4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 10, 2005 Minnesota 23, Michigan 20 0 Third downs and red zone haunt M' GAME STATISTICS Team Stats First Downs Rush/Yds Passing Yards Offensive Plays Total Offense Return Yards Comp/Att/Int Punts/Avg Fumbles/Lost Penalties/Yards Time of Poss MINN 23 57/264 139 80 403 112 11/23/0 5/195 2/1 9/95 32:50 MICH 19 34/94 155 63 249 263 14/29/0 6/212 0/0 4/51 27:10 By Ian Herbert Daily Sports Editor On Saturday, Michigan was outplayed in almost every statistical category. The Gophers had more first downs, more yards and a lot more rushing yards - 264 to 94. They ran more plays and gained more per play than the Wolverines. The Gophers even out-punted Michigan. But at the end of Minnesota's 23-20 vic- tory - after the Gophers had found the Little Brown Jug on Michigan's sideline for the first time in 19 years - two statistics stood out. The Michigan offense will probably be haunted by its horrible third-down conversion percentage and its performance in the red zone. Minnesota on third-down conversions: nine of 17. Michigan on third-down conversions: three of 14. Minnesota was five-for-five in the red zone. Michigan's problem was not necessarily its rate of success, but rather its number of trips. The Wolverines were just two-for-three from inside the 20. "It's just that, when we got down to the 30- yard line, we didn't finish," sophomore run- ning back Mike Hart said. "That's what it came down to." The Wolverines picked up 19 first downs, but couldn't sustain long drives. They didn't score a single offensive point in the second half - despite making it into Gophers' territory three times in that span. Sophomore quarterback Chad Henne, who until Saturday had thrown a touchdown pass in every game he had played in at Michigan, could not get the offense going and finished the day 14-for-29 for just 155 yards. Henne had oppor- tunities to make some plays, but he couldn't convert. Battling the biting wind, he threw a few erratic passes either high or off-target. But his receivers also dropped five balls, including a couple on third down. "We just had a lot of opportunities that we didn't take advantage of," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "We didn't block them well up front. I don't think we protected the quarterback very well. I think we dropped too many passes. I think we had some open people that we missed. Of course, we missed two field goals." This isn't a new problem, either. Michigan is second-to-last in the Big Ten in red-zone scor- ing percentage. On the season, Michigan is 20- for-29 with 14 touchdowns. Near the end of the third quarter of Saturday's contest - just after Minnesota had scored to tie the game at 20 - Michigan was moving the ball. Thanks to a Steve Breaston kickoff return that went 95 yards for a touchdown, the offense hadn't been on the field since before halftime - Minnesota was out on the turf for 10:23 in the third quarter, more than twice as long as Michi- gan's time of possession. But at first the offense didn't seem to miss a beat. Hart ran for four yards and then Henne found Breaston for a nine-yard gain. Michigan was down to the Minnesota 40- yard line. Then the drive stalled five plays later, placekicker Garrett Rivas lined up for a 42-yard field goal and pulled it just left of the uprights. Michigan left the field with no points. "I don't know what it is," Avant said about the team's struggles in the red zone. "We haven't been able to run the ball particularly well. We just let opportunities slip through our hands. We need to realize a little more urgen- cy down there." Even Michigan's first touchdown can only partially be credited to the offense. After all, Michigan got the ball on Gophers' 23-yard line thanks to a Minnesota fumble forced by Michigan safety Willis Barringer. One pass to Breaston and four Hart runs were enough to get the Michigan offense into the end zone for the first and only time of the game. The offense was even stopped on that drive but went for it on fourth-and-goal from the one, and Hart willed the ball across the goal line. M I C H I G A N PASSING Player Henne Totals RUSHING Player Hart Manningham Henne Totals RECEIVING Player Avant Breaston Manningham Thompson Tabb Hart Totals C-A 14-29 14-29 Yds TD 155 0 155 0 Att 28 2 4 34 No. 6 3 2 14 14 Yds 109 5 -17 94 Yds 73 45 15 11 7 4 155 Avg 3.9 1.0 -4.3 2.8 Avg 12.2 15.0 7.5 11.0 7.0 4.0 9.8 