68 -'The Michigan Daily - FOOTBALL SATURDAY - Friday, November 9, 2001
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Friday, November 9, 2001-- FOOTBALL SA
'M', Golden Gophers both facing a must-win situation
By Arun Gopal
Daily Sports Writer
College football is overrun with a
glut of "trophy games." These games
pit two "rivals" against each other,
with some type of prize going to the
winner.
Many of these "rivalries" - the
"Land Grant" contest between Penn
State and Michigan State comes to
mind - seem rather forced and
unnecessary. But, the "Little Brown
Jug" game between Michigan and
Minnesota is one rivalry game which
fits the billing.
Although the Wolverines have
dominated this matchup over the last
quarter-century, that does not dimin-
ish the importance of Saturday's
game.
Michigan still controls its own
destiny in the race for the Big Ten
title - if the Wolverines win out,
they are headed to the BCS. The
Golden Gophers would love nothing
more than to shatter Michigan's title
dreams.
MICHIGAN RUSHING OFFENSE VS.
MINNESOTA RUSHING DEFENSE: The
Wolverines' ground game has been
subpar, to say the least. B.J. Askew
and Chris Perry have had some suc-
cess at times, but at other times -
such as last week's game against
Michigan State - Michigan has
been completely unable to run the
ball.
Fortunately for Michigan, the
Golden Gophers' defense is nothing
to write home about. Last week,
Minnesota allowed an abysmal Ohio
State offense to roll up 265 yards on
the ground.
Ohio State ran the ball 47 times
and averaged 5.6 yards per carry,
numbers which should have
Michigan offensive coordinator Stan
Parrish salivating.
Edge: Michigan
MICHIGAN PASS OFFENSE VS.
MINNESOTA PASS DEFENSE: After play-
ing solidly, if not spectacularly, in
leading Michigan to a 5-1 start,
quarterback John Navarre has strug-
gled in his last two games. Against
Iowa and Michigan State, Navarre
threw four interceptions and had all
sorts of problems maintaining dri-
ves.
Part of Navarre's problem is that
he has developed tunnel vision - if
he doesn't throw to Marquise
Walker, he doesn't throw to anybody.
But - much like the rest of
Michigan's offense - Walker disap-
peared in the second half last week.
,He caught only two passes and
dropped several others.
Where were Michigan's other
receivers? Good question. Wideouts
Ron Bellamy, Tyrece Butler and
Calvin Bell combined for two catch-
es against Michigan State,
Meanwhile, the Wolverines' tight
ends had one catch - by Bennie
Joppru, which went for no gain.
But, once again, here comes
Minnesota's defense to help the
Wolverines get better. The Golden
Gophers allowed Ohio State's Steve
Bellisari - who has had games of 5-
Will real 'M'
run defense
stand up?.
By Jon Schwartz
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan's rush defense has gone through
quite a role-reversal in the last week. Once laud-
ed as the nation's best, there are now many
questions about its strength.
After holding their first seven opponents to
just 54.5 yards per game on the ground, the
Wolverines were manhandled by T.J. Duckett,
who ran for 211 yards.
"Well, T.J. Duckett is definitely a tremendous
back," defensive lineman Grant Bowman said.
"He's a big guy. He's definitely got tremendous
ability and he got rolling early. They were able
to do some things against our defense and
expose some things that we weren't covering as
well as we should.
"Once he got rolling he was hard to stop and
it's hard for 200-pound safeties to go in there
and stop a guy that's 250 pounds and running at
full speed."
It's very common for great teams to have bad
games. That could have been the Wolverines'
problem. Or, it could be a symptom of overcon-
fidence borne from stopping some of the Big
Ten's weaker rushing attacks.
Michigan's last three opponents -
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio State - are
each ranked in the top five in the Big Ten in
rushing. The other teams in the top five are
Indiana and Northwestern, two teams that
Michigan doesn't face this year.
So in effect, the rush defense that everyone
was ready to crown king has not yet faced its
toughest competition.
