THE VICTORS
Daily writers take a look at the most prominent
coaches in Michigan's rich athletic history.
PAGE 8B
IAN HERBERT:
The reason Michigan plays teams like
Eastern Michigan might be money.
PAGE 3B
The SportsMonday Column
WOMEN'S SOCCER LOSES IN SOUTH BEND
The Wolverine's suffered a punishing 3-0 loss
to Notre Dame, last year's national champion.
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SPORTS
a4eA9a4i m anun
September 19, 2005
1B
MICHIGAN 55, Eastern M 1ichiga 0
Smothered
. Blue comes
back strong
after big loss
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Editor
After missing two chances to intercept Eastern
Michigan quarterback Matt Bohnet in the first quarter,
David Harris was frustrated. He told himself the next
time Bohnet threw in his direction, he was going to
pick him off and take it to the house.
Harris's chance came on the second play of the
Eagles' third drive. He broke up Bohnet's pass to wide
receiver Eric Deslauriers - but once again, Harris
couldn't hold onto the rock.
"Unfortunately, I started running before I caught the
ball," Harris said. "The players got on me a little bit,
but it was all good."
That it was - at least for Michigan. Harris's but-
ter fingers were the only misfortune for the Wolverines
on Saturday, and they cruised to a 55-0 win over the
Eagles.
One week after Michigan fumbled its way to a 17-
10 loss against Notre Dame, the Wolverines' offense
exploded for 465 yards en route to Michigan's most
lopsided victory since beating Indiana 58-0 in 2000.
Quarterback Chad Henne - who was heavily criti-
cized last week for his performance against Notre
Dame - amassed 147 yards through the air in one half
of action.
Henne also made an impact with his feet. Showing
more poise in the pocket than he did a week ago, Henne
scrambled three times for 16 yards, including a 13-yard
first-down run in the second quarter. That drive ended
on a six-yard touchdown pass from Henne to fullback
Brian Thompson that gave Michigan a 35-0 advantage
with eight minutes left in the half.
See EAGLES, page 58
ALU OLSEN/Daily
Safety Willis Barringer and cornerback Grant Mason team up to bring down Eastern Michigan wide receiver Eric Deslauriers on Saturday. The Wolverines dominated the Eagles throughout the
game,holding their opponents to a mere 134 yards of total offense. Michigan jumped out to a 38-0 halftime lead before closing out the contest with a 17-0 second half performance.
Not much learned in blowout win
Well, at least we finally got to see what
Jason Eldridge can do.
Eldridge is a senior from Oxford,
Mich., who saw his first game
action during Saturday's 55-0
slaughter of Eastern Michigan.
Eldridge was an excellent high
school athlete, but, like most great
high school athletes, he was too
small (5-foot-8, 184 pounds) or not
talented enough to play at Michi-
gan. Against Eastern, he carried the
ball one time for three yards.
Alijah Bradley, the 5-foot-6, 176-
pound senior running back from b
Hercules, Calif., has seen plenty of HER
action over the last three years, 18 Cau
games to be exact. But this week in the
Bradley made it into the end zone
for the first time in his career. Bradley was
spinning and falling as he crossed the goal
line, but he popped right up and into the arms
of a teammate - clearly excited about his new
accomplishment.
"I just want to thank God for the
opportunity, and my coaches," Brad-
ley said after the game. "I just ran
hard, man. When the opportunity
came, I just took advantage of it."
Bradley and Eldridge wouldn't
have played if the Wolverines were
playing Tennessee in a nonconfer-
ence game. Senior quarterbacks Jeff
Kastl and Matt Wilde - both local
guys whose job on the Michigan
N football team pretty much consists
ERT of relaying the play to their team-
tI UP mates on the field - would not
1fme have made it into the game if the
score wasn't 41-0 when the fourth
quarter started. Landon Smith, Brad Cischke
and Tyrone Jordan all made it into the game to
get some reps at wide receiver, and you can't
tell me that they would have gotten that PT if
it hadn't been for this game. For the seniors,
it might be one of their last opportunities
because, unless we're crushing Indiana, I don't
think they're going to get into a Big Ten game.
In my mind, getting these guys some playing
time is really the only reason to play a game
like this. It didn't really help the offense get
back on track, and I think it might have hurt
the defense.
On the first play from scrimmage, Eagles
quarterback Matt Bohnet found a hole in the
cover 2, torching the Michigan secondary for
18 yards. The wide receiver on that play, senior
A.J. Bennett, was just sitting in the hole of the
zone. It didn't matter because after three more
passing attempts, Eastern Michigan was forced
to punt. And it didn't matter that the Eagles had
made it practically to midfield, because Steve
See HERBERT, page 5B
Als
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gh
ALEXANDER DZIADOSZ/Daily
Alijah Bradley scored his first collegiate touchdown against Eastern Michigan.
Overtime win boosts
'M' after Oakland loss
By Anne Ulble
Daily Sports Writer
Fueled up on the sour taste of Friday
night's disappointing and surprising 2-
1 loss to Oakland, the Michigan men's
soccer team proved its resilience yes-
terday by earning a win in overtime
against Kentucky 1-0.
"Resilience was a theme we talked
about in the beginning of the sea-
son," senior captain Ryan Sterba said.
"We knew we'd have to learn how to
bounce back. Our team showed a lot of
resilience (yesterday) after our game
against Oakland."
On Friday, the Wolverines struggled
with their ball movement and were
unable to make many attacks on the
goal. The game became heated dur-
ing the second half after freshman
Michael Holody went down after being
hit b an OarlanA nlapr But the Wl-
speech seemed to hit home with the
team.
"This game against Kentucky was
one we needed to win in order to keep
us on track for our goals this season,"
Burns said. "I give a lot of credit to
our team because they put it together
mentally in their pre-game and they
came out and played exactly how we
wanted them to, intensity-wise. It was
that urgency and a little bit of reckless-
ness that set a great tone for the rest of
the game."
In an exhibit of physical matchups
along all portions of the field. Ken-
tucky battled its way through the game
by pushing and pulling down Michi-
gan players and the Wolverines fought
back. The referees gave three yellow
cards and two red cards - one against
midfielder Alex McDonald and the
other against the coaching bench - to
the Kentuickv team Conch Bnrns felt
VOLLEYBALL
Spikers compi1e
winning streak
after rock start
By Dan Ketchel
Daily Sports Writer
One hundred and eighty degrees. The complete and total
change of direction is the only possible way to describe
the early-season turnaround for the Michigan women's vol-
leyball team. After a supposedly ominous start that includ-
ed three quick losses to No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 25 Long
Beach State and No. 1 Nebraska, the Wolverines came back
strong.
This weekend, the spikers put an exclamation point on
their current hot streak by tacking on their fifth and sixth
consecutive wins en route to capturing the title at the Geor-
gia Invitational.
"We looked at it more how we performed each game
rather than wins/losses," Michigan coach Mark Rosen said.
"We've definitely gotten better throughout the season.
We've been a little streaky (but) we've iust been progress-
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