8 — Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Franz Wagner out 4-6
weeks with wrist injury
Michigan freshman wing
Franz Wagner will miss the
next four-to-six weeks with
a non-surgical fracture to his
right wrist, according to a
Michigan spokesperson.
“While this is an unfortunate
situation for Franz, we know
he will make his return as
soon as he is able,” Michigan
coach Juwan Howard said in a
statement. “We have the finest
medical staff and trainers at
Michigan so we know he is in
good hands.”
While Wagner is expected
to make a full recovery, the
news comes at a particularly
poor time for the Wolverines.
Wagner
was
expected
to
bring immediate offense to a
Michigan team that lost Ignas
Brazdeikis, Jordan Poole and
Charles Matthews, a trio that
combined for over half of
the team’s scoring last year,
to early departures in the
offseason. Now, it becomes
crucial to make sure the wrist
fracture doesn’t become a
lingering injury capable of
limiting
Wagner’s
shooting
abilities
throughout
the
season.
At
6-foot-8,
Wagner
provides a rare combination
of size and skill for a player
capable of creating his own
shot. At Big Ten Media Day on
Oct. 2, Howard lauded such
abilities.
“Franz is talented,” Howard
said. “Franz is a big, huge
pickup for us. In my opinion,
if Franz lived in the U.S. he’d
be the equivalent of what
today’s players are rated five-
star — he’s that good. And to
be almost 6-foot-9 at a wing
position, he has a high IQ. He’s
tough, he’s skilled. He can put
the ball on the floor, create his
own shot, and he’s not afraid
to dunk on you.
“One thing I did not mention
which I should’ve mentioned
first was he’s an underrated
defender. We all talk about his
skill level offensively, but the
guy can defend. He wants to
defend, and that’s the beauty
of Franz. He’s going to be a
pro.”
If the timetable holds, it
appears the Wolverines will
be
without
their
highly-
touted
freshman
until
sometime around the team’s
trip to Atlantis during the
week
of
Thanksgiving.
Wagner’s return would be a
crucial boost with potential
matchups against teams like
North Carolina, Alabama and
Gonzaga.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
FRANZ WAGNER
at Alba Berlin (stats per Real GM)
50.9
FG%
38.4
3P%
13.0
MPG
5.6
PPG
S
moke still drifted over
the field at Beaver Sta-
dium, a remnant of the
pregame fireworks show. Fans
clad all in white raised their
pom-poms in unison, scream-
ing as Penn
State play-
ers gestured
to get even
louder.
Amidst the
commotion,
Michigan
took the field.
Before
running a
single play,
the Wolver-
ines took a timeout, and every-
one who’d seen Michigan play
a game in the past five years
said, “Here we go again.”
This team is known for going
on the road and playing scared,
and on that front, coach Jim
Harbaugh is guilty until prov-
en innocent.
In previous games, that’s
manifested itself in the team
completely crumbling after
allowing an early score — like
at Wisconsin, when it was 35-0
by halftime after the Badgers
scored on their first posses-
sion.
But that’s not what hap-
pened Saturday, at least not
quite.
This time, the players did
about as much as you could’ve
asked for after a slow start.
Instead, it was Harbaugh and
offensive coordinator Josh
Gattis who panicked.
The Wolverines put together
a first drive that was surpris-
ingly good. Junior wide receiv-
ers Nico Collins and Tarik
Black each had a catch — Col-
lins’ for 17 yards and Black’s
for seven. Senior quarterback
Shea Patterson kept the ball
himself on a read for two more
after criticism he hadn’t done
so enough.
Michigan stared the white-
out right in the face and drove
into the Nittany Lions’ territo-
ry. For a minute, it looked like
an offense that maybe really
was hitting its stride.
It was fourth-and-1 from
Penn State’s 47, the perfect
time to be bold. The Wolver-
ines could’ve sent a message
that their pregame jitters
were over, that the narratives
weren’t true this time, that
they were here to win.
Instead, the punt team came
on the field.