Minnesota ran for more than 300 yards
against Michigan State, which had no problem
stopping Michigan's running game. Wisconsin's
Anthony Davis is the top back in the Big Ten.
And Ohio State's Jonathan Wells is running for
more than 100 yards per game.
Bowman was certainly confused by
Michigan's defensive statistics against the
Shawn Lazarus congratulates Shantee Orr after one of his two sacks last week.
PROCF
S,
Marquise Walker just couldn't come up with the big catches in the second half against Michigan State.
for-23 and 4-for-10 - to complete
12 of 17 passes for 203 yards and
two touchdowns.
Edge: Michigan
MINNESOTA RUSH OFFENSE VS.
MICHIGAN RUSH DEFENSE: Minnesota
returned nine starters from what was
one of the best offenses in the Big
Ten last season, and it shows.
The Golden Gophers are averaging
240 yards per game on the ground
this year. Through eight games, tail-
back Tellis Redmon has rushed for
891 yards and six touchdowns and is
averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
Until last weekend, Michigan's run
defense looked dominant. Then, the
Spartans' T.J. Duckett took the
Wolverines' defense behind the
woodshed, rumbling for 211 yards
and a touchdown.
If there's any upside to the situa-
tion, it is that Redmon is not a bat-
tering ram-type back like Duckett.
At any rate, this should be a great
matchup of strength vs. strength, and
it is too close to call.
Edge: Even
up an average of 242 yards a game.
Minnesota's Ron Johnson was
generally regarded as the best receiv-
er in the Big Ten entering the season,
but he has been something of a dis-
appointment.
Johnson's numbers (41 catches,
567 yards, five touchdowns) aren't
bad, but they also aren't what you
would expect from a guy who was a
preseason All-American.
Still, the thought of Johnson - a
Detroit native who has been pointing
to this game all season - being
defended by a Michigan cornerback
has to make fans shudder.
Edge: Minnesota
Spartans which showed a Michigan team that
sacked Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker
12 times, but gave up more than 200 yards on
the ground.
"If you took all the pass plays of the game,"
he said, "you'd probably say that we had our
best performance as a defensive line and then
you look at the running game and you'd prob-
ably say we had one of our worst perfor-
mances."
Michigan still leads the nation in rush
defense. The 68.8 yards it gives up per game is
53.5 fewer than its closest competition, Purdue.
Only once since 1936 has Michigan put up a
season average lower than this year's. In 1970,
Michigan gave up just 789 rushing yards, a total
of 65.8 per game. In that same period, there
have only been six seasons when the Wolverines
have finished a season allowing fewer than 100
rushing yards per contest. In contrast, the
Wolverines gave up 147.1 rushing yards a game
last year.
The Wolverines know all about the challenges
that they will face in the next three games, start-
ing this weekend against the Gophers.
Tellis Redmon and Marion Farmer have been
running all over opponents this season. About a
week and a half ago, that would have been great
news for the Wolverines' greedy defense. But
now, it draws concern.
"Just watching on film, they ran for 300-some
yards against Michigan State and they played
with Ohio State," center Kurt Anderson said.
"They are like a lot of teams that have an out-
standing ability to run in the sense they are
going to make you put eight or nine guys on the
line, and then they throw the ball to (wide
receiver Ron) Johnson on the outside. It's not
complicated, but it's effective," Michigan coach
Lloyd Carr said.
It's also very possible that Michigan looked
vulnerable against an outstanding running back,
and spent the last week shoring up its holes.
Duckett's performance could be the exception
- not a late-developing rule.
"They just found some things that worked
against us and for the whole year we've been a
great team against the run, and to give up that
many yards is really tough," Bowman said.
"We tried to make some adjustments, but they
didn't work.
"We're going to be thinking a lot about
the things that we can change this week
because Minnesota has a similar offense,
runs a lot of the same type of plays and has
a tremendous running back and a tremen-
dous offensive4
line."
INTANGIBLES: Michigan has won 15,
straight games in this series, and 29
of the last 31. As if that's not enough,
Minnesota has yet to win a road
game this year, and you can bet that
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr will
have his team foaming at the mouth
following last week's loss.
