The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Monday, September 24, 2018 — 3B

Hallahan is difference- 
maker once again for ‘M’ 

Jack Hallahan had been there 
before – Penn State, double 
overtime, sudden death, game-
winning goal hanging in the 
balance.
Friday night was a lot of the 
same for the junior, except for the 
fairy tale ending.
Drawing 
1-1 
with the Nittany 
Lions 
(1-0-1 
Big 
Ten, 
2-4-1 
overall), Michigan 
made it a point 
to feed Hallahan 
the ball time and 
time again, hoping 
he would break 
through like he 
did last year in 
the waning seconds to give the 
Wolverines (1-0-1, 5-1-1) three 
points. But he was the reason 
Michigan even got a single point 
in the Big Ten table.
Leading the Wolverines in 
both shots on goal and crosses in 
a game where Michigan clearly 
dominated, 
Hallahan 
netted 
the 
equalizer, 
striking a ball 
that 
deflected 
off a Penn State 
defender before 
bouncing 
past 
the keeper.
“Honestly, 
(assistant 
coach 
Tommy 
McMenemy) 
said to me when 
I’m crossing it, 
when I cut in, aim for the far post 
because if (the ball) misses, then 
it’ll go in the net,” Hallahan said. 
“So, I just kept doing that basically 
until it went in.
“I think that (crossing) is one 
of the key parts of my game,” the 
junior continued. “One of my 
main strengths when I’m playing 
is trying to be a man that can get 
a cross in and normally, we’ve got 
men on the end of the ball and we 

get a lot of goals from that. It’s 
whatever is best for the team in 
that sense and crossing is good for 
us.”
Creating chance after chance, it 
seemed as if Hallahan would serve 
as a hero in the closing minutes 
once again. Dribbling along the 
right edge of the box, Hallahan 
wound up a shot only to have his 
legs taken out by 
the Penn State 
goalkeeper.
“I took a bit 
too 
heavy 
of 
a touch, and I 
wanted to get 
a shot after it,” 
Hallahan 
said. 
“At that point, I 
tried to cross it 
(but) the keeper 
came 
and 
I 
cramped up on my calf.”
As a result, Hallahan spiraled 
into the wall, and a deafening 
silence 
ensued 
around 
the 
stadium as he struggled to get 
up. He eventually hobbled off his 
injury and jogged back to the side 
of the field that he had controlled 
all night.
“He 
carried 
the 
load 
on 
the field,” said 
Michigan coach 
Chaka Daley. “I 
think (Hallahan) 
got off to a hot 
start 
and 
you 
know, it’s a simple 
equation. 
Like 
any other sport, 
if someone’s hot, 
give 
them 
the 
ball. Let’s see if they can figure it 
out. There’s no real coaching to 
that.”
All 
Daley 
did 
was 
leave 
Hallahan in for all 110 minutes, 
the first time Hallahan has played 
a full game this season. And with 
a goal or assist in the last five out 
of six games as well as a start 
in the last four, it doesn’t look 
like the Englishman will be 
disappearing any time soon.

Seniors propel ‘M’ to impressive weekend

Fall tennis is a time for players 
to get back into their groove and 
tweak their game before the real 
season starts. Because of that, 
the Michigan women’s tennis 
team is already in mid-season 
form. 
While most of the team 
traveled 
to 
the 
Miami 
Invitational, two players — No. 
18 senior Kate Fahey and No. 33 
junior transfer Giulia Pairone — 
were invited to the prestigious 
Oracle ITA Masters in California. 
“I think they try to take the 
best player from each conference 
and then send them out to 
Malibu and then they kind of fill 
the rest of the spots with at-large 
bids,” said Michigan associate 
head coach Teryn Ashley-Fitch. 
“There’s a lot of good competition 
out there. I would say it’s one of 
the biggest events of the fall.”
And it didn’t take long for 
Fahey to prove why she was 
there.
Fahey made an impressive 
run to the semifinals before 
ultimately 
falling 
in 
three 
sets to Pepperdine’s No. 41 
Evgeniya Levashova, 6-2, 1-6, 
6-2. But it wasn’t an easy path 
to get there — Fahey played four 
singles matches in three days, 
including a three-set thriller in 
the quarterfinals where Fahey 
fought off a match point to win 
the third-set tiebreaker for the 
match. 
The 
semifinals 
became 
a 
familiar spot for Fahey as she 
and her partner Stefan Milicevic 
of Minnesota made it to the 
semifinal round in the mixed 
doubles draw. By random draw, 
the pair was thrown together 
and proved to be a dynamic duo. 
They went 18-9 over the first 
three matches before dropping 
the semifinal match, 8-4. 
Fahey 
has 
proved 
herself 
as Michigan’s top performer, 
but due to some newfound 
confidence, she is making a 
bigger name for herself on the 

