The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, November 15, 2018 — 7

Brown calls Rutgers play “wake-up” call

It’s hard to find lapses in 
the Michigan football team’s 
defense.
Over the last few weeks, the 
fourth-ranked Wolverines have 
dominated on every side of the 
ball, but especially when the 
opponent has the ball. They have 
given up just 34 points in the last 
four games and have the No. 1 
total defense in the country.
So when Michigan traveled to 
Piscataway to take on Rutgers, 
the Big Ten’s perennial bottom-
feeder, it was expected to 
be a blowout the whole way, 
with the Wolverines’ defense 
smothering the worst offense in 
the conference.
For the most part, that was 
what happened. If it weren’t for 
an 80-yard touchdown run from 
running back Isiah Pacheco, 
the Scarlet Knights would have 
been held scoreless with fewer 
than 200 yards.
“Well 
thought-out 
play,” 

said defensive coordinator Don 
Brown on the play. “They lined 
up three backs in the backfield, 
they motioned one of them out, 
we made the adjustment nicely. 
They brought that guy back and 
faked the reverse with him and 
we lost one of our edges and the 
safety who had him man-to-
man was adjusting to him. But 
we lost the edge to the defense — 
the back edge — and it got out.”
Of course, in the grand 
scheme of things, the play 
doesn’t really matter. But it 
can serve some purpose for a 
defense that has done nearly all 
that is asked of it.
For one, Michigan is still 
chasing its first shutout of the 
season. In fact, it hasn’t shut a 
team out in two seasons — the 
last coming in 2016 against 
Rutgers.
That was a focus when the 
Wolverines faced Penn State 
two weeks ago, as they now-
famously wanted revenge for 
the Nittany Lions’ beatdown 
over them in 2017. But Michigan 

couldn’t 
get 
it 
done 
then 
thanks to a late, garbage-time 
touchdown.
And on Saturday against the 
Scarlet Knights, the Wolverines 
once again fell just short of the 
shutout, thanks to Pacheco’s 
run.
The second way the play 
serves a purpose is as a bit of a 
wake-up call.
Before 
Michigan 
played 
Rutgers, the Wolverines played, 
and beat, three-straight ranked 
teams. The Scarlet Knights, 
along with Indiana this week, 
make this part of the schedule 
inarguably easier than what 
Michigan just endured.
Perhaps 
because 
of 
that, 
Brown said his team needed a 
wake-up call last Wednesday, 
so he yelled at them a little bit. 
Pacheco’s run had a similar 
effect.
“That was a wake-up call for 
me,” Brown said.
With a defense this good, 
that’s about the only call they 
need.

Warriner says ‘M’ exceeds expectations

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Defensive coordinator Don Brown says Rutgers’ touchdown tun was a “wake-up” call for him.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Offensive line coach Ed Warriner has taken over and helped Michigan’s offensive line steadily improve.

When the Michigan football 
team hired Ed Warriner as 
an 
offensive 
analyst 
last 
offseason, it was unclear what 
his immediate role would be.
Warriner had always been 
an offensive line coach at 
Division I programs across the 
country, but the Wolverines 
already 
had 
an 
offensive 
line 
coach 
and 
run-game 
coordinator in Tim Drevno.
But Drevno left the program 
for Southern California, and 
Warriner was promoted to 
take his place.
“I wanted to be a part of this 
program, and I knew that I 
would contribute in whatever 
role I had,” Warriner said. 
“And then it came to be, 
probably a few weeks after I 
got here, and so there was no 
promises or anything like that 
going into it. So I just came 
here to be a guy to help in any 
way, shape or form.
“Then 
when 
the 

opportunity presented itself 
and (coach Jim Harbaugh) 
said, ‘You’ve got the line,’ of 
course I was ecstatic about 
that.”
In hindsight, that move may 
have made all the difference 
for Michigan’s offense.
The offensive line, which 
was under fire all of last 
season, has improved as this 
season has gone on. It’s to 
the point now where that unit 
may be one of the Wolverines’ 
strengths.
That was unthinkable in 
years past.
“I’m really pleased at where 
they’re at,” Warriner said 
Wednesday. “So we’re headed 
in the right direction. We 
keep getting better and better. 
I think we’ve grown a lot. I 
still think there’s some room 
to squeeze a little more juice 
out of it, and we’re gonna try 
to do that.”
The growth of his position 
group may have shaped how 
Warriner 
feels 
about 
his 
experience in general.

He said he expected big 
things when he came from 
Ann Arbor — stemming from 
the beginning of his career 
when he was at West Point 
coaching Army and much of 
the staff there had previously 
been at Michigan.
Even with that, Warriner 
says being a part of the 
Wolverines’ 
program 
has 
exceeded expectations.
“Michigan is what I thought 
it would be — the University, 
the 
athletic 
department, 
what (athletic director Warde 
Manuel has) got going here, 
what (coach Jim Harbaugh 
has) got going here,” Warriner 
said.
“But for me, it’s been better, 
but it was all gonna be about 
how much could I impact 
the group I had, and could 
they get them where they 
could help this team play at a 
championship level? So that’s 
been very fulfilling. But my 
expectation was this is a place 
that’s as good as it gets, and it 
is as good as it gets.”

