The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/230001
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL to 1947. Among the 14 five-touchdown games, only four have been achieved with a QB rushing for only a single TD: Gardner versus Ohio State and Notre Dame this past fall, Robinson against Notre Dame in 2011 and Smith against Purdue in 1983. Meanwhile, with his 451-yard performance against Ohio State, and a 503-yard effort versus Indiana Oct. 19, Gardner became just the sixth quarterback in Big Ten history to have 500- and 400-yard passing performances in the same season. He joins Illinois' Dave Wilson (621 and 425 yards in 1980), Iowa's Chuck Hartlieb (558 and 428 yards in 1988), Purdue's Drew Brees (522 and 494 yards in 1998; and 509 and 405 yards in 1999), Nebraska's Joe Ganz (510, 484 and 405 yards in 2007) and Northwestern's C.J. Bacher (520 and 470 yards in 2007). An additional seven quarterbacks have had a pair of 400-yard efforts in the same season (including Brees). No signal-caller has ever accomplished the feat playing for Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, Ohio State and Wisconsin. And no one had done so at Michigan either before Gardner, who is the first QB in school history with even a single 400-yard game. JAKE RYAN SEES WHERE HE WANTS U-M TO GO Redshirt junior linebacker and Michigan captain Jake Ryan watched the Big Ten championship game, start to finish. It wasn't easy, given the fact that the title tilt involved Ohio State and Michigan State, but it carried an important motivational spur. "It just kind of gives you an inspiration," Ryan noted. "That's where we want to be next year. That's our goal, every single year." That's why, Ryan insisted, even while the Wolverines are fully focused on winning their bowl game to send the seniors off properly, there is plenty of attention on the younger performers in bowl practice. "I keep our guys' heads where they need to be," Ryan noted. "If they do something wrong, I correct them. Especially the younger guys … sometimes they don't know, and you've got to help them out. It's always for Team 135, too." Michigan's Team 135 loses only Cam Gordon from among the linebackers, and returning so many experienced performers will be significant, the captain pointed out. "I think that's huge," Ryan said. "Everyone — Des [Desmond Morgan], Biggs [James Ross III], Joe Bolden … it's a solid group of linebackers, and they did amazing this year. Having them back is going to be huge next year." Ryan cautioned, though, that his main focus remains Dec. 28. Michigan's issues with the run game against Ohio State provided more than enough motivation to get the run defense shored up in bowl practices. Beyond that, there's plenty of