ANN ARBOR, Mich. — This past Saturday, Michigan football knew it was going to be tested. And tested it was, with the high-flying Maryland offense coming to town and stressing the defense.
Through Week 3, Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa was the ninth-rated QB according to PFF, and the Terps had the 27th-best receiving grade entering Week 4. Thus, the Wolverine secondary was going to have to really step up to the plate when it came to defending the upstart Terrapins.
Michigan ended up seeing two quarterbacks, with Billy Edwards Jr. coming in on the final drive, but it held Tagovailoa to his own season low in passing, with 207 yards. Since Maryland passed more in the Michigan game overall, it’s impressive that the maize and blue held the Terps to their lowest yards per attempt of the season at 6.9. The lowest previously was 8.5 in Week 1 against Buffalo.
When it came to facing one of the tougher offenses in the Big Ten, Michigan safety R.J. Moten described the challenges that the Wolverines faced.
“The quarterback, probably one of the most elusive quarterbacks, and being able to control him in the pocket was one of our big focuses this week,” Moten said. “And, someone like the receiving corps probably was one of the best receiving corps we’ll see this year. Basically when they click it was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ But when they didn’t click, we had to capitalize on the mistakes.”
That said, it wasn’t perfect. Michigan found several things it needs to clean up before it faces another high-caliber attack through the air.
“It was definitely a good passing offense for sure,” senior cornerback DJ Turner said. “I do feel that’s one of the best we’ll see, with little Tua at quarterback. And then I feel like we did a good, held our own. A couple of things we can definitely sharpen up on but I felt we did good.”
Both Moten and Turner each had an interception in the game, and for Turner, it was his second takeaway of the year. He previously scooped up a fumble in Week 1 against Colorado State and returned it for a touchdown.
But what do the Wolverines have to do in order to stymy upcoming offenses that are proficient through the air?
Maryland, as a team, is now ranked fifth in that regard, and the Wolverines still have Ohio State (12th), Illinois (18th), Nebraska (19th), and Penn State (44th) on the schedule.
“Just pursuing, practicing pursuing, practicing wrapping up, practicing just gaining ground on open field tackling,” Turner said. “Just certain drills you can do throughout the week to prepare you more than you might not have last week.”
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