8A — Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Patterson, Harbaugh stick by offense as questions simmer after Iowa win

Shea Patterson wore a pink 
bomber jacket and stood in 
the center of the circle. For 
the 
number 
of 
questions 
surrounding 
the 
Michigan 
football team he leads, for all 
the 
criticism 
and 
sarcastic 
comments, and — for that matter 
— for all the questions lobbed 
at the senior quarterback, his 
demeanor 
was 
remarkably low 
key.
Three 
days 
earlier, 
Michigan coach 
Jim 
Harbaugh 
declared 
that 
the Wolverines’ 
offense 
was 
hitting its stride. 
Two days after 
that, 
Harbaugh 
doubled down.
“In 
all 
areas,” 
Harbaugh 
said, when asked specifically 
where 
he 
saw 
that 
stride 
coming. “The run game, pass 
game, protection. Quarterback, 
receiver, running backs. They 
are, it’s an evolving, improving 
group and I’ve seen them be at 
a really high level at practice, 
consistently at a really high 
level in games. And getting that 
consistently high level in both 
games and practice is what I 
feel what I see coming.”
Then he filibustered, going 
over a number of drives in the 
second 
half 
of 
Michigan’s 
win over Iowa, 
almost 
making 
you believe that 
there was some 
promise shown. 
Penalties killed 
one 
drive, 
a 
blown 
trick 
play 
killed 
another. A third, 
towards the end 
of the game, consisted of the 
Wolverines trying to kill the 
clock and let their defense win 
the game. Harbaugh credited 
Iowa’s 
defense, 
which, 
it 
should be noted, ranks ninth 
in SP+. Then his tone reached 

an inflection point and, for 
the first time since he stepped 
to the podium an hour after 
Saturday’s game, it didn’t seem 
like he was just selling a line 
about the offense.
“I feel with our team, the 
effort is great,” Harbaugh said. 
“Off the charts. At the highest 
level. And when you get that, 
then you can get everything 
else.” 
When Patterson took his turn 
the 
next 
day, 
though, he was 
left to deal with 
the reality.
Michigan 
ranked 
25th 
in 
offensive 
SP+ 
last 
year. 
It brought in a 
new coordinator, 
Josh 
Gattis. 
Through 
a 
month 
of 
the 
season, it ranks 66th in the 
same category. Pick whatever 
number 
you 
want 
— 
the 
Wolverines are probably down. 
As Patterson and others pointed 
out, they are 4-1, their fate still 
in their hands. But the numbers 
seem to portend things getting 
worse once the tough part of the 
schedule comes around.
“When coach Gattis first 
got here, he was talking to us 
about how if we want to score 
more points, we gotta run 
more plays,” fifth-year senior 
left tackle Jon Runyan Jr. said 
Monday. “The best teams in 
the country are 
out here scoring 
at 
least 
42 
points per game 
and I think we 
averaged 
just 
under, maybe like 
34 last year. So 
that’s something 
that we tried to 
do heading into 
the season. 
“And we did 
that against Rutgers. Obviously 
didn’t do that against Wisconsin 
or Army or last game (against 
Iowa).”
So there was Patterson on 
Tuesday, trying to explain away 
the answer to questions that 

will eventually play itself out 
on a football field against Penn 
State, Notre Dame and Ohio 
State.
Is the problem on offense as 
minimal as Harbaugh made it 
out to be? And how does it get 
fixed? 
“I think that 
there’s a lot that 
you guys don’t 
see, 
that 
the 
fans don’t see,” 
Patterson 
said. 
“They make their 
adjustments 
on 
defense, we make 
our adjustments 
on offense. And 
we 
aren’t 
not 
trying 
to 
be 
explosive, but I do believe that 
there’s a lot left out there. And 
the sky’s really the limit for 
this offense. It’s just a matter of 
time.”
He was asked to expand on 
what, specifically, people aren’t 

seeing.
“I could go on for days,” he 
said. He ultimately went on for 
less than 30 seconds.
“I don’t know if you guys 
could fully dissect a defense but 
there’s certain things that they 
take away or have gameplans for. 
And we make 
our adjustments. 
But we’ll get it 
together.”
Within 
the 
muddled nature 
of 
Michigan 
football’s 
message, 
the 
vague 
outlines 
of the problem 
came 
into 
focus. Patterson 
acknowledged that Gattis is 
experiencing 
growing 
pains, 
just as most people would in 
their first go around at a new 
job. He said the Wolverines 
could do more to amplify their 
talent at receiver — something 

the chorus of voices outside 
of 
Schembechler 
Hall 
has 
clamored for all year. He used 
the language of growth and 
positivity, just as Harbaugh did 
a day earlier, saying Michigan 
took what was there against a 
stout defense.
Of course, that does little 
to change the reality of the 
season’s first five games. The 
Wolverines have struggled to 
move the ball in all but one of 
those. And, this weekend’s bout 
at Illinois aside, the schedule is 
about to enter an unforgiving 
stretch. It’s one thing to say 
that Michigan should use Nico 
Collins, Donovan Peoples-Jones 
and Tarik Black more liberally. 
It’s another to do it.
“We believe in our coaches, 
we believe in each other,” 
Patterson said. “Just taking it 
day-by-day. First five weeks, 
we’ve played three of the top 20 
defenses and we’re 4-1, so just 
gotta keep getting better.”

