‘Trap game?’ Michigan football stays mission-focused ahead of Maryland

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With a 10-0 record and winner-take-all Big Ten showdown with Ohio State set for next week, it’d be understandable if Michigan players were peering ahead.

The third-ranked Wolverines enter Saturday’s game at Maryland (Noon, FOX) as 20-point favorites in the eyes of oddsmakers, an appropriate line when you consider past results. Six of the last seven meetings between the two teams, all wins for Michigan, have been decided by 21 points or more.

And given how well Michigan has played this year, beating its opponents by an average of 31.5 points per game, there’s little reason to believe things might change in College Park.

“I believe in the concept of a trap game if you allow it to be a trap game,” safety Quinten Johnson said Tuesday after practice. “I don’t look at Ohio State, I don’t look at the championship, I don’t look at the playoffs. I look at who we got Saturday, and it’s Maryland. I feel like if you’re chasing perfection within yourself, being the best version of yourself, the trap games don’t really matter.”

Michigan is coming off an impressive, and emotional, 24-15 win over Penn State last Saturday. It was the first win over a ranked opponent this season, bolstering the team’s resume in the eyes of critics who questioned its success against subpar competition. And it came without its head coach, Jim Harbaugh, who was suspended by the Big Ten for the remainder of the regular season as punishment for the school violating the league’s sportsmanship policy.

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Harbaugh has now missed four games this season, and his status for Saturday’s game (and beyond) hinges on a court ruling on Friday.

“Trap game?,” defensive end Derrick Moore replied Tuesday. “We definitely can’t take them lightly. Because coming off the Penn State week and going into the Maryland week, we’ve got another big game. We’ve got to attack them and take them out the game so we don’t show nothing poorly nothing on film that Ohio can attack on film.”

Maryland is no slouch either, at least on the offensive stat sheet. The Terrapins (6-4, 3-4 Big Ten) rank second in the Big Ten in passing offense, averaging 281 yards per game behind its playmaking quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, and third in total yards (396.5). Their 28.9 points per game ranks fourth in the league, behind only Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State.

“I wouldn’t say dress rehearsal (for Ohio State), but the next-best threat because at the end of the day, Maryland is a very good passing attack,” Johnson said. “They deserve full credit, to be looked at in the top-echelon of passing attacks we’ll see throughout the year. It’s never overlooking one team to get to another, but using these teams as a stepping stone to get to where we’re playing to the best of our capabilities.”

Running back Donovan Edwards, coming off his most productive game of the season on the ground (10 carries, 52 yards, TD), echoed the words of his teammates. It was two years ago in a game against Maryland, also a tune-up before Michigan’s annual end-of-the-schedule showdown with Ohio State, caught 10 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown. The performance was a breakout moment for Edwards, who quickly became a regular fixture of the Michigan offense after.

He says peaking ahead to the Buckeyes, who are also 10-0 and ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings (one spot ahead of Michigan), is not something the team is doing.

“It’s not hard at all. Because every single game since the beginning of the season, all we’ve been worried about is the next day,” Edwards said. “When today’s practice is over, we’re going to worry about tomorrow’s practice. And then Thursday and Friday, and come Saturday we’re going to vibe off how we practice throughout the week.

“And when Ohio State comes, Ohio State comes. We’re just going to keep preparing for each game the same way we did in Week 1.”

On Monday, as Harbaugh answered questions on his suspension, the win over Penn State and what lie ahead, he spoke of his team’s mission this year, one built on “faith,” “speaking truth to power,” “playing for each other” and “taking care of business.”

That business, players have said, revolves around returning to the College Football Playoff and winning it all. And to get there, they figure, winning every game is a necessity.

“When the mission doesn’t change, it’s not that hard to stay focused,” offensive lineman La’Darius Henderson said. “We just want to win, and that’s what we intend to keep doing.”