national stage.
“She’s shown so much progress 
on the court,” Ashley-Fitch said. 
“And mentally, for sure, has 
made some great improvements 
and I think it’s helped her tennis. 
I think she’s finally realizing that 
to get the best out of her, she’s got 
to be in a good frame of mind. I 
think for me that was the biggest 
takeaway from the weekend for 
her.”
While Fahey’s fellow senior 
Brienne Minor was across the 
country in Miami, both women 
are clearly leading the team by 
example. At this point last year, 
Minor was still recovering from 
a knee surgery that sidelined 
her for all of the fall season. 
But the difference of a year can 
be important as Minor took all 
three matches over the weekend 
without even dropping a set. 
And while Minor won her 
semifinal match, finals matches 
were not held in the singles draw. 
But two victories over top-100 
ranked opponents and a clean 

sheet on the weekend is enough 
for Minor. 
“She has a great weekend,” 
said 
Michigan 
coach 
Ronni 
Bernstein. “I think for her, all 
three matches (she) played really, 
really well and kept her level up. 
So, if we can get them from her as 
we move into the fall and season, 
you know to have her back at that 
level would be great. 
“So really excited for her and 
she showed a lot of heart this 
weekend. Competed hard against 
three great kids, so definitely a 
good weekend for her.”
While Fahey and Minor may 
have been able to use their 
experience 
to 
power 
them 
through 
the 
weekend, 
the 
Wolverines also feature many 
fresh faces in the lineup who still 
made an impact as well. 
Pairone, a transfer student 
from Arkansas, won her first-
round match before falling in 
three sets. She battled to the end, 
fighting off three match points 
before succumbing to Winthrop’s 

No. 
26 
Lauren 
Proctor. 
Sophomore Bella Lorenzini and 
freshman Anca Craciun won all 
three doubles matches in the B 
draw to win the title. 
And while Michigan had a 
successful weekend, Bernstein 
viewed this opportunity as more 
than a chance to play tennis. 
While fall tennis is often very 
individual, due to the lack of 
team scoring, Bernstein used the 
occasion to let her team bond and 
get used to each other. While the 
veteran players impressed on the 
court, Bernstein was much more 
impressed with them off the 
court. 
“You know they’re cheering 
for each other and supporting 
each other,” Bernstein said. “It 
felt like a team event even though 
it wasn’t. And really the new kids 
feeling comfortable — you know, 
they’re away from home and have 
only been here a couple weeks for 
far, so they really got to know the 
older kids on our team, so it was a 
fun weekend.”

What you missed when you 
left at halftime: Nebraska

Just like its last two games, the 
Michigan football team had fans 
leaving long before the game was 
over against Nebraska on Saturday.
That’s because it was 39-0, and 
the Cornhuskers had 17 total yards 
in the first 30 minutes.
It only got uglier in the second 
frame. But if you were at the game, 
you probably left during the band 
show and missed that part, opting 
instead for a fulfilling postgame 
nap.
So for your information, The 
Daily breaks down what happened 
after you left Saturday’s game at 
halftime.
DPJ punt return touchdown
This was probably the most 
exciting play of the entire game. 
Sophomore 
wide 
receiver 
Donovan Peoples-Jones has had 
his fair share of struggles in the 
punt-return game.
But on Saturday, Peoples-Jones 
took his second career punt return 
to the house.
Peoples-Jones caught it on 
his own 40, sprinted to his right, 
looped around the punt team, 
cut back to the left, busted a final 
defender with a spin move and 
front-flipped into the end zone for 
a 60-yard score.
“Donovan had a great — 
has been blocking extremely 
well,” said Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh. “Showed up on the 
punt return, there was some great 
blocks there. Yeah, just, I thought 
physically our team played well 
today.”
The 
play 
was 
fairly 
meaningless, 
as 
the 
game 
was already out of hand. But 
it did exhibit the continued 
development of Peoples-Jones, 
who has showed his ability in 
the receiving game, but had yet 
to break it out in the return game 
this season.
McCaffrey 
continues 
to 
impress
One of the more unsung 
storylines of this season has 
been the steadiness of redshirt 
freshman 
quarterback 
Dylan 
McCaffrey 
in 
the 
backup 

