Defense / ST notes: Ducks start fast, Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel gives Michigan fits

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football knew it had a challenge ahead of it with No. 1 Oregon in town. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel entered his 59th career game with the highest completion percentage in the country, and the Ducks’ high-flying offense was averaging 35 points per contest, the third-most in the Big Ten.

The Maize and Blue started on their heels in the first half, and Oregon was firing on all cylinders in the 38-17 win at The Big House. The Ducks scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions, totaling 304 yards, including 217 through the air.

The first score was controversial, though, with replay showing the third-down catch by wideout Evan Stewart in the end zone wasn’t completed but the refs not stopping the game for a review.

At halftime, Gabriel was 16-of-22 passing with a touchdown. The Ducks finished off three other drives with rushing scores — including a 23-yarder on a scramble by Gabriel with little time remaining in the second stanza. The 6-0, 200-pounder was hard to contain.

“I’d say just being prepared for their loose plays,” Michigan graduate safety Wesley Walker said of how the Wolverines could’ve been better in the first half. “They run a lot of quick game and quick screens and stuff, and we didn’t do a really good job of just downing it right away. We let them get some extra yards that they probably shouldn’t have got.”

“You really just gotta give him and his O-line credit,” junior EDGE Derrick Moore said of Gabriel. “They did a good job taking certain guys out of their rush lanes and things like that. At times, I felt like they wanted to take [Michigan junior defensive tackle] Mason [Graham] out of the game in the first half.

“I felt like he did a good job finding lanes and making a play when his team needed it. As a D-line, we gotta find ways to keep a quarterback like him in the pocket more.”

Michigan was without both of its starting cornerbacks — junior Will Johnson and sophomore Jyaire Hill — which didn’t help the cause. Graduate Aamir Hall and junior Zeke Berry, typically the team’s starting nickel back, opened the game on the outside. Graduate Makari Paige, a starting safety, slid down to nickel. Walker, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound Tennessee transfer who had been a backup all season, earned his first start in a winged helmet.

“I was really proud of him, really proud of Aamir,” head coach Sherrone Moore said of Berry and Hall at cornerback. “[Hall] had some plays he wanted to get back, but it thought overall those guys fought their tails off for being not the starters.

“Will Johnson is the best corner in the country. Not having the best corner in the county is always going to be different, and a challenge. But I thought those guys fought.”

Michigan did turn around its fortunes and made it a game in the second half. The Wolverines started the third quarter by forcing a three-and-out and had another before an illegal formation penalty on a punt formation (rarely called on a defense) extended the drive, which ended in a field goal.

After halftime, Gabriel was 6-of-12 passing for 77 yards. The Ducks scored 10 points in the second half — 3 on the drive extended by penalty on 7 at the end when they could’ve kneeled the clock out.

“It was awesome to watch those guys in the second half … the energy, the excitement they brought,” Sherrone Moore noted. “But we’ve got to start that way.”

“First half, it didn’t go the way that we wanted, and we also let them get too many yards on us and things like that,” Derrick Moore said. “I think in the second half we ended up coming together and fixing that problem.”

Michigan forces and recovers fumble, but special teams penalty looms large

The aforementioned penalty on the punt formation, called because sophomore defensive tackle Trey Pierce lined up directly over the long snapper, was consequential.

Michigan had forced a three-and-out, scored a touchdown and got the defense off the field again. The momentum was in the Wolverines’ favor, down 11 points (28-17), but Oregon keeping the ball, chewing more clock and marching down for a field goal was a big pivot point.

“Just a different formation we had to adjust to seeing it,” Sherrone Moore said of Pierce lining up in the wrong spot. “We’ve just got to do a better job executing on the field.

“The momentum was huge. It was another three and out, huge for our defense to have that confidence to go in there. You’re going back … you just scored, and then go down and you’ve got a chance to go three an out and score again. 

“I thought the defense stood tall again. They held them to a field goal. Just continue to fight and get better. It was a pivotal point in the game, and momentum could have swung the other way, for sure.”

Michigan did get a big special teams play early. The Wolverines’ offense hadn’t picked up a first down and punted for the second time, before senior wide receiver Joe Taylor forced a fumble on Ryan Pellum — who was replacing usual return man Tez Johnson, who went down with an injury in the first quarter — that U-M graduate wide receiver C.J. Charleston recovered. Five plays later, Michigan scored a touchdown to get on the board and tie the game at 7-7.

Miscellaneous Michigan football defense / special teams notes

• Oregon scored 30-plus points for the eighth straight game.

• Michigan had 3 tackles for loss — 1 by Derrick Moore, 1 by freshman safety Mason Curtis and 1 by Graham.

• Neither team had a sack in the game. The Wolverines entered Saturday with 21 sacks (2.6 per game), ranking tied 24th in the nation. Michigan had a sack in six-straight games until facing the Ducks. The previous game without one was a 31-12 loss to Texas Sept. 7.

• Oregon averaged 4.8 yards per rush, the second-most the Wolverines have allowed in a game this season. The most was Illinois (4.9). Only four opponents have gained 4-plus yards per carry on Michigan — Oregon, Illinois, USC (4.6) and Texas (4.5).

• Oregon had 6 passing plays of 15-plus yards, including 3 of 38-plus yards. The Ducks saw 188 of their 294 passing yards come on the 6 plays of 15-plus.

• Gabriel has passed for 290-plus yards in all but one game this season (UCLA, 278). He had 294 versus Michigan, completing 22 of his 34 attempts. The Wolverines held him to a 64.7 completion percentage — much lower than his 76.2 season-long mark.

• Oregon running back Jordan James rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. His 117 rushing yards are the second-most he’s had in a game this season, trailing the 166 he put up against Michigan State.

• Michigan junior linebacker Ernest Hausmann posed 10 tackles — marking his second career game with a career-high 10 stops. He’s had 9 or more tackles in four consecutive outings.