Michigan 35, Maryland 10 Comment Count

Ace



[Paul Sherman/MGoBlog]

Jim Harbaugh must be so disappointed.

Once upon a time, when Maryland coach DJ Durkin was Harbaugh's young assistant at Stanford, the two locked horns in one of the most competitive games of one-on-one "basketball" on record.

"It took like an hour and a half, and it ended 4-3 or whatever," recalls former Stanford offensive tackle Ben Muth. "Neither of them would call a foul. Someone did in the first five minutes, the other guy made fun of him, so it was on from there.

"It was like that James Caan 'Rollerball' movie, basically a fight to the death."

Today, Durkin called for not one, but two Sad Field Goals on fourth-and-short situations with his team down 28-0. Henry Darnstadster connected from 20 yards on the second, most depressing attempt with 19 seconds left in the third quarter, ensuring Maryland wouldn't be shut out. James Franklin would be proud.

Given (1) Maryland's white flag, (2) an unfortunate series of hopefully minor injuries, and (3) the desire not to put anything on film for Wisconsin and Ohio State, Michigan went into a shell. The offense went run-run-pass or run-screen-run for most of the fourth quarter, resulting in some quick exits. The Terps put together a couple decent drives, even managing to score a touchdown on one. A certain segment of the fanbase found this quite alarming.

Then Chris Evans jumped over a guy, bulled through two tackles on his way to the end zone on the next play, and kicked the Terrapin corpse.

The game was already over, no matter what Glen Mason said. Michigan jumped all over Maryland from the start, establishing the duo of Karan Higdon and Chris Evans early. The two combined for 44 yards on Michigan's second drive before Henry Poggi, playing in his home state, plunged in from two yards for a 7-0 lead. After Brandon Peters broke the pocket and found Higdon for a 35-yard catch-and-run, Evans covered the remaining 16 yards on four rushes, diving in from a yard out to bring the margin to 14.



The defense held Maryland to 3.0 yards per play in the first half. [Sherman]

The Wolverines broke it wide open four plays later, stuffing Jacquille Veii on an ill-advised fake punt in Maryland territory, then striking on the next snap with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Peters to Zach Gentry. Josh Metellus gave the offense great field position once again with a remarkably casual blocked punt on the following Terrapin drive. After a 16-yard Higdon run to set up first-and-goal, Peters found Sean McKeon wide open on a waggle.

Michigan missed an opportunity to extend the blowout even further before the half. Maryland's best drive of the day got them into a goal-to-go situation, but on third down, fourth-string quarterback Ryan Brand—the latest injury replacement at QB for Maryland—panicked under heavy pressure from Rashan Gary and Josh Uche, throwing a duck that David Long plucked out of the air and ran all the way back to the Maryland 20. The offense went three-and-out; for the third straight game, Quinn Nordin missed a kick, this one from only 31 yards out.

Even so, Michigan held a 212-112 edge in yardage at halftime to go with a 28-0 lead. Peters was averaging ten yards per attempt even though Maryland got away with some very physical coverage early. The backs were plugging along at five yards a pop. The defense was the defense.



Evans' late hurdle and subsequent TD made the final score more fitting. [Sherman]

After stopping Maryland, Michigan went three-and-out on their opening drive of the second half. That'd be the last time this game had a whiff of competitiveness, as Durkin elected to try a 43-yard field goal on fourth-and-two with under eight minutes to play in the third quarter. To cut a four-score game to a four-score game. Some pity points for the home crowd. The kicker missed.

From there, little of actual note occurred. There was a successful Sad Field Goal. The Terps scored a touchdown. Evans responded on the next drive with his leap-and-score sequence. In an unfortunate way to prove why Harbaugh shelved most of the playbook in favor of clock-chewing, multiple Wolverines got dinged up; Higdon exited after the first half with a right ankle injury, Long had to put a brace on his left knee, Lavert Hill suffered a concussion, and Rashan Gary walked off favoring his arm. After the game, Harbaugh said "we'll see" about the status of those four players.

