8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 26, 2005 NEWS GAME Continued from page 1A No, it wasn't Vince Young running wild for 192 yards and four touchdowns in last year's Rose Bowl, but it gave me a case of duja vu when Wisconsin quarterback John Stocco kept the ball and crossed the stripe for the winning score in the final minute. For all the talk centering on the Wolverines' inability to stop running quarterbacks, I thought it was pretty ironic that a pocket passer would clinch the game on a draw play. Afterward, Lloyd Carr even admitted that he expected a handoff, while the Michi- gan defenders displayed various levels of confusion on the field. It's pretty clear that the quarterback scramble is still a big prob- lem for this team., And don't even get me started on Michigan's inability to contain talented running backs this season. After North- ern Illinois's Garrett Wolfe ran for 148 yards in the season opener, you would've thought the Wolverines would be prepared for Brian Calhoun. But after holding the Wisconsin rusher to 64 all-purpose yards in the first half, the Michigan defense col- lapsed. Calhoun picked up another 102 rushing yards and 48 receiving yards - to go along with a touchdown - in the final 30 minutes alone. Screen passes and quick runs to the outside did the Wolverines' defense in. Michigan just didn't seem to have anybody fast enough to catch Calhoun, who accounted for an amazing 214 of the Badgers' 287 total yards of offense. That should raise some red flags. It sure seems to me like Chad Henne is in the middle of the dreaded "sophomore slump." To tell you the truth, I didn't pay much attention to the preseason talk that the Michigan signal-caller would flounder in his second campaign. I had no doubt that his record-setting freshman year would be fol- lowed up by even greater accomplishments. Well, it's fair to say that I'm looking pretty foolish for my false sense of security. Henne is not the same player we saw last season. In the Wolverines' only two games against quality opponents, Henne hasn't even com- pleted half his passes, and he's only thrown one more touchdown pass (3) than intercep- tion (2). Last year, Henne completed over 60 percent of his attempts, and he had more than twice as many scoring tosses as picks. Something doesn't compute, and I'm start- ing to think that things aren't turning around anytime soon. Henne's arm has been under- whelming, with passes thrown too deep, too short and generally off target. At times, it's been hard to believe he's actually aiming at one of his receivers. Both interceptions this season came at crucial moments. The first, against Notre Dame, was picked off on the goal line to end a promising Michigan drive. The second, in the fourth quarter on Saturday, temporarily stalled a drive with Michigan down by three and looking to regain the lead. In both cases, Henne made poor deci- sions to throw the ball into coverage. These weren't flukes. Only cornerback Grant Mason's interception of a Stocco pass two plays later preserved the Wolverines' hope and set up Henne's flea flicker to true fresh- man Mario Manningham. Suffice it to say that I'm not sold on Henne right now. I'm confident we're on the same page here. I'm also worried that Steve Breaston might have picked this season to do his best Invisible Man impersonation. You remember Breaston, right? The guy everybody kept calling the most exciting player on this team? -Maybe even one of the best playmakers in the country? Yeah, I know you've been com- plaining about him, too. But let's look at the numbers anyway. Against Wisconsin, he had one catch for negative-one yard. That's right, negative one. He actually moved backwards over the course of the game. I guess that's even worse than being invisible. For the season, he has six catches for 43 yards. Manningham picked up more yardage than Breaston's season total on one catch Saturday night - the 49-yard flea flicker. Five Wolverines have more receiv- ing yardage than Breaston, who thus far has struggled mightily in his attempt to slide into a deep threat role. Even in the return game, where Breaston has made the most noise during his Michigan career, the red- shirt junior has been an unmitigated flop. Aside from a 72-yard return against Eastern Michigan, Breaston isn't even averaging five yards per punt return. On kickoffs, he's gaining almost nine fewer yards per return (15.7) than he did last year (24.6). Whether this drop-off is due to injury, pressure, expectations or more attentive coverage, I'm not one to say. All I know is, I feel like I just got a great present. But when I opened the box, the toy was broken. You know what I mean? I'll avoid the traditional complaints here. I'm sure you don't want to hear about over-conservative play-calling or the team's inability to win big games. It's all been said before. But I'm not beating around the bush. Michigan has some problems. And they need to be addressed quickly, or we could be looking at a catastrophic season by Michigan standards. You, the doubters, will be the first to point out that the Wolverines are well on their way. After all, when things go wrong for the Maize and Blue, you're never reluctant to criticize, point the finger or call for sweep- ing changes. Usually, I nod my head while politely ignoring your ranting and raving. But I have to admit it: I'm thinking about changing my tune, at least until I see some evidence to the contrary, some proof to believe that things will turn around. And with no apparent hope in sight, I've got a question for you: Where do I sign up? 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