In anticipation of tonight’s big in-state battle, let’s take a look at the unit matchups piece-by-piece. Part the third: special teams.
Faceoffs
Michigan and Detroit face off last spring. Photo by GLS.
Damien Hicks emerged last year to be a viable faceoff specialist for Detroit, ending a few years of struggles on draws. He had an average performance in the Titans’ only game to date, winning barely under .500 against Mercer. If Hicks isn’t the guy, the Titans return Tyler Corcoran (who missed most of last year with injury), and add true freshman Benjamin Gjokaj. All three should see action unless one is a hot hand over the course of the game.
Detroit’s overall success on faceoffs will likely be damaged by the loss of Houtby. He was a groundball wizard from the LSM position, and while whoever the Titans play there will have chances, the likelihood of his being as good as Houtby is extremely low. Hicks (or the other specialists) will probably have to be even better – either at winning to themselves or getting it to wing players in a safe position – to repeat last year’s success.
Michigan has played two specialists and a longpole. None have performed well so far. Freshman Will Biagi has been the best (as he should be, given his recruiting profile), coming in at just under .500 with a 14/32 mark. Junior walkon Kevin Wylie has gone 2/6 in limited action, while LSM Chase Brown has won just seven of 23. That LSM success is to be expected, but the scary thing is – at least against Mercer – plenty of those were clean wins and possible fast break opportunities (which are supposed to be prevented by playing a pole). Biagi can be very streaky, but often when he’s lost draws it has been
The big question for Michigan is whether the projected starter on faceoffs, Brad Lott, will be available. He missed the Wolverines’ scrimmage against Marquette and the season-opener at Penn State, but was expected to be available against Mercer. He did not play, which casts at least a bit of doubt on his availability tonight. If he’s in, I would bet on his being the best faceoff specialist either team can run out, but there’s likely to be some rust, particularly when it comes to communicating with his wings.
Ride/Clear
Both teams rode Mercer with some success, while Michigan mostly elected to let Penn State clear the ball unless they were going to make their own mistakes. Each squad has some riding available in the playbook, it’s just a matter of when the opportunities arise to employ those tactics, and if they get the look on the clear that they’re expecting.
Speaking of clears, both teams have been pretty good on them thus far this year. That said, they aren’t lighting the world on fire, so if one or the other pulls out a heavy ride, there can be some interesting moments. Both teams are slightly turnovers prone (both forced and unforced), and nowhere does that show up more than in the ride.
Penalties
Detroit has consistently been one of the most-penalized teams in the country, but with the expected change in style, look for fewer foul-type penalties to be committed. In fact, just one of UDM’s five penalties against Mercer was for something other than procedure (and even that was a hold on faceoff specialist Damien Hicks). When they’re not playing for takeaways, the likelihood of committing a slash, hold, etc. is greatly reduced.
Michigan, on the other hand, has consistently been one of the least-penalized teams in the country. Although they’re a little more loose than usual through two games this year, look for that general trend to continue.
The penalty game will be less about which team commits more out of the many penalties, but who gives up one or two key ones, since it doesn’t look like there will be that many chances for the EMO units.
EMO and man-down D
Speaking of which, Detroit’s EMO is 2/6 on the year (in limited opportunities against one team, to be fair), and Michigan’s man-down defense is 5/8 on killing off penalties. While I expect Detroit’s extra-man to improve over the course of the season – especially into MAAC play – they either saved some of their best man-up plays for Michigan (which wouldn’t be a surprise), or they’re not strong in this factor.
On the other end of the field, Michigan has been relatively blistering on the EMO. They’ve converted six of 11 opportunities, including a 3/4 mark against Mercer (and three of seven against Austin Kaut and the great Penn State D). They didn’t get through all the extra-man plays that they wanted to against Mercer, so there are more tricks in the bag. Detroit has killed off 3/5 man-down chances (all against Mercer), so this is a battle of strength against unknown at this point. I lean toward the one that’s an established strength so far, though.