Kornacki: Youth is Served in Wolverines' Opening Win over Gators

By Steve Kornacki

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Youth was served.

The University of Michigan football defense, with 10 new starters and seven of them either freshmen or sophomores, didn't allow Florida's offense to reach the end zone or even the red zone.

So, you could say that dinner was served, too. The Wolverines devoured the Gators -- ate 'em whole. It was an overwhelming performance that the scoreboard didn't do justice in revealing.

No. 11 Michigan won Saturday's (Sept. 2) season opener over No. 17 Florida, 33-17, and the only touchdowns scored by the SEC team came on a pair of pick-sixes provided by its defense.

"Our defense," said Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh, pausing for a few seconds to collect his thoughts, "our defense was amazing today."

Michigan returned only five starters total, with four on offense, and no FBS team had fewer than that. So, Harbaugh decided to take a letter he received from Anthony Riddle, a U.S. Marine, and read it to his team on the eve of the game in order to provide perspective.

Harbaugh said: "He talked about when he went to battle in Iraq, being 20 years old, leading a group of 52 Marines into battle, and none of them were over 20. ... And the message -- it's irrelevant what the age is. His Marines and what they did and what they sacrificed and what they were able to do, age is irrelevant. So, it's a group of guys in a unit or on a team that come together and do their job.

"So, Anthony Riddle of Jackson, Michigan, thank you. Shared that with the team last night. It was really on point, a lot of really good messages in it."

The young team took it to heart.

Quinn Nordin, who became the first Wolverine to kick a pair of field goals from 50 yards or longer in one game by making them from 55 and 50 in addition others from 25 and 30 in his first game action, was moved by Riddle.

Nordin, from Rockford, Michigan, said, "First of all, it's incredible that people are reaching out and giving us advice. Absolutely incredible. It touched me specifically, just wanting to put out for people who were in the Marines. It's pretty cool."

Wolverines sophomore free safety Josh Metellus, who caused one of five fumbles his team forced, said, "They were talking about how young we were, and when Coach Harbaugh read that letter, it just clicked again that no matter how young we are, as long as we end up giving a 110-percent effort, we're going to end up doing big things."

Defensive end Chase Winovich added: "You could feel the blood boiling. It was a heartfelt, patriotic message delivered. It was just inspiring and made you that one percent faster."

Winovich combined with linebacker Noah Furbush to put the exclamation point on the defensive performance.

Winovich came screaming into the end zone from the right side to tackle quarterback Malik Zaire, the Notre Dame transfer who came off the bench in hopes of reviving the Gators with his superior speed to that of starter Feleipe Franks. It would've been a safety had Zaire not also lost the ball, which Furbush recovered for a touchdown with 1:37 remaining.

"I talked to my dad and brother-in-law before the game," said Winovich. "I have a tendency sometimes in going out and using all my energy early. We wanted to make sure we felt it out, and it was kind of like how Floyd Mayweather picked a time against Conor McGregor to end the fight.

"Finally, I just said, 'This is my shot,' and I took it, and it felt great. It was a whole lifetime in the making for that play."

Linebacker Devin Bush had seven tackles and two sacks. He also had another tackle for lost yardage and chased Gators from side to side as well as up and down the field.

Bush, who best exemplified what the whole team displayed, said: "I know there was a lot of talk about we lose a bunch of guys to the League (NFL), and we lose a star player (Heisman Trophy finalist Jabrill Peppers). So, you know we came out today just playing with a chip on our shoulder. This whole season, we got something to prove. You know, young don't mean nothing. Football is still football, regardless of who is there or not. So, today we just did our best of executing and playing together."

Quinn Nordin
Nordin booted four field goals, including two of 50 yards or longer

The Wolverines limited Florida to 11 rushing yards on 27 carries. But it wasn't as if they sold out to stop the run. Not hardly. They also registered six sacks and limited the Gators to 181 yards passing.

What did it mean to be able to shut down everything?

"It means when we execute, we light up," said Bush. "That just goes to tell us that no matter who knows what we're running or what they've seen on tape, as long as we execute, we're going to be hard to stop.

"Togetherness, hungry, fast, physical. That's what I would describe this defense as compared to last year. We ain't going to take nothing from nobody. We're always going to apply pressure."

Winovich added: "We had a brand-new defense, and I think this really hurt them. It was kind of a stack package ... they had never seen it before. We had our [linebacker] basically play tackle or nose. So, it put a linebacker in the box and Noah was doing that. That was Noah's responsibility. So, they were off-balance."

Florida coach Jim McElwain said: "First and foremost, they physically took it to us. Give them their due. They beat us every which way they could up front, and we never had an answer. ... They whooped us -- I mean, plain and simple."

The Gators were 3-for-15 when attempting to convert on third or fourth downs. They never drove deeper than the Michigan 29-yard line, and that resulted in a 46-yard field goal for their only offensive points scored.

"Our guys were really relentless," said Harbaugh. "I thought up front, Rashan (Gary), Mo (Maurice) Hurst, Chase Winovich, Bryan Mone really played relentless up front. Our linebackers were running sideline to sideline. Devin Bush really stands out.

"And our secondary really played well. I mean, talk about young guys, I mean, there's a lot of young guys in that secondary. And (sophomore) Lavert (Hill) did extremely well. And then senior Brandon Watson made some really nice plays. Tyree Kinnel, Josh Metellus, all those guys in the secondary did extremely well.

"And we had a lot of rotation, a lot of guys played."

The Wolverines stayed fresh that way, and Winovich said he felt they got to the Gators. Could he sense them wearing down?

"That's a tricky question," said Winovich. "But I just didn't feel like they had it towards the end. With them switching quarterbacks and not having much success on offense, I just didn't think they really wanted to win that game at the end.

"And we did."

Winovich added, "We had a fast-paced defense and were flying around on defense, hitting everything that moved. It was just a heck of a lot of fun."

Youth was served, and it tasted pretty good.