UP-AND-DOWN START 0r -t The women's basketball team opens its season with a loss ... and a win. IAN HERBERT: Dear Chad, it's time to step up. PAGE 3B The SportsMonday Column A SEASON ENDS Only Mike Woods will compete for the men's cross country team at the NCAA Championships. PAGE 7B PAGE 6B SPORTSMONDA November 14,2005 1B ----------------- --------- - abl~e £idwIaDag MICHIGAN 41, Indiana 14 Runaway Train Blowout prepares Blue for big game ver since the final second ticked off the clock in Michigan's win over Northwestern two weeks ago, the Wolverines have tried to convince us that they weren't looking ahead to Ohio State. One after the other, from the start of the bye week, they claimed Indiana had a solid defense and talented players at the skill positions - in other words, they said exactly what they had to say. But STEP how many of us actually WR believed them? Lloyd Carr confessed on Sat- Wright urday that he never stops thinking about the Buckeyes, and I'm sure the players would admit a similar fixation if they could. Not that they have to - the Wol- verines' 41-14 drubbing of Indiana said it for them. Unless you sported cream and crimson on Saturday (and even if you did), I'm sure there was no doubt in your mind that Michigan would beat the Hoosiers, and beat them handily. More than likely, even the Indiana faithful expected to leave the Big House with a loss. So the major story- line from Saturday's game wasn't the 41 points Michigan put up in the first half or the single touchdown allowed by its starting defense. It was how prepared the Wolverines looked for Ohio State. As Michigan dusted off its play- book and showed off a string of rarely used formations, the other football writers and I debated Carr's motiva- tion for shaking things up. I think it's pretty clear that those plays were designed to send a message to the Buckeyes. Carr proved his offense can move the ball through the air and on the ground, with or without tailback Mike Hart - even if it was playing lowly Indiana. But Michigan's prepa- ration for Ohio State goes deeper than offensive trickery. PH RI on With the exception of their 55-0 thrashing of Eastern Michigan, the Wolverines hadn't scored more than 34 points in a game this season. In most years, their average of 28.3 points per contest would be enough to keep up with the conservative, run-oriented offenses in the Big Ten. But Michigan is the fourth-lowest scoring team in the conference IANIE this season, and Ohio :GHT State has put up at least HTe 40 points in four straight ni Target games. The Wolverines scored in a hurry on Sat- urday, and even though those points came against an average Indiana defense, six touchdowns in a single half is still impressive. Then again, Ohio State's defense has dominated all season. The Buck- eyes currently rank third in the nation in total defense, allowing fewer than 300 yards per game and fewer than 80 on the ground. Even the Wolverines' rejuvenated offense can't expect to move the ball at will against Ohio State. Freshman tailback Kevin Grady played his best game in a Michigan uniform with 94 yards and two touch- downs on 14 carries, and he displayed far more patience and vision than he has in the past. But the Buckeyes possess one of the best linebacking corps in the country - topped off by the dominating A.J. Hawk and Michigan will struggle to establish its running game this weekend. The offense's trickery and Steve Breaston's electrifying all-around performance on Saturday gave Ohio State some- thing to chew on this week. Even so, it doesn't matter how many points Michigan can score if it can't contain the Buckeyes, which was its biggest problem last season. At the same time, of Ohio State's four 40-plus point performances, only one See WRIGHT, page 5B Linebacker Prescott Burgess (6) returns an interception during Saturday's blowout win over Indiana. M' crushes Indiana with first-half burst By Ian Herbert Daily Sports Editor The critics said that, coming off a bye week, Michi- gan would be flat against Indiana. The doubters said the Wolverines would be peeking ahead, thinking about next week's showdown with Ohio State. And it looked as if they might be right - for a little more than three minutes. The Hoosiers made football look easy on their first possession, driving 77 yards on seven plays to go up by seven early on a deep pass to wide receiver Jahkeen Gilmore. But they needed a lot more than that. By the time Michigan left the field with a 41-14 vic- tory, the majority of Michigan Stadium's 110,580 fans were long gone, and the majority of the starters were off the field as well. What started as a possibly challeng- ing