U-M Pushes Back Against Feisty SMU, 45-20
SMU’s Mustangs came into Michigan Stadium at 0-2, but they were determined to kick the home team’s shins before going 0-3.
They did that. Then the Wolverines clawed back, overcoming a pointless opening quarter and 13 penalties for 137 lost yards in a 45-20 takedown. Junior quarterback Shea Patterson went a highly efficient 14-of-18 passing (77.8 percent) for 237 yards and three touchdowns, all to sophomore wideout Donovan Peoples Jones (four catches, 90 yards) in helping U-M pull away.
Patterson also hit redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry four times for 95 yards, while junior tailback Chris Evans — extending his time in the absence of nicked-up senior Karan Higdon — rushed 18 times for 85 yards.
U-M got a bit of a scare at times, but pushed back, which Gentry saw as a positive.
“We were pretty aggressive with our play calling, which I think was good,” Gentry said. “We want to be a team that can attack downfield and hit the run plays. We responded well when the game got close, and we were able to finish it off.”
Patterson insisted those around him made it easy to rise to the challenge and enjoy a big day throwing the football.
“It’s trusting and believing in this offense, and going through my progressions every play,” he said. “We’ve got an O-line that’s really come together and is giving me time back there. There’s no reason I can’t complete almost every pass.”
He almost did, although his team gave little hint early of the explosion to come.
Michigan went nearly 23 scoreless minutes early, thwarted by a Patterson interception near the SMU goal, along with various other stalls. But the Mustangs were playing along, tallying all of 50 yards in those same opening moments.
The Wolverines made good on their second deep foray into SMU territory, sophomore fullback Ben Mason crashing through on fourth-and-goal from the 1. The score capped an 11-play, 57-yard drive highlighted by Patterson’s dodge against heavy pressure to hit Gentry for 24 yards on a key third-down play.
“Zach’s also a very special player, 6-7, 6-8,” Patterson said. “Even when he’s got a guy on him, you’re just putting it high for him to go up and grab it. That helps. He’s a huge aspect in this offense.”
When Mason finally smashed down the gate with 6:56 left in the half, it looked like Michigan’s expected rout might begin, albeit delayed. But the Mustangs decided they came north for more than a check and checking out The Big House.
They took advantage of a blown coverage by Michigan to tie the score 1:40 later. Quarterback Ben Hicks (7-of-16 passing, 113 yards) fired down the eastern sideline to a lonely James Proche (11 catches, 166 yards, two TDs), SMU’s lightning strike covering 50 yards and chilling Michigan’s crowd of 110,549 on a steamy afternoon.
The score appeared to wake up the Wolverines, who proceeded to pile up more points in the final 2:34 of the half than they had the opening 27:26.
Michigan immediately answered back on a five-play, 60-yard scoring drive. Patterson gunned a 35-yard touchdown pass to Peoples-Jones, who raced in to make it 14-7.
“He’s a freak athlete,” Patterson said of Peoples-Jones. “I don’t think there’s anything he can’t do. He's very smart, very fast and very football savvy as well. I know if I throw it, I’ve just got to put it up in his vicinity. There’s a lot of trust in him.”
SMU scrambled back in an attempt to retie the game before the half. Junior safety Josh Metellus then committed a pass interference penalty, giving the Mustangs a first down at the U-M 36.
Metellus made up for it, and then some. He timed up a Hicks heave to the eastern sideline, slashed in for the pickoff and rambled back 73 yards for the touchdown. The third-year Wolverine followed interference by redshirt sophomore linebacker Devin Gil, true freshman defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Michael Dwumfour and a host of others to rumble to the end zone.
His stunner of a turnaround made it 21-7 as time expired in the half, giving the Wolverines some breathing room in a tougher-than-expected opening 30 minutes.
“It was a big momentum change,” Metellus said. “We were going into half, 14-7 — that’s a close game. Putting seven on the board when there was no time left on the clock gave us good momentum going into the second half.”