Offense seeks more explosive plays

While Jim Harbaugh stood 
in front of the media Saturday 
afternoon — and again on 
Monday — to declare that 
Michigan’s offense is “hitting 
their stride,” the numbers tell a 
different story.
Unless this is the Wolverines’ 
stride, in which case there’s a 
different conversation to be had. 
That’s beside the point.
What’s not is this: Josh 
Gattis came in with a plan 
to 
revolutionize 
Michigan’s 
offense and bring it into the 
modern era of college football. 
Through five games, the unit is 
down 51.7 yards and 7.2 points 
per game from a season ago, 
when it was roundly criticized 
as antiquated and inefficient.
Among the keys to changing 
it all — according to fifth-
year senior left tackle Jon 
Runyan, one of few players to 
acknowledge the struggles — 
is increasing the number of 
explosive plays.
“That’s what this offense is 
all about, is being explosive,” 
said senior quarterback Shea 
Patterson, 
“and 
letting 
our 
playmakers go make plays.”
And yet, despite Patterson 
himself saying the offense is 
“right where we want to be,” as 
he did Tuesday evening, those 
plays have been near-impossible 
to come by.
According 
to 
defensive 
coordinator Don Brown, the 
Wolverines consider explosive 
plays to be runs of 12 or more 
yards or passes of 16 or more 
yards. In Saturday’s 10-3 win 
over Iowa, they had just two of 
each.
“We 
pride 
ourselves 
on 
explosive plays, and we know 
that we have a quota that we 
have to get and meet,” Runyan 
said. “And we didn’t meet that 
this week when we had two 
explosive run plays and two 
explosive pass plays. And that’s 
not gonna cut it if we’re gonna 

try to win against these teams.”
As 
Runyan 
acknowledges, 
Michigan 
managed 
to 
“somehow” win anyway. That 
somehow is its defense. The 
Wolverines, though, know their 
defense isn’t going to bail them 
out every time.
In September’s 35-14 loss at 
Wisconsin, that’s exactly what 
happened. The defense folded 
and the offense — billed as this 
team’s calling card all spring — 
managed just 14 points. Beneath 
it all was a pitiful, singular 
explosive play before the game 
was well out of hand late in the 
second half.
By the final whistle in 
Madison, Michigan had five 
explosive plays. Zero came on 
the ground.
“I feel like in the run game, 
explosive plays just come down 
to hand placement,” Runyan 
said. “Whether it’s by a guard 
keeping his block or myself or 
Jalen keeping our head inside 
the defender or where best we 
can find a seam.”
The blame, though, goes 
well beyond the offensive line. 
While Patterson said Tuesday 
that he’s content with his play 
so far, the numbers tell the 
story of a quarterback who 
hasn’t found the same success 

he did a year ago.
When junior wide receiver 
Donovan 
Peoples-Jones 
was asked about the lack 
of explosive plays, he said: 
“When I have an opportunity 
to touch the ball, gotta make an 
explosive play.” In three games 
since returning from injury, he 
has just three explosive plays 
— all against lowly Rutgers.
It 
all 
stands 
in 
direct 
contrast 
to 
Gattis’ 
grand 
offseason proclamations, when 
he told his team their 35.2 
points per game wasn’t good 
enough and pointed out that 
the best teams in the country 
average at least 42, according 
to Runyan.
This year, that was his 
challenge for the Wolverines.
“And we did that against 
Rutgers,” Runyan said, before 
pausing. “Obviously didn’t do 
that against Wisconsin.”
He paused again.
“Or Army.”
Another pause.
“Or last game.”
So, despite his confident 
proclamations, when Patterson 
was asked whether explosive 
plays can help Michigan reach 
“the next level,” he could 
muster only one word.
“Definitely.”