Peters kneeled the game out inside the Maryland ten.

The final stats show a Maryland advantage of 340-305 in total yardage. That's a hollow victory for the Terps in a game that got out of hand early and featured several short fields for Michigan—there were only so many available yards to gain in the first half. Don't be fooled: this was a blowout with nearly a full half of garbage time. Durkin certainly treated it that way.

Next week in Madison, Michigan can start emptying out the playbook.

Comments

Ghost of Fritz…

November 11th, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^

we do not have a passing game right now (due to injuries, youth, lack of pocket protection, etc.).

Don't agree that this can't be fixed by the first game of 2018. 

Things change fast in college football.  Most of the ingredients are there.  Just not mature, healthy, and experienced enough yet. 

Navy Wolverine

November 11th, 2017 at 11:33 PM ^

And it would have been 45-10 if Nordin makes a chip shot and they don't take a knee inside the 10 at the end of the game. They really didn't play that poorly. Peters has played three games now without a turnover and looked pretty good at times despite the fact that our WR corps is decimated with injuries. Our record says 8-2 not 4-6. We will be ok - I'm sure Wisconsin feels at least a little nervous about playing us.

UMfan21

November 12th, 2017 at 12:13 AM ^

yep. We are right on pace for 3-4 losses this year as most predicted BEFORE the season and BEFORE all the injuries.

this fan base and constant bitching makes me sick. people use their heads before the season starts, then they drink the kool aid and all of a sudden every loss is the end of the world.

We were not contenders this year. nobody thought we were. quit bitching and enjoy the final two games.

Squash34

November 12th, 2017 at 3:00 AM ^

We could have been contenders we have the talent, it young but there. The thing is,in order to have been a contender as the youngest team in the country you need to catch breaks with lucky bounces that cause turnovers for you or saves you from turnover, need a few good breaks with officiating, need some teams to not play their A+ games, and have very few injury.
If we got lucky with most of these I could see then going 11-1. However I thought if they broke about even with these they would be 9-3 or 10-2, with the worst case being 8-4.
They have been unfortunate in all the "luck" categories, moreso than I thought when I said the floor was 8-4. The have held up we considering.

mgoblue98

November 12th, 2017 at 12:02 AM ^

could happen.  Of course, Wisconsin has Hornibrook at QB.  He is very fond of throwing the ball to the opposing team.  Ohio State has JT Barrett, who is not a very good throwing QB.  The only problem is that it looks like Meyer remembered that Ohio State is a spread to run team, not a spread to pass team.

PeteM

November 11th, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^

I'm happy with another solid win but when Michigan took over up 28-10 I think that a bit of trepidation wasn't totally irrationale.  True the game was likely over regardless but if Michigan had one 3 and out it could have been uncomfortable at the end.

Goggles Paisano

November 12th, 2017 at 6:54 AM ^

It is irrational.  Why would anyone think Maryland could string together another 3 TD drives in the final 9:46 of the 4th qtr?  

Reading thru this thread is comparable to someone pissing in my cherrios.  We beat the ass out of MD yesterday and got very complacent in the 3rd qtr.  It's human nature and occurs to this day every weekend at every level of football, including the NFL.  

Michigan did a lot of really good things yesterday and were in total control of that game before the players got off the bus.  Peters is looking better and made some nice throws yesterday.  He really throws a nice ball.  Did you all take a peek at Hornibrook with his weak arm and his 3 ints yesterday?  They are pretty light on WR's too.  

Michigan handled their business yesterday.  Some of you need to relax and enjoy a solid B1G road win.  The next two weeks will be great challenges but these are both winnable games.  

