The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 3, 2005 - 5B The Daily Dashboard Ater every game of the 2005 seasoz, The Michigan Dail' football writers will tkeyoufor a ride in Lloyd's car. The gauges all refer to different variables that will ftuate from week to week, depending on how the team and fans perform. Deensive Intensity is a m easre of - you guessed it - how well the Wolverines manage to stop their oppo. nents. The Carr--meter is a rough of head coach Lloyd Car's opinion of his team's t y s judged from his postgame comments. This week's Hypemeter is a like last week's. We are crtiquing hw we think the Michigan State fans mea gyred up against Mlchigan's. Rush Yards is a straightf or. wrd measure of Michigan's grotud yardage total in each ame.Sincean effective running game is crucial to postseason success - espe- illy for this year's squad, whih is loaded at running back - this statistic figures to be a consistently impor- tant indicator.. Defensive Intensity Carr-o-meter Hypemeter Rush Yards The defense was jacked up for this in-state rivalry game, as evidenced by the hard hits throughout the contest. Strong safety Brandent Englemon let the Spartans offense know that the middle of the field would be a dangerous place to roam with his hit on receiver Jerramy Scott - it could be heard all the way up in the press box. But the defense also gave up way too many third-and-long conversions. Whenever it looked like the Wolverines had Michi- gan State stopped, the defensive backs gave up a big gain. But the fact remains that Michigan slowed an offense that was averaging 49 points per game. It was obvious as soon as Lloyd Carr walked in that this game might have meant something more to him. As he commented on the game, Carr appeared to be very emotional. But his emotion came for good reason: The Wolverines may have just saved their season. The offense that looked so anemic in losses against Notre Dame and Wis- consin finally put together a solid game and exe- cuted. The defense - while not perfect- slowed Drew Stanton and the rest of the Spartans enough to give Michigan a chance. Carr liked enough of what he saw to give out an "outstanding." The Michigan State fans were quiet for much of the game, but they must be given credit for mak- ing plenty of noise when there was something to get excited about. It's hard to cheer when your team is down 14-0, after all. But at the same time, the fact that Spartans quarterback Drew Stanton had to run over to the student section to get them to start the yelling before kickoff. Not good. One Michigan State fan sitting near football writer Gabe Edelson in the upper deck was arrested after he was caught drinking from a flask and swearing at other fans. That's the spirit. Well, the rotating Michigan backfield must have been holding back the Wolverines' offense. Mike Hart came back from his leg injury to lead the team with 218 yards rushing. But more than the yards, Hart provided that emotional spark that the team looked like it was missing. On his first run - a 45-yard scamper - Hart bounced up and let the Michigan State bench know that he-"came to play, and we came to win." The Spartans took notice of Hart: On Mario Manningham's 43-yard touchdown, Michigan State's safeties bit on a play-action fake. US IdO- Ig ateu STAFF PICKSF Predictions against the spread for 10/1/05 Gabe Edelson Michigan (+5.5) at No. 11 Michigan State Michigan No. 1 Southern Cal (-16.5) at No. 14 Arizona State Arizona State Ian Herbert No, 2 Texas (-15) at Missouri No. 3 Virginia Tech (-10.5) at West Virginia No. 4 Louisiana State (-14.5) at Mississippi State No. 5 Florida (-3.5) at No. 15 Alabama Syracuse (+21.5) at No. 6 Florida State South Florida (+20.5) at No. 9 Miami Mississippi (+22) at No. 10 Tennessee No. 13 Notre Dame (+3) at No. 22 Purdue Kansas (+17.5) at No. 16 Texas Tech Indiana (+18) at No. 17 Wisconsin No. 18 Minnesota (-3) at FenState No. 19 Virginia (-3.5) at Maryland Washington (+21) at No. 20 UCLA Florida Atlantic (+38) at No. 24 Louisville Illinois (+17.5) at Iowa Best Bet Record this week: Overall Texas Virginia Tech Mississippi State Florida Florida State South Florida Tennessee Purdue Texas Tech Wisconsin Michigan State Arizona State Texas Virginia Tech Louisiana State Florida Florida State Miami Mississippi Purdue Texas Tech Indiana Minnesota Maryland UCLA Louisville Iowa' Louisiana State 10-7 (1-0) 35.25.2 (2-2) Matt Venegoni Michigan Southern Cal Texas Virginia Tech Louisiana State Florida Florida State Miami Mississippi Notre Dame Texas Tech Wisconsin Michigan Arizona State Texas Virginia Tech Louisiana State Florida Florida State Miami Tennessee Notre Dame Texas Tech Wisconsin Michigan Arizona State Texas West Virginia Mississippi State Florida Florida State South Florida Mississippi Purdue Texas Tech Wisconsin Minnesota Maryland UCLA Florida Atlantic Illinois Florida 7-10 (0-1) 28-32-2 (1-3) Stephanie Former All-American Wright Ed Muransky Ian, Matt and Stephanie continue roll; celebrities, not so much Ian claims that he took Michigan State because he didn't want the beat all choosing the Wolverines. Yeah, right. Suck it up tough guy. But Ian did redeem himself by having the best record and padding his overall lead. Once again, the celebrities