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Michigan State 34, Michigan 31
QB
plan
Brady inherits a mess,
but not enough clock, as
Carr's system finally fails
EAST LANSING - Michigan
coach Lloyd Carr was faced with an
extremely difficult decision when
practice opened this summer. Carr
had to choose between two enticing
quarterbacks in battle-tested senior
Tom Brady and the super-talented
sophomore Drew Henson.
This decision was so difficult for
Carr that he didn't make it during
preseason practice. Instead, he
decided to
rotate the two TiJ.
- Brady in the Berka
first quarter,
Henson in the
second, and
whoever had the t
hot hand in the
second half. But
Carr was still
intent on pick-
ing a top guy. TEING
But it proved OFF
to be too diffi-
cult for the
coach. The Wolverines went 3-0
during the nonconference season, so
Carr decided to keep putting it off.
That seemed to be fine for Carr
and the Wolverines. Michigan
whipped Wisconsin and thumped
Purdue, so Carr decided to keep
putting off the all-important deci-
sion of who will be the starting
quarterback.
Saturday, Carr's procrastination
finally caught up with the
Wolverines. Michigan was an offen-
sive mess for three quarters as Carr
shuttled in Brady and Henson. That,
coupled with an explosive offensive
performance by Michigan State,
sent the third-ranked Wolverines
down in defeat, 34-31.
After playing brilliantly in the
wins over Wisconsin and Purdue,
Brady started off slow against the
Spartans, leading Michigan to only
48 yards in the opening quarter.
While this wasn't what Carr was
looking for, it had been the norm
for teams playing the Spartans. who
boast the nation's top rushing
defense. But instead of letting the
senior wxork out the kinks associated
with a rivaIry game of incredible
magnitude, he put him on the bench
for the sophomore.
Big mistake.
Yes. Henson did throw an 81-yard
touchdown pass to Marcus Knight
- in which Knight made a beauti-
ful over-the-shoulder catch and
broke away from Michigan State
safety Richard Newsome - but he
did play a big role in Michigan los-
ing this game.
Before the pass to Knight,
Henson and the Wolverines were
driving at the Michigan State 33-
yard line. On second-and-seven,
Henson received a blitz and threw
the ball into the ground. drawing an
intentional grounding penalty.
The 16-yard loss and the loss of
down killed Michigan momentum,
causing the Wolverines to punt.
In the third quarter, Henson felt
pressure deep in Michigan territory
and threw the ball hurriedly across
the middle to Michigan State safety
Aric Morris. Morris' return to the
Michigan 18 set the Spartans up in
excellent scoring opportunity. They
capitalized, as Bill Burke found
Plaxico Burress for a 15-yard
touchdown to put the Spartans up,
27-10.
Meanwhile, Brady took over the
mess that Henson left him at the
end of the third quarter and per-
formed marvelously, connecting on
24 of 29 passes and throwing three
touchdown passes to almost single-
handedly bring the Wolverines back
from the dead.
While Michigan fell, a question
was raised. What if Carr had let
Brady get his feel for the game
instead of benching him for Henson,
a youngster who has yet to face the
intensity of a blockbuster game at
See BERKA, Page 58
Veteran starter Tom Brady (10) passed for 241 yards on three scoring drives in the second half Saturday, but was benched for most of the third quarter.
Yesterday's 3-2 victory in Evanston should have been a
blowout. Northwestern entered the game in the basement of
t lig Ten.
milar to its pervious games, the Wolverines (7-0-1 Big ?
Ten, 10-3-1 overall) not take over the flow of the game in the
first half, Neither team scored at the half's end. 2
But true to form, the Wolverines took over in the second
half. In the half's fourth minute, Kacy Beitel scored from theA
top of the box.
Seconds later, Northwestern (0-6-1, 2-10-1) responded{
with a goal by Brooke Bell. Bell added her second goal of the
game in the 56th minute to put the Wildcats ahead 2-1.
With its back to the wall, Michigan showed true courage.
The NWolverines scored two goals in a four minute span,
g them ahead for good. Abby Crumpton and Emily Michigan's Vicky Whitley (17) uses her head to help beat
See UNBEATEN, Page 6B the Spartans in a wet affair on Friday, 3-1.
Volleyball 'ro cks' Hawkeyes, 3-0
Hat trick for
Comrie in
sweep of Irish
By Chris Grandstaff
Daily Sports Writer
NOTRE DAME - The message sent out by the
Michigan hockey team this weekend to the rest of the
CCHA was pretty clear - they may not be big, but they're
fast and they're pretty darn good.
The Wolverines entered this weekend's two-game series
against Notre Dame knowing that the Irish were a bigger
and more physical team, but as the old adage goes, "The
bigger they are the harder they fall." That proved to be the
case for the Irish, who were defeated 6-1 on Friday. For the
Wolverines, the win completed a weekend, and season
sweep of the Irish.
"Our players may not be big, but they play big,"
Berenson said. "You're not going to intimidate anyone on
our team. I really admire the way that they paid the price
(this weekend), and that's what it's all about."
The Wolverines got things going when forward Scott
Matzka stole the puck at the Michigan blue line and after
making a move to get around his defender, he hit the jets
and skated in for the score. Sophomore playmaker Mike
Comrie scored what proved to be the game winning goal
late in the period when he slid the puck in the net after steal-
ing the puck down low from a Notre Dame defender.
Comrie led the Wolverines in scoring on the night -
recording his first career hat trick against the Irish. Comrie's
second goal of the night - a fake slap shot followed by
some tricky puck handling between the legs of an Irish
defender, and a quick flick over the glove side shoulder of
Notre Dame goalie Jeremiah Kimento - gave the
~n ~ rs~
DANA LINNANE/Daily
Dave Huntzicker (right) and the Michigan defense held the
Fighting Irish to one goal Friday as the Wolverines roiled.
By Dena Krischer
Daily Sports Writer
"Point Michigan!" was the common
*se on Saturday night as the volley-
ball team battled and came from behind
to defeat Iowa 3- at the annual "Rock
the House" event.
It has been a common theme for No.
23 Michigan all season - fall down, go
boom, get right back up and shake it off,
no matter how hard it hurt
go upl5-14. Michigan wins 17-15.
Game two: Iowa jumps out 2-0.
Michigan ties it 2-2. Michigan domi-
nates 15-4.
Game three: Iowa up early 6-2.
Michigan fights back and ties it 10-10.
Michigan runs off five unanswered
points to clinch the victory.
Point, game, match, Michigan.
"I thought that the intensity was out
there big time tonight." redshirt fresh-
really just wanted to win."
Lehman, who averaged only 3.57 kills
per game before Saturday, recorded six
against Iowa.
"We just sided out very well tonight,
which allows you to control the game
and put pressure on the other team,"
Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. "We
executed much, much better tonight"
It was a great victory following an
embarrassing loss on Friday - and it
player and with the puck he may as good as anyone we've
seen in the league."
Comrie completed the hat trick just :23 seconds later,
beating Kimento through the five-hole.
Comrie now has four goals in the first two games of the
season - picking up right where he left off last season
when he was named CCHA freshman of the year. He has
proven to be the team's top playmaker on what has thus far
been an explosive Michigan offensive attack.
The game was a statement of sorts for the Wolverine's
defense as well.
Despite the unexpected loss of three defensemen during
the off season the Michigan blue liners have been dominat-
ed. At one point during the series the defense had held
Notre Dame scoreless for 53:04, spanning from midway
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