2B — September 17, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Patterson needs backup
S
hea
Patterson
has played
even better
than the
most
optimistic
Michigan
fans could
have expected.
Saturday’s 45-20 win over
SMU was the most recent
example. And yes, it’s only a
three-game sample, but the
consistency and prolificity
with which Patterson has
played in those three games
is something that hasn’t been
seen in Ann Arbor since …
maybe Denard Robinson, but
probably Chad Henne.
It’s certainly the best
quarterback play Wolverines
coach Jim Harbaugh has had
in his tenure.
“Accuracy, really. His reads
feel really good, he’s making
really good decisions,”
Harbaugh said after the
game. “… He’s getting out of
trouble and creating plays
when sometimes there isn’t
one to be there. Just playing
really — playing the position
really well. And then making
the throws when they present
themselves. He’s hitting
the short ones, he’s hitting
the intermediate ones, he’s
hitting the deep ones. Good
quarterback play.”
Strong quarterback play
is something that Michigan
has been searching for since
Harbaugh has arrived in
Ann Arbor. Jake Rudock
showed flashes in 2015, but
the supporting cast around
him wasn’t ready, and Rudock
didn’t have the physical talent
Patterson has.
The last two seasons,
Wilton Speight, Brandon
Peters and John O’Korn were
surrounded by elite athletes,
but couldn’t put it all together
to lead the Wolverines to the
promised land.
Patterson is that
quarterback. The throws that
were missed in past losses,
like the ones against Iowa in
2016 or to Michigan State and
Ohio State in
2017 — he can
make those.
We’ve already
seen it.
Patterson is
now 46-for-65
for 589 passing
yards and six
touchdowns
this season,
including three
touchdowns
each in the last two games.
Michigan hadn’t thrown
three touchdowns in a game
since Nov. 5, 2016, against
Maryland. Last season’s
team didn’t have six passing
touchdowns until the ninth
game of the season.
“We’ve had Jake Rudock
here, and there’s problems
that are beyond the scope of
a quarterback, but in terms
of how our offense efficiently
played and how
Shea looked,
I’d say it’s as
good as any
quarterback
I’ve seen here,”
said fifth-year
senior defensive
end Chase
Winovich after
the Wolverines’
win over
Western
Michigan two weeks ago.
“It was weird being on the
sideline and them just scoring
touchdowns. I remember
(junior safety) Josh Metellus
… he goes, I just remember
him sitting there looking, he’s
like ‘Man, this is nice!’ I think
the feeling is mutual from my
half.”
It’s ironic, then, that now
that Michigan and Harbaugh
finally have the quarterback
who can make
all the throws,
question marks
have popped up
around the rest
of the roster.
It isn’t the
offensive line,
though they
have struggled,
because that
position has
been a trouble
area for at least the last two
seasons.
What is different is that the
defense that made Michigan
a force to be reckoned with in
the Harbaugh era has looked
vulnerable at times.
The things that put
the Wolverines in a hole
against Notre Dame popped
up again Saturday. There
were penalties and missed
assignments that, against a
better team,
might be a
death sentence.
Heck, if it was
last year’s
offense that
was on the field
against the
Mustangs, the
defensive lapses
might have
been a death
sentence, too.
But it wasn’t, because
Patterson made play after
play and throw after throw.
Michigan, for the second
week in a row, scored more
points than it scored in any
game last season.
SMU’s first touchdown
came when the Wolverines
miscommunicated in
coverage, and wide receiver
James Proche ran wide open
up the sideline for a 50-yard
pitch and catch. On the
next drive, Patterson drove
Michigan right back down
the field, 60 yards in five
plays. He capped it off with
a 35-yard toss to sophomore
wide receiver Donovan
Peoples-Jones.
It wasn’t a hard throw, as
Peoples-Jones was wide open,
but in the past year or so,
even the easy throws couldn’t
be taken for granted.
“The thing about Shea is
that he just has such a sense
of confidence that doesn’t
come off as cocky, but you
just know and he knows —
this is my opinion about it —
that he’s the man,” Winovich
said last week. “He’s the man
for the job, and he can get the
job done. I think for him, it
was just another day at the
office.”
