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