2B — Monday, September 10, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
A gunslinger comes to town
A
gunslinger walked into
Michigan
Stadium on
Saturday
afternoon,
and no,
it wasn’t
Western
Michigan
quarterback
Jon
Wassink.
After nine months, Shea
Patterson played his first
game at home. And if you’re
a Michigan football fan, the
wait was well worth it.
Patterson, of course, went
up against a team some would
politely describe as a ‘tomato
can.’ His overall numbers —
12-of-17 passing, 125 yards,
3 touchdowns — weren’t
amazing.
Who the hell cares? There
are three throws I want
to bring to your attention.
You can go watch them on
YouTube again, if you need
any refreshing.
1st quarter, 10:14: Patterson
rolls to his left off of play-
action. Tight end in the flats
is covered. Patterson keeps
running. And running. Then
he twists, throws across
his body — and finds Oliver
Martin on the sideline.
2nd quarter, 2:09: Patterson
rolls to his right this time.
Within seconds, he’s already
more than 10 yards behind the
line of scrimmage. A Western
Michigan defender dives and
misses. Patterson continues to
roll right … he brings his left
arm in the air for an instant,
as if he’s directing traffic …
and then he uncorks a dart to
Donovan Peoples-Jones, who
is more than 20 yards upfield
on the right sideline.
3rd quarter, 6:26: 3rd-and-
goal, Patterson working out
of the shotgun, looks, still
looking, off his first read now,
then he tosses the ball to the
corner, where ...
Okay. Let me stop you there.
At that moment, how many
of you assumed, based on
the past year of throws out
of bounds …
throws sailing
out of the back
of the end zone
... throws that
had no chance
of finding a
receiver …
that Patterson
was going to
find Peoples-
Jones for a
touchdown?
How many of you thought,
as you watched Patterson
bring his arm forward, that
the ball was going to be
caught?
I mean, I didn’t.
Jim Harbaugh told the
story behind the play after
the game. Michigan thought
it had the right
play called.
The primary
read was Nico
Collins, who ran
a slant from the
outside receiver
position on
the boundary.
Harbaugh
thought that
was where
the ball would
go. Then he saw a Western
Michigan linebacker drop into
that space.
Patterson saw that, too.
“For him to calculate that,
and then change the channel
— if I was playing quarterback,
that’s where I’d have been
going with the ball, reading
the initial
coverage,”
Harbaugh said.
“To change the
channel and go
to the corner,
and throw it to
Donovan, (to)
make that split-
second decision
and then make
that accurate of
a throw, you’re
really seeing things well.”
Last week, Patterson
saw things well against the
Fighting Irish, too, only
sometimes that meant he saw
three Notre Dame defensive
linemen running straight at
him. A quarterback can’t be
expected to do everything by
himself for an
entire game.
He needs his
receivers to
catch the ball,
his offensive
line to block and
his coaching
staff to put him
in a position to
succeed.
But
sometimes,
even when some of those
things go wrong — let’s say the
receivers can’t get open, or the
offensive line doesn’t protect
the pocket for long enough, or
the play called doesn’t work as
intended — a good quarterback
can make things look okay. He
can roll out, to his left or to
his right, and buy some time
for his receivers to work their
way back to the ball before
hitting them in the tightest
of windows on the sideline.
He can look off his first read
when a linebacker drops into
the space where the ball is
supposed to be delivered, and
throw a perfectly-placed ball
that would make Jon Gruden
swoon.
The third touchdown, the
one to Peoples-Jones, was
the type of throw I could see
Patterson making all the way
back in December, when he
first announced his transfer
to Michigan. I wrote a column
about him then, too.
Some of it hasn’t aged
well — “There’s no squinting
required to predict a season
that ends with Michigan’s
first appearance in the College
Football Playoff.”
Well, that was before I saw
the offensive line at Notre
Dame.
Some of it has aged better
— “Shea Patterson doesn’t
project to be good. He is
good.”
Michigan’s quarterbacks
combined for nine touchdowns
all of last season. Patterson
threw for three in the first
three quarters against the
Broncos.