I think I have written
this part in every one of my
columns, but I do feel it’s
appropriate to repeat when
being critical this early in the
season. It would be misguided
to say that there are problems
that will not be fixed, or at
least patched up enough to
win any game moving forward
— especially for a team with
this talent.
But if the rest of the
Wolverines don’t solidify
themselves, this season
might feel like a huge missed
opportunity. Because Shea
Patterson is the quarterback
Michigan has wanted. It
would be a shame to let that
go to waste.
Persak can be reached at
mdpers@umich.edu or on
Twitter @MikeDPersak or
Venmo @Mike-Persak
The good, the bad and the ugly: SMU
The good: Patterson/Peoples-
Jones connection
In Saturday’s postgame press
conference, a reporter asked junior
quarterback Shea Patterson and
sophomore wide receiver Donovan
Peoples-Jones about one of the
duo’s three touchdown connections
on the day — a back-shoulder fade
to move the score to 28-7.
Is that something you regularly
practice?
Both paused. Patterson glanced
at Peoples-Jones and smiled.
It took everyone in the receiving
corps some time to feel comfortable
with the new signal-caller.
But after some time, it seems
Peoples-Jones
and
Patterson
— each former glistening five-
star talents — have found that
comfortability, and the offense, is
being rewarded in droves.
Saturday, Peoples-Jones notched
the first three-touchdown game
from a Michigan wide receiver
since Jehu Chesson scored four
touchdowns against Indiana in
2015. It is also Peoples-Jones’ first
multi-touchdown game, as the
former top wide receiver commit
in the country continues to show an
ever-expanding toolset.
The first touchdown came on a
crossing route late in the first half.
He glided across the field, caught
a dart from Patterson and turned
up field for a 35-yard score. Then
came the back-shoulder fade — the
first such score in recent Michigan
history (with only exaggeration).
The ability to adjust his body, find
the ball and get his feet down
offered the clearest sign of a wide
receiver with a world of potential
starting to put it together.
The
throw
—
from
the
quarterback completing nearly 80
percent of his passes — was on the
money.
Then, to cap it off, Patterson
found Peoples-Jones in stride on
a 41-yard deep post for a score, a
route Harbaugh called “terrific”
and a throw he deemed “right on
the money.”
Peoples-Jones finished the day
with four catches for 90 yards and
three touchdowns, a banner day for
a receiver and a quarterback who
seem to just be getting started.
The bad: the secondary
If you’d never heard of James
Proche before Saturday, the SMU
receiver
offered
a
memorable
introduction.
Proche
pranced
around the Michigan secondary
all day, catching everything in sight
and drawing pass intereference
calls on the off chance he didn’t.
In the end, Proche tallied 11
catches for 166 yards and two
touchdowns. That seems low.
While Proche, who has over
100 career catches and nearly
2000 yards, has clear talent, it’s a
foreboding sign that an American
Athletic Conference receiver had
his way with a secondary that is
supposed to be one of the nation’s
best.
Juniors Lavert Hill, David Long
and Josh Metellus, along with
several others, took their shot at the
Mustangs’ top receiver. Time and
time again, Proche had his way.
One such error included a simple
wheel route from the slot, crossing
with a receiver running to the
middle of the field. Metellus and
sophomore safety Brad Hawkins
had a miscommunication on the
coverage, leading to a walk-in
50-yard touchdown to tie the game
at seven.
All this complementing the
seven penalties that plagued the
defense — many of which came on
pass interference calls.
With Big Ten play set to begin,
Michigan’s secondary simply has
to be better. The margin for error
is going to get much slimmer in the
coming weeks.
The ugly: penalties*
You won’t win many games with
13 penalties for 137 yards. Against
SMU, it can be used as a harmless
teaching point. Against a formidable
opponent, it could be a back-breaker.
On the verge of Big Ten play,
Harbaugh will be sure to emphasize
the former.
“My point is, you address each
of them,” Harbaugh said. “And
penalties are hurting us. That’s
something we have to clean up and
get better at. We address each one
— technique, what we’re using, the
discipline that we have. Get them
corrected, get them coached, get
improved. Don’t want 13 penalties
in a game.”
Some
of
them,
Harbaugh
disagreed
with.
Some
even
emphatically so.
In the third quarter, junior
VIPER
Khaleke
Hudson
was
ejected for targeting. Harbaugh —
and anyone who was asked about it
after the game — took objection to
that call in particular.
