While both defenses played up to their billing, Michigan’s sputtering offense took advantage of just enough opportunities to hold off an upset bid by Miami University 16-6 Saturday at the Michigan Stadium.
“When you play a good defensive team, which Michigan is …, you’ve got to take advantage of your opportunities. We just didn’t do that,” said Miami coach Shane Montgomery while noting his players were disappointed that they couldn’t leave Ann Arbor with the first Miami win against Michigan.
New Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez, who earned his first win in blue and gold, saw his team convert just 2 of 11 third down opportunities on the day. One of those, however, was 27-yard pass from sophomore Nick Sheridan to Sam McGuffie. That third-and-four pass kept alive a seven-play, 87-yard drive that ended on the next play with a 15-yard run to pay dirt by Brandon Minor.
Although the kick failed, Minor’s only carry of the day pushed Michigan’s lead to 16-6 with 8:12 remaining, and the hosts all but salted the victory away after knocking RedHawk quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh out of the game during a scramble several plays later.
Raudebaugh was instrumental in what offense the visitors could generate on a sunny Saturday. He completed 20-of-33 for 191 yards with no interceptions. “I thought he played really well today,” Montgomery said. “I thought he made better reads today and handled himself a little bit better under pressure .… There were a couple plays where he threw the ball in there, and we’ve got to hang onto it. We did have some drops today.”
According to Montgomery, miscues here and there are undermining some outstanding efforts against good teams.
“There is such a fine line (between winning and losing), “ Montgomery said. “Even though you play 150-200 plays in a game, there are always just a handful of plays that make the difference. Today it might have been the dropped balls. If we catch two or three of those dropped balls, that might be the difference in the game. Last week (against Vanderbilt), it was five big plays.”
Especially after the first series, Miami was able to avoid giving up the type of long gains that proved so costly against Vanderbilt in the opener. None of the RedHawks, however, were able to cross the goal line for a score. Nate Parseghian’s field goals (27-yards and 23-yards) accounted for all the Miami scoring.
Michigan, meanwhile, initially looked like it would score at will. Starting quarterback Steven Threet connected with Martavius Odoms on a 50-yard pass play on the Wolverines first play from scrimmage. Four plays later, Threet, who shared signal-calling duties with Sheridan, ran up the middle for nine yards and a touchdown. K.C. Lopata converted the extra point.
Miami put the ball right back in Michigan’s hands two plays later when Ezeh Obi fell on a Miami fumble during the snap. The RedHawks defense, however, stiffened and allowed Michigan just five yards before Lopata kicked a 47-yard field goal for a 10-0 Wolveries lead at 8:53 of the first quarter.
Lopata later had a shot at a 41-yarder but missed at 4:11 of the opening period. Having stopped the bleeding, the Miami defense began to assert itself. It forced punts on six of the next seven possessions, with the only exception coming when Michigan held the ball deep in its own territory as the first half ended. Clayton Mullins paced Miami’s defensive effort on the day, getting 10 total tackles, including nine solos. Four of his stops accounted for a minus 21 Wolverine yards.
Miami, which had survived the intial Wolvering blitz, finally made it onto the scoreboard with a Nathan Parseghian 27-yard field goal at 3:58 of the second quarter.
With the RedHawks defense swarming, the visitors forced a punt by Michigan on its first possession of the second half. Raudabaugh was beginning to find his rhythm and connected on four passes for 38 yards to lead his team to the Michigan six-yard line. But when his third-down pass for Chris Givens in the end zone went incomplete, Miami once again had to settle for a Parseghian field goal (23 yards) to close out the 13-play, 60-yard drive.
“I thought Daniel made a great throw to the corner of the end zone when Givens got it stripped from him,” Montgomery said.
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Potter Donovan (86) of Miami is pulled down by Donovan Warren after a completion in the fourth quarter.
Photo courtesy of Mike Smith
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With 6:57 left in the third quarter, it appeared the RedHawks, now down 10-6, had plenty of time to grab a lead. They had stymied the Michigan offense on numerous possessions and were beginning to move the ball on offense. Thomas Merriweather helped take some of the pressure off Radabaugh by picking up 46 of his game total 77 yards in the second half.
Even when they didn’t maintain a drive, RedHawks punter Jake Richardson was able to put the hosts deep in their own territory again and again. He averaged 53.9 yards per punt on the day, with his longest covering 74 yards.
But there were two good defenses on the Wolverines turf, and the blue-clad defenders rose to the occasion. They stopped Miami twice before mounting their own scoring drive that ended with Minor’s 15-yard TD scamper down the left side.
“They stepped up and drove the ball when they needed to (in order) to give themselves a 16-6 lead,” Montgomery said. “Then we had to drop back and throw the ball every down, which is one thing we said coming in we can’t do.”
Michigan turned the pressure up yet another notch after its final touchdown and knocked Raudabaugh out of the contest on Miami’s next series as he was scrambling to keep the drive alive. “He took a pretty good shot,” Montgomery said. “I think he’s going to be alright. We’ll have to check him tomorrow and see how he progresses.”
Raudaubaugh’s replacement, Clay Belton, saw his first Miami game action with Michigan defenders coming at him from all directions. He was sacked twice while completing 3-of-7 for 14 yards.
“That was not the best time to put him in for the first time … with those guys teeing off,” Montgomery said.
Miami turned the ball over on downs on its final two possessions.
Overall, Miami had 16 first downs to Michigan’s 15. The visitors also had a 35:13 to 24:47 time of possession advantage and trailed the Wolverines by 29 yards in total offense. While the hosts were only 2 of 11 on third down conversions,
Miami was 8 of 19.
“I was really proud of our guys today. We knew it was going to be tough coming in here,” Montgomery said. “We were two very similar teams in that we both struggled at times in our first game. I know as a coach and a team, you’re always looking to make great improvements from game one to game two, and I thought we did today, even though the score doesn’t indicate it and we didn’t score as much on offense (as I would have wanted), I really loved the way the guys competed today. After we spotted them that early 10-0 lead, we went toe-to-toe with them.”
Miami, now 0-2, will host Charleston Southern at home Saturday. Michigan, moves to 1-1 on the campaign. The Wolverines travel to Notre Dame this week.
