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While the Irish struggled on offense, their defense, maligned for giving up four plays of 60 yards or longer in its first two victories, tightened things somewhat against the Boilermakers. For the third straight game, linebacker JD Bertrand finished with double-digit tackles with 12, two more than Hamilton, and the Irish recorded three sacks.

“I was disappointed by the umpire’s decision,” La Russa said before Saturday’s game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. “Once that happens, this is all automatic. I just don’t think that there’s been enough information that’s really been distributed. We’ve hit fewer batters than any team in Major League Baseball (47). And most importantly, if you watched how we pitched Ohtani for three days, we avoided the middle of the plate. In, away, up, down, we avoided the middle. He was 2-for-13. He struck out seven times. That’s the way we pitched to him.

“If you have a really strong home record, it makes sense,” La Russa said. “But — I’m not bragging, it’s just fact — in ‘11 (with the St. Louis Cardinals), we were the wild card, so we had to play on the road against (top-seeded) Philadelphia (and) on the road against (the second-seeded Milwaukee Brewers). And we won in six games (against the Brewers). My point is that we would love to have home-field advantage because you can see our numbers are better here. But we’ve played well on the road at times — most times.

The Wolverines (3-0) scored touchdowns on their first nine drives, eight of them on the ground. The 10th drive also included a touchdown run, but it was called back for a holding penalty and Michigan turned the ball over on downs. The Wolverines never punted.

Among the hundreds in the crowd preparing for the two-mile stroll along Lake Michigan was the family of the late Eric Queyquep, who died of ALS in 2012 at the age of 46. His wife, Ninfa Queyquep, said she has brought her sizable team to the Walk for Life event every year since 2010. When COVID-19 interrupted the annual tradition last year, her family did the walk on their own in their hometown of Bensenville, Illinois.

Former Chicago Bears players Steve McMichael, center, and Dan Hampton, right, laugh while talking before the ALS Walk for Life at Soldier Field on Sept. 18, 2021, in Chicago. McMichael, who was diagnosed with ALS, received the Les Turner ALS Foundation Courage Award during the opening ceremony. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

“If Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence were in the same class, I think it would be a good discussion for which one goes first,” the scout said. “Burrow is a really high-level thrower. He doesn’t have all of the physical traits of Lawrence, but in terms of processing ability, movement skills within the pocket and to the edge of the pocket and his ability to throw with location, he’s playing at a high level. Coming back from a serious knee injury, and he played more than half of last season too, he played pretty good ball against the Vikings. He was seeing the field well and he was getting the ball out quickly. They’ve done a nice job of designing the system where they give him a lot of layered reads, a lot of high/low reads, and when he does take the one-on-ones, he’ll put the ball where he wants it.

Zach Davies, who started Friday against the Brewers and gave up four runs on six hits in 4⅓ innings in an 8-5 loss, will be a free agent after the season and likely will be gone without an offer. Justin Steele, who starts Saturday, has earned a starting job, and Keegan Thompson and Adbert Alzolay will compete for one in spring training, though both could be in the bullpen depending on whether Hoyer spends on starting pitching. Alec Mills, the proverbial good soldier, will do whatever is asked.

“Just be who we are, because that wasn’t who we are, having all the mental lapses,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t even really too much to talk about. It’s just, ‘Hey, this is what we did wrong. We can’t have it again’. So it wasn’t (any) panic. It wasn’t anything like that. It was just, ‘Fix what needs to be fixed.’ ”

The game got interesting on the first drive of the third quarter. Tagovailoa marched the Terrapins down the field, and Fleet-Davis capped a drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 10-3 Maryland. Illinois then went three-and-out, but Maryland fumbled the ball on its next drive at the Illinois 7 that prevented what appeared to be a certain score.