4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 11, 2004
MICHIGAN 35, INDIANA 14
I
Ecker, Hart come
up big for Varsity
GAME STATISTICS
Team Stats
First Downs
Rush/Yds
Passing Yards
Offensive Plays
Total Offense
Return Yards
Comp/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
Fumbles/Lost
Penalties/Yards
Time of Poss
MICH
29
45/190
328
94
518
87
33/49/2
5/36.8
1/1
5/31
37:14
MINN
13
39/61
189
61
345
65
8/22/0
8/44.8
0/0
2/0
22:46
I
By Chris Burke
Daily Sports Editor
It might be time to start referring to
Tyler Ecker as "Mr. Clutch."
Last season, Ecker had just three
catches in Michigan's first 10 games. But
that was before he all-but-cemented the
Wolverines' victory over Ohio State with
a critical third-down
reception late in the
fourth quarter.
On Saturday, the
junior again stepped into
the spotlight.
With the Wolverines
a
$ °
31 yards shy of the endzone and a come-
back win over Minnesota, quarterback
Chad Henne found Ecker cutting across
the middle near the 20-yard line. Ecker
did the rest, outrunning two defenders for
the game-winning touchdown - his first
career score.
That play gave Ecker - seldom used
g e as a receiver - two of the biggest catches
Michigan has had in the last two seasons.
"It feels great," Ecker said. "That's why
you come to Michigan, to have stuff like
that happen to you."
Ecker entered Saturday's game with
five receptions on the season - an aver-
age of one catch per game, but he finished
the game with three catches for 38 yards.
Fellow tight end Tim Massaquoi also
got involved in the offense, hauling in
four passes for 31 yards and doubling his
reception total on the season.
"(Henne's) job is to find the open receiv-
er," Ecker said. "If he throws to Braylon
(Edwards) 100 times, that's fine, as long as
we win the game. It opened up a little more
today, and Tim and I got some balls."
HART-POUNDING PERFORMANCE: Perhaps
lost between the attention paid to Min-
nesota's stellar running back duo and the
Wolverines' thrilling comeback was the
showing that Michigan freshman Mike
Hart had on Saturday.
Carrying the ball a career-high 35 times,
the Michigan running back pounded out
160 yards on the ground - a record for a
Michigan freshman. Hart also set career
highs with six catches for 53 yards and
MIKE HULSEBUS! Daily scored the Wolverines' first touchdown on
Michigan freshman running back Mike Hart stiff-arms Minnesota linebacker Dominique Sims on one of his 35 runs. an eight-yard run in the first quarter.
"I wanted the ball and I felt that I was in
a groove and that I could get the job done,"
Hart said. "The line was doing a great job
moving defenders, and I thought I could
get four or five yards a carry, and that's
what we needed to do."
Hart's longest carry of the day was a
16-yard run on a draw play early in the
fourth quarter - a run that ended with
Hart slamming head first into the Michi-
gan Stadium turf.
Junior Pierre Rembert replaced him on
the next play, but that was about the only
time all day that Hart wasn't on the field
with Michigan's offense.
No other Michigan running backs had
a carry on the day.
"Mike Hart is doing a phenomenal job
running the ball, reading blocks - just
getting those yards for us," senior wide
receiver Braylon Edwards said.
LIFE wrrH RILEY: The rotating door that
has become the Michigan offensive line
continued to spin on Saturday.
Redshirt junior Leo Henige Jr., who
had started back-to-back games at left
guard for the Wolverines, was lost for the
season in Michigan's win over Indiana.
According to Michigan coach Lloyd Carr,
Henige "injured his knee, and he'll have to
have surgery at some point."
In his stead, Carr opted to start redshirt
sophomore Rueben Riley.
The Grand Rapids native played spar-
ingly in four games last year, and had seen
the field in just two contests this season.
But the 6-foot-3, 311-pounder stepped
in and helped contribute to Michigan's
190 yards rushing - the Wolverines best
performance of the year.
"(Offensive line coach Andy) Moeller
does a great job with those guys," quar-
terbacks coach Scot Loefler said. "People
don't understand how hard it is whenever
guys get hurt, you've got to bring guys in.
But that offensive line, they've got a bunch
of great character. And God bless them,
because they did a great job today."
NoTES: Edwards's second-quartertouch-
down was the 32nd of his career, tying
him for second on Michigan's all-time list
with Desmond Howard, five touchdowns
behind Anthony Carter ... The crowd of
111,518 was the largest ever for a Michigan
homecoming game.
PASSING
Player
Henne
Totals
RUSHING
Player
Hart
Edwards
Henne
Gonzales
TEAM
Totals
RECEIVING
Player
Edwards
Avant
Hart
Massaquoi
Ecker
Breaston
Arrington
Totals
Att
35
2
4
1
3
46
No.
10
6
6
4
3
3
33
CA
33-49
33-49
M I C H I G A N
Yds
160
23
10
2
-5
180
Yds
98
87
53
31
38
16
5
328
No.
5
5
Yds
328
328
Avg
46
11.5
25
2.0
-1.7
4.2
Avg
9.8
14.5
8.83
7.75
12.66
5.33
5.0
9.9
TD
2
2
Lg
16
12
9
2
0
18
Lg
32
20
18
12
31
9
5
32
Int
2
2
TD
1
TO
0
0
0
0
1
TO
0
0
0
0
0
2
*1
PUNTING
Player
Finley
Totals
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No.
Breaston 2
Totals 2
PUNT RETURNS
Player No.
