14F - Miphigan, Dwily - :Fot1Satiirv y- Octob 2r2, I1 0 -_ 0 *ciwer L, Ivy -r J *map Measuring up How Michigan's offense, run by two quarterbacks, measures up to the Drew Brees-led Boilermakers: Michigan turning to the air 1,315 1,366 10 Drew Brees' passing yards Michigan's total yards touchdowns produced by each By Andy Latack Daily Sports Editor In college football, certain calls are almost second nature. Punting on fourth down. Playing pre- vent defense when you're up big. Running a fourth-quarter sideline pat- tern when you're out of timeouts. And, if you're coaching at Michigan, here's another one that's a no-brainer: Run on first down. Yes, it's the time-honored tradition of the Wolverines, a school that has always taken a 'run first, run second' attitude. It's the motto of the Big Ten - three yards and a cloud of dust. In this con- ference, the weather gets cold before the title race heats up, so an old-fash- ioned, terrestrial gameplan is the way to get things done. But opposing defenses haven't been cooperating with the Wolverines. When they face Michigan, they seem to have one goal in mind - stopping the run. So they are bringing nine players, a few trainers and a waterboy up to the line of scrimmage, making any kind of rushing room hard to come by. By doing so, defenses are daring the Wolverines to beat them with the pass. Well, who says old habits die hard? Don't look now but, with its running game handcuffed by opponents' defen- sive schemes, Michigan has become a passing school. Gasp. All right, that's a little extreme. But with their running game bottled up, the Wolverines have turned to the air out of necessity and have been remarkably successful. Last week against Wisconsin, the Badgers stacked the line to stop running back Anthony Thomas. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr stuck to his guns in the beginning, running Thomas on three of the first four plays of the game. But when Thomas gained just two yards on those three carries, Carr switched gears immediately. Michigan turned to its passing attack, even - are you ready for this? - throwing on first down. Neglecting the ground game, quarterback Tom Brady threw two first- DANA LINNANE/Daly Holes like this have been few and far between for Anthony Thomas, as Michigan's opponents have geared their defenses toward stopping the running game. By T.J Berka Daily Sports Editor Michigan got through the month of September unscathed by stopping the run and scoring just enough points to scrape by. But if the Wolverines want to stay undefeated after the first game of October, stopping the run and scoring the bare minimum of points won't exactly suffice: When No. I1 Purdue (1-0 Big Ten, 4-0 overall) flies into Michigan Stadium today, it will bring a high-octane passing offense which has put up points and yards in huge amounts thus far this season. The Boilermakers, led by Heisman hopeful Drew Brees, have scored an average of 41 points per game. Therefore, Michigan realizes that its offense -- slug- gish in the season's first four games - must answer the call. "Teams that play Purdue know that they are going to score points, so they have to be more aggressive on offense," Michigan quarterback Drew Henson said. One thing Michigan has to do to counteract the Purdue offense is run the ball better. Normally a Michigan staple, the running game has had a hard time getting untracked this season. The low point of the Michigan ground attack came this past Saturday against Wisconsin. The Badgers held the Wolverines to 94 on 38 attempts, a 2.47 yard aver- age. To keep the ball out of Brees' hands, Michigan real- izes that it needs to get things going on the ground. "We have to be able to control the ball and allow the defense to rest," Henson said. "We have to run the ball and have five-to-six minute drives." Michigan coach Lloyd Carr would like to go a step farther. An advocate of smash-mouth football, Carr wouldn't mind if Henson and Tom Brady gave their arms a break Potent Purdue offense can make Wolverines take flight Boilers try to 'Brees' through Ann Arbor j" against the Boilermakers. "I'd love to line up and run the ball every single time," Carr said. "There would be no running out of bounds, no passing, just running and scoring touch- downs." But when Brees and the Boilermakers eventually get the ball, the Michigan defense will have its work cut out for it. Purdue runs a spread offense that uses as many as five wide receivers at one time, something that the Wolverines haven't seen since they defeated Washington State - led by Ryan Leaf -- 21-16 in the 1998 Rose Bowl. "We are going to have to shift gears," Carr said. "We're facing another Heisman Trophy candidate with a great group of receivers." The most lethal of those receivers is Vinny Sutherland. Sutherland, a 5-foot-9 wideout with blazing speed, connected with Brees on a Purdue-record 99-yard touchdown pass against Northwestern this past Saturday. But what scares the Wolverines is not necessarily Brees' passing ability, but his ability to avoid