Blake Corum returns to Big Ten title game, ready to keep Michigan football going in March | football
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A year ago, Michigan leading rusher Blake Corum underwent surgery for a torn ligament in his left knee that he suffered in the final home game of the season. The following week, he attempted two carries against Ohio State but knew he couldn’t continue playing and his season and Heisman Trophy hopes ended.
While his teammates played for a second straight Big Ten championship, Corum was in Los Angeles recovering from surgery and watching from afar. Now, a year later, Corum, the only FBS player to score a touchdown in every game this season, is poised to lead Michigan (12-0) to its third straight conference championship win.
The Wolverines, No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings, will face West Division representative Iowa (10-2) for the title on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. A win secures the Wolverines a spot in the four-team playoffs.
Corum, who scored 22 rushing touchdowns, a new Michigan single-season record, is just three rushing touchdowns away from setting a new program career record. Anthony Thomas (1997-2000) holds the record with 55 rushing touchdowns.
“It was tough. I don’t know if it was tougher missing the Big Ten Championship or if it was tougher being on the sidelines at the TCU game (for the national semifinals),” Corum said this week . “I remember I was just coming out of surgery. I was laying in a hotel bed in California with my dad, just watching the game on a screen. I couldn’t do anything but cheer and think about what I was going through the camera, saw through the television.
“It was very emotional. I really wanted to be there. Everything happens for a reason and look at me now, I’m getting ready, I’m getting ready for Indy. It’s going to be a lot of fun next Saturday.”
Corum was named Big Ten Running Back of the Year for the second straight year this week, and Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy was named Quarterback of the Year. Corum is the fourth player to win the Big Ten Award twice and the only Michigan player to win the award again since its inception in 2011. He rushed for 976 rushing yards on 202 carries and lost just 12 yards.
As paltry as Iowa’s offensive numbers are this season – the Hawkeyes are last in the nation in total offense – the defense makes up for it with its meager allowances. The Hawkeyes are No. 4 in scoring defense, holding teams to an average of 12.2 points per game. They are No. 16 against the run, averaging 105.6 rushing yards.
Michigan will play its first game of the season without top offensive player Zak Zinter, the Wolverines’ starting right guard who broke his leg against Ohio State last Saturday. While Zinter’s absence is significant, Corum said Michigan won’t change anything on offense.
“We just have to stick to our roots,” he said. “I don’t think we need to change anything.” I don’t believe in that. I believe that if something works, you stick with it. Maybe sharpen it up a little and change a few things here and there, but I think we have to hold on to our identity.
“We have to play Michigan football. Obviously, Iowa is a pretty darn good defense. They’ve always been a hell of a defense. I remember when we played there (last season) and we had to go to Iowa, they were great and they had Jack Campbell and Cooper DeJean. When you go up against a strong defense, you have to be prepared. Just be ourselves, man. Don’t change anything at all. Just prepare a little more and come on Saturday, hopefully we’ll show it.”
In mid-November, the Hawkeyes lost this season’s best defensive player, Cooper DeJean, to a lower leg injury, a major blow to their defense and special teams. According to Pro Football, DeJean had two interceptions and allowed less than 50% completion passes thrown to receivers he was covering. Linebacker Jay Higgins leads the team and the Big Ten with 109 tackles.
Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker is a finalist for the Broyles Award, given to the best assistant coach in the country. Its defense ranks seventh nationally, allowing an average of 279.9 yards per game. The Hawkeyes’ scoring defense is the best in the program since 1987, when the defense allowed an average of 11.7 points. They have only given up two rushing touchdowns this season.
Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter obviously doesn’t coach against the Iowa defense, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get something out of watching what Parker does and the results he gets. Minter said he watched the Iowa defense dissect the offensive opponent’s collective tape.
“They are extremely disciplined,” Minter said. “They play, I wouldn’t say vanilla scheme, maybe people think they’re really vanilla scheme. But I think they’re doing a little bit better on defense, especially this year, than in previous years. I think we’ve had some games, Penn State game, Ohio State game, this game, where I think we’re playing against their defense. One of our goals in games like this is to be the best defense on the field. That’s definitely one of our goals this week.”
Minter said he studied how Iowa responded after an interception and applied that to Michigan’s defense. The Wolverines have had four interceptions for touchdowns this season, Will Johnson and Keon Sabb each had a pick-six against Minnesota and Mike Sainristil, who leads the team with five interceptions, had a 72-yard return for a score against Michigan State and a 71-yarder against Rutgers.
“When you watch (Iowa) get an interception, they are very well trained in how to block and how to try to get points out of it,” Minter said this week. “In the offseason we tried to study this team in this particular aspect. Really showed off our skills this year. I really thought Will could have scored on that play (an interception against Ohio State). We had four of them, so the guys did a great job in that regard. We had a lot of good blocks on this play too. They were a team that we watched play these types of plays and we definitely learned a lot from watching them.”
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh returns to the sidelines Saturday night after being suspended three games by the Big Ten for violating the league’s sportsmanship policy. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti took the action in response to an NCAA investigation into an alleged sign-stealing scheme in which subordinate Connor Stalions, the architect of the alleged scheme, resigned and, more recently, linebacker- Coach Chris Partridge fired. Sherrone Moore, the offensive coordinator/offensive coach, has been the acting head coach for the past three games.
For Corum, it’s now about fulfilling all the goals and promises he made at the beginning of this season that Michigan will be in this situation again after its third straight win against Ohio State and be in the Big Ten for the third time in a row. championship, and on the cusp of another CFP appearance.
“At the beginning of the year I promised all of these things. I promised to beat Ohio State, I promised to go to the Big Ten Championship and this and that, and we’re doing it,” Corum said. “Winning a big.” Ten championships would mean a lot because we’ve been through a lot. We were called all sorts of names. People think we’re not good at football because of this and that and just because there’s so much going on, the coach understands Suspended for three games and the linebackers coach gets fired, there’s just so many things thrown at you.
“But what do we do? We stand tall. We stood strong and came together even more, and I didn’t think this team could come together any more than we already were because this is a tight-knit team. We dealt with it in a mature way. Winning this Big Ten Championship would mean a lot, but I like to make things happen. So after winning the Big Ten Championship, we still have a lot to prove. But I think our team is great and we’re playing a great team in Iowa and I’m really excited about that.”
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