Wolverdirt

November 11th, 2017 at 8:57 PM ^

I feel like this is the O'Korn thing of the defense.  I know he isn't bad all the time, but he is often unable to shed blocks, cover backs on wheel routes, stuff a play at the line, etc.  In short, I don't understand why he is starting.  Devin Gil isn't any better?  Is this some sort of senior loyalty thing?  Am I misjudging McCray altogether?

I Like Burgers

November 11th, 2017 at 11:19 PM ^

I have sad news for you: Wisconsin's running back is pretty fast.  Jonathan Taylor is a two-time New Jersey 100m champion.  Won last year with a time of 10.64 (Peppers was around a 10.52 guy) and runs a 4.4 40.

Level of competition and all of that, but Taylor is averaging 152 yards a game on 7.2 ypc.  He's the exact kind of player McCray struggles with.

Victor Hale II

November 11th, 2017 at 9:04 PM ^

Regarding your last line, Ace, I doubt we will see any playbook emptying. It seems we’ve been waiting for new and exciting stuff from UM in big games for a few years, and it hasn’t really happened. UW is beatable if the defense does its thing. Avoid penalties and turnovers and stay in the game until the end. Nordin will be needed, methinks.

I Like Burgers

November 11th, 2017 at 11:25 PM ^

I just don't see the playbook being big enough that there's much left to empty.  Given how young and inexperience the offense was to start the season, and the fact that they are on QB No. 3 and have been down the top 3 WRs the last two weeks, have missed the second leading rusher for the last 2 weeks, and have missed their starting RG the last two weeks...that's a whole lot of new bodies that need to get reps with the ones.  Can't imagine there's a ton of time left to be spent on learning new plays when so much time has to be spent learning the basics and the old plays.

ST3

November 11th, 2017 at 9:06 PM ^

His smile after the Gentry TD was awesome. I don't know if he was more happy that his motion frippery worked or that Peters executed the play perfectly. Methinks Jim had a glimpse of the future and he liked it. Winning at least one of the last three games is important to set us up for next season. But who knows, crazy things are happening (Urban's worst loss is followed by Dintonia's) so maybe we win the next two.

Goggles Paisano

November 12th, 2017 at 7:22 AM ^

Good stuff in the postgame presser.  Coach was very pleased with the execution on both sides of the ball.  He said this might have been their best game of the year from that standpoint.  He didn't seem discouraged at all about the brief stint where MD had some success.   

There are a lot of little things done really well that we don't see as fans and yet we have fans that want to discount an ass-kicking and focus only on a few negatives from the game.  

Nordin might get the hook if he misses his next FG attempt.  I'm sure most of us were thinking the same thing yesterday after he missed that 31 yarder.  

Also kind of funny that he thought it was Lavert Hill with the 80 yd int return and not Long.  

Bigly yuge

November 11th, 2017 at 9:12 PM ^

We all want to win!! The passing game has struggled all year but look at the circumstances involved. We have an offensive line that struggles big time protecting the QB. We have a redshirt Freshman QB who made his second start today. We have no experience at the WR spot thanks to injuries. Yet despite these issues, Peters has been good enough that opposing defenses at least have to respect the pass. Peters hasn't thrown an int, and has shown flashes of how good he can be. If our defense plays to its potential we have a real shot next week!!! Keep the faith!! Go blue!!!

Don

November 11th, 2017 at 9:34 PM ^

is hardly uncommon; there were more than a few games like that back in the Schembechler era, where we'd roll out to a big lead by halftime then snooze our way to the end.

However, that doesn't change what I've thought about the next two games since before the season began. I haven't seen anything that proves we can be truly competitive in Madison or at home against a more talented OSU team. Being one-dimensional against either opponent is a recipe for unhappiness, and one-dimensional is more or less what we are. We'll have to play way over our heads to surmount our weaknesses, and doing that minus key players on both sides of the ball, plus having an inconsistent hothead for a kicker, is a tall order.

Shop Smart Sho…

November 11th, 2017 at 10:19 PM ^

If being one dimensional means a team can't be competitive, I'm not sure what you expect to see from Wisconsin.



