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November 04, 2019 - Image 8

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The Michigan Daily

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2B — November 4, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

C

OLLEGE PARK — There
is nothing about Satur-
day’s Michigan football
game that,
when the
season ends,
will qualify as
particularly
memorable.
A two-loss
Wolverines
played a
Maryland
team that
likely won’t
qualify for a
bowl. Michigan won, 38-7, in a
game it was supposed to win by
something like that score. The
outcome was never in doubt. A
healthy percentage of the fans
in College Park wore maize
and blue, and then went home
happy.
Really, the only way this
could have qualified as memo-
rable would be if the Wolver-
ines had lost.
Michigan is out of conten-
tion for the College Football
Playoff and the Big Ten. If you
read this paper, or any other
outlet covering the Wolverines,
you’ve read about 50 variants
of that sentence in the last two
weeks. There are four weeks
left in the regular season and
one way to make the season,
unequivocally, a success. Josh
Uche laid it out pretty well.
“We thinking about Michi-
gan State right now,” the senior
linebacker said after Saturday’s
game. “We thinking about both
of them (Michigan State and
Ohio State) right now, hon-
estly. That’s something, being
a Michigan Man, you always
thinking about.
“That game-planning starts
later today.”
It’s pretty easy at this point.
Win those two games and the
narrative around this program
shifts. No longer is Jim Har-
baugh the coach who can’t beat
his rivals. No longer is Michi-
gan the program that can’t get
over the hump. No longer is

anyone going into 2020 with
apprehension.
Lose both — or go one-for-
two — and it’s the same thing
as ever.
These will always be the
games that define success for
the program.
Last year, when Michigan
went to East Lansing and beat
Michigan State, 21-7, Harbaugh
teared up in the locker room.
That’s how much it meant to
him.
Now imagine what it would
mean to win both rivalry
games.
Michigan will be prohibitive
favorites against the Spartans,
a program currently in disar-
ray. Mark Dantonio’s team has
scored 17 points in its last three
games and holds a 4-4 record.

Rumors have abounded about
Dantonio’s job status. The Wol-
verines’ defense
is one of the best
in the country.
The math works
itself out pretty
well.
As much as
this matchup
has a tendency
to go haywire,
Michigan may
have a chance
to put a nail in
Dantonio’s coffin. It’s hard to
imagine the Wolverines won’t
be eager to take it, especially
coming off a bye.
“This week, we just gotta get
ready, take care of our bodies,”
said junior wideout Nico Col-
lins. “We got off and we just

get ready for Michigan State
the following week.”
Ohio State is
a tougher ask,
and it’ll come
after a road trip
to Indiana that
doubles as a
trap game. That
doesn’t make it
impossible to
win. Nor does
it diminish its
importance.
Even though
the Buckeyes haven’t taken the
step back people envisioned
under new coach Ryan Day,
that opportunity is still there.
Two years ago in Ann Arbor,
the Wolverines pushed them
to the brink despite a notable
talent gap in one of the best

coaching performances of the
Harbaugh era.
There’s no reason that can’t
happen again. And there’s no
reason Michigan — which has
gotten better as the season has
gone on, particularly over the
last 10 quarters — can’t finish
the job this time.
Impossible as that seemed in
late September, when Josh Gat-
tis’ offense was on the brink of
implosion, the Wolverines have
turned things around.
The offense has found an
identity, mixing in Harbaugh
and offensive line coach Ed
Warinner’s plays with Gat-
tis’ looks. Senior quarterback
Shea Patterson is healthy after
struggling through the early
part of the season. The 31
points the Wolverines’ offense