Breaston 2
Hall 3
Totals 5
DEFENSE
Player
Shazor
Manning
Woodley
Hail
Watson
Reid
Jackson
Massey P
Mundy
Harrison
McClintock
Adams
Woods
Curry
Of ii
Henne
Crable
Englamon
Rembert
Totals
Yds Avg Lg
184 36.8 53
184 36.8 53
Yds Avg Lg
60 30.0 43
60 30.0 43
TO
0
0
TD
0
0
0
I
Yds
26
27
Solo
8
3
1
3
2
2
4
1
2
Avg
0.5
24.6
5.4
As
Lg
5
26
26
.st Tot
4 12
3 6
5 6
2 5
3 5
3 5
- 4
3 4
1 3
2 3
3 3
- 2
1 2
1 2
- 1
_ 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
34 67
10
33
BIG TEN STANDINGS
0
Blue manages to slow Gophers in second half
By Sharad Mattu
Daily Sports Editor
Set to face a rushing attack th
shredded it last year, Michigan
defense certainly wasn't lacking
motivation when it faced Minnesw
on Saturday.
The Wolverines pulled out t
comeback win last year, 38-35, b
the defense couldn't hide the emb
rassment it felt.
"The coaches put the Brown J
and the 424 yards rushing (Minnes
ta's total in last year's game) in o
face the whole week," junior defe
sive tackle Gabe Watson said. "'
just tried to prepare to stop the ru
and shut it down."
At halftime on Saturday,
appeared nothing had changed sin
last year. The Gophers rushed for 1
yards on 17 carries in the first ha
including touchdown runs of 80 an
19 yards by Laurence Maroney a:
Marion Barber III, respectively.
Michigan's run defense enter
the game ranked first in the natio
but appeared to have no answer f
the duo.
"We knew it wasn't going to
easy to completely shut down th
running game," junior lineback
Scott McClintock said. "They ha
two great backs. We were expecting
them to hit a play or two, and they
obviously did. The first half we really
hat struggled to stop the run.
n's "Thankfully, the second half we
in really came together and started
)ta playing a lot more tougher."
After halftime, Michigan focused on
he forcing the Gophers' runners to take
ut the ball to the outside and using the
ar- speed of its defense to contain them.
"As far as the defensive line, we
ug had to work our way inside out,"
o- defensive end Pat Massey said. "Stop
ur the inside first and then worry about
n- the outside."
We Michigan's adjustments worked
un wonders in the second half. On near-
ly every carry, anytime Barber or
it Maroney turned a corner and seemed
ce to have a chance at a gain, multiple
65 defenders would swarm in.
lf, The Gophers managed just 24 yards
nd on 22 carries in the second half, and
nd the Wolverines, led by running back
Mike Hart, even managed to outgain
ed Minnesota by the end of the game,
In, 190-189.
or At no time was Michigan's defense
more important than on two posses-
be sions in the fourth quarter. The first
eir came when Leon Hall fumbled a
.er punt to give Minnesota the ball at
ve Michigan's nine-yard line. But the
defense was able to hold them to a
field goal and stay within a touch-
down at 24-17.
"We did a good job answering
the sudden changes," Massey said.
"When you've got a team playing on
the road, momentum is huge and sud-
den change can really get the momen-
tum going for them."
Later in the quarter, when the
offense punted the ball away with
4:57 remaining in the game, the
defense needed to stop Minnesota
and did.
Though it allowed a pass play for
a first down, Michigan's swarm-
ing defense shut down their running
game entirely for negative-10 yards
on five carries, setting up the game-
winning drive.
Though Michigan was disap-
pointed it was unable to put together
a dominant defensive effort for four
quarters, it was happy with its resil-
iency.
"How many running yards did they
get - 180?" Pat Massey said. "That's
still a lot of running yards right there,
so I don't think that's something to
boast about.
"But the second half and finishing
the game, that's something we can be
proud about."
Team
Wisconsin
Michigan
Purdue
Minnesota
Michigan State
Northwestern
Iowa
Ohio State
Illinois
Indiana
Penn State
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
0
0
0
n)
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
3
3
3
6
5
5
5
3
3
3:
3
2
2
2
0
1
3
2
2
4
4
4
Big Ten Overall
A
THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS:
MICHIGAN 27, Minnesota 24
NORTHWESTERN 33, Indiana 24 (20T)
MICHIGAN STATE 38, Illinois 25
Wisconsin 24, OHIO STATE 13
Purdue 20, PENN STATE 13
NEXT WEEKEND'S GAMES:
MICHIGAN at Illinois, Noon
Minnesota at Michigan State, Noon
Ohio State at Iowa, 3:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Purdue, 5:30 p.m.
i
I
6
TONY DING/Daily
Sophomore running back E.B. Halsey.
UP NEXT:
ILLINOIS
Following a breathtaking come-from-
behind victory over Minnesota, Michigan,
will head back on the road again this;
week to battle Illinois. The Fighting Illini
will no doubt be a desperate group, as
they have seen their bowl hopes fade
quickly over the last three weeks, thanks
to losses to Purdue, Wisconsin and Mich-
igan State. Illinois is currently 0-3 in the
Big Ten and 2-4 overall. Illinois has lost
its last 11 Big Ten games. Still, the trip
will be a dangerous one for the Wolver-
ines if for no other reason than the fact
that the game comes between Michigan's
IKrHMULSESUS/Daily
The Michigan defense swarms Minnesota running back Laurence Maroney on Saturday. Minnesota rushed for 165 yards in the
first half - 80 of which came on a Maroney touchdown run - but managed just 24 second-half yards on the ground.
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