SJi Birbigan &aiiy PORT S October 20, 2003 SECTION Homecoming Perr-ade MICHIGAN 56, L.NOS4 History shows Varsity could use Stevies mentality S tevie, why can't they all be like you? After mak- ing one of the greatest individual plays I've everT seen - a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown during which he ran about 200 yards - Steve Breast- on was forced to address the media. "Could you talk about the runback?" "It was a runback." "Could you at least admit it was a good play?" "It was a play." Yeah, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is just a woman. With four games left in the Big Ten season, it's imperative that the Michigan football team looks at its emphatic, 56-14 victory over the not-so-Fighting' illini with a Stevie-like mentality. It would go a little something like this.p "Could you talk aboutt the great game you played?" "It was a game."J. RADY But history shows that MCCOLLOUGH Michigan's reaction to All About the Cause this game will be more of the "Hell yeah, we're sweet as hell" variety. And then the Wolverines relax, get high on themselves and lose a game they should win.. After losing to Iowa, Michigan knew it would have to run the table in the Big Ten to have any chance of making the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1997.. That meant winning six games in a row - something the Wolverines haven't done since 1998 when they{ lost the first two games of the season and ran off eight straight wins. In the span of eight days, Michigan went from fac- ing its third loss in four games, down 28-7 to Min-N nesota in the fourth quarter, to controlling its own destiny in the conference. How nice. Once again, it's a up to Michigan and only Michigan. If the Wolverines win their next four games, they can pack their bags for Pasadena. We all know they have the talent, but are they men- tally disciplined enough to do it? In 2000, Michigan began the season with three sets of "win two in a row, lose one" football en route to a 6-3 record (the Wolverines finished 9-3). After back-' to-back wins, it's the "we're rollin' baby, we're rollin' " attitude that seems to quietly infuse itself into= Schembechler Hall. In 2001, the Wolverines really got rolling, winning five games in a row to vault themselves to No. 4 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings. Then they Chris Perry leaps over Illinois safety Marc Jackson while pushing off linebacker Antonio Mason for the first of his See McCOLLOUGH, Page 5B Perry finished with 140 yards, leaving him one short of 1,000 on the season. Back-to-back hat tricks save Blue's weekend Backups and defense shine in blowout By Kyle O'Neill Daily Sports Editor On a day when kicker Troy Nienberg got injured because he was trying too hard to get a tackle, Michi- gan was out on a mission. One week after giving up 424 yards on the ground while not being able to gain 100 itself, Michigan was out to prove against Illinois that it would be ready for Big Ten leaders, Purdue and Michigan State. Consider the ground attack and defense back - at least for this week in a 56-14 win over the Fighting Illini. Chris Perry ran for 140 yards, while his defense held Illinois starter E. B. Halsey to just 12 on eight carries. "We wanted to get an early lead and choke them out for the rest of the game," Michigan captain line- backer Carl Diggs said. "That is one thing we wanted to do to prove to the coaching staff that we could get the job done." Michigan's early start began on its first drive, when the Wolverines rode Perry for 42 yards of its 71-yard touchdown drive. The senior cutback left from the 25-yardline to give Michigan its first first-drive touchdown of the season. After a quick Illinois three-and-out, Perry was run ragged again - this time for 38 yards of the 61-yard touchdown drive - and finished off the drive with the first of his two one-yard leaps over Illinois defenders. "I always say that my vertical is 45 inches," Perry said. "I just hope that when I jump, I land safely." Michigan's offense cooled down, stalling out on its next two drives, which amounted to just 29 yards. Enter Steve Breaston - the unofficial crowd- starter of the Big House. Totaling minus-three yards in his first two punt returns and staring a bouncing ball in the face, it appeared that Breaston had two options. He was going to let the ball bounce, or just take the two-yard gain that he was going to get with Illinois' Marcus Mason staring him down. Juke right to the sideline, juke left, freeze Mason, pick up a block from Jon Shaw and Alijah Bradley on Illinois' Eric McGoey, reach the West sideline, get blocks from LaMarr Woodley and Darnell Hood, cut back to the middle of the field ... and then run into the endzone for the second-longest punt return for a touchdown in school history (74 yards, behind Charles Woodson's 78-yarder in 1997). "That was a great job, what he did," Hasley said. See ILLINI, Page 5B DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily two airborn touchdowns. By Michael Nisson Daily Sports Writer When any hockey team scores eight goals in two games, it has been a good offensive weekend. When two players net seven of those goals, it is just plain rare. Sophomore forwards Brandon Kale- niecki and Jeff Tambellini did just that, scoring four and three goals on Friday and Saturday, respectively. In addition to pulling a magician's act, both players netted the game winners that gave Michigan a two-game sweep over Quinnipiac. Michigan (4-1 overall) won Friday's game _ _ __ _ 5-4 and Saturday's QuINNIPIAC 4 game 3-2. Tambellini's QuINNIPIAC '2 performance gave him his first career hat trick. His third goal came with 7:20 remaining in the third period Saturday. Off a spot-clean faceoff win by fresh- man winger T.J. Hensick, Tambellini collected the puck on the outside of the faceoff circle in the Quinnipiac zone and nailed a shot into the left side of the net, beating senior goalie Justin Eddy. The crowd at Yost erupted when the puck crossed the line. "It's amazing," Michigan coach Red Berenson said when asked about the goal. "I think that we can all see that faceoff goals can have a big impact on a game." Tambellini's other goals came in the second period. With 18:45 remaining in the period Tambellini collected the puck at the point and drilled a shot through traffic and through Eddy's five-hole, giving him a powerplay goal. Michigan continued to press, outshooting Quinnipiac 18-7 in the period and 54-21 for the game. There were numerous scoring chances for the Wolverines, and it was only a mat- ter of time before they scored again. With 5:28 remaining, Eddy tried to clear the puck out of the Quinnipiac zone, but failed to do so and was caught out of position. Tambellini intercepted the faulty clearance and beat Eddy on the short side for his second goal. While it looked like the Wolver- ines were going to go into the inter- mission with a 2-1 lead, the Bobcats did not stop trying to score and were rewarded for their efforts late in the period. With 53 seconds remaining in the second period, sophomore goalie Al Montoya attempted to clear the puck from Michigan's zone. Instead, he gave it right to Quinnipiac forward Tim Morrison, who scored easily for a powerplay goal, tying the score at 2. This gave the Bobcats an edge going into the lockerroom. Berenson described the goal as "flukey" noting that "it was maybe an unearned goal, but it got them life com- ing into the third period and it had us on our heels" The Wolverines could have opened up a gigantic lead in the first period, when they outshot the Bobcats 21-2, if Eddy had not played brilliantly. He denied Michigan time and again when it seemed as if he had no chance. "I thought he nlaved nhenomenal." JASONCO4,R/Daily Michigan's Adrienne Hortillosa battles a Hofstra defender - she tallied an assist on Michigan's second score of the game. Spartans' home unbeaten streak ended by stickers By Waldemar Centeno Daily Sports Writer EAST LANSING - With no time left on the clock, the fifth-ranked Michigan field hockey team set up for the ensuing Michigan State penalty corner. The Wolverines (4-0 Big Ten, 13-3 overall) lined up MICHIGAN 1 side-by-side in the r i. charge towards Michigan State. The sixth-ranked Spartans fielded the oncoming ball and rapidly shot a bullet toward the goal. With no deflections, the ball charged forward until Michigan freshman goalie Beth Riley dove flat on the ground.to knock the ball out of bounds, propelling the Wolverines to a 1-0 victory. "It was just an amazing feeling to be 6 I