quarterback role.
He first came in against Notre 
Dame and was surprisingly steady 
while starter Shea Patterson 
recovered from cramping issues. 
Then, against Western Michigan, 
McCaffrey threw his first career 
touchdown on his only pass of the 
game.
On 
Saturday, 
McCaffrey 
continued his steadiness.
His first play, he went 75 yards 
to the house on a read option play, 
but it was called back because 
of a holding penalty. No matter, 
as McCaffrey still finished the 
game 3-for-8 for 86 yards, 56 of 
which came on a touchdown to 
freshman receiver Ronnie Bell.
“Dylan continues to improve 
every time he gets in,” Harbaugh 
said. “That’s a position like all 
the positions in football, but 
especially quarterback, it takes 
playing and having time on task 
and being out there. And it — he’s 
getting that. It doesn’t — it’s never 
too big for him. I really like that 
about Dylan. So, all good there.”
Aidan Hutchinson solid in 
relief
Late in the first half, junior 
defensive 
end 
Rashan 
Gary 
seemed to hurt his shoulder. 
After that, freshman defensive 
end Aidan Hutchinson came 
in to replace him. And though 
Hutchinson went down with 
an injury for a short time, too, 
he finished solidly with three 
tackles, including one for a loss.
His most impressive stretch 
came in the early fourth quarter. 
First, the Cornhuskers handed 
it off to running back Devine 
Ozigbo, and Hutchinson squeezed 
through the line and forced 
Ozigbo to bounce outside, where 
Hutchinson and junior VIPER 
Khaleke Hudson wrestled him 
down.
The play immediately after, 
Nebraska 
backup 
quarterback 
Andrew Bunch kept the ball on 
a zone read and ran towards the 
left. 

The good, the bad and the ugly: ‘M’ vs. Nebraska

The good: I have to choose?

The Michigan football team 
(1-0 Big Ten, 3-1 overall) was 
as dominant as it has ever been 
in Jim Harbaugh’s tenure on 
Saturday — almost everything 
that could have gone well in 
the 
Wolverines’ 
56-10 
win 
over Nebraska (0-1, 0-3), did. 
Cornhuskers coach Scott Frost 
acknowledged 
it 
was 
rock 
bottom for his squad and that 
they got “whipped,” a stark 
contrast from Frost claiming his 
UCF team “outhit” Michigan in 
a 37-point loss in 2016.
Shea Patterson once again 
gave 
Wolverine 
fans 
every 
reason to keep smiling. The 
junior quarterback completed 
15 of 22 passes for 120 yards 
and spearheaded the efficient 
offense with an easy touchdown 
throw to redshirt junior tight 
end Zach Gentry. Perhaps more 
reassuring was the performance 
of backup quarterback Dylan 
McCaffrey, 
who 
replaced 
Patterson with 5:23 left in the 
third quarter.
On his first snap, McCaffrey 
flashed his wheels for a near 
75-yard touchdown run, if not 
for a holding call on Oliver 
Martin. McCaffrey, later in the 
drive, had a 17-yard run and 
15-yard toss to Martin. The 
redshirt freshman also threw a 
dime into the hands of freshman 
Ronnie Bell for a 56-yard score 
— his first career reception. The 
resounding performances were 
in part due to a stable showing 
by the offensive line, which only 
surrendered one sack and one 
hurry the whole afternoon.
In the blowout, the offense 
reached far into the depth 
chart; 
Harbaugh 
mentioned 
that 78 players saw the field 
Saturday. After senior running 
back Karan Higdon finished his 
business — 12 carries, 136 yards 
and a touchdown — fullback Ben 
Mason got three touchdowns 
on six carries, and No. 3, 4 and 
5 backs Tru Wilson, O’Maury 
Samuels and Christian Turner 
combined for 22 carries and 121 
yards.

