No. 15 Michigan returns home for clash with Maryland
The road wasn’t kind to the Michigan Wolverines in September. Thankfully for the Wolverines they only have to leave Ann Arbor three more times the rest of the regular season and not again for another few weeks.
A two-game homestand begins Saturday afternoon when 15th-ranked Michigan (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) hosts Maryland (3-1, 1-0).
The Wolverines slipped a spot in the Associated Press rankings despite winning 21-17 at Northwestern last week, likely because it required them to rally from a 17-0 deficit early in the first quarter. Michigan scored the game’s final 21 points, going ahead with 4:06 left in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Karan Higdon.
“I thought the entire team, they were willing to do what it took to win,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday at his weekly press conference.
It was Michigan’s largest comeback in three-plus seasons under Harbaugh but not the largest of his coaching career, he said. The early hole was similar to the season-opening 24-17 loss at Notre Dame when the Wolverines fell behind 14-0 after less than eight minutes and trailed 21-3 before starting to get things together.
Harbaugh said his team’s response and turnaround was much quicker than the last road game, noting that Northwestern “outplayed us in the first quarter and I felt like our team responded in the next three.”
The home games to this point have been far less stressful, Michigan beating Western Michigan, SMU and Nebraska by an average of 39 points while never trailing. It should expect a much tougher challenge from a Maryland team that opened the season with a 34-29 win over Texas and crushed Minnesota 42-13 in its conference opener on Sept. 22.
The Terrapins, who are coming off a bye, allow 2.67 yards per carry and 104 rushing yards per game. Michigan averages 5.24 and 205.6, respectively, and since the Notre Dame game have produced at least 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns each contest.
A win Saturday would give Michigan its second 3-0 start in Big Ten play in the last three seasons. In 2016 the Wolverines won their first six conference games before falling 14-13 at Iowa.