Kornacki: Darboh Turned Game Around for Wolverines
9/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 18, 2016
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There are a small number of plays that greatly impact the momentum of each game. University of Michigan receiver Amara Darboh was involved in two of those in Saturday's (Sept. 17) 45-28 victory over Colorado.
The first such play came on the Wolverines' first possession of the game. Wilton Speight dropped back to throw to Darboh, running an out-cut route, and hit him right in the midsection with Ahkello Weatherspoon playing off him a bit.
Darboh leaned forward to grab the ball with both hands...but dropped it.
It wasn't necessarily a drive-killing play, but it seemed to take the giddy-up out of the step of the Wolverines, who didn't get a touchdown drive going until midway through the second quarter.
"I focused so much after practicing that play, and it was exactly like the coaches said it would be," said Darboh. "It was right there. I don't know if I turned away too much, but I did end up dropping it, and we ended up not getting the first down.
"I put that heavy on me."
Darboh said Speight had a message for him on the sideline.
"He said he's going to keep coming to me, and that says a lot for quarterback to believe in you when you don't execute the play," said Darboh, who had 58 catches for 727 yards in 2015.
Michigan ended up punting when it couldn't pick up another first down following Darboh's drop, and the Buffaloes needed only three plays to score the game's first touchdown. The Wolverines couldn't penetrate any deeper than the Colorado 46-yard line until nine minutes remained in the half, and Buffaloes punter Alex Kinney drilled a teammate in the back for a seven-yard loss.
That was a gift, providing a possession 38 yards away from the end zone, and receiver Jehu Chesson took a jet sweep 17 yards to pull his team within one touchdown. Kenny Allen added a 39-yard field goal to bring Michigan that much closer with two minutes left in the half.
The Wolverines defense, finding resolve, forced another three-and-out, and Michigan had one more chance to score after Jabrill Peppers' 13-yard punt return put it on the Colorado 45 with 43 seconds left.
Speight hit Darboh to his left on a screen pass. Darboh caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and briefly headed outside before quickly turning it back inside.
Center Mason Cole pulled out and powered down on Tedric Thompson for a pancake block that provided some daylight. Darboh headed back toward the left sideline while breaking away from Rick Gamboa, who had him around the waist but couldn't hold on to the streaking Darboh.
Darboh reached the sideline and stiff-armed Afolabi Laguda, who reached for Darboh in vain before collapsing on the turf. Then it was off to the races, and nobody was going to catch Darboh.
"I think going into this game," said Darboh, "I was trying to do a little too much and over-thinking things. You live and learn from that, and on that screen, I just went out there and played football. That was big. It was good for me -- especially going into the locker room at halftime."
The lead -- Michigan 24, Colorado 21 -- and "momentum" had returned to the Wolverines.
"It was Darboh going in and punching that screen pass in to give us momentum going into the second half," said tight end Jake Butt. "That was huge for us."
Butt's thoughts were relayed to Darboh.
"Yeah," said Darboh, "I felt like we definitely needed to score. We were down and before Jabrill made the return, he said he was going to get us good field position, and he did. They called the play, and I said, 'I'm going to try to follow up on his return and at least put up some points.' So, it worked out well for us."
Darboh said that when Peppers says he's going to deliver, he usually does. Then Darboh added that Grant Perry predicted scoring on a blocked punt before doing so and provided Michigan its first touchdown in the first quarter.
"(Perry) called it, too," said Darboh, "and so I don't know if guys were getting lucky with seeing the future and everything."
Darboh added that he wasn't going to follow suit with any outrageous claim. He let his feet, vision and speed stake a claim on the end zone instead.
Speight didn't feel anything big was going to happen on the play based on the defense Colorado was playing, but Michigan was out of timeouts, and he went with the play rather than audible with the play clocking winding down.
"That screen pass to Darboh really kind of brought me back," said Speight. "I was able to make more throws in the second half and bounce back."
Darboh said: "Yeah, I think they called it just so we could get some field position and score some points (on a field goal). But in my mindset, after struggling a little bit, and with our offense not clicking like we usually do, I was thinking, 'Make the most of this and try to make a big play,' and it worked out."
He made one more significant catch in the game. It was a six-yard grab on third-and-two early in the fourth quarter. That drive resulted in a 41-yard field goal attempt by Allen that wasn't converted.
Speight said Colorado played to take away the deep ball all game long, and the Wolverines had to adjust and take what was being given underneath.
"We thought they were going to test us a little," said Darboh, "and that's what they were showing."
The Buffaloes featured a cornerback, Chidobe Awuzie, who is not only on the Thorpe Award watch list like Michigan cornerback Jourdan Lewis but also on watch lists for the Bednarik Award and Nagurski Trophy -- both of which honor the national defensive player of the year.
"They were playing off," Darboh continued, "and it's harder to hit the 'go' balls on that, and we weren't getting the looks we wanted. But that's how football works out. They did a good job of prepping us and taking away that from us, but Jake Butt did a great job with the under routes."
Butt had seven catches for 87 yards, and the only passing plays that exceeded 21 yards were Darboh's screen and Perry's 54-yarder that resulted from a short route.
Yet, Chesson, who didn't have a catch, and Darboh both scored on exciting runs down the left sideline. It was Darboh's first scoring run in college and one that got the Wolverines going during a 31-point turnaround on the scoreboard for a 17-point win.
"Dealing with adversity like that," said Darboh, "now I want to look the ball in every play and focus. It says a lot for the team that we can come back from that, but we need to start ahead like we did in the first two games."
Penn State visits Ann Arbor Saturday (Sept. 24) and Wisconsin plays at Michigan Stadium (Oct. 1) before the Wolverines play their first road game Oct. 8 at Rutgers. Big Ten play is here.
"I feel like we're ready," said Darboh. "We'll prepare well this week for Penn State, and I hope that this week we definitely come out faster."