The point remains, though,
that it’s among the flaws the
Wolverines will seek to correct
going forward. Perhaps based on
the sheer randomness of penalties,
it’s less dire than other flaws (say,
pass protection or safety play), but
penalties reared their ugly head on
Saturday.
*This section noticeably leaves
out SMU coach Sonny Dykes
kicking an onside kick with a
player who wasn’t a kicker, then
promptly getting penalized for
it. This is a Michigan publication.
Unfortunately, this play did not
qualify for publication. It was,
however, quite ugly.
FIELD HOCKEY
‘M’ opens Big Ten play
It wasn’t overtime and it
wasn’t a game winner but the
No. 10 Michigan field hockey
team (1-0 Big Ten, 4-3 overall)
notched
its
third
straight
victory Friday night.
Once again, senior forward
Emma Way is to thank.
After an onslaught of seven
goals in six games to start the
season, including two overtime
winners last weekend, Way’s
dominance came in a more
balanced manner on Friday.
She assisted two goals in the
Wolverines’ 3-1 win over No. 17
Rutgers (0-1, 5-1).
Freshman
midfielder
Kathryn Peterson opened the
scoring 25 minutes in with
her first collegiate goal on a
left-handed shot past Scarlet
Knights goalie Gianna Glatz.
“It’s
just
fun,”
Peterson
said. “And my family was
here so that was a little more
significant, but it was just one
of those goals with a good
feeling about it.”
Of course, it was Way on the
assist. Way came around the
backside of Michigan’s press to
receive the ball just outside of
the circle, where she passed it
beyond the last defender into
Peterson’s path.
“She’s
just
a
machine,”
Peterson said. “She’s just a
captain that gets the job done.
You can look to her for an
example.
“Emma’s getting her part
done, so you gotta go get your
part done.”
Minutes after the halftime
break, Way notched her second
assist of the game. This time,
she received a corner at the
top of the circle, dragged the
ball to her left and unleashed
a ferocious shot into traffic.
Another freshman, midfielder
Sofia Southam, got her stick to
the ball to deflect it past Glatz.
But once again, Way was at
the center of the Wolverines’
offense.
“She’s just such a special
player,” said Michigan coach
Marcia Pankratz. “She does
some things that a lot of other
players can’t even imagine
doing.”
Unfortunately for Pankratz,
last year’s loss of Big Ten Player
of the Year Katie Trombetta
means she no longer has a
defensive counterpart to Way.
Early in the season, that posed
a challenge for the Wolverines,
who allowed 10 goals in three
early losses after posting 16
shutouts in 24 tries last year.
With
three
consecutive
games of allowing just one
goal, that tide may be shifting.
Michigan’s
defensive
spirit
was evident on a play late in
the first half when Rutgers
appeared to have tied the
game before redshirt freshman
defender Abbey Hutton raced
back to slap the ball away from
the Wolverines’ goal line.
“It’s not luck that she was in
the right position to get that
ball out,” Pankratz said. “She’s
a smart player, and she was in
the right position to make that
happen.
“It’s a very, very young
defense. … It’s tremendous
what they’ve been able to
accomplish. They’ve been really
disciplined and communicate
well, and they’ve been playing
with a lot of confidence, so I’ve
been proud of them.”
In the end, Way once again
sealed the win for Michigan,
extending her goal streak to six
games in the process.
Like her second assist, she
received a corner at the top of
the circle. This time, she baited
two Rutgers defenders into
charging at her before calmly
taking the ball around them
and ripping a shot to the near
post to make it 3-1, Wolverines.
With
that,
Michigan
completed a dominating win
in which it controlled the game
from start to finish against an
undefeated Rutgers team.
“We
owned
our
house,”
Peterson said. “And we shut
them down when it mattered.”
After whiffing on each of
their marquee non-conference
win opportunities, that was
exactly the start to Big Ten play
that the Wolverines needed.
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson connected with sophomore wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones for 18 points.
MIKE
PERSAK
EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson has proven he is the most talented quarterback of coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, but he’ll need some help from his teammates.
“His reads feel
really good, he’s
making really
good decisions.”
“He’s the man
for the job, and
he can get the
job done.”