“We were playing for field
position, and we wanted to get
the ball put inside the 15 or
10-yard line,” Harbaugh said.
“Unfortunately, it went into
the end zone.”
Playing for field position can
be a legitimate strategy, but it’s
one you use when you’re play-
ing a team like Iowa, one that
struggles to string big plays
together. It’s what you do with
a game you expect to be a 10-3
slog.
Anyone who thought that
was where Saturday’s game
was headed was deluding
themselves. Penn State runs
a pro-spread offense and has
a playmaking receiver in KJ
Hamler, who has at least one
catch of 20-plus yards in every
game this season. On Saturday
alone, the Nittany Lions hit
six plays for 15 or more yards.
Against a team that moves the
ball like that, field position
doesn’t mean a lick.
Statistically, fourth-and-1
conversion rates are pretty
high — Michigan did it itself
with a Patterson quarterback
sneak in the fourth quarter. A
2017 Football Study Hall report
concluded that in college foot-
ball, with just one yard to gain,
it’s better to go for it than punt
anywhere past a team’s own 43.
But decisions like this aren’t
just about the analytics. Har-
baugh’s been preaching all sea-
son that the offense was better
than anyone had seen. Going
for it would’ve been a manifes-
tation of everything he’s been
saying. Last week against the
Illini, he did just that, convert-
ing a fourth-and-2 quarterback
run in the fourth quarter that
turned into a touchdown.
“We all knew that we want-
ed to get the first down and
end the game on our terms,”
Bell said of the Illinois game. It
follows that Michigan would’ve
wanted to start a game on its
own terms, too.
One playcalling decision
probably wouldn’t have been
make-or-break, and the truth
is, the Wolverines probably
wouldn’t have scored a touch-
down on that first drive. But
at the end of the first half —
after they had found the end
zone and cut the deficit to two
scores — Harbaugh opted to try
a 58-yard field goal with Jake
Moody instead of going for it
on fourth-and-6. (He missed).
Then, in the third quarter, Pat-
terson appeared visibly frus-
trated when Harbaugh opted to
punt on fourth-and-3 from the
50. (Michigan scored a touch-
down on its next possession.)
“Thought we could make it,”
Harbaugh said of the field goal
attempt after the game. “Right
at that line where we could
make it and it’s a long field
goal. It was that or go for it on
fourth down, so we decided to
kick the field goal.”
Yes, it was fourth-and-6.
But Moody, while gener-
ally reliable, has never made
a field goal longer than 48
yards. If the Wolverines were
still playing for field posi-
tion, kicking was probably the
riskiest choice — and without
the upside of rejuvenating the
offense’s confidence.
In his Monday press con-
ference, Harbaugh extolled
Patterson’s virtues, calling
his performance against Penn
State “heroic” and reaffirming
that he’d seen that potential all
season.
“He’s excited about it, being
in that atmosphere and playing
that type of game,” Harbaugh
said. “You could sense it from
everything about him.”
And after Patterson had his
best game of the season in the
toughest possible environment,
it was easy to believe. Except
that, on the sidelines of Beaver
Stadium, Harbaugh didn’t act
like a coach who could sense
Patterson’s enthusiasm.
Instead, he acted like a
coach who was scared, who
was doing damage control
before there was any damage
to speak of.
There is, of course, blame
to go around for Saturday.
The defense gave up too many
big plays. Bell wasn’t the only
wideout with a crucial drop.
Patterson threw a costly
interception on a screen pass
attempt.
But on a day when the
offense bucked the trend and
fought back, a day when it
showed that — at least after a
shaky beginning — it wasn’t
scared, Harbaugh seemed
to abandon the trust he’d so
steadfastly preached.
Sure, Michigan didn’t make
the most of its chances until it
was too late. But facing his best
opportunity yet for the elusive
big road win, Harbaugh didn’t
give his team nearly enough of
them.
Maybe he was the one rat-
tled by the lights.
Gerson can be reached at
amgerson@umich.edu or on
Twitter @aria_gerson.
