Tuesday October 4, 2005 sports.rmichigandaily. com sports@michigandaily. com ale lflcdiigjan till PORTFS 8 - - - - - ------------ Henne bounces back in victory By Matt Venegoni Daily Sports Editor Fifteen minutes was all it took. That quarter of an hour may be what sophomore quarterback Chad Henne needed to return to form and put the Wolverines back into the Big Ten race. It was obvious from the first four games of the season that Henne was not the quarterback he was last year. Was it because he was without departed wide receiver Braylon Edwards? Was it a sophomore slump? Or was he just not as good as everyone thought? Although Henne had eight touch- downs and only two interceptions, he completed just 53 percent of his passes heading into the Michigan State game. More worrisome was his play when games were on the line. Against Notre Dame, Henne threw an interception - a forced pass to a covered receiver - in the red zone when the Wolverines were ready to score. In the road opener at Wisconsin, he often looked rattled and couldn't keep the offense on the field as the Michigan defense tired. But after his performance against Michigan State - in which Henne went 26-of-35 for 256 yards and three touchdowns - it may have just been a mechanical problem that was affecting Michigan's signal caller. After the 23-20 loss to the Badgers, Henne and the coaching staff ques- tioned whether his form was affecting his throws. He admits that many of his passes were either too high or behind the intended target. "I think, at Wisconsin, I had a lot of physical mistakes; it wasn't so much mental," Henne said. "We went back on Sunday and Monday and fixed those. It was something with my release and body weight in my drop. It probably only took about 15 minutes." Ali-Frazier fights get Varsity ready to rumble We often hear the game of football equated with war. The regimental pageantry, strict disci- pline and use of military terminology leave little to the imagination. In no other sport would partici- pants named "gunners" sprint by teammates engaged in "trench warfare." But last week, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr used a differ- ent approach in preparing his team for its upcoming show- down with Michigan State. Instead of simply requiring the Wolverines to watch film of the Spartans' previous games this season, Carr added another mandatory item to the agen- da: He showed his players clips from the legendary trilogy of fights between boxing immortals Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier - the 1971 "Fight of the Century," a 1974 rematch and the "Thrilla in Manila" from 1975. The sweet science became a running theme throughout the team's train- ing and the game itself, with each player taking away different motivational elements. For defensive tackle Gabe Watson, the fights demonstrated the importance of perseverance. "One time, Frazier hit Ali," Watson recalled. "(Ali) fell down, (but) he got back up before they could even start the count. (Giving G up) big plays was like us falling down, but we ED] had to get back up and continue to fight. We Hone did that, and we came away with the victory." Linebacker Prescott Burgess used the fights' symbolism to fuel his relentless effort on defense. His seven tackles in the game were the second-most on the team. "We had to go out there and throw blows even though we were taking some," Burgess said. "We just had to punch harder and harder. I think (watching the fights) woke a lot of us up, seeing that, if they could do it, why couldn't we?" Whatever the Wolverines gained from studying Ali and Frazier, the parallels between the heavyweight bouts and the rivalry game were striking. Ali had his sharp, staccato jabs and crosses to go along with his famously fancy footwork. Michigan had Chad Henne's precision passing and Mike Hart's nimble scampers downfield. Frazier used a bone-crushing left hook to floor his opponent. Michigan State used Drew Stanton's swirling scrambles and looping receiver routes to confuse its foe. Ali loved talking trash to intimidate "Smokin' Joe." Mike Hart relished jawing at the Spartans' sideline after a 45-yard gain in the first quarter. Ali made a point of calling Frazier "ugly" to the nation- al media. Watson called the Paul Bunyan Trophy - which goes to the annual winner of the intrastate contest - "the ugli- est trophy in the world." The blood feud between Ali and Frazier came to an end after 41 grueling rounds. Neither fighter was ever the same. How fitting that, in the Michigan-Michigan State series, the past two games have ended in over- time, with this year's result ending the Spar- tans' hopes for a perfect season. "Back then, fights were 15 rounds," Watson said. "We went 16 (on Saturday)." In the gridiron version of the slugfest, the Wolverines came out swinging, jumping out to an early 14-0 lead. Michigan and Michigan State then proceeded to stand toe-to-toe, trad- ing punches and refusing to flinch until they found themselves deadlocked at 31 points BE apiece when the final bell sounded. In the SON extra session, Garrett Rivas delivered the Gabe knockout blow with his 35-yard game-win- ning field goal. When Pierre Woods hoisted the kicker up like a punch-drunk pugilist after an exhaust- ing match, the symmetry was complete. Safety Willis Barringer claimed he'd never seen boxing related to football before. But Carr's motives for using the ring footage were simple. It related directly to his team's goal of picking up a third consecutive Big Ten crown. "Every game that we play in the Big Ten at this stage is a championship game," Carr said. "It's hard to think that anybody is going to lose twice. We're trying to win a championship, and those are two pretty good champions, Ali and Frazier." When the dust finally settled on Saturday, it was Michi- gan walking away with the title belt. The Spartans found themselves with a black eye, a puffy lip and a 12-month wait for a rematch. 3A EL st RYAN WEINER/Daily Chad Henne threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday's win. Henne looked confident as he threw on Saturday, especially early on, when he completed six-of-nine attempts on the opening touchdown drive. The last pass, a perfect toss to Jason Avant on a fade route, gave Michigan a 7-0 lead and Henne plenty to work with. Although he did throw an interception on Michigan's first drive of the third quarter, Henne doesn't think it was another sign of sec- ond-half woes for him. "They dropped back into cover- age, and (Michigan State's Sir Darean Adams) reacted late and made a great play," Henne said. "But you play each play and forget that play and move on." And Henne was able to do just that, in part because of a change the team made for the Michigan State game. Other than - working on mechan- ics, Henne also benefited from having offensive coordinator Terry Malone on the sideline. "I thought it was a big impact, just having the offensive coordinator to talk to between plays," Henne said. "Even though I talk on the phone with (quar- terback) coach (Scott) Loeffler, it's just not the same having someone out there on the sideline with you." Maybe fixing his mechanics and talking to Malone was all Henne need- ed to turn his season around and help Michigan get back into the top 25. But if the Wolverines want to stay in the Big Ten race and win a third straight conference title, Henne is going to have to play more like he did against Michi- gan State than how he did against Wis- consin and Notre Dame. - Gabe Edelson can be reached at gedelson@umich.edu. 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