Lg 20 7 2 20 Lg 18 18 11 11 7 4 18 Int 0 TO TD- 1 0 1 TO TD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PUNTING Playert Ryan Totals KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Breaston 5 Massey, M. 1 Totals 6 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Breaston 2 Totals 2 DEFENSE Player Harris Woodley Hall Mason Burgess Massey, P. Watson Graham Barringer Branch Harrison Adams Jambson Logan Englemon Thompson Taylor Hood Tabb Campbell Trent Totals No. Yds Avg Lg 6 212 35.3 45 6 212 35.3 45 Yds 185 -3 172 Yds 25 26 Solo 15 7 7 5 6 4 4 4 3 2 3 2 0 1 19 Avg 37.0 -3 28.7 Lg 95 0 95 MIKE HULSESUS/Daily Running back Mike Hart (20) ran for 109 yards and Michigan's lone offensive touchdown. The Wolverines were just 3-for-14 on third-down conversions and managed to make it into Minnesota's red zone a mere three times. Avg Lg 12.5 13 12.5 13 Asst 3 2 1 3 3 3 2 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 26 TD 1 0 O TD 0 0 Tot 18 9 8 8 7 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 ~1 94 Penalty-filled effort mars Michigan loss By Stephanie Wright Daily Sports Editor The most talked about miscue of Saturday's loss came on Minneso- ta's final drive when the Michigan defense was caught out of position and Gophers tailback Gary Russell broke a 61-yard run to the outside to set up the game-winning field goal. ButIt 6 rtainly, wasn't the first mistake of the day for the Wolverines. After making it 80 to halftime without a single penalty, Michigan commit- ted four for 51 yards in the second half, three of which were on Minne- sota scoring drives. All four penal- ties were called against the defense. On the Gophers' first posses- sion of the third quarter, Michi- gan defensive end Alan Branch sacked quarterback Bryan. Cupito, but Branch grabbed his facemask while bringing him to the ground and Michigan was penalized 15 yards. Minnesota placekicker Jason Giannini connected on a 26-yard field goal at the end of that drive to tie the game at 13. With Michigan leading 20-13, cornerback Leon Hall was called for pass interference while defend- ing Minnesota receiver Logan Payne on the first play of the drive. Four plays later, Mason was cover- ing receiver Ernie Wheelwright on a deep route down the left sideline when he was whistled for interfer- ence. The drive ended with Gophers running back Laurence Maroney scoring on a pitch from Cupito. Mason was charged with a second pass interference penalty on Wheel- wright early in the fourth quarter. "The call is on the official," Mason said. "On the deep ball, I hit (Wheelwright), and I guess the ball was in the air ... On the short play, I got there a little early. I was trying to get to the ball, and I guess I went through him to get to the ball." Heading into the game, Michi- gan was the Big Ten's second-least penalized team in terms of yardage, having committed 23 penalties for 154 yards in five games. But too often, those mistakes have come at inopportune moments for the Wolverines. "I think that's been our issue," defensive line coach Steve Strip- ling said. "Critical downs we have not performed, whether it's offense, defense or in the kicking game." RETURN MAN: One of the few bright spots in Michigan's loss was the return of wide receiver Steve Breaston. In his first two seasons, Breaston scored three touchdowns off punt returns and averaged more than 24 yards per kickoff return. But the redshirt junior has strug- gled for much of this season and missed the Michigan State game due to injury. He looked to recap- ture some of last year's form on Sat- urday. Breaston caught three passes for 45 yards - doubling the total number of receiving yards he has gained this season. But his 95-yard kickoff return put an exclamation point on his comeback. Following Giannini's 26-yard field goal that tied the game at 13 early in the third quarter, Breaston took the kickoff at the five and sliced through Minnesota defend- ers up the middle of the field. Near midfield, Breaston cut to the right and tiptoed along the sideline before cutting back into the middle and running into the end zone. Breaston's touchdown gave Mich- igan a 20-13 lead with more than 12 minutes remaining in the third quarter. But the Wolverines were unable to capitalize on Breaston's spark and failed to score for the rest of the contest. "It came right after Minnesota tied the game up," coach Lloyd Carr said of the return. "A