being sacked. "He's a great quarterback," Michigan safety DeWayne Patmon said. "What stands out for me is that he's only been sacked once this year." The lack of sacks against Purdue can be explained by a multitude of things - Brees' mobility, his quick release, or just a skilled offensive line. But Michigan brings to the table something that Purdue hasn't dealt with v.et. "The teams that Purdue has played are good," Patmon said. "But they don't have a Michigan front seven. (Purdue) hasn't had to deal with a Michigan front seven. quarter touchdowns and completed nine of his 13 passes in the game's first 15 minutes. Some Michigan quarter- backs of years past didn't throw 13 times in the entire game. So, when does Michigan join the SEC? "Teams seem to be making up their minds that they are going to stop us from running the football," Carr said. "When teams do that, it forces you to pass, and I think we have proven that we can pass the football." They certainly have. So far this season, Michigan is aver- aging 223.8 yards passing per contest. If the Wolverines were to continue at that clip, they would finish the season with the second best mark in school his- tory. The leader in that category? Last year's team. So Michigan has been pretty pass- happy recently. Which is just fine with the signal-callers. "I like it," said sophomore quarter- back Drew Henson, who has thrown 58 times this season. But Henson also real- izes that relying solely on the passing game will only get Michigan so far. "In order to win big games, we have to be able to run the ball," Henson said. "So far up to date, I don't think we've been as succcssful as we need to be." Indeed, Michigan is not exactly chewing up yardage on the ground. The Wolverines are averaging 117.8 yards rushing per game. If they were to finish the season at the same pace, they would be the second-worst team in Michigan history in that category. The only team to finish with a lower mark was the 1962 squad, whose 99 yards per game helped them end the season 2-7. Carr is not overly concerned. If any- thing, the fact that Michigan can take what the defense gives it is a testament to the team's versatility. "When you look at the way people have defended us, you see they have put the free safety anywhere from six to 10 yards right over the ball or the tight end," Carr explanied. "He becomes the guy that supports the run. The defense has the ability to dictate how they want the game to be played and as an offense, you have to adjust to that." But if Michigan keeps winning games through the air, it's their oppo- nents that will have to do the adjusting. Which means bringing more guys into the defensive backfield to defend the pass. Which means more room to run. Until that time, though, Michigan will keep passing the ball. Besides, three yards and a cloud of dust leaves you with a fourth-and-one. And in the Big Ten, it's customary to punt on fourth down. For the last few weeks, Michiga has shouldered more than his s chance to shoulder some of the Nothing easy about this game C? / i i ID By Rick Freeman Daily Sports Editor Michigan's defense has won four games for the Wolverines, while Purdue's offense has won just as many for the Boilermakers. It would be easy to say something has to give, but noth- ing will be easy about today's game. Look at it the other way. Michigan's offense has struggled through most of its games, but Purdue's defense allowed 23 points to Northwestern. But then maybe the Wildcats are better than they appear on paper. An offense like Purdue's shrinks Michigan's margin of error to Mini-Me size proportions. So this game could be decided by almost anything. MICHIGAN RUSHING OFFENSE VS. PURDUE RUSHING DEFENSE: How about that. Who would have guessed Purdue had a defense? Anthony Thomas would have, since once again he'll be handling the bulk of the ball-carrying duties. And who would guess that Thomas is going to get the ball on a rushing play? Anyone in Michigan Stadium. As much as it may pain staunch Big Ten loyalists to say this, Michigan will run to set up the pass. Thomas will do well on pitchouts and swing passes, but his up-the-gut game will keep the Boilermakers' linebackers honest and away from Michigan's tight ends. Don't believe this? Purdue's defense is allowing an average of 104 yards per game on the ground. Michigan would- n't mind doing that well. Advantage: PURDUE MICHIGAN RUSHING DEFENSE VS. PURDUE RUSHING OFFENSE: Yes, we all know that Purdue has out- gained Michigan on the ground so far this season. They didn't do it against Michigan's front seven. Dhani Jones leads the Wolverines in tackles, and he and his run-stuffing buddies held 252- pound Ron Dayne to precisely zero yards in the second half last week. 190- pound J. Crabtree is no Ron Dayne, even with five receivers to distract the linebackers and secondary. Advantage: MICHIGAN Please see MATCHUPS, page 15F the\ hou, "TRULY A NEW C THE INFORMATIC CENTURIES-OLD NO OR A WWW.The R eal'. r - - -w. - - - - - - - - - - - - r - I wwN s 12 I, El(C( ar ISA f 'p