcats filled the gaps and
packed the line of scrimmage
to contain Barkley, but Penn
State was able to spread the ball
through its quarterback Trace
McSorley and found ways to
score through other components.
Northwestern
couldn’t
contain Barkley all game though,
and he ended up scoring a
53-yard touchdown run.
Another opponent, Indiana,
held Barkley to just 56 rushing
yards.
“When you play an offense like
(Penn State), you have to try and
eliminate those explosive plays,”
said fifth-year senior defensive
tackle Maurice Hurst. “You
have to shut down two really
dynamic players in McSorley and
(Barkley).
“(Barkley) just seems to get
better every single year. We
identified him as someone who
was a really good player even as
a freshman. Someone that we
thought would be a top-10 pick
one day.”
He is well on his way to the
high ranks of the NFL Draft, and
if Michigan wants to pull off the
upset, stopping him is the first
step.
FOOTBALL
Stopping
Barkley:
Michigan’s
biggest test
TED JANES
Daily Sports Writer
The good, the bad and the ugly: Indiana
If you listen closely, you can
hear the Wolverine faithful
breathing a collective sigh of
relief.
Just a week after a bruising
loss to now-No. 18 Michigan
State pushed the Michigan
football team’s College Football
Playoff aspirations to the brink
of extinction, the 19th-ranked
Wolverines
almost
suffered
the fatal blow Saturday in
Bloomington. With a 46-yard
field goal as time expired,
Indiana forced Michigan to
win the game in overtime.
Thanks
to
a
25-yard
touchdown rush from junior
running back Karan Higdon
and a goal-line stand from their
defense, the Wolverines finally
did — preserving their season
in the process.
The Daily breaks down the
good, the bad and the ugly from
Saturday’s game:
The good
Though it may be hard to
see at first glance, Higdon’s
200-yard,
three-touchdown
performance wasn’t the only
bright spot in Michigan’s 27-20
win.
As last week’s catastrophic
five-turnover
outing
illustrated, the importance of
winning the turnover battle
can’t
be
overstated.
The
Wolverines got back on track
against the Hoosiers, posting
a pivotal zero in the turnover
column while also forcing two
interceptions — the latter of
which came from junior safety
Tyree Kinnel on the final play
of the game.
Saturday, every possession
mattered.
Last
week
also
taught
Michigan that halftime deficits
aren’t easy to overcome, as the
Spartans led 14-3 at the break
and the Wolverines scored just
seven points after it. Against
Indiana — for the first time
since a Sept. 9 matchup against
a lowly Cincinnati team —
Michigan entered the locker
room with a lead larger than
three points.
Though the Hoosiers cut
into that lead on multiple
occasions in the second half,
the Wolverines learned the
value of a safety cushion.
They
also
learned
how
to
contain
a
dual-threat
quarterback. After Michigan
State
quarterback
Brian
Lewerke
completed
11-of-
22 passes for 94 yards and
a
touchdown
and
tallied
15 carries for 64 yards and
a
touchdown,
Michigan’s
defense wouldn’t let Indiana
quarterback Peyton Ramsey do
the same.
The
Wolverines
harassed
Ramsey all game, totaling three
sacks for 20 yards and four
quarterback hits along with the
two picks. While he still threw
for 178 yards and a touchdown,
he found no success on the
ground, carrying the ball 14
times for a total of 14 yards.
The bad
While the running game
centered on Higdon had its best
performance of the season, the
same could not be said of fifth-
year senior John O’Korn and
Michigan’s passing game.
Last week, O’Korn received
somewhat of a pass for his
three-interception night due to
the torrential downpour that
engulfed Michigan Stadium.
His 10-for-20, 58-yard day
against the Hoosiers can’t be
excused.
After
the
game,
when
asked about the Wolverines’
struggles in the air, O’Korn
pivoted, explaining that they
stuck to the running game
because it was working. Some
of his teammates also stated
that the ground game was the
point of emphasis on offense.
The truth of the matter is
that both offensive units can
work
simultaneously.
But
Saturday, only one did.
Michigan’s lack of success in
the air hurt it toward the end
of the game, as the Hoosiers
launched
their
10-point
comeback in the fourth quarter.
After Higdon gave his team a
10-point lead with 10 minutes left
and then again after sophomore
corner Lavert Hill intercepted
Ramsey with six minutes to go,
the Wolverines should have been
able to ice the game.
Instead, Indiana saw the
runs coming and managed to
stop them, forcing a three-and-
out on each series to lead up
to their touchdown drive, and
later, their last-second field
goal.
The ugly
Sixteen. That is the program-
record number of penalties the
Wolverines committed against
the Hoosiers on Saturday.
Those
penalties,
which
were
spread
widely
across
the
offense,
defense
and
special teams units, totaled a
whopping 141 yards lost. For
perspective, that is nearly two
and a half times the number of
passing yards O’Korn had.
On top of those high figures,
the timing of the penalties
couldn’t have been much worse
for Michigan.
You
would
need
both
hands to count the number
of penalties that could have
proven disastrous, including
a pass interference penalty
on Indiana’s first overtime
possession that moved the
Hoosiers to the 12-yard line.
It took a stellar goal-line stand
from the Wolverines’ defense
to prevent Indiana from tying
the game.
With so much momentum
on the Hoosiers’ side, if the
game went to double overtime,
Michigan might not have come
out on top.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was quick to point out that the Wolverines’ program-high 16 penalties against Indiana need to be corrected moving forward.
BETELHEM ASHAME
Managing Sports Editor