play like that would normally give you some momentum and get the crowd into it. We just weren't able to do that." It was Michigan's first kickoff return for a touchdown since 1994, when Seth Smith ran a kickoff back 100 yards against Wisconsin on Oct. 29. Breaston also tied Des- mond Howard for the fourth-longest return in Michigan history. In all, Breaston returned five kickoffs for 185 yards in the losing effort. INJURY UPDATE: Michigan lost one of its top defenders when safety Willis Barringer suffered an appar- ent knee injury on the first series of the third quarter. He was later carted off the field just more than two minutes into the fourth quarter and did not return. Before suffering the injury, the senior had recorded five tackles and had forced a fumble. Freshman safety Brandon Harrison replaced Barringer and notched three tackles in the game. "It always hurts to lose a player like Willis because he brings so much energy and experience to the position," Mason said. "But we've got some guys that can come in and make plays, and I think Brandon did a good job." Barringer was seen leaving the stadium with a brace on his left knee. Carr didn't comment on Bar- ringer's status, but Mason said he believes Barringer is "just banged BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Big Ten Overall Penn State Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Indiana Michigan State Ohio State Northwestern Michigan Purdue Illinois v 5 v " v:ar ww 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 6. 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 0 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS Minnesota 23, MICHIGAN 20 NORTHWESTERN 51, Wisconsin 48 INDIANA 36, Illinois 13 Iowa 34, PURDUE 17 PENN STATE 17, Ohio State 10 'M' SCHEDULE d r$Y >clr. h.. . .:.Y.a .L..,. .r: .{:fit.., ...:. 't .0 MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily Cornerback Grant Mason (13) was whistled for two pass-interference penalties on Saturday. Michigan was plagued by flags at inopportune moments against Minnesota. up a little bit." Junior safety Brandent Engle- mon also left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury. The injury news was more posi- tive for the offense. In addition to Breaston, right tackle Mike Kolodziej and wide receiver Doug Dutch returned to action after missing time with undisclosed injuries. Neither Kolodziej nor Dutch had played since Notre Dame on Sept. 10. Date Sept. 3 Sept. 10 Sept. 17 Sept. 24 Oct. 1 Oct. 8 Oct. 15 Oct. 22 Oct. 29 Nov. 12 Nov. 29 opponent Time/Result Northern Illinois W, 33-17 Notre Dame L, 10-17 Eastern Michigan W, 55-0 at Wisconsin L, 20-23 at Michigan State W, 34-31 Minnesota L, 20-23 Penn State TBA at Iowa TBA at Northwestern TBA Indiana TBA Ohio State noon 0 I WEEKEND'S BEST VINCE'S REVENGE: One year removed from being shutout by the Sooners, quarterback Vince Young put on a dominating performance in the Red River Shootout to give the Longhorns their first win against Oklahoma in five years. In the 45-12 victory, Young threw three touchdown passes and ran for 45 yards as he continued to solidify his Heisman candidacy. The Texas defense held the Sooners, who lost running back Adrian Peterson to injury early in the game, to just 171 yards. The win continues Texas's 12-game winning streak that it has held since HOW THE AP TOP 25 FARED NEW AP TOP 25 Associated Press Poll for the week of Oct. 2 Games updated through Oct. 8 (first-place votes in parentheses) Team: 1. Southern Cal 2. Texas 3. Virginia Tech 4. Florida State 5. Georgia 6. Ohio State 7. Alabama 8. Tennessee 9. Miami 10. California 11. Louisiana State Last week: beat Arizona 42-21 beat Oklahoma 45-12 beat Marshall 41-14 beat Wake Forest 41-24 beat Tennessee 27-14 lost to Penn State 17-10 DNP lost to Georgia 27-14 beat Duke 52-7 lost to UCLA 47-40 beat Vanderbilt 34-6 nni 0 This week: at Notre Dame Colorado DNP at Virginia at Vanderbilt Michigan State at Mississippi DNP at Temple Oregon State Florida TEAM 1. Southern Cal (58) 2. Texas (7) 3. Virginia Tech 4. Florida State 5. Georgia 6. Alabama 7. Miami 8. Penn State 9. Notre Dame 10. Louisiana State 11. Florida 12. UCLA 13. Texas Tech 14. Boston College REC 5-0 5-0 6-0 5-0 5-0 5-0 4-1 6-0 4-1 3-1 5-1 5-0 5-0 5-1 PTS 1,618 1,565 1,493 1,393 1,389 1,244 1,205 1,096 1,058 1,057 935 889 794 656 PYS 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 16 12 11 13 20 15 18 I I