Team 137 - Game 9 - Michigan vs. Maryland
/Team 137 continued the campaign last weekend with a road victory in East Lansing, and Paul Bunyan returned to Ann Arbor, to its rightful resting place in between the annual in-state gridiron competition. And with Sparty in the rear-view mirror, Big Blue finds itself in the home stretch. A couple of puff pastries combined with a tough road game in Iowa City, and Michigan should find itself undefeated heading to The Horseshoe for the much-anticipated Harbaugh/Meyer Round II.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as there’s still quite a bit of football left to play. I know, the first College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday and Michigan came in at #3 (behind Alabama and Clemson), and that means people start their yabbin’ again about post-season activity. Yes, Texas A&M snuck into the top 4, which brought its own share of controversy to the discussion, but we just need to remember that this “list” will come out every Tuesday for the remainder of the season, and a lot can and will change between now and then. Let’s let playoff talk be just that – talk – for the time being, and let’s focus on the task at hand each and every week … effective execution will lead us to the promised land.
Remaining in the present, Week #9 is here, which means the University of Maryland Terrapins visit the Big House to play the role of Team 137’s latest victim. Let’s recap Sparty and set the table for the Terps, as things are heating up in college-football land, and Blue Nation is ready for the final lap.
In 2007, as part of the pre-game “dialogue,” Michigan RB Mike Hart jokingly referred to Michigan State as “little brother,” a slight that inspired Sparty to reel off 7 victories in the next 8 meetings between the teams. Ouch.
But anyone with a younger sibling knows that sometimes they need to be put in their place. Like when little bro’ inappropriately tries to hang with the big kids, or acts out in a way that makes him look out of his league. That’s when you go into his/her room and open up one of them cans of whoop ass … the kind that hurts … the kind that returns appropriately hierarchical equilibrium to the family dynamic.
That’s exactly what happened last weekend in East Lansing … Big Bro Blue put hand to ass and returned the Great Thumb State to a sense of “normalcy.” And hot damn it felt good! Now, while it wasn’t as dominating a performance as we would have liked against a team that clearly has struggled to reach mediocrity this season, a road victory against MSU is never something to take for granted. Thank you, Team 137 … from Mike Hart … from all of Blue Nation.
Big Blue is 8-0 (5-0 in the Big Ten), and Team 137 now finds itself in the home stretch before The Game on November 26th in Columbus. Harbaugh and company scored every time they touched the ball in the first half, holding off a strong Spartan start. And while the second half wasn’t the Maize and Blue’s best football of the season, the boys held tough together and stuck it out for W #8 – UM 32 MSU 23. Let’s break it down.
The Michigan Offense
The Big Blue O put up 436 yards of total offense (244 through the air and 192 on the ground) and it was more of the same for UM OC Timmy Drevno and his gang. QB Wilton Speight went 16-25 for 244 yards and one INT, another mediocre performance that got the job done mostly mistake-free but didn’t impress anyone outside of East Lansing.
Running-back-by-committee got us over the 100-yard threshold, with McDoom (53 yards), Higdon (44 yards) and Smith (38 yards and 2 TDs) all contributing meaningfully. And #5 added another 22 yards on the ground, including a TD scamper that looked more like a Yab-a-dab-a-doo than a Saturday-afternoon play by a college safety.
Speaking of #5, according to ESPN Stats and Information, this is how Jabrill Peppers spent his day by positional play count: 42 plays at LB, 12 plays at CB, 9 plays at Nickleback, 6 plays at QB in the Wildcat (my personal favorite), 1 play at Safety, 1 play at Halfback and 1 play at WR. And oh yeah, he returned a kick and a punt, just to keep himself warm during breaks in the action. He’s making his way up the Heisman-contender list, and last weekend’s performance shows why. Moreover, Jabrill was clocked at a 3.7 40-yard-dash time during his fumble-return-for-a-two-point-conversion … I know, he had a running start and so it’s not the same as the NFL combine, but damn this kid can boogie!
As for the receiving corps, it was a career day for Amara Darboh, whose 8 catches were one shy of his lifetime best and whose 165 receiving yards bested his career high and counted as the highest total for a Michigan receiver against Michigan State since Braylon Edwards’ 7 grabs for 103 yards and 2 scores in 2003. #82’s performance kicked him up a notch when it comes to the list of top college wide outs.