The Patterson-Gentry connection proved lethal again to open the second half. U-M’s quarterback dumped off an 11-yard completion to the lanky tight end after avoiding heavy pressure, moving the sticks on third-and five in his own territory.
Patterson then fired a 28-yard strike to Gentry, a play before he tossed a seven-yard TD to Peoples-Jones. The back-shoulder laser made it 28-7, and it appeared the Mustangs didn’t have the horses to stay with Michigan for the long haul.
“That’s something we work on pretty often,” Patterson said. “The whole fall camp, after our practices, we’d get about 10-15 back-shoulder and regular fade routes, just to get our chemistry and timing down. He did a good job of turning around for that.”
SMU did answer with a bizarre, 16-play, 87-yard touchdown drive. A pair of pass interference calls prolonged the drive, including one on a pass thrown five yards out of bounds. Officials flagged junior viper Khaleke Hudson for targeting along the way, making it two Wolverines tossed in three games on that call.
Quarterback William Brown (11-of-17 passng, 82 yards, two TDs) got the Mustangs into the end zone on a rolling-out, two-yard toss to tight end Ryan Becker. A missed extra point kept it at 28-13, with 1:36 left in the third quarter.
Two plays and 13 seconds later, the Wolverines regained the six and made their point.
Sophomore linebacker Josh Ross covered an attempted onside kick at the SMU 47. Patterson then lofted a perfectly thrown bomb to an in-stride Peoples-Jones, his third TD catch keeping the Wolverines in command, 35-13, at the 1:23 mark. The grab matched Peoples-Jones in the game with Michigan’s total number of TD catches by wide receivers for the entire 2017 campaign.
“That’s a great statistic, but I’m more happy about the win and how our team fought today,” Peoples-Jones said.
The Mustangs refused to go away, going 80 yards on a dozen plays for a touchdown to claw back to 35-20. Brown, who kept the drive alive with a 25-yard scramble, connected on a two-yard rollout to Proche for the touchdown, keeping SMU’s hopes alive with 10:43 remaining.
Redshirt sophomore placekicker Quinn Nordin answered with a 45-yard field goal at 8:03, boosting the margin back to 18. Junior running back Tru Wilson (11 carries, 53 yards) burst up the middle for a nine-yard TD to finish out the scoring with 1:05 left, posting his first career TD.
The win pushed Michigan through the non-conference slate at 2-1, with the Big Ten opener right around the corner — a fact not lost on head coach Jim Harbaugh.
“They’re big games,” he said. “They really almost count as two. What you do and what they do, one game almost counts as two. I think our guys are excited about it, I know I am. I’m looking forward to getting a great week of preparation in in practice.”
Five Best Players Of The Game
1. Junior quarterback Shea Patterson: When your QB completes better than 75 percent of his passes and tosses three TDs, it’s likely going to be a good day. Patterson noted he got “greedy” on a picked-off throw at the goal line, or he might have wound up with an even more sterling afternoon.
2. Sophomore wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones: Peoples-Jones' three touchdown receptions matched, in one afternoon, Michigan’s wideout TD production for 2017, so he was doing something right. He’s getting into a nice rhythm with Patterson, connecting on different types of throws and gaining the QB’s confidence.
3. SMU wideout James Proche: The Wolverines just couldn't contain Proche for much of the afternoon. His 11 catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns proved a constant thorn in Michigan’s side.
4. Junior safety Josh Metellus: Metellus made the play that put Michigan in charge, picking off a pass on a drive by SMU that could have tied the game at the end of the first half. Instead, it went back 73 yards the other way, putting the Wolverines up 21-7 and leaving them ready to run away in the final 30 minutes.
5. Junior tailback Chris Evans: With senior tailback Karan Higdon sidelined by injury, Evans and junior runner Tru Wilson had to carry the load — and did, combining for 138 yards on the ground.
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