Big Ten football game - with Indiana needing a win to become bowl eligible - ended in a romp and a showcase of talent for the Wolverines (4-3 Big Ten, 7-3 overall), who now need a win against Ohio State and a Penn State loss to Michigan State next week for a share of the Big Ten title and trip to a BCS game. "We still need a few balls to bounce our way," defen- sive lineman Gabe Watson said. "And hopefully, that will still happen. But it's nice after starting off slow and being on a roller coaster to win one and lose one and in the final stretch start to win." The star of the talent show was wide receiver Steve Breaston, who returned to Rose Bowl form. The redshirt See HOOSIERS, page 5B WOMEN'SCROSS COUNTRY arriers take first m regionals By David VandeVusse * Daily Sports Writer In a sport of individuals, it was the team that got it done. On Saturday in Bloomington, the No. 3 Michigan wom- en's cross country team successfully defended its 2004 regional crown and beat out second-place Notre Dame by * the narrow margin of 52-68. With a first-place finish in the 32-team field, the Wolverines earned an automatic trip to next week's NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. "Our team ran really great," sophomore Alyson Kohl- meier said. "It was a total team effort." The Wolverines ran in packs throughout the six kilo- meter race, placing three runners in the top-10 and five in the top-19. "(It's motivating) to run as a team," Kohlmeier said. "You don't want to let your teammates down because you know they're working just as hard as you are." Michigan has been a model of consistency all season, winning each of its nine meets. But on Saturday, taking first wasn't the ultimate goal. "It was a qualifying meet," coach Mike McGuire said. "We just wanted to focus on what we needed to do to get to next week. "We were really trying to match up well with Notre Dame and run the meet as a team." T +tnn-twn m .n nA, in the, reinn - Michigan ani Wolverines go up north, get series sweep of Wildcats By James V. Dowd Daily Sports Writer MARQUETTE - Michigan freshman Brandon Naurato's teammates say he has the hardest shot on the team. Ironically, he notched his first career two-goal game on Saturday night with two weaker shots that found their ways through Northern Michigan goalten- der Bill Zaniboni and into the back of the net. Naurato's second goal gave No. 2 Michigan a 4-3 overtime victory against the Wild- cats, completing a sweep that began with Friday night's 3-1 win. "Oddly enough, I think if you ranked the shots on our team, Brandon Naurato has the best shot on the team," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "But, these weren't his two best shots. Maybe (Zaniboni) knew him and expected a better shot and for that reason missed them. They were timely goals that show one thing - get your shots on the net, and you never know what will happen." Naurato lofted in the game-winner from just inside the blue line with 3:39 remaining. After the puck bounced through several Wildcats into the open ice, Naurato reacted to the cry of freshman teammate Andrew Cogliano, who quickly urged Naurato to throw the puck toward the net. "I heard Cogliano yelling when I got the puck," Naurato said. "So I was just trying to shoot it to the far side, hoping to get a rebound." Much to Naurato's surprise, the shot found its way into the short side of the net. "(My first reaction was) 'How'd that go in?"' Naurato said. "I just tried getting that last one on net, and it was just one of those fluke things that goes in." Naurato's first goal of the evening was just as surpris- ing. After serving a five-minute major penalty for forward TravisTurnbull, who, along with forward Jason Bailey was one of two Wolverines given a game misconduct during the second period on Saturday, Naurato picked up an open puck at the Northern Michigan blue line that slid through with the aid of junior Jason Dest and freshman Tim Mill- er. After he crossed the blue line, Naurato wristed a shot See WILDCATS, page 8B STEVE TAI/Daily Freshman Brandon Naurato scored a pair of goals against Northern Michigan on Saturday, including the game-winner in overtime. FIELD HOCKEY Stickers By David Spielman Daily Sports Writer season over after NCAA loss behind 3-1, and the team could not put enough pressure on its opponent to make up the dif- ference. Junior Goalkeener Beth Riley kept the shot when we had a point-blank opportunity. Those are the type of things we need to take away from this match in order to make the captain Lori Hillman's acclaimed career. The defenseman, who was awarded her second consecutive Big Ten Tournament MVP last