Edge: Michigan
MINN ESO
MICHIGA
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Golden Gophers.
Play of the game -
first possession of ov
when QB No. 7 hit W
pass on a post route
Michigan's CB No. 2
Most unrealistic play
left in the first half,
6-yard line. Michigan
Gophers had four diff
endzone. Somehow,
Player of the game -
10 balls for 309 yard
shaking his head at
Michigan key stats
Passing: QB No. 16
1 rushing TD
Rushing: RB No. 23
Receiving: WR No. 4
No. 84 - 3 receptio
Defense: FS No. 26,
tackles (1 for loss),
ception
Minnesota key stats
Passing: QB No. 7 -
Rushing: RB No. 32
Receiving: W R No.:
WR No. 80 - 5 recf
Defense: CB No. 38
35, 3 tackles (1 for
PRESS CO
Michigan head coach
(Long, pissed-off look
I deserved better. The
Sports will hear from
Well, I guess they get
where that is? They'r
The 0-line coach's kid
Angelique, I always to
I though QB No. 16 w
football team we just
I like to give credit.A
there (assuming he d
Minnesota head coac
Wow, I'd heard that N
this is ridiculous. I pr
receiving against tho
Brown Jug". I though~
I'd like to also send
ment atOhio State. A
coach there someday
Goddamn, now I have
been to Minnesota? i
it out to be. But, the
Two more wins, and'
Nothing quite like ge
holiday season. On th
sweet.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Minnesota kicker
Dan Nystrom struggled at times ear-
lier in the season, but he is still a big
weapon for the Golden Gophers.
Minnesota also has a strong punter
in Preston Gruening, and Redmon
has been decent on punt and kickoff
returns.
Until his final punt against
Michigan State, senior Hayden
Epstein had done a good job all sea-
son as both the kicker and punter.
Epstein's 57-yard field goal against
the Spartans broke his own school
record, and he is averaging over 40
PREDICTION: This is a must-win
game for both teams - Minnesota
needs to win out to become bowl-
eligible, while Michigan needs to
win out to ensure a Big Ten title and
a BCS bid.
After getting embarrassed at
Toledo to start the season, the
Golden Gophers have hung tough in
two Big Ten road games, falling 23-
17 to Northwestern and 25-14 to
Illinois.
In addition, Glen Mason has done
a good job rebuilding what was once
a moribund Minnesota program, so
don't expect the Golden Gophers to
get blown out tomorrow. .
But, this game means too much to
Michigan. This should be a relative-
ly close game, but Michigan's supe-
rior talent - coupled with a height-
ened sense of urgency - will keep
the "Little Brown Jug" in Ann Arbor
for the 16th straight year.
BCS Projections
The Michigan Daily projects
the four BCS bowls:
TOMOU %-W;:
Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2002 Jan. 2, 2002
Tempe, Ariz. New Orleans, La. Miami, Fla.
Nebraska vs. Oregon Michigan vs. Texas Florida State vs. Tennessee
Other possible candidates: Other possible candidates: Other possible candidates:
Briham Young, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Miami Fl , Georia Tech
O , TexWashington , (Fla.), Nebraska, Illinois,(Maland, Michigan,
Washington State Oklahoma, Tennessee Miami (Fla), Tennessee
MINNESOTA PASS OFFENSE VS.
MICHIGAN PASS DEFENSE: Entering
the season, everyone knew that
Michigan's secondary was going to
be suspect. Sure enough, the
Wolverines currently have the worst
pass defense in the Big Ten, giving
yards per punt.
On the downside,
return game is mediocre
the Wolverines' coverage
up-and-down against
State.
Michigan's
at best, and
teams were
Michigan
Jan. 4, 2002
Los Angeles, Calif.
Florida vs. Miami (Fla.)
Other possible candidates:
Nebraska Oklahoma,
Oregon, Tennessee,
Wahngton
- DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Todd Howard will have his hands full trying to defend Minnesota's Ron Johnson.
Edge: Minnesota
Michigan 24, Minnesota 14