BROWN DELIVERS
SOUND ADVICE
Hall of Fame coach Hubie PAGE
Brown visits Crisler Arena 6B
for Tommy Amaker's clinic.
IAN HERBERT:
Varsity goes streaking, and it's
more than just back-to-back wins.
PAGE 3B
The SportsMonday Column
WIN SOME, LOSE SOME
Both Michigan soccer teams were in action this
weekend, but only one came away with a victory
PAGE 8B
October 24, 2005
gabe i3,n TiwAii 2I( T
Michigan 23, IowA 20 (OT)
lB
Cardiac
Kids
Defense bears down
to seal late-game win
I OWA CITY - Considering Michi- they had Herrmann's mantra in their minds.
gan's current string of close games, "We went out there and everybody
it's hard to believe nose tackle Gabe was yelling, 'Finish,' " defensive lineman
Watson thought it was "funny" that Iowa Alan Branch said. "We all knew what we
got the ball back with 2:42 left in the had to do."
fourth quarter. Herrmann's lesson worked. Of the first
At least, that's not what I six plays of Iowa's final drive
was thinking. in regulation, three went for
My thought process went more than 10 yards, and the
something like this: Michi- Wolverines looked as if they
gan's defense wasn't able to were going to let this game
stop Wisconsin or Minnesota, F turn into a repeat of Wisconsin
and it took last-second heroics or Minnesota. Then Michigan,
from Chad Henne and Mario woke up. It stopped the Hawk-
Manningham to overcome its eyes on second-and-four and
collapse against Penn State. I third-and-two, and Iowa coach
almost expected Michigan to Kirk Ferentz decided to kick a
lose - all I was thinking was STEPHANIE 32-yard field goal and send the
"not again." WRIGHT game into overtime.
Watson felt a distinct sense Wright On Target In all, the defense's perfor-
of d6ja vu in the contest's final mance on that drive was less
minutes. But he wasn't thinking about the than impressive. Iowa amassed 74 yards on
Wolverines' losses to Wisconsin and Min- eight plays; it was in position to look to the
nesota. end zone for the game-winning score, and,
All last week in practice, defensive coor- in retrospect, it probably should have. But
dinator Jim Herrmann focused on teach- the Wolverines dug in and wouldn't let Iowa
ing his players how to finish games. Rush win. I'm convinced that Michigan would
linebacker Tim Jamison said the defense have stopped the Hawkeyes even if they had
spent extra time in practice working on a decided to go for the touchdown.
"finish drill" to simulate late-game defen- And then they did it again. Stopping
sive stands. It was a much-needed point Iowa in regulation - that was the Hawk-
of emphasis. In all the excitement about eyes' fault as much as it was Michigan's
Michigan last-second win over Penn State triumph. But the Wolverines' defense was
a week ago, it was easy to overlook how the determined to keep Iowa out of the end
defense let the Nittany Lions' offense march zone a second time. Aside from a 10-yard
down the field to take the lead. holding penalty called against Michigan,
According to Watson, Herrmann told the Hawkeyes gained just six yards in five
the defense that it has to be able to keep plays in overtime.
opponents out of the end zone with less than The Wolverines finally proved they can
three minutes left in games. The exact time finish a game on defense.
Herrmann used was 2:53 - eerily similar This comes a week after the Wolver-
to the 2:42 that Iowa had left on Saturday. ines' offense drove 53 yards in 53 seconds
When the Wolverines' defenders ran to silence its critics. In practice leading up
onto the field for Iowa's last offensive drive, See WRIGHT, page 5B
HEART ATTACKS
Here's a look at how Michigan's defense has performed on its final series of regulation in each
of the Wolverines' Big Ten games this season:
Game Distance Time Result
Wisconsin 52 yards 4:05 Touchdown
Michigan State 38 yards 0:48 End of game
Minnesota 75 yards 2:48 Field goal
Penn State 81 yards 1:53 Touchdown
Iowa 74 yards 2:42 Field goal
Michigan taliback Jerome Jackson scored the game-winning touchdown from the half-yard line to give the Wolverines' a 23-20 overtime win on Saturday.
Blue pulls out another last-second wn
By Matt Venegoni
Daily Sports Editor
IOWA CITY - How does it go? Third time's a
charm?
After losing two games 23-20, Michigan finally
came out on top of a game by the same score.