scored against the Terrapins
felt almost lazy a week after
they dropped 45 on Notre
Dame.
“I think collectively as a
group, we’re playing at our
highest level,” Patterson said.
“There was a couple three-
and-outs on the offensive side
of the ball, and we kind of want
to stay away from that to put
our defense in better positions.
But as a group right now, we’re
kind of hitting our stride.”
As for the defense, it ranks
third in SP+, with few linger-
ing questions. It’s par for the
course under Don Brown.
That could all fall apart
when things get real, espe-
cially against Ohio State. Last
year, the Wolverines came into
Columbus and looked unpre-
pared with a Playoff berth on
the line.
If that happens this year, it
won’t be viewed as the same
kind of disaster, because this
Michigan team will be playing
only for itself. The season will
be a relative footnote. Every-
one’s eyes will turn towards
2020.
But if Michigan can pull it
off? If it can beat Michigan
State and Ohio State twice
in three weeks, notch Har-
baugh’s first win against
the Buckeyes and polish off
a 10-win season that looked
dead to rights after three
games?
Well, then, who cares about
the Playoff, or the Big Ten?
Who cares about what Har-
baugh hasn’t done or what the
program hasn’t been? This
season is the best of the Har-
baugh era anyway.
That’s the chance in front
of the Wolverines right now.
Our memory of this season
will depend on whether they
take it.

Sears can be reached at

searseth@umich.edu or on

Twitter @ethan_sears.

Four weeks to make the season

The good, the bad and the ugly: Maryland

COLLEGE
PARK

The official attendance at
Maryland Stadium was 40,071
fans, but the eye test seemed to
contradict that. Opposite the
press box, the stands were full
of maize and blue. This was
the Terrapins’ homecoming,
but few of their own fans
showed up.
And honestly, who could
blame them? The Nationals’
World Series parade was at the
same time, 30 minutes down
the Beltway. Few Maryland
fans thought their team would
beat Michigan, even before the
Terrapins lost five of their last
six six coming into Saturday.
For the Wolverines, this game
was just a stopgap before
Michigan State and Ohio State.
It seemed destined to be
another boring, easy, road win
for Michigan, and save a few
special-teams plays that kept it
just interesting enough, that’s
exactly what it was.
The Daily breaks down the
good, the bad and the ugly
from the Wolverines’ 38-7 win:
The good
Freshman
running
back
Zach
Charbonnet
scored
two touchdowns to bring his
season total to 11, a program
record for touchdowns by a
true freshman.
The offense looked effective
in
both
the
running
and
passing game, and Michigan
ran a balanced attack that
had been missing earlier in
the season, with 155 yards
on the ground and 176 in the
air. While the offense didn’t
seem quite as dominant as
it did against Notre Dame,
the Wolverines did have a
few highlight-reel plays — a
51-yard catch by Nico Collins,
a 39-yard run by Tru Wilson
and a 29-yard reception by
Sean McKeon.
Most of all, the offense
avoided
any
big
mistakes.
Michigan didn’t turn the ball
over for a second straight
game, and did not fumble once
for the first time all season.

Both
senior
quarterback
Shea Patterson and redshirt
sophomore quarterback Dylan
McCaffrey — who relieved
Patterson late in the third
quarter — avoided a sack.
“I think collectively, as a
group, we’re playing at our
highest level,” Patterson said.
“ ... As a group right now, we’re
kind of hitting our stride.”
It was a similar sentiment
to the one Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh offered up after a
10-3 win over Iowa. But this
time, the statement was fully
believable.
Don Brown’s unit offered
more of the same, as the
defense
pitched
a
shutout
(Maryland’s lone touchdown
came on special teams) and
finished with eight tackles
for loss, four sacks and an
interception.
Special
teams
also
had
three plus plays. Freshman
wide receiver Giles Jackson
returned the opening kickoff
for a touchdown, Mike Barrett
ran his second successful fake
punt of the season and Devin
Gil partially blocked a punt in
the second quarter.
The bad
With
any
blowout
like
this, any bad is necessarily
nitpicky. But there were still
several little things that the

Wolverines should continue to
work on going forward.
While
the
defensive
numbers
look
stellar,
that
unit struggled on two straight
drives spanning the first and
second quarters. Ultimately,
they were bailed out both times
— first, when senior safety Josh
Metellus intercepted a pass at
Michigan’s nine-yard line and
then when the Terrapins drove
to the Wolverines’ 11 before a
tackle for loss, sack and missed
field goal.
But against better teams
like the Buckeyes, Michigan
can’t sit around and wait for
the opponent to shoot itself in
the foot. Especially so early
in the game, a top team would
be
well-equipped
to
take
advantage of such miscues.
The offense also had a few
drives
that
stalled,
going
three-and-out twice — and it
would’ve been three times if
not for the aforementioned
fake punt — in drives that
coincided with the defensive
lapses early in the game. Had
the Wolverines not been up
14-0 at the time, those miscues
could’ve caused a lot more
trouble.
The ugly
Special
teams
giveth,
special teams taketh away.
After a nice chunk pass

