The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 27, 2003 - 5B X's AND (kv(e) 0'S Michigan Daily Sports Editor Kyle O'Neill is not a collegiate athlete, nor is he a collegiate coach. But he was a starting wide receiver for his winless team at Garber High School, was third in Bay County in receptions his sen- ior year and claims to know something about the game of football. So each game, we'll let him and his 5-foot-10, 158-pound frame break down why Michigan either succeeded or failed. 3 Observations Key play: 2nd-and-9; 2:35, First quarter 1. LaMarr Woodley is one of the most exciting freshmen to ever wear the maize and blue. His size is ridicu- lous, and his instincts for the posi- tion of defensive end are almost pro-like (evident in the Minnesota game against scrambling quarter- back Asad Abdul-Khaliq). But he is 0-for-2 on open-field tackles on quar- terbacks. He whiffed on Iowa's Nathan Chandler, leading to a touch- down. Then he let Orton escape a big loss with a quick side step. Luck- ily, Orton hit defensive back Leon Hall in the numbers, saving Wood- ley's misplay. This isn't a callout on Woodley, but he needs to do what he's good at when he gets in those one-on-one situations: Breakdown like he did against Abdul-Khaliq and react to the quarterback's move- ment instead of trying to deliver a diving blow that is easier to avoid. 2. I'm pretty sure Joe Tiller would give anything to have Michigan's receivers in his offense. Not to say that Terry Malone is a wrong fit for the trio of Jason Avant, Braylon Edwards and Steve Breaston, but the spread offense was designed for a trio like this. Speedy Breaston running underneath, Avant using his strength over the middle and Edwards just being Edwards 15-to- 20 yards deep would probably give Tiller everything he's ever wanted. 3. This is the most talented Michi- gan secondary I've ever seen. I wasn't sure how they would handle the spread. They stopped it in straight-up man coverage - some- thing not easily done when safeties are blitzing. Corner Leon Hall and safety Willis Barringer are making unbelievable strides for being thrown into such a hectic environ- ment. BUSHONG O O DAMiS OBUTLER HARDWICK PURDUE L J 0 0 0 41-YARILINE X X X X X HEUER SHAZOR BI GS X WOODS PURDUE 45 -YARDUNE X Explanation: A team will traditionally live and die by the blitz. Michigan just lived by it on Saturday and showed a lot of faith in its secondary by doing so. As seen here, Michigan attacked Purdue's spread offense with no safeties more often than not. In doing so, Purdue's offensive line was con- fused on how to react to seeing eight defenders or just three defenders in the box. On this Ernest Shazor sack, Michigan was originally in a dime package to take on the five-wide-receiver set the Boilermakers put on the field. When Purdue shifted into the formation shown above, the Wolver- ines went into a man-to-man defense and brought an almost goalline-like to the front. Right before the ball was snapped, linebacker Pierre Woods (who dropped into coverage), hit defensive end Rondell Biggs on the side, essentially telling him to move to the left. When Biggs did this, Purdue adjusted by having tight end Garret Bushong take on Woods, slot back Charles Davis handle Biggs and both Kelly Butler and Nick Hardwick take on Norman Heuer. The confusion of four Boilermak- ers taking on three Wolverines left Shazor free to blitz untouched and knock quarterback Kyle Orton to the ground. What made this so effective was that Michigan knew how Purdue was going to shift - as shifting is something that has made Joe Tiller's offense so successful. When the Boil- ermakers would shift, Michigan adjusted with them with no delay. Orton would try to adjust off that shift with another one, but in doing so, the play clock became his enemy, and he would use a timeout or run the called play against a defense that was prepared for it. Hype-meter } ~Ohio State fans Penn State game last year :.t,. Tremendous f I : 0-uLoyd's proud ~~ - xs:.. re You'll be afine ichigan alum :eShaking keys o 3d down Sorority girls on cell phones - O Not too shabby, kids. Not too shabby at all. Great? No, but more than acceptable. Use of the claw was good, and the timing of the wave did not interfere with much of the actual viewing of the game. So kudos to you all, especially on the latter. There was also much poten- tial seen on third-down plays when you were at your highest volume. Also, we had problems with some of you hitting other people in the back as a method of cheering. Senior Jeff Snyder of row 12 expressed much dislike for this method of showing excitement. Finally, never cheer against John Navarre when he is throwing the ball away to avoid a sack, it's a safe play. Props to our boy Travis from the Squad. Q A Ask the Football Writers EDITOR'S NOTE: On page 5B of SportsMonday, the foot- ball writers will answer your questions about anything, and we mean anything. E-mail us with questions or just to vent at: askthefootbaUwriters@umich.edu I have been a claw supporter for two years, so I'm excited people are converting. But I had one unfortu- nate incident when I was clawing and my watch got caught up in a sorority girl's hair. She got really pissed. Is there anything we can do to harness the claw? - Kristen Schulte, LSA senior Tragic. Absolutely tragic. Here's the thing, though. You should never, ever doubt the way you claw. Everyone is developing their own claw style, so if yours means getting your claws mixed up in a sorority girl's hair, more power to you. If the girl is doing her job, she'd claw you right back and you guys could execute the Ohio State claw. Anyway, never try and harness the claw. Let it flow naturally and take down whoever is in its path. Keep us posted. O'NEILL Continued from Page 1B said "Chris Perry" as he knows he gets nothing without a consistent running game. He was asked if he and Avant try to one-up one another during games. Edwards almost looked insulted that he