16 — Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Erratic
quarterback
play hurts
Wolverines
Run defense
collapses in
Penn State
loss
Don Brown looked down, then
back up. His lips pursed as his
mask sat below his chin. Penn State
quarterback Will Levis was in the
end zone celebrating. Brown was
left to watch and wonder. About
what was next after the final
Nittany Lions touchdown to seal
a 27-17 Michigan loss. About how
to fix a defense that again showed
porous holes. And surely, about his
job security.
The Levis touchdown run made
up two of the 254 Penn State
rushing yards on the day — all
without Journey Brown or Noah
Cain, its two top running backs
coming into the season. Keyvone
Lee
finished
with
134
yards,
quarterback Sean Clifford with 73
— including a 28-yard touchdown
on a quarterback draw. To add to
the humiliation, it’s the Nittany
Lions’ first win of the year. To
further add to the humiliation, it’s
not even the worst performance of
the year for the Wolverines’ run
defense.
That
honor
still
goes
to
Wisconsin’s 341 yards on the
ground two weeks ago. Much of
Penn State’s came because of the
same problems — setting an edge
and missing tackles.
After the loss to the Badgers,
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
talked of evaluating all facets of the
program and changing what needed
to be changed. He said Saturday
they put in two new schemes to
help set the edge better.
“A lot of the plays today weren’t
initial edge plays,” Harbaugh said.
“They started inside and the back
was able to find the crease on the
edge. And we either folded in or we
didn’t make the tackle on the edge
or a combination of things.”
From the first drive of the game
— a 75-yard march down the field
that featured 39 rushing yards — to
the last, on which a Lee cut to the
outside got him 23 yards and sealed
the game, Penn State seemed to get
whatever it wanted on the ground.
Either Michigan couldn’t get to
the ball carrier or Michigan couldn’t
tackle the ball carrier. It was the
latest in a line of disappointing
defensive performances, and will
add fuel to the fire for those calling
for Brown’s head.
Amid a flurry of cliche and
saying he needed to watch the
film, junior defensive end Taylor
Upshaw offered this when asked if
there were any adjustments made
during the game.
“We just gotta be there,” he said.
“So I don’t know how to answer
that. I think that’s a coach Brown
answer.”
The tackling, at least, should be
simple, Upshaw said. It’s something
they’ve been doing their whole
lives as football players. “It’s just
something you’ve gotta do,” he said.
But they didn’t. And Harbaugh,
a coach renowned for his attention
to detail and intensity, who kept his
team on the field for practice when
the Big Ten cancelled football and
Michigan released a statement
halting all athletic activities in
March, was left lamenting a lack of
fundamentals.
“I feel like sometimes we’re
tackling a little too high and
leaving our feet a little too early,”
he said. “Timing of the tackle,
wrapping and getting our man on
the ground.”
To open his press conference
following
Michigan’s
drop
to
2-4, Harbaugh was asked if his
approach had changed since 2016,
when the program seemed on the
cusp of being a national contender.
The hiring of Brown — a process
that started when D.J. Durkin left
to become head coach at Maryland,
Harbaugh looked up who ran the
No. 1 defense in the country the
prior year, saw Brown’s name and
got moving — is a quintessential
example.
But on Saturday, a Penn State
offense in the throes of its worst
season in nearly two decades ran
the ball down the throat of Brown’s
defense for 60 minutes, and the
distance from 2016 and national
relevance and yearly appearances
among the top five defenses looked
further than Brown’s stare.
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh described his team’s mood as disappointing after Saturday’s 27-17 loss to formerly winless Penn State.
When halftime ended Saturday
afternoon and Michigan’s players
gathered around their position
coaches, Jim Harbaugh stood by
Cade McNamara. The sophomore
quarterback
had
missed
two
second-quarter
drives
with
a
shoulder injury, but he was still
the Wolverines’ path to reversing
their 17-7 deficit and Harbaugh
knew it.
McNamara,
though,
represented more than that. He
was Harbaugh’s only chance to
lend a semblance of positivity to
a season that careens toward new
lows with each passing week.
Then his shoulder tightened
back up, Harbaugh re-inserted Joe
Milton and the Wolverines scored
just 10 second-half points. With a
27-17 loss to a previously winless
Penn State team, Michigan fell to
2-4.
And in the end, this week’s
iteration
of
Harbaugh’s
calamitous Year Six looked just
like the others. When the Nittany
Lions sealed their win with a
final third-down conversion, the
only sound on Michigan’s sideline
was a player slamming his plastic
water bottle against a metal
bench.
“No one wants to lose a game,”
junior defensive lineman Taylor
Upshaw said. “So it’s frustrating,
of course.”
This year, losing has happened
at the highest rate since 2008,
when
Michigan
finished
3-9.
The
Wolverines’
four
losses
are already the second-highest
total of the Harbaugh era. In his
previous five years in Ann Arbor,
Harbaugh hadn’t hit that mark
before Week 12.
It made sense, then, when
Harbaugh’s frustration reached a
boiling point Saturday. This was
the Wolverines’ opportunity to
build off momentum from a come-
from-behind, triple-overtime win
over Rutgers last weekend. That it
came against a winless opponent
should have provided Harbaugh
with the perfect opportunity to
reverse this season’s course.
Instead,
Michigan
only
sunk further into the depths
of despair. The loudest cheers
from
Harbaugh’s
sideline
in
the second half came on Penn
State penalties. When freshman
receiver A.J. Henning leapt over
a Nittany Lions’ defender to make
a highlight-reel catch, Harbaugh
had to turn towards a group of
players sitting on the bench and
tell them to stand up and cheer.
“It’s tough to be in this position,
it’s not what we imagined,” senior
right tackle Andrew Stueber said.
“As an older guy on the team, you
really gotta keep everybody up.”
For
stretches
in
Saturday’s
second half, the Wolverines did
that. When junior running back
Hassan Haskins cut the deficit to
20-17, he was met with fist bumps
and butt slaps. A similar reaction
met Upshaw after his third-
quarter sack.
Far more common, though,
was the familiar intersection of
frustration and dejection.
Harbaugh’s
calm
demeanor
evaporated for good when the
Nittany Lions converted a second-
and-6 and third-and-7 deep in
Michigan territory to restore their
10-point lead, waving his arms
and yelling angrily after each.
“We
gotta
tackle
better,”
Harbaugh said. “There’s too many
missed tackles.”
A drive later, his frustration
culminated when Haskins and
Milton were stuffed short of first
downs on consecutive plays, just
outside field goal range.
“You’re down there on the
field, you don’t really know for
sure (about the spots),” Harbaugh
said. “But getting the tackles on
the short yardage and just being
able to get a yard when you need
it offensively. … Our inability to
do that and their ability to do that
was critical in the game.”
After Milton’s stop, Harbaugh
lowered his mask, screaming at
the field judge to bring out the
chains and double-check his spot.
The official complied, proving
that, once again, Michigan had
come up short.
The same rang true again
moments later on the defensive
side. This time, Harbaugh had no
fire left in him. All he could do
was yell out one word and look
up at the south scoreboard for a
replay. What he said was obscured
by his mask and fake crowd noise,
but it takes no great leap of faith
to assume it may have been four
letters.
“I’m very competitive and want
to win,” Harbaugh said. “And hate
losing.”
This
year,
that’s
happened
far too often for his liking. On
Saturday, it happened against a
winless team, seven days after
a win that seemed to reverse
momentum.
So
after
the
game,
when
Harbaugh was asked to sum up his
team’s mood, he could only offer
up one word.
“Disappointing.”
Yet again.
THEO MACKIE
Managing Sports Editor
PLEASE
CLAP
Frustrations mount for Harbaugh’s team
in loss to previously winless Penn State
When Cade McNamara led a
17-point comeback against Rutgers
last week, it appeared the Michigan
football team had found its answer at
quarterback.
After an underwhelming two-
week stretch for junior quarterback
Joe
Milton,
McNamara
did
everything
necessary
to
secure
the Wolverines’ starting job, and
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh gave
it to him against a winless Penn State
team on Saturday. But in a 27-17 loss
to the Nittany Lions, the Wolverines
were doomed by erratic play from
both Milton and McNamara.
Throughout the game, Michigan’s
quarterbacks failed to capitalize
on the team’s performance on the
ground. The Wolverines racked up
108 rushing yards in the first half
alone, which should’ve set their
passing game up for success.
“It makes the (offensive) line
not play harder, but play with more
confidence maybe,” senior offensive
lineman Andrew Stueber said. “…
The defense starts getting more
worried about the run game so they
start bringing down some safeties, so
it kind of just opened up the offense
as a whole.”
But
the
opposite
was
true.
Michigan was reluctant to throw
the ball downfield for much of
the afternoon, leaving much to be
desired. A good portion of that can
be attributed to the shot McNamara
took on the team’s second possession,
which sent him to the locker room
with a shoulder injury and forced
Milton onto the field.
The same accuracy struggles that
sent Milton to the bench against
the Scarlet Knights and Wisconsin
continued on Saturday. After a
21-yard completion on his first
attempt, Milton’s next two throws
were way off the mark. One sailed
over a receiver’s head, while the
other bounced a few yards in front of
his target.
Harbaugh
turned
back
to
McNamara
after
two
Milton-
led series resulted in zero points.
McNamara completed his first four
passes on the Wolverines’ opening
drive prior to the injury, but when
he returned from the locker room,
the effects of his shoulder pain were
clear.
He completed only one pass longer
than 15 yards in the second half.
Without the gunslinger mentality
that powered Michigan past Rutgers,
he struggled to put together scoring
drives. He finished 12-of-25 passing
with just 91 yards and no touchdowns
— a far cry from his performance last
week, when he completed 27-of-36
passes for 260 yards and accounted
for five total touchdowns.
As
the
game
progressed,
McNamara’s
shoulder
worsened.
When the Wolverines needed a
score to make it a one-possession
game
with
eight
minutes
left,
McNamara opened the drive with
five
consecutive
incompletions.
Sandwiched between them was
a strip sack, though a penalty
prevented
the
turnover
from
standing.
By the midway point of the fourth
quarter, Harbaugh had seen enough.
He opted to roll with Milton in the
game’s final minutes.
“Cade, really gutty performance to
come back, but the shoulder did start
to tighten up,” Harbaugh said. “I
could see it. He was doing everything
he could to stay in the game, but I just
felt like that was tightening up and
causing (pain). I felt like going to Joe
was the best option for us. I can tell
you this: Cade was doing everything
he possibly could to rally the team
and to play on when (his shoulder)
was tightening up on him. That was
the reason.”
But by then, it didn’t matter who
was under center. The Wolverines
had
already
proved
themselves
incapable of taking advantage of
run-game success to stretch the
field vertically. Playcalling became
predictable, and a comeback wasn’t
in the cards for an offense juggling
an injured quarterback and an
inaccurate one.
A week after it seemed Michigan
had solved its quarterback woes,
Saturday left the team with more
questions than answers at the
position.