The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - September 5, 2001- 21A "I FELT LIKE WE COULD HAVE BEAT MICHIGAN TODAY. I DON'T THINK THEY WERE ALL THEY WERE HYPED UP TO BE." - EDDIE TILLITZ, MIAMI (OHIO) WIDE RECEIVER Walker quiet after first catch; 'M' has chance at all-time No. 1 Mi A M I (O H IO ) PASSING Player Roethlisberger Hawk Totals C-A 18-35 4-9 22-44 Yds 193 30 223 TD 2 O 2 Int 3 3 By Raphael Goodstein Daily Sports Editor Coming into the season, senior wide receiver Marquise Walker was expected to be an All-America can- didate, or so the Michigan media guide would have you believe. Walker, who had 49 receptions for 699 yards last season, was All-Big Ten Honorable Mention and was expected to fill in for the departure of All-American David Terrell. And, after all, Walker's first three catches from Navarre last season went for touchdowns, and his 39- yard first quarter reception in last Saturday's game set up B.J. Askew's one-yard touchdown. The play came on a bootleg by Navarre, and allowed Walker to use his 6-foot-3 size to outjump the shorter defensive back. But after the catch, Walker was relatively silent the rest of the day, finishing with only two more catch- es for five yards. When asked what his thoughts were about Michigan struggling offensively, he said "We need to look at our mistakes and correct them. "I think everyone was a little off their first game. Once we get the first game out of the way, I'm sure we'll shape up." While the Wolverines weren't sharp, they tend to play better against good teams. This will need to be the case against No. 15 Wash- ington. "I think we have a had a lot of tra- dition down through the years," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "The tradition here is that you play with pride and you play your best games in the big games. That has a lot to do with the players we have had here as well as the coaches. It is a team thing and when you have people with great pride and togeth- erness, as well as leadership, then you have a chance to be successful ... and we have had that." WHAT'S IN A NUMBER?: If Michi- gan beats the Huskies Saturday, it would obviously be a great win. But it would be a monumental win as well. If Michigan wins, it will take the lead for all-time victories in college football. Michigan and Yale - which hasn't started its season yet - are currently tied with 806 wins. The two schools will likely com- pete all season for possession of the record, as Yale, who was 7-3 last year, is expected to challenge for the Ivy League title. Michigan already owns the record for most wins by a Division I school, as the entire Ivy League plays in Division I-AA. The Wolverines' game with Washington could be coach Lloyd Carr's 60th career win at Michigan as well. Carr, who is 59-16, also has the highest winning percentage by a Michigan coach, with his .787 per- centage. This past Saturday's game was the 450th game in Michigan Stadium, and put Michigan over 35 million fans. The Wolverines are 334-101- 15 in their 75 seasons in "The Big1 House." THANKS FOR STOPPIN' BY: With the NFL regular season still one week away, former Michigan stars and current Chicago Bears' rookies Anthony Thomas and Terrell made their way back to Ann Arbor for their former teammates' first game. What was their impression? "They looked good," a polite Terrell said. After the game, the duo couldn't move without fans asking for pic- tures and autographs, but the'two found timeto celebrate, going into the lockerroom and singing "The Victors" - a post-win ritual- with the team. RUSHING Player Att Clemens 14 Murray 2 Hawk 4 Roethlisberger 9 Totals 29, RECEIVING Player Branch Tillitz Henry Clemens Hawk Murray Kirkpatrick Totals No. 4 4 4 4 3 2 22 Yds 63 23 23 18 127 Yds 66 50 42 23 15 21 6 223 Avg 4.5 11.5 5.8 2.0 4.4 Avg 16.5 12.5 10.5 5.8 5 10.5 6 10.1 Lg 33 15 14 9 33 Lg 30 21 18 11 6 17 6 30 TD ~0, 0 a0 0 TD 1- 0 0~ a 0 T2 PUNTING Player Wafzis Roethlisberger Totals No. Yds Avg Lgl 6 233 38.8 48 1 27 27.0 27 7 260 37.1 48 Yds Avg Lg TD. 15 15 15 0 114 22.8 36 d. 129 21.5 36 0 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Kirkpatrick 1 Bowen 5 Total 6 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Tillitz 3 Totals 3 MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daly J. Askew made his debut as a starting tailback Saturday against Miami (Ohio). DEFENSE Player Bowen Jones Robillard Pusateri Adams Clark Smith DiGiandomenico Petrovic Edwards Ruoff Monroe Clayton Terry Clemens Branch Mester Sagehorn Tripp Sterling Sprauge PASS DEFENSE Player1 Robillard Pusateri Clark Totals Yds 28 28 Solo 7 9 8 8 6 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Yds 0 0 Avg Lg 9.3 19 9.3 19 Asst 3 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tot 10 *9- 9 7 . 4. . 3, 3,w 2 2 2" 1-. 1 1" TO 0 w Quarter bquarter: Michigan vs. Miami Ohio) FIRST QUARTER: left. on the Miami two yard line. Askew a Miami timeout, LeSueur intercepted > failed to find the end zone after two a fade intended for Jason Branch. In typical fashion, Michigan ran tail- Michigan 10, Miami 0 tries. On fourth down, Navarre found back B.J. Askew on the first four . Joppru for the touchdown. Navarre starts the new possession Int 0 0 0 0 Lng 0 0 Brk-up 2 4 0- o. plays for a total of 11 yards. Navarre then completed passes of five and one yards that ended in an Epstein nt that pinned the RedHawks on eir own 10. On their second play from scrim- mage, Miami running back Luke Clemens darted off the left end for a 33-yardgain. Quarterback Ben Roeth- lisberger thenthrew an interception into the hands of Carl Diggs.' On his own 41, Navarre hit Walker deep in the secondary for 37 yards. Three rushes