Against NW, PU, IU, and Iowa, the 4 "decent" defenses they've played this year, these are the combined passing stats.



55/90 757 yards (189 avg) 6 TDs 9 INT



And none of those defenses are anywhere near Michigan's.



It's going to be a bunch of really large men slamming into each other, for little to no gain. Hopefully Nordin finds his mojo.

Don

November 11th, 2017 at 10:29 PM ^

In conference stats, they're percentage points behind OSU for top rushing offense; we're some ways back in third place. 

They also have the top rushing defense in the conference, yielding 30 yds fewer per game than we have. They've also given up just 3 rushing TDs all year, while we've given up 11.

Their passing game, while not exceptional, is still more effective than ours—they've thrown 17 TDs against our measly 8. Hornibrook will never play in the NFL, but currently he's second in the conference in passing efficiency.

They've got 15 interceptions to our 8.

They've given up the second fewest sacks in the conference in 14; we've given up the second-most in 27.

They're first in total defense, and second in total offense. We're second and ninth in those categories.

The only really significant team stats category advantages we have over them is in pass defense efficiency and opponent third down %.

They're just a better team, with a stronger rushing attack, the best RB in the conference, and a defense that's statistically very close to ours.

In terms of being one-dimensional, Wisconsin has a 20+-yr history of pounding out victories with a dominant run game and just enough of a passing game to keep opposing defenses honest; we haven't had anything close to that since the Carr years. 

http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/fb-confldrs.html

 

Shop Smart Sho…

November 11th, 2017 at 11:01 PM ^

And none of what you've said points to a game that is uncompetitive. Especially when you take into consideration that they're missing their best WR, who accounts for 28% of their yards through the air. They only have two other guys with double digit catches, Fumigali and a 5'11" sophomore with 14 catches. 



I wouldn't be surprised to see Michigan roll out a 4-3 variation because they know they don't need 5 DBs.  



I'm not saying Michigan wins this game, but I'll bet you all of your points it is competitive.

Don

November 11th, 2017 at 11:15 PM ^

If the game was in A2 I'd agree with you, but we haven't beaten a ranked team on the road since 2006. We've just sucked for the most part in such games.

I think it will be close at the half, but WI will pull away in the second half to a relatively comfortable double-digit advantage because they stifle our offense and keep putting our D back on the field. Hope I'm wrong—we've gone seemingly forever since we've upset a truly strong team in an important regular season game.

AA Forever

November 12th, 2017 at 8:54 AM ^

the offense slowing down after they get a big lead because the starters get yanked and you're playing 2nd and 3rd stringers for most of the 2nd half.  But that's not what happened yesterday.   Despite claims that this was a blowout all the way, we had to keep our starters in until the very end, and no one here would not have felt nervous if Harbaugh had benched the first string when it was 28-10.

And playing over our heads is a very tall order no matter what the personnel situation.  Harbaugh hasn't had this team doing that in a single game since he's been here.  He has lost all of the games he was supposed to lose, and I don't think the next two weeks are going to be any exception.  

switch26

November 11th, 2017 at 9:37 PM ^

Lol our offense isn't good enough to just play it safe in the 2nd half..

Our guys were busting ass to get first downs they just couldn't because they flat out are an awful offense..

No Playbook will open next week other than trying to not allow peters to die

maize-blue

November 11th, 2017 at 10:41 PM ^

We're going to need Higdon @ Wisconsin. I'm not sure Evans is the guy you want to batter Wisconsin into submission. Hopefully Isaac is back too. They're going to need bodies to hurl at the line.

M-Dog

November 12th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^

It's what we do.

Seriously though, it's because every game is a proxy for the Ohio State game.

If Maryland's 4th string QB completes a desperation pass for 15 yards, then JT Barrett is going to carve up our secondary and throw 5 TDs.

It's not that we are actually concerned with our second half against Maryland, it's that we are concerned what it means.