SPORTSMONDAY

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | October 7, 2019

 Jim Harbaugh felt no need to wait 

for questions.

Walking into the press room Saturday 

afternoon, he had a “special guest” 

beside him and a message to deliver.

The “special guest” was junior 

cornerback Ambry Thomas, a man who 

he introduced with a few laudatory 

sentences. The message didn’t need any 

introduction.

“Obviously, that was a defensive 

masterpiece,” 
Harbaugh 
said, 
still 

adjusting his seat at the podium.

As 
Harbaugh 
ran 
down 
the 

masterpiece’s exemplars — Don Brown’s 

game plan, the pass rush, the run 

defense, the secondary — his confidence 

in Michigan’s defense emanated.

And after dispatching No. 14 Iowa 

in a 10-3 slugfest that moved the 

19th-ranked Wolverines to 4-1 overall 

and 2-1 in Big Ten play, it’s easy to see 

where the confidence comes from.

All week, the Hawkeyes were lauded 

as a replica of the Wisconsin team that 

routed Michigan, 35-14, two weeks 

ago. That game prompted wholesale 

dismissal of the Wolverines’ once-

vaunted defense. Michigan’s response: 

not so fast.

“Don called a great game, they were 

very well prepared,” Harbaugh said. 

“And player-wise, it was just obvious 

from play one to the last play of the 

game that everybody was hustling and 

running and playing with great effort.”

Brown’s challenge to his defense 

in this prove-it week was to intercept 

Iowa 
quarterback 
Nate 
Stanley 

twice. Through four weeks, Stanley 

had been among the best statistical 

quarterbacks in college football, with 

eight touchdowns and no interceptions.

He finished Saturday with three.

“They’re not really comfortable 

passing the ball, they’re not really a 

spread team or anything like that,” said 

senior linebacker Khaleke Hudson. 

“So (it was) just stopping the run and 

doing whatever we can for them to be 

uncomfortable.”

Beneath 
Stanley’s 
stats, 
the 

Wolverines knew he couldn’t carry their 

offense without an efficient ground 

game. So Brown’s preparation focused 

on the run, snuffing out the Hawkeye’s 

ISO and power schemes in a way that 

Michigan’s defense failed to against 

the Badgers’ counter-heavy scheme in 

Madison.

“Don, during the week, he said he 

might jump off a tall building if some 

of those (ISO) plays worked cause 

they really thought they had them,” 

Harbaugh said.

Rooftops around Ann Arbor, consider 

yourselves safe. Iowa’s final rushing 

totals: 30 carries, one yard.

“We knew it’s the power Iowa, the big 

dogs who just run it down your throat,” 

said sophomore defensive end Aidan 

Hutchinson. “So we showed them what 

kind of run defense we have.”

Michigan needed every part of its 

defense’s dominance.

Early on, it looked as if the offense 

might be able to follow up its 52-point 

showing against Rutgers with a repeat 

against an opponent with a pulse. After 

an early field goal off a fumble recovery, 

Shea Patterson led off the next drive 

with a 51-yard post route to Nico Collins, 

showcasing the downfield passing 

ability that has only fleetingly popped 

its head above water all season.

Five plays later, freshman running 

back Zach Charbonnet ran for his fourth 

touchdown of the year.

That was with 8:33 to play in the first 

quarter. Michigan didn’t score again.

“Sometimes, it’s gonna be like 

that,” Patterson said. “We were really 

fortunate that the defense came out and 

played the way they did, kept us in the 

game the entire time. … We left a lot out 

there. Gotta start finishing in the red 

zone.”

Yet, among it all, the Wolverines kept 

their advantage on the scoreboard.

For that, they had their defense 

to thank. Each time Iowa entered 

Michigan territory, it was stymied on 

the edge of field goal range. Sometimes 

it came as a result of their own undoing, 

with penalties and questionable play-

calling. At others, it was an unavoidable 

consequence of the Wolverines’ eight 

sacks against an offensive line that 

was touted as a poor man’s version of 

Wisconsin’s. Poor indeed.

“I’m not gonna lie, it felt pretty 

smooth on the field,” Hutchinson said. 

“It felt like everyone was doing their 

thing.”

Still, kept afloat by Michigan’s 

anemic offense, the Hawkeyes had one 

final chance, taking over at their own 

43 with 1:35 to play. After a fourth-

down conversion on the first set of 

downs paved the way for three straight 

incompletions, Brown dialed up a blitz 

on fourth-and-10 with the game on the 

line.

In the huddle, Hutchinson knew it 

was going to work as soon as he heard 

the playcall. Hudson was just excited for 

his shot at the quarterback.

Seconds later, that’s exactly what he 

got, storming Stanley and forcing an 

emergency left-handed dump off that 

amounted to a hope and a prayer.

The answer: Not today.

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN & ALEXANDRIA POMPEI / DAILY DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN

Michigan sacks QB Nate Stanley

eight times in win over Iowa

U-M 10 | 3 IOWA