would ever try to knowingly compete with a teammate. But most of you wouldn't expect that from him. Most of you just expect him to drop balls that look like easy catches and act like a jerk when he scores a touchdown. Being a wide receiver is one of the most, if not the most, taxing positions in the game. Mentally you tell yourself not to think of your individual failures (dropped passes), while at the same time you wonder whether you should think about them so that you could fix them. Physically you take the hardest hits, as your job is to catch the ball at any cost. Edwards' ribs, assuming they're still together, will have plenty of horror sto- ries of high passes that left them out to dry by the end of the season. And then, you have to answer the boos and critics who probably couldn't catch a bullet from John Navarre or Matt Gutierrez if their season ticket or laptop depended on it. You have to answer to coaches wondering why you BOILERMAKERS Continued from Page 18 couldn't catch a simple eight-yard out route when you're able to make leaping grabs that leave pro scouts drooling. If you're Braylon Edwards, you have to go through all this and ten-fold. Edwards placed the No. 1 bulls-eye on himself last spring, and the number got over-hyped to the point where it devel- oped a personality for Edwards that wasn't Edwards. Then the drops happened. What fans didn't understand was that drops do in fact happen. Even loveable Breaston has drops, but because he's the most- exciting player since Charles Wood- son, he's forgiven. Because Edwards threw the No. 1 on his back, he's been chastised. But the next three months are big for Edwards, as he could become the biggest hero Michigan has had since Woodson and Brian Griese. More key catches, like the ones he had against Purdue, will be the differ- ence-makers in the Michigan State and Ohio State games. A big game in the bowl game will promote his status for the 2004 Heisman. And his final decision to turn down the appeal of agents and the NFL in January will make him the greatest conqueror ever. That role was sup- posed to be Drew Henson's in 2001, but he went back on his word and left fans wishing for the triple-A prospect to return in any fashion. Loyalty is a trait that would erase any misperceptions of Edwards that are out there. Edwards had just six catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Pretty much an average day, but he's shown the Michigan Nation why he is No. 1. Kyle O'Neill can be reached at kylero@umich.edu. overpower the Purdue defensive backs. Braylon Edwards jumped over the top of senior cornerback Jacques ReevLs in the side of the endzone and took the ball away for his second touchdown catch of the game. Jason Avant caught five passes for 90 yards, as he continued to establish his role as Navarre's main option on third down. Avant, who is Michi- gan's most physical receiver, might have made his best play of the game when he laid out Purdue's Jerome Brooks on Breaston's 30-yard punt return in the first quarter. Brooks looked like a car running into a brick wall. And besides running wild on punt returns, Breast- on's speed was too much to handle on offense, as he zipped into the endzone on a well-executed reverse in the first quarter that began around the 21-yard line. Following the game, Tiller said that Michigan has the best receiving corps he's ever seen. Free safety Stuart Schweigert also praised the receivers, but didn't forget about Navarre. "They have a really good receiving corps, but I give a lot of credit to John Navarre," Schweigert said. "He was out there making checks, and he was doing a lot of stuff that was hurting our defense." With this game out of the way, the Wolverines have come one step closer to their first Rose Bowl since 1997. But with three games left, the players say there is still much work to be done to get ready for Michigan State. "We start preparing right now, as we speak," Sha- zor said. "Two years ago, we lost down there in a tight game, so we need to go in there and play hard, just like we did this week." UDANY MULUlOrHUa~iy Quarterback Kyle Orton falls to the field dejected. Orton felt the pressure from the Wolverines all day, being sacked seven times for a total loss of 50 yards. Known for his ability to run the spread offense well, Orton managed just 184 yards In the air. I I STAFF PICKS Predictions AGAINST THE SPREAD for 10/25/03 No. 10 Purdue at No. 13 MICHIGAN (-4.5) No. 8 Ohio State (-20.5) at INDIANA No. 20 Wisconsin (-10.5) at NORTHWESTERN Minnesota (-14) at ILLINoIS Wake Forest at No. 6 FLORIDA STATE (-18.5) N.C. State (-21) at Duke Penn State at No. 16 IowA (-10.5) Kansas at KANSAS STATE (-20.5) Notre Dame at BOSTON COLLEGE (-4) Iowa State at No. 14 Nebraska (-23.5) Courtney Lewis Michigan Indiana Wisconsin Minnesota Wake Forest N.C. State Iowa Kansas Boston College Nebraska J. Brady McCollough Purdue Indiana Wisconsin Minnesota Florida State N.C. State Iowa Kansas Boston College Nebraska Kyle O'Neill Michigan Indiana Northwestern Minnesota Florida State N.C. State Iowa Kansas State Boston College Nebraska Naweed Sikora Michigan Ohio State Wisconsin Minnesota Florida State N.C. State Iowa Kansas State Boston College Nebraska Laura Leinweber of "Tony Ba'lony's" Michigan Indiana Wisconsin Minnesota Florida State N.C. State Penn State Kansas State Notre Dame Nebraska Holy Ba'lony, celebrity is 11-7 With just four weeks left in the regular season, the final stand- ings are beginning to take shape. Naweed Sikora is quietly running away with staff picks - throwing down his second 13-5 record of the season. Kyle O'Neill, who was in fourth place and staring up at a three-way tie for first, has shown he is back on track with a combined 24-12 record in the past two weeks. The surprise, though, has been the recent emergence of our Ann Arbor celebrities. Joe Kraim and Juan Mathews set the tone with 10-8 records, but Laura Leinwe- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .