HOCKEY LOSES KEY PLAYERS TO DRAFT Al Montoya, Jeff Tambellini and Mike Brown opt for the NHL over another season at Yost. PAGE 7B IAN HERBERT: This Northern Illinois squad can actually put on quite a show. So don't hate. PAGE 3B The SportsTuesday Column SPORTJSK4ED September 6, 2005 lB MICHIGAN 33, Norther Illinois 11 - - - ----- - ------------------ -- mommumm Out of the blocks Defense needs to make some key changes ... loyd Carr announced yesterday that he plans to make some changes on defense this week. I don't think anyone who watched Saturday's game can blame him - especially with Notre Dame on the way. Michigan's defense infamously cost the team victories against Ohio State and Texas last season. There were no mobile quarterbacks to trip up the Wolverines this week, but the defense was exposed in Michigan's 33-17 win over Northern Illinois. The Wolverines missed tackles, over-pursued plays and let Huskies tailback Garrett Wolfe run all over them - or around them, as was the case on his 76-yard touchdown at the start of the second quarter. Carr singled out the front seven as the worst offenders and made it clear that at least one of last week's start- ers will begin the day on the bench this Saturday. STEPHANIE "We're going to make some chang- WRIGHT es in the lineup because we're not Wright on Target going to sit and watch that type of effort," Carr said. "We need to play harder; we need to play tougher." Linebacker Chris Graham and rush linebacker LaMarr Woodley are safe, and rightfully so. Graham led the Wolver- ines with a career-best 10 tackles in his first start, and Wood- ley made the defensive play of the game on Michigan's lone sack, stripping the ball from Northern Illinois quarterback Phil Horvath and recovering the fumble in Huskies territory. That leaves five players on the hot seat. Carr was characteristically vague when asked to identify which player (or players) had lost his job. But it's likely not Prescott Burgess, who notched five tackles and forced one fumble in his first career start. While linebacker Scott McClintock is now listed beneath Dave Harris in the depth chart, that move is probably the result of Harris - who missed the first game due to injury - being healthy, rather than McClintock playing poorly. So it comes down to defensive linemen Jeremy Van Alstyne, Pat Massey and Gabe Watson. Ironically, the line has been widely considered the strength of the defense. Massey is a co-captain, Watson was an All-Big Ten first-team selection in 2004, and Van Alstyne impressed last season despite missing five games due to a nagging knee injury. But Carr has a history of being hardest on the players he believes have the most talent. In 2003, Carr sat Braylon Edwards for extended periods of time at the beginning of the season. After that, Edwards straightened up his act and became the most dominant wide receiver in the nation last year. For that reason, I think Watson's job is in the most danger. Carr believes the senior has as much potential as anyone he's coached at Michigan - presumably, that includes Edwards. See WRIGHT, page 4B RYAN WEINER/Daily Michigan linebacker John Thompson blocks Northern Illinois placeiker Chris Nendick's E5-yard ffeki goal attempt early in the third quarter of the Wolvednes' 3347 win Saturday. ..But offense carries Blue over Huskies By Ian Herbert Daily Sports Editor In each of Michigan's final two games - against Ohio State and Texas - the Wolverines gave up more than 35 points. Saturday, the defense kept Northern Illinois to fewer than half that, beating the Huskies convincingly, 33-17. But 0 even though the Wolverines left the Big House with a vic- tory and an impressive offensive performance under their belts, the questions surrounding Michigan's defense didn't go anywhere. Michigan scored early on a four-yard fade route to senior co-captain Jason Avant and never gave the lead away to the Huskies. The score capped a 14-play drive by the Wol- verines in which they looked close to untouchable. Quar- terback Chad Henne in particular was nearly flawless on the first drive of the game. He threw just two incomplete passes - a drop by Avant on a quick slant and a 40-yard bomb to Steve Breaston down the right sideline. The sophomore finished with 227 yards and two touch- downs, but he wasn't even the most notable starter on the offense. Avant finished the day with 127 yards on nine catches, many of which were high-flying, acrobatic grabs. "We started off fast and kept control throughout," Henne said. "And that's the key. When you have a team that can control the ground and control that clock, it's going to be an advantage. And that's what we did." When the Wolverines came out and put the ball into the endzone once again on the second drive, the rout looked to be on. Henne threw the ball to four different receivers on the first two drives, including sophomore running back Mike Hart, who scored on a 34-yard screen to make it 14-3. Hart finished the day with 166 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, picking up right where he left off last year as a Doak Walker Award candidate. He got the nod at the start, but eventually split the carries with true freshman Kevin Grady, who gained 42 yards and, in his first game in Maize and Blue, also made it into the endzone. But Henne, Hart and Avant were never the real question marks on this team. Having been burned in each of the final two games of last season, the defense spent the offseason taking the brunt of the program's criticism. One talking point for the Michigan defensive unit was on eliminating plays over 25 yards. "When they say to limit the big plays or have a small amount of big plays for this game or this season, as a core defensive back, I really take that personally," cornerback Leon Hall said before the season opener. "We have expec- tations for ourselves. That's definitely one of our biggest goals not to give up big plays in the secondary." See HUSKIES, page 4B Swimmers help collect cash for * hurricane relief By H. Jose Bosch Daily Sports Writer After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and destroyed everything in its path, hundreds of thousands of people were left without homes, food or water. The University of Michigan soon decided it would take its title as "the leaders and best," seriously. With help from the men and women's swimming and diving teams, the Youth Community Action Team of the Washtenaw County Chapter of the American Red Cross collected money for families affected by Hurricane Katrina at the gates of Mich- igan Stadium before Saturday's football game. "Being a varsity athlete, we have a special opportunity (at Michigan), and we have a lot of privileges," senior Chris DeJong said. "And when we see something like the hurricane, we feel it's our duty to be the leaders and the best, come out here and raise money for the hurricane victims." It was the Michigan who approached the Washtenaw County Chapter of the American Red Cross and proposed the idea of raising money for hurricane relief at Michigan Stadium. Jenni " 2005WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES National Championship marks softball first By Kevin Wright Daily Sports Writer With one swing of her bat, Michigan freshman Samantha Findlay changed the landscape of women's college softball. Findlay's tenth-inning blast over the leftfield fence carried the Wolverines past UCLA, 4-1, in the Women's College World Series championship series on June 8 and secured Michigan's position as the first school east of the Mississippi River to win a Women's College World Series. "It was a great moment for Michigan and for Michigan softball," coach Carol Hutchins said. "I was so proud of those kids. They were incredible all week." The Wolverines enjoyed a stellar year, finishing with a 65-7 record. In addition to maintaining a No. 1 ranking for the major- ity of the season, Michigan won the Big Ten regular-season championship and the Big Ten tournament championship. The team used that momentum to win an NCAA Regional and Super Regional to qualify for the Women's College World Series. MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily