cibe Sidt~iau laiIv N N N N K N N> N N N I I "I'll", -1-1- -.- .-I-I I ----- - ---- -- --- - - -- - ;III : I 1 0' : III ! i!;ii::1!1 : 11 im jimilma 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 i I