to McKeon put Michigan on
Maryland’s 19-yard line with
six seconds left in the first
half, sophomore Jake Moody
trotted out to attempt the
field goal. He missed for the
third time in the past five
games. Redshirt junior Quinn
Nordin, who was held out of
the last two games with an
undisclosed injury, handled
kicking duties for the rest of
the game.
While Moody’s miss opened
a window to relitigate the
results of the offseason kicking
competition

in
which
Harbaugh determined the two
kickers would split time —
Nordin’s kick on Saturday was
his first made field goal of the
season in four attempts.
In
another
special-teams
miscue,
the
Wolverines
allowed
Terrapins
returner
Javon Leake to take a kickoff
for a touchdown of his own in
the third quarter.
But when your only ugly
moments come on a few special
teams mishaps, that means
your performance was pretty
damn solid. Michigan didn’t
light the world on fire Saturday,
but it didn’t really need to.
Once the Wolverines took the
lead on the opening kickoff, it
felt like Maryland never really
had a chance.

Michigan encouraged
by split with IU, Iowa

The Michigan men’s swim and
dive team was thrown into the
deep end this past Saturday.
That’s not an overstatement.
Nor is it just a bad pun.
In the team’s first scored
meet in over a month, the No. 6
Wolverines (3-1 overall, 1-1 Big
Ten) were pitted against No. 5
Indiana (4-0, 2-0) and No. 23 Iowa
(2-2, 0-2) in Bloomington. While
Michigan came away from the
meeting with a split decision –
besting the Hawkeyes, 218-82, but
falling to the Hoosiers, 165-135 –
the stiff competition and hostile
environment served as a barometer
for the team’s growth and informed
the unit on areas of improvement.
The
Counsilman-Billingsley
Aquatic
Center
is
notoriously
packed with Hoosier fans. Being
the away team at such a site,
according
to
Michigan
coach
Mike Bottom, can have negative
psychological
effects
mid-race,
which can undermine months of
work.
“People have the tendency to
lose their focus against that type
of support,” Bottom said, citing
the importance of his athletes
continuing to “... (do) what they
want in spite of the distractions.”
The Wolverines did just that,
starting the competition off with
an upset win. Bottom called that
victory in the 200-yard individual
medley relay a real surprise.
Michigan’s quartet finished almost
a second in front of the rest of

the field. Senior Miles Smalcho
and junior Luiz Gustavo Borges
engineered a second-half comeback
with low splits in the butterfly and
freestyle, respectively.
The
following
events
saw
Michigan and Indiana trading
victories with consistency. Junior
Ricardo Vargas won both the 1,000
and 500-yard freestyle events by a
handful of seconds each. Smalcho
followed up his heroics in the
opening relay with a pair of wins in
the individual butterfly categories.
“Indiana has been winning Big
Tens for the last three years, so
they’re the team to beat,” Bottom
said. “(We knew) we would have
to swim up to win the meet and we
swam up.”
The Hoosiers pulled away in the
latter half of the meet, spurred by
their dominance in the freestyle
and backstroke sprints. Indiana’s
Mory Gould took control on the
diving board, winning both the
1-meter and 3-meter performances
handily.
Saturday’s
final
event,
the
400-yard
freestyle
relay,
iced
the Hoosier’s jurisdiction of the
meet and showcased their depth.
Michigan’s quartet hit the pad
seven seconds off the lead after
being thoroughly out-stroked by
two Indiana foursomes.
Despite coming up short, Bottom
was impressed and heartened by
the Wolverines’ performance.
“We’re
really
encouraged
because
they
had
all
the
advantage,”
Bottom
said,
“...
hometown officials, hometown
fans.”

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Mike Bottom said that Indiana’s road environment is tough.

JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Freshman running back Zach Charbonnet scored two touchdowns Saturday in Michigan’s 38-7 win over Maryland.

ETHAN
SEARS

MILES MACKLIN/Daily
The Michigan football team can make its season a success by beating Michigan State and Ohio State, its biggest rivals, in the last four weeks of the year.

That game-
planning (for
MSU) starts
later today.

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