The Michigan Defense
The Michigan D gave up 401 yards of total offense, which was the most yardage this unit has surrendered this season (topping the 331 given up to Central Florida in Week #2). But 231 of those yards came in the fourth quarter ... not an excuse, just an observation.
MSU QB Tyler O’Connor went 7-14 for 84 yards, a TD and one pick, as UM DC Don Brown’s unit was effective but not dominating. MSU inserted redshirt freshman QB Brian Lewerke in the fourth quarter, which gave Sparty a boost and put the Green Machine into striking distance … that is, until Big Boy #5 Jabrill Peppers offered a signature sack on fourth down inside the Big Blue red zone.
Delano Hill notched 11 tackles, with Mike McCray adding 8 and Jabrill another 7 (including a key fourth-down 8-yard sack) for the Wolverines defensive unit. This unit will be able to coast for another couple of weeks, but it better have its shit together by the time the Khaki Bus departs for the shit-swamp otherwise known as Columbus.
Michigan v. Maryland – The Preview
Maryland enters the game 5-3 (2-3 Big Ten) after impressive wins against Howard, FIU, UCF, Purdue, and Michigan State, and losses to Penn State, Minnesota and Indiana. And we’ll see a familiar face on the opposing sideline this weekend as former UM Defensive Coordinator, D.J. Durkin, leads the Terps out of the tunnel as the new Head Coach in College Park.
Terrapin QB Perry Hills has thrown for 1,070 yards and 10 TDs this season with just 3 picks … fairly efficient for a no-name from crab-ville. RBs Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison carry the load in the backfield, with D.J. Moore and Teldrick Morgan handling wide-out responsibilities … yeah, don’t worry, as you haven’t heard of any of these guys, and there’s a reason for that.
This is just the 6th meeting between Michigan and Maryland. The series dates back to 1985, when Michigan beat the Terps 20-0 in a game in which Jim Harbaugh went 16-20 for 196 yards and 2 TDs and also rushed for 32 yards for the Maize and Blue.
Last year’s battle saw Michigan beat Maryland 28-0 in College Park, MD … this weekend won’t be that close.
But before closing, what self-respecting sports fan could ignore the sheer history-making effort that saw the Chicago Cubs Fly the Ultimate W after an extra-innings 8-7 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series? After 108 long and suffering years, the Cubs did it, and the party is on … particularly for some deserving old folk!
At a time when most people are focused on The Shit-Filled Cornucopia That Just Keeps on Giving 2016 and are glued to the incessant rhetoric our ‘round-the-clock news cycle provides, it was truly something to behold to see the masses in America take an evening to watch a baseball game. The game itself was nothing short of exhilarating, as the Indians clawed back from a 5-1 deficit, scoring 3 runs in the 8th, to send the game to extra innings … and it was filled with drama and the best-damn-baseball-coverage team in the business in Joe Buck and John Smoltz dissecting it for us pitch by pitch. And then, after a rain delay seemingly sent by the Ghost of Harry Caray that had been resurrected from a seance conducted by Steve Bartman, the Cubs regrouped and scored two runs in the top of the 10th, ultimately edging the Indians 8-7 to claim the title of World Series Champs.
The celebration in Wrigleyville was epic … a people united, never having lost hope, returning to the top of the podium after an historic drought. You can’t help but smile. Moreover, what’s better in sports than a drunk Bill Murray interviewing a drunk Theo Epstein? Choruses of Steve Goodman’s Go, Cubs, Go will ring through Chicago’s North Side for some time to come, as Goodmans’ Dying Cub Fans Last Request is more meaningful now than ever – no, that’s not an SNL skit mocking the Chicago accent, but might as well be … so good. Party like it’s 1908, Chicago … it’s well-deserved and long overdue.
Back on the gridiron, we do have that game this weekend in Ann Arbor, and I imagine there will be more than a few Cubs’ fans in the audience. Michigan football is cruising, and the train continues this week as the journey towards Columbus rolls on.
The early prediction is now in … Michigan 48 – Maryland 7.
Go Blue!