The Wolverine Now

"It was great to play back at home, first and foremost," Michigan head coach Brady Hoke said. "It's great to win the football game. We needed to come back and move forward, and it's always better to move with a win." The Wolverines moved out quickly, hit a snag and kept on chugging in this one. That represented some in-game progress over times in the past they've let beatable oppo- nents hang around, players noted. "They got some confidence, and they gave us their best shot, like any other team is going to," Gardner said. "When they come to play Michigan, they're going to give us their best shot." In the end, they got shot down, as expect- ed. It just wasn't as rapid fire as anticipated. Junior wide receiver Dennis Norfleet set the table from the opening kickoff, bring- ing it back 42 yards to the 50. Eight plays later — including an 11-yard grab by soph- omore wideout Da'Mario Jones, the first of his career — senior placekicker Matt Wile drilled a 29-yard field goal, putting Michi- gan up, 3-0. Immediately exorcising ghosts of a week earlier, sophomore cornerback Jour- dan Lewis played perfectly a deep out, picking off Miami quarterback Andrew Hendrix (12-of-26, 165 yards, one TD) at the Miami 37. "It was a great play," Lewis said. "We were in cover four, and I just saw the quar- terback eyeing his man. I saw he was com- ing my way." Five plays later, Gardner gunned a 17- yard strike on a slant to redshirt soph- omore Amara Darboh, who sprinted, stretched and literally touched down his first career TD, making it 10-0 at 7:00 of the first quarter. "It was exciting," Darboh noted. "We needed some points … The corner was pressing, so I needed to get him off his feet. I knew I had time. Devin threw a nice ball to me." Any Miami thoughts of a miraculous end to its 18-game losing streak seeming- ly had evaporated. Then came the not-so- fast stretch. A lost fumble by Darboh deep in Mi- ami territory temporarily blunted the rout, but with the RedHawks more than a few notches below the bald eagle assisting in the flyover before the game, it appeared just a matter of time. But not before an- other U-M turnover — a Gardner tipped bullet thrown into the waiting hands of Miami cornerback Quinten Rollins — set up a gift three points. Rollins picked the ball off at the Michi- gan 35, leading to a 26-yard field goal with 9:14 left in the half. Michigan needed to respond, to keep it a nice, sunny, unevent- ful afternoon at The Big House. Instead, yet another Michigan give- away set up a tie game. This time, redshirt freshman running back Wyatt Shallman 34 10

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