Wolverines’ penalty kill shows 
signs of increased aggression

The repeated sound of a 
stick clashing against the ice 
reverberated throughout Yost 
Ice Arena on Sunday.
Clank, clank. Clank, clank.
Noise had already filled the 
atmosphere — the roar of the 
crowd, shouts of the players, 
even the rattling of the glass as 
puck and body clashed against 
it. But the clanking of the stick 
pierced through it all.
The clock on the screen that 
hung over the ice ticked down, 
informing all of the time left in 
the period. In one of the corners, 
another timer counted down. 
This one was for the penalty.
As the penalty clock hit 
below 10 seconds, the Windsor 
goaltender started his tirade 
against the ice, letting his 
teammates know their power 
play was coming to a close. 
Clank, clank. Clank, clank.
And soon after, the sound from 
the goaltender was muted, and a 
new set of clanking stick sounds 
followed. The skaters on the 
Michigan hockey team’s bench 
smacked their sticks against the 
boards, as if to give a round of 
applause to the penalty killing 
unit for successfully fending off a 
Lancer man-advantage.
In the exhibition game against 
Windsor, the Wolverines held 
their opponent to zero power-
play goals on four attempts and 
put their new, aggressive penalty 
kill system on full display.
“Our 
goals 
are 
to 
gain 
momentum for the team and 
spend as little time in our zone 
as 
possible,” 
said 
assistant 
coach Kris Mayotte, who has 
been handed the reins for the 
Michigan penalty kill.
As 
the 
mindset 
on 
all 
penalty killing should be, the 
Wolverines hope to achieve 
success with a man down in 

a different fashion than last 
year — adding aggressiveness 
to their defending. During the 
exhibition, 
Michigan 
didn’t 
allow the Lancers to get many 
open looks, constantly putting 
pressure on their passing game 
up top. As Windsor players 
passed the puck back and forth 
to each other, all four Wolverines 
on the penalty kill would find 
a player to put pressure on, 
creating high turnover rates in 
the defensive zone.
“I thought that we did a good 
job of limiting their options 
like our D-core was talking 
about, it just didn’t seem like 
they had good 
opportunities 
to 
set 
up,” 
said 
senior 
defenseman 
Luke 
Martin. 
“And 
then 
once they did, 
I 
thought 
we 
had done a good 
job 
with 
our 
sticks, and body 
positioning.”
And even before the puck 
entered 
Michigan’s 
defensive 
zone, the pressure was already 
on.
Whenever 
they 
can, 
the 
Wolverines apply pressure by 
forechecking on the penalty kill.
“It puts us in a good position to 
potentially end their plays before 
they even get into our zone,” 
Martin said.
When the opposition gets 
into the offensive zone, Martin 
believes it would take a “good 
puck-moving power play unit” 
to break down their penalty kill. 
But with the amount of on-puck 
pressure given, moving the puck 
would be a tall task.
The new-look penalty kill is 
heavily dependent on all four 
skaters and the goaltender being 
on the same page. If only one 
skater pushes forward, the effort 

goes to waste, as the player being 
pressured can move the puck to 
an open teammate.
But the team is responding 
well to the new system and being 
in-sync, learning when one goes, 
all go.
“I think when we’re working 
in tandem,” Martin said, “it can’t 
just be one guy going, three guys 
watching.
“... Every time we do it and go 
through it we’re looking better.”
And the strength of the team 
in the system isn’t just the unity 
in its aggression, but also the 
sense of understanding and ease 
of learning. Mayotte pointed out 
that in a game, 
there 
will 
be 
moments 
few 
and far between 
that 
will 
go 
exactly as drawn 
up. 
“You’re going 
to get different 
looks that you 
don’t 
practice 
against,” 
Mayotte 
said. 
“It’s a much more fluid situation. 
Rather than we know how to kill 
against structure and things like 
that. It’s more of the hockey side 
of just playing when things don’t 
go perfectly.”
The 
team 
saw 
moments 
throughout the penalty kills 
where bounces went in favor 
of Windsor. But the ability to 
improvise and work around 
broken 
plays 
allowed 
the 
Wolverines to successfully kill 
off any chances at the net. And 
when the opportunity arose, 
they pushed.
“Because once that happens, 
then the execution becomes 
pretty seamless,” Mayotte said. 
“Even if it doesn’t feel right, or 
even if they do it right, they want 
to make sure it is done the right 
way, not just getting the result 
they wanted.”

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Senior quarterback Shea Patterson has kept his faith in new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, despite some statistical struggles to start the season.

I’ve seen them 
be at a really 
high level at 
practice.

And when you 
get (effort) then 
you can get 
everything else.

I think that 
there’s a lot that 
you guys don’t 
see.

MICHIGAN’S 
OFFENSE

68.2

Plays per game, down from 
69.0 last season.

3.5

Yards per carry, down from 

4.8 last season.
7.6

Yards per Shea Patterson passing 
attempt, down from 8.0 last year.

28.0
Points per game, down 
from 35.2 in 2018.

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ offense has scored 7.2 fewer points per 
game and over 51 fewer yards than the group did last season.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Editor

ICE HOCKEY

Every time we... 
go through it 
we’re looking 
better.