Seniors grappling with reset goals after PSU loss
Ben
Bredeson
situated
himself at the center of a media
scrum Monday afternoon, an
expressionless look plastered to his
face beneath a low-riding trucker
hat.
The first question was as simple
as it was predictable: What are
your goals for the rest of season?
Implicit in the question was that
the goals Michigan carried into the
season — win the Big Ten and make
the College Football Playoff, at a
minimum — are bust, evaporated
in the familiar pitfall of road losses
to ranked teams.
Bredeson, a captain and one
of Michigan’s unofficial senior
spokesmen,
stared
into
the
surrounding cameras and provided
the diplomatic answer.
“We’re just taking it week by
week,” Bredeson said. “We can’t
control anything other than our
own play so just focusing on that is
the next step.”
Minutes later, defensive tackle
Carlo Kemp — another one of those
captains and spokesmen — echoed
Bredeson. “Yes, we lost, but you
gotta remember, this wasn’t our
last game of the year,” Kemp said
“This isn’t, ‘Alright, we’re done,
let’s start packing up.’ ”
Neither will say it, because that
would undermine the significance
of the season’s final five games, but
both know their senior seasons
will end without achieving their
ultimate goals.
Bredeson chose the Wolverines
despite
offers
from
Alabama,
Oklahoma and Ohio State. Kemp
could have gone to Notre Dame or
Wisconsin, calling Michigan an
opportunity to play “top-caliber
football” when he committed. Yet,
both will finish their collegiate
careers without an appearance in
the Big Ten championship game
or College Football Playoff, unless
Kemp successfully petitions for a
retroactive redshirt.
Those goals — repeated ad
nauseam through the offseason
— are so entrenched in the
Wolverines’
self-identity
that
redshirt
freshman
linebacker
Cam McGrone promised a Big Ten
championship game rematch with
Wisconsin after last month’s 35-14
loss in Madison. “I know when
we see them again, we’re going
to smack them in the mouth,”
McGrone said at the time.
That
same
week,
VIPER
Khaleke Hudson — another senior
captain often paraded in front of
the media — was more cautious,
but still delivered a message of
confidence rooted in controlling
their own destiny. “We still are able
to reach our goals that we had for
the whole season,” Hudson said.
Not anymore.
Now, the only mention of
expectations is to dismiss them.
“Win our next game, that’s our
goal,” Jim Harbaugh said, when
asked how he defines a successful
season.
“Expectations, those are just
outcomes,” Kemp said. “And you
start focusing on expectations, like
‘we were supposed to do this, we
were supposed to do that’ — none
of that really matters.”
The message stands in direct
contrast to everything that was said
all offseason, through Wisconsin’s
rout and up to Saturday night’s
28-21 loss to Penn State.
That loss, featuring a spirited
fight back from a 21-0 deficit,
proved Michigan with its latest
reason for optimism. Built into
that optimism is that whatever the
Wolverines do over the next five
weeks carries into next year — for
everyone except the seniors.
It’s why Bredeson, Kemp and the
rest of those seniors have turned
to using their experience to help
keep Michigan’s underclassmen
grounded.
“Worrying
about
Big
Ten
championship,
National
Championship, really the only
thing you can control is the next
game,” Bredeson said. “So just
trying to help them see that and see
there’s still a lot of great things that
we can attain this season.”
Asked whether that’s hard to
grapple with as a senior, when
winning those championships was
the goal he brought to Michigan,
Bredeson called it “part of being
a teammate” and reaffirmed his
focus on this week’s game against
Notre Dame.
“You can’t let two losses take
your season,” Bredeson said.
Take your season, no. Take your
goals, well, that’s unavoidable.
Coaching scared
ARIA
GERSON
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh made several questionable decisions on fourth downs during Michigan’s 28-21 loss at Penn State on Saturday night.
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Senior guard Ben Bredeson is trying to focus on the next game after Michigan’s second loss all but ended its chances of reaching its goals on the season.