Saturday's win over Iowa featured more than just
a familiar score. Mike Hart was injured again, but a
couple unexpected faces gave Michigan a lift, while
a couple old ones also came up with big plays to sal-
vage the win and end Iowa's 22-game home winning
streak.
At the beginning of the season, the Michigan
backfield was all about three players - Hart, soph-
omore Max Martin and freshman Kevin Grady. But
in overtime Saturday, there was just one player run-
ning for the Wolverines - junior Jerome Jackson.
With Michigan on the half-yard line and the game
in the balance, the Michigan coaching staff called
on the little-used Jackson. He has not seen game
action since the Wisconsin loss, but he was ready
to go when Michigan needed him most. Despite not
playing until the fourth quarter and overtime, the
Saginaw native had 44 yards on 11 carries, includ-
ing the touchdown that ended Iowa's streak at Kin-
nick Stadium.
"I'm a strong believer," Jackson said. "I always
knew that my time was going to come. Coach (Lloyd)
Carr said in the locker room before the game, 'Some-
body is going to have to step up today.' I just thank
my coaches for giving me the opportunity and just
believing in me to put me in the game in a tight situ-
ation."
Jackson didn't initially come in when Hart injured
his ankle early in the first quarter. Freshman Kevin
Grady carried the ball the majority of the next three
quarters, but it was Jackson who rose to the occasion
at the end of the game.
"I think Jerome Jackson really gave us a lift there,"
Carrsaid. "But I think a measure of a team is, if you
have some people who are banged up, somebody
steps up. And we had that today."
Jackson had a little help on the game-winning
touchdown. Redshirt sophomore Jake Long returned
from injury and made the hole for Jackson to notch
the winning score. Long - who has not played all
season - was given the responsibility of making
sure Jackson got in the end zone. But before the play,
the offensive line knew it was up to them to make
See IOWA, page 5B
lcers tie
Spartans
in tough
*'battle'
By Daniel Levy
Daily Sports Writer
For anyone who remembers last year's late-
season games between Michigan and Michigan
State, the drama of Saturday night's showdown
between No. 1 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan
State at Yost Ice Arena probably didn't come
as much of a surprise. The Wolverines tied the
Spartans on consecutive nights last year, and
after three grueling periods on Saturday, the
two teams were dead-
locked at three and
headed toward anoth-
er overtime game.
Michigan came out strong in the extra
period, keeping the puck in Michigan State's
offensive zone for the majority of the period.
Wolverines center T.J. Hensick was able to
wiggle through a few Spartans defenders on
two different occasions, but neither play result-
* VOLLEYBALL
'M' knocks off Badgers
n a five-game thriller
By Nate Sandals
Daily Sports Writer
As Michigan and No. 7 Wisconsin talk-
ed strategy before the deciding fifth game
of their volleyball match on Saturday,
Wisconsin looked
like a team ready to
seal a comeback vic-
tory. The Badgers
were loose and loud:
as the team dancedH
to House of Pain's
"Jump Around."
Meanwhile, the Wolverines sat rigidly
and looked like a defeated team.
But the pep-talk is not the game, and
it was Michigan who ended up jumping
around. The Wolverines played confident-
ly and dictated the flow of the last game.
After the Badgers (8-2 Big Ten, 16-3
overall) fought back to tie the game at 14-
14, sophomore Katie Bruzdzinski placed
a kill just inside the sideline to give the
Wolverines a match-point opportunity at
15-14.
Then the Wolverines sealed the win
event, which brought the largest crowd of
the season to Cliff Keen Arena - over
1,300 fans.
But by beating Wisconsin 3-2, the Wol-
verines snapped a four-game losing streak
and gave coach Mark Rosen his first vic-
tory over the Badgers in his seven years at
Michigan.
The win also marked the 500th in the
program's history.
"We were ready to win," Miller said.
"We had a long talk on Friday night about
sticking with it as a team. That's exactly
what we did (Saturday)."
Michigan played with a cohesive style
that allowed it to knock off a more talented
Wisconsin team.
The Wolverines took the first game 30-
24 behind Miller's .571 hitting percentage
and solid all-around play.
"We did a great job keeping them off
balance with our serving and our block-
ing," Rosen said.
Wisconsin responded in the next game
with a strong 30-18 victory. Maria Carlini
led the Badgers, recording six kills in the
game and 29 on the match.
RYAN WEINER/Daily
Senin n.antain Andrew EhhAtt notched one naI and one assist in Michigan's 3-3 tie on Saturday.