Garrett Van Wyhe, fourth line looking to add secondary scoring threat

From his first game in a 
Michigan 
hockey 
sweater, 
Garrett Van Wyhe made an 
impact.
In the Wolverines’ season 
opener 
against 
Vermont, 
Van 
Wyhe 
witnessed 
the 
Catamounts 
hit 
sophomore 
defenseman 
Quinn 
Hughes 
from behind multiple times. 
The freshman forward had 
enough of his teammate taking 
unnecessary hits and got in 
the face of the Vermont player, 
seemingly telling him to back 
off Hughes.
For the rest of the game, 
Hughes 
was 
relatively 
unscathed.
“I 
don’t 
like 
taking 
penalties, but sticking up for 
our teammates is one of the 
things that morally, I think 
is all right,” Van Wyhe said 
Wednesday. “I’m not gonna 
just let our team get bullied, 
and I’m gonna make sure that 
everyone knows that I’m gonna 
stick up for my guys. … They’re 
my brothers, so I’ve got their 
backs.”
But outside of standing up 
for his teammates, Van Wyhe 
hasn’t had a huge impact on the 
stat sheet. He has started as the 
fourth-line center in all nine 
games for No. 16 Michigan (5-4 
overall, 1-1 Big Ten), but his 
linemates changed throughout 
the first few weeks, making 
line chemistry — and offensive 
success — more difficult.
In 
the 
last 
couple 
weeks, 
it 
seems 
that 
the 
line 
has 
settled in with 
freshman 
forward 
Nolan 
Moyle 
and 
sophomore 
forward Dakota 
Raabe on the left 
and right wings, 
respectively. 
Van Wyhe, Moyle and Raabe 
have 
found 
some 
chances 
to score since they’ve been 
playing together, but across the 
three of them, Raabe is the only 

one who has found twine.
The first and second lines 
are carrying the Wolverines on 
offense to this point, with 37 
combined points 
— 
compared 
to 
the 
nine 
combined across 
the bottom two 
lines. That’s an 
unsustainable 
recipe across a 
full season.
“We’re 
still 
trying 
to 
find 
some 
scoring 
from 
some different people,” said 
Michigan coach Mel Pearson. 
“We’ve got a couple lines that 
are carrying us. We need some 
other guys to kick in here 

and there, and obviously that 
secondary scoring.”
Now that the players seem 
to be locked into positions, it 
could be Van Wyhe, Moyle and 
Raabe that help the Wolverines 
find that secondary scoring 
they’ll need through the rest of 
the season.
In 
the 
2-1 
win 
against 
Notre Dame on Nov. 9, it was 
that fourth line of forwards 
that kept the game moving in 
Michigan’s favor. It seemed that 
nearly every time they were on 
the ice, they were stealing the 
puck from the Fighting Irish or 
putting pressure on goaltender 
Cale Morris.
“They’ve controlled the play 
in the other team’s offensive 
zone when they’ve been out 

there, and that’s what you’re 
looking 
for,” 
Pearson 
said. 
“They’ve been good momentum 
changers, too. There’s been a 
couple times in games we’re 
playing in our zone, we throw 
them out there and they change 
the momentum and they play in 
the other team’s zone, so good 
for them. We’re gonna need 
that.”
Now, it seems, the only 
thing 
left 
for 
Van 
Wyhe, 
Raabe and Moyle is to break 
through on the stat sheet. The 
scoring chances are coming 
more and more frequently, but 
they haven’t found consistent 
success on those chances yet.
With 
Van 
Wyhe 
as 
the 
center of the line, the offense 
is expected to flow through 

him. Pearson said he’s good at 
distributing the puck but added 
that some of his open shots 
have caught him a bit off guard.
“I think he’s 
pretty 
right 
on 
that 
one,” 
Van Wyhe said 
when 
told 
of 
his 
coach’s 
comments. 
“I think I get 
a 
little 
too 
anxious if I find 
myself with a 
little more time 
than I thought 
and kinda just get in my own 
head. Calming down is kinda 
the perfect term for it. Just rely 
on my instincts and be able to 
bury chances.”

When Van Wyhe and the 
rest of his linemates get the 
chemistry they need, they’ll 
be valuable additions to the 
Wolverines’ 
offense. 
And 
the 
chemistry 
has 
improved 
every 
game 
they’ve 
played 
together, so it 
seems to be only 
a matter of time 
before there’s a 
breakthrough.
“They’ve 
got 
the potential to 
score,” Pearson said. “I think 
once they get a little more 
chemistry and once they kick 
in a couple, that dam’s gonna 
break, and look out.”

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Freshman center Garrett Van Wyhe made an impact physically in Michigan’s opening game of the season against Vermont, but he and his linemates haven’t been able to string offensive production together.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

“We’ve got 
a couple 
lines that are 
carrying us.”

“Once they kick 
in a couple, that 
dam’s gonna 
break.”