This depth wasn’t just help 
to the offense, however. Senior 
VIPER Jordan Glasgow, who 
replaced Khaleke Hudson in the 
first half because of a targeting 
call last week, impressed with 
a sack and hurry. The whole 
defensive line got to Nebraska 
quarterback Adrian Martinez 
at will to collect four sacks 
and four hurries. Overall, 27 
defensemen recorded tackles 
and kept the Cornhuskers out 
of the endzone until the end of 
garbage time.
“I thought our team played 
very physical, in all phases,” 
Harbaugh 
said. 
“Offensively, 
defensively, 
special 
teams. 
Showed up in a lot of the one-on-
one matchups, showed up in the 
goal-line, short yardage football 
on both sides.”
That plainly sums it up.

The bad: it doesn’t really 
mean anything.

Michigan 
hasn’t 
won 
against a team in the top 70 of 
the S&P+ Ratings — a metric 
that quantifies explosiveness, 
efficiency, field position and 
finishing drives. It has, however, 
lost to Notre Dame, which ranks 
11th — a better indicator of the 
Wolverines’ future that features 

four Top-20 teams.
So yes, Michigan has played 
masterfully 
the 
past 
three 
weeks. But expectations over the 
weaker slate were only slightly 
below what the Wolverines have 
shown on the field.
Thus, the question remains: 
can Jim Harbaugh win a big 
game with Michigan? The loss 
to the Fighting Irish says more 
about that possibility than wins 
against Western Michigan, SMU 
and Nebraska combined.
The coachspeak continues, 
and Harbaugh will list all of 
his players’ accomplishments 
as usual. One question about 
Higdon and Chris Evans evolved 
into praise for Wilson, Turner, 
Mason, Bell, McCaffrey, kicker 
Quinn Nordin and punter Will 
Hart.
“Good to see those other guys 
getting play,” Harbaugh said. 
“I don’t know if this is a record 
or whatever, we played 78 guys 
today. And not only good for the 
morale of the team, but it’s good 
for the progress of the team.”
Oh, 
and 
can 
I 
critique 
Donovan Peoples-Jones’ 60-yard 
punt return touchdown? He 
spun way too early around the 
Nebraska defender in pursuit.

The ugly: targeting … again.

It’s clear why junior VIPER 
Khaleke Hudson was given a go 
in a foregone game in the third 
quarter. After missing the first 
half of Saturday’s game because 
of a targeting call last week, 
Hudson could afford a few drives 
so as to not be any bit rusty on 
the road at Northwestern next 
week.
But up 56-3 with seven 
minutes 
remaining, 
Hudson 
was inexplicably still on the 
field. And again, the junior was 
ejected for a clear targeting on 
Nebraska quarterback Andrew 
Bunch. If you’re Hudson, you 
claim you never really look at 
the scoreboard. But if you’re 
Harbaugh, there is no good 
reason to keep not only a starter, 
but one of your best defenders 
on the field.
Hudson will now miss the first 
half of next week’s game. His 
absence against the Wildcats 
again shouldn’t prove to be 
crucial, but it’s another deficient 
element 
of 
the 
Wolverines’ 
defense that has persisted.
Nordin also missed an extra 
point Saturday. He made a 
50-yard field goal and five 
other extra points, too, but any 
coach would rather not put one 
thought into the extra point.

CARTER FOX/Daily
Senior Kate Fahey, No. 18 in the country, made a run to the semifinal round of the Oracle ITA Masters in California.

PAIGE VOEFFRAY 
Daily Sports Editor 

AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Daily Sports Writer

“I think that 
(crossing) is one 
of the key parts 
of my game.”

“I think 
(Hallahan) 
got off to a hot 
start...”

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s offense had a dominating performance Saturday that allowed 78 players see the field.

FOOTBALL

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

Read more of this story online
at MichiganDaily.com