And then, of course, there’s
the headline: “Patterson
would be difference-maker at
Michigan.”
Shea Patterson would be
a difference-maker at a lot
of schools. He already is a
difference-maker at Michigan.
Would anyone disagree?
Sang can be reached at
otsang@umich.edu or on
Twitter @orion_sang
AMERLIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson played in his first game at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, racking up 125 yards and three touchdowns against Western Michigan.
A necessary blowout
B
efore the benches emp-
tied and the
blowout took
shape, ten-
sion ferment-
ed inside
Michigan
Stadium. As
the Wolver-
ines’ offense
jogged off the
field after a
fruitless opening drive against
Western Michigan on Saturday,
boos rained down onto the field.
Fans had just seen Michigan
shoot itself in the foot yet again.
This time, a timeout followed
by a false start penalty just 40
seconds into the game led to
a conservative, discombobu-
lated series for the Wolverines’
offense. Last week, it was the
offensive line’s litany of mis-
takes that allowed Michigan
to score only one offensive
touchdown at then-No. 12 Notre
Dame.
The boo birds were hasty
— patience has never been a
hallmark of any college football
fanbase. But they weren’t com-
pletely baseless.
Everyone has heard the Wol-
verines’ unseemly stats. A 9-9
record dating back to November
of 2016. Zero wins in their last
four games. Another loss to a
rival.
“There was a feeling everyone
wanted to get rid of (this week),”
said Michigan coach Jim Har-
baugh.
Much of that has been tied to
Michigan’s offensive struggles,
which were well summarized
during its first five plays from
scrimmage. The penalty, confu-
sion and boos made that quite
clear.
But what happened the rest of
the game should inspire much
needed confidence in the Wol-
verines. Michigan dominated
with 49 points, 451 yards of total
offense, a touchdown catch by
wide receiver — something that
hadn’t occurred in exactly 364
days — and then two more.
“There were a lot of questions
about our offense, and I think
we put a close to that today,”
said senior running back Karan
Higdon. “… I think it’s a great
kickstart for us.”
So how did the Wolverines’
offense improve so much in
one week? Well, the opponent
certainly matters. The Broncos’
front seven is not close to as tal-
ented or physically dominant as
that of Notre Dame.
But it also goes back to that
emotion of losing — a pain that
Harbaugh says hurts both his
“mind and body.” You can bet
he expects his players to feel
the same way, and thus began a
hyper-focused week of practice.
“Notre Dame punched us
in the mouth because we were
laughing and taking everything
for granted,” said junior run-
ning back Chris Evans. “But
this week we were a lot more
focused.
“We’re not allowing all those
smiles no more. We’re strictly
business unless we’re outside
the lines after practice.”
In his post-game press con-
ference, Harbaugh also men-
tioned he noticed none of his
players “flinching” or “asking
to come out” during 90-plus
degree practices on Tuesday
and Wednesday. It’s all a cli-
ché — “a good week of practice”
is almost always coach-speak.
Still, last week’s loss seems to
have genuinely sparked the
Wolverines, just as it should
have.
“I just think the expectation
we have for ourselves and then
meeting something else with
the loss to Notre Dame, it was
a little different this time,” said
fifth-year senior defensive end
Chase Winovich. “We knew we
had to get it out, and we knew
this was the week.”
A win wasn’t all that was
necessary, however. Michigan
needed a dominant performance
— something to temporarily
reverse the negative narrative
that’s justly surrounded the
program’s recent performances.
And for the first time in nearly
two seasons, the Wolverines
finally got their domineering
rout.
“It feels good (to win like
that),” Winovich said. “Coach
Harbaugh used to say to us
last year — he hasn’t said it in
a while — ‘It doesn’t have to be
close. You don’t have to keep
people in the game, there’s no
rule that says we have to.’ ”
Immense pressure is a real-
ity at Michigan. Losing, even
in season-openers on the road,
only amplifies that burden.