later Askew scored from the goal line. allowing a Miami punt, Epstein ked a 22-yard field goal with 1:43 SECOND QUARTER: After exchanging punts, Miami start- ed to drive from their own 36 yard line. Roethlisberger completes passes of six and 30 to Kirkpatrick and Branch. On the Michigan 21 Roethlis- berger saves a high snap, scrambles left, and delivers a strike to Eddie Tillitz in the erd szone. Miami has extra point blacked by Shante Orr. With 3:57 left in the half Navarre stepped under center on the Michi- gan 30. Navarre passed to Calvin Bell on the left for nine yards. Askew rushed for 15 on the same side. Two plays later, Askew caught a swing pass and got up the left side for 30- yard gain. That burst left Michigan Michigan 17, Miami 6 THIRD QUARTER: The first 10 minutes of the second half produced a total of five punts between the two teams. The rest of the quarter contained a 51-yard missed field goal by Miami's Brumberg and a turnover off a fumble by Navarre. Michigan 17, Miami 6 FOURTH QUARTER: Miami started the quarter in the air, driving to the Michigan 13. Following by hitting Seymour twice for 25 yards combined. A 30-yard jaunt by Askew put Michigan at the Miami 9 yard line. Calvin Bell scored on the third play receiving a reverse from Perry Michigan started wearing down the RedHawks on the ground using a combination of Askew, Cross, and freshman David Underwood. The six minute and nine second drive ended with a Cross touchdown run from the one. On the next drive, Miami drove and had a touchdown called back on a hold. Three plays later, Roethlisberg- er passes to Henry for a 16 yard touchdown. Michigan 31, Miami 13 WHO'S NEXT: \VASHINGTON Michigan will go into this Saturday's game against Washington having an extr@ boost of experience and confidence after last Saturday's win against Miami (Ohio). The Huskies are ranked 15th heading inq its first game of the year. The Wolverines will test first-year starting quarterback Cody Pickett, who replaces Marques 'Tuit sosopo as the leader of the Huskies. THE CONCERNS: The Huskies' strong defen- sive line anchored by Larry Triplett; Wash. ington is 17-3 in Husky Stadium for the last 20 home games s: MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily Michigan running back Chris Perry is in the backup role after B.J. Askew. Carr won't block out mistakes By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Writer With all of the personnel losses it suffered, the Michigan qense could be excused for some opening-day jitters. .Nevertheless, the Wolverines' performance against Miami (Ohio) left a lot to be desired. The postgame statistics don't look that bad- Michigan scored 31 points and finished the game with 403 yards of total offense. Purely based on those numbers, one might be inclined to say that Michigan had a decent day moving the football. But, anyone who watched the game could tell you that the Wolverines' offense spent a fair chunk of the first three quar- ters sputtering. To paraphrase ABC commentator Keith Jack- son, Michigan was doing the tango - one, two, three, kick. After three quarters, Michigan was clinging to a 17-6 lead, if it hadn't been for several crucial turnovers, Miami might very well have had the lead. Early in the fourth quarter, Jeremy LeSueur's interception of Miami quarterback Ben koethlisberger in the end zone essentially put the game away. But afterwards it was clear - Michigan's offense has a very long way to go. "Offensively, we had some missed assignments up front that we can't have happen," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "Some of those mistakes have to do with communication." As is the case every year, Michigan's offense is predicated a power-running game. Although B.J. Askew rushed for 95 yards on 20 carries, the Wolverines struggled at times to establish themselves on the ground. Part of the problem was that the offensive line was breaking in four new starters. But, regardless, the sight of Askew being knocked for a loss on a 4th and 1 had to have fans pining for Anthony Thomas. "The running backs missed some holes," Carr said. "On the fourth down and one play, we missed an assignment. We did- n't block a guy coming off the backside and he made a good tackle." hat was a buzzword amongst the Wolverines after the game - correctable. Virtually everyone seemed more than willing to admit that Michigan hadn't played a particularly solid game. They all MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily John Navarre and the Michigan offense will have to perform much better in Washington to walk away with a win. acknowledged breakdowns throughout the offense, but at the same time, everyone sounded equally confident that all of the mistakes were repairable through film study and added prac- tice. "We have some things to work on, some things to correct," Michigan quarterback John Navarre said. "The good part is that they're correctable things - we can get better." Despite that optimism, the fact remains that Michigan's performance against Miami won't cut it when the Wolverines travel to Seattle this weekend to play the Huskies, who come into the game ranked 15th in the country. The Huskies' defense, anchored by star tackle Larry Triplett, is big, fast and mean, and a stumbling Michigan offense will be easy pickings. "The team's confident that we can get better," Navarre said. "It's not that we played horrible football. We had some first- game cracks to fill up, but we feel good." -1 BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Iois hlgan Iowa Purdue Wisconsin Indiana Michigan State 81g Tet 0o0 0 0 a o 1 0 0a0 0 0 0 0 Overall 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 t