struggled with their picks. This time around, former Michigan offensive tackle Ed Muransky made sure that the celebrities weren't going to make up an ground by dropping 10 of the 17 games. But that's OK. He was pretty awesome when he played here, so we don't mind. Plus, it makes us look even better. After all of his smack talk the first week, Gabe continues his slide. He's doing so bad, he's only ahead of the celebrities by three games. It doesn't matter, though, because the conference season is still young and anything can happen. Minnesota Virginia UCLA Florida Atlantic Iowa Texas 7-10 (1-0) 31-29-2(2-2) Minnesota Virginia UCLA Louisville Iowa Virginia Tech 9-8(1-0) 33-27-2(2-2) Minnesota Virginia UCLA Louisville Iowa Texas 9-8 (1-0) 3426-2(4-0) The football beat doesn't just cover games and write columns that no one seems to like. The group also loves partying and hanging out. That's the point of the Daily Road Trip - to see what's going on in other Big Ten cities and let you, the reader, get a glimpse of it. Every year, The Michigan Daily and the State News play each other in a touch football game and blanketed looked the 19 The bigges the night the big boys on Saturdw The Dail looked like the point-a- minute Michigan offense before JAOn r of the s play Scot y. DalyRoad Trip St y A receivers. Really, they 997 Michigan defense. st defensive highlight day came when rover t Bell picked off a tte News pass at the goal line and then pro- ceeded to return the ball 80 yards, taunt- ing the other team for the last 15. In I / circa 1901-06 - the State News had no chance in the 70-21 spank- ing. Led by seniors David Betts and Matt Venegoni, the offense could not be stopped. Betts finished with five touch- downs, including a kick return for a touchdown, and Minnesota native Venegoni finished with eight touch- downs, including a rushing touchdown to end the massacre. But it wasn't just the offense that laid the wood to our neighbors from the northwest. Co-coach/safety Matt Singer put together a spectacular group that pressured the quarterback d : : the end, everyone had fun, except the State News - especially when the Daily tried to plant a Michigan flag at midfield. Bars were impossible to get into on Friday night, with lines forming as early as 3 p.m. Even at Lou and Harry's, a pre- party bar that closes at midnight and is known for its lack of a wait, over- crowded quarters prevented anybody from getting in after 10 p.m. So house parties were plentiful on Friday night. Charles Street was especially busy, with get-togethers in many living rooms, kitchens and backyards. But those $5 cups for beer sure were a downer. On Saturday morning, the best tail- gating action could be found at the SPARTANS Continued from page 1B At the start of the last 15 minutes of the contest, the Spartans had the ball at Michigan's nine-yard line. An unsuc- cessful run on third-and-four set up a 23- yard attempt for Goss, but he missed the chip shot. On the very next play, sophomore run- ning back Mike Hart continued his great day in his return from injury. He broke a 64-yard run - a career long - down the left sideline to Michigan State's 16-yard line. Hart finished the game with 36 car- ries for 218 yards and a touchdown. "Well, Hart is, you know, the heart of our team," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "We kept trying to take him out of there, and he kept going back in." Hart finished the drive he started by plunging in from one yard out. It looked as if he was going to be stood up at the line of scrimmage, but, in typical Hart fashion, he didn't go down on the first hit. He bounced off Michigan State's Michael Bazemore and David Herron Jr., and barely kept his knee from touching the ground as he dove for the goal line, giving the Wolverines a 31-24 lead. "I wasn't going to miss this game for anything," Hart said. "I don't care how hurt I was." On the Spartans' next drive, Michi- gan held them to a three-and-out and looked to put the game away. On a key third-and-li from the Michigan State 25, Henne dropped back to pass. As he went through his progressions, the sophomore was pressured from his right side. As Spartans defensive tack- le Bobby Jones sacked and stripped Henne. Though his arm appeared to be moving forward and attempting a pass, the officials ruled it a fumble. Defen- sive tackle Domata Peko picked up the ball and rumbled 74 yards for a game- on na in-a nhinnthat tied the a me tennis courts, the traditional spot for drinking, eating and listening to music. Police officers were prowling the area - maybe to prevent another riot - but didn't seem to take any action when students walked down the street with open cans of beer. TREVOR CAMPBELL/Daily Quarterback Chad Henne threw for 256 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Michigan came right back after the disheartening turnover. Fifth-year senior Grant Mason returned the ensuing kick- off 32 yards to the Michigan State 40- yard line. Then, it was the Mike Hart Chow anin H3 ecrried the h all11 of the L. Smith. "I hope the players feel it, and I hope they don't forget the feeling. It's tough, but we'll bounce back." The shootout featured 45 first-half points, including Michigan jumping out to a 14-0 leaL Rut the Snartans