Some national pundits suggest-
ed last week was the beginning
of the end for Harbaugh in Ann
Arbor. Even University Presi-
dent Mark Schlissel, for the first
time in his tenure, answered
questions about the coach’s job
security on Wednesday.
But on Saturday, the Wol-
verines quieted that noise and
those boo birds by thrashing
Western Michigan. Finally,
Michigan can take its breath.
“Obviously, there are a lot
of people talking about us —
Michigan’s always a hot topic,”
Higdon said. “I think we took
that today and threw it back.”
Calcagno can be reached
at markcal@umich.edu or on
Twitter @MWCalcagno
FOOTBALL
The good, the bad and
the ugly: ‘M’ vs. WMU
The Michigan football team
that
played
against
Western
Michigan was the team that most
fans dreamed about heading into
this season.
From the second drive on, the
Wolverines dominated every facet
of the game en route to a 49-3 win
— the most points Michigan has
scored since 2016.
The Daily breaks down the
good, the bad and the ugly from
the blowout.
The Good:
Junior
quarterback
Shea
Patterson showed exactly why
people were so excited about him
before the season.
He showed his mobility on
several occasions and his arm
strength on several more. He
finished with just 125 yards
passing but three touchdowns,
including
the
first
receiving
touchdown
by
a
Wolverines
receiver in 364 days.
The
kicker
to
Patterson’s
success is that he actually had time
to throw this week.
The offensive line, unlike last
week, protected Patterson well,
and they also opened huge running
lanes for junior running back Chris
Evans and senior Karan Higdon.
Higdon had 140 yards in the
first quarter alone, and Evans ran
for two touchdowns.
“There was holes you could
drive a car through, and people
in there with nobody to block,
because everybody was blocked
and taken care of,” Evans said.
On
the
defensive
side
of
things, the Wolverines were just
as dominant. The Broncos did
manage 208 yards, but until late in
the game, when the backups were
in, they didn’t get any deeper into
Michigan territory than the 44
yard line.
The only reason the Wolverines
didn’t get the shutout was because
Western Michigan decided to kick
a meaningless field goal on 4th and
10 at the end of the game rather
than make any effort at a comeback
attempt.
“Their offense, I think, going
into the game — I’d have to go back
and watch — but I felt like they
came in and basically said, ‘
The Bad:
There really isn’t much bad.
In fact, it’s really hard to say that
there was any bad.
The one facet of Michigan’s
game that was at all concerning
was that redshirt sophomore
kicker Quinn Nordin missed a
39-yard field goal.
This wouldn’t be an issue if
Nordin hadn’t been shaky down
the stretch last season. But he was,
missing an extra point against
Penn State, Minnesota and Ohio
State, and missing three straight
field
goals
against
Rutgers,
Minnesota and Maryland.
Nordin still clearly has the
talent, and there likely isn’t a kicker
controversy or anything, but the
Wolverines have to be at least a
little perturbed by Nordin’s miss.
The Ugly:
You’ll
notice
that
at
the
beginning of the story, it says “from
the second drive on.” That’s the
because Michigan’s first drive of
the game was a mess.
The Wolverines got the ball first,
and the first place was a first down
toss from Patterson to redshirt
junior tight end Zach Gentry.
Then things went sour.
Patterson had to call a timeout
after what seemed like personnel
confusion. When Michigan came
back on the field from the timeout,
fifth-year
senior
right
tackle
Juwann Bushell-Beatty moved
early and incurred a false start
penalty.
The next two plays were two-
yard runs from Higdon, and the
one after that was a pass to Evans
out of the backfield that netted
zero yards.
The Michigan Stadium crowd
actually booed the unit as they ran
off the field. That was absolutely
not a preview of things to come,
but at least for a moment, it looked
like the Wolverines’ offensive woes
against the Fighting Irish might
bleed into this game too.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh admitted that his team wanted to get rid of the bad feelign they had after Michigan.
ORION
SANG
MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
There are three
throws I want
to bring to your
attention.
(Patterson)
already is a
difference-
maker
MARK
CALCAGNO