4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 18, 2006
THE BLITZ
Football
4
GAME STATISTICS
MICHIGAN 47 - NOTRE DAME 21
Team Stats
First ODowns
Rush/Yds
Passing Yards
Offensive Plays
Total Offense
Return Yards
Comp/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
Fumbles/Lost
Penalties/Yards
ime of Poss
MICH
41/1 20
220
340
123
13/22/1
6/225
0/0
5/70
33:56
ND
17/4
241
ee
245
162
25/49/3
7/363
2/2
11/84
2604
TD Int
3 O
3 0
Burgess, defense help thrash Irish
ASNG M I C H I G A N
Player C-A Yds
Henne 13-22 220
Totals 13-22 220
RUSHING
Player
Gady
TEAM
Henne
Totals
RECEIVING
Player
Manningham
Arrington
Oluigbo
T*ot'ls
Att
31
1
3
41
No.
2
1
13
Yds
124
9
-3
-10
120
Yds
42
137
32
9
220
Avg
4.0
-3.0
-3.3
2.9
Avg
34.
16.0
9.0
'6.9
Lg
21
2
21
Lg
16
9
69
TD
1
0
0
0
1
TD
O
3
0
0
3
PUNTING
Player No. Yds Avg Lg
Mek 4 15 388 4
Ryan 2 70 35.0 36
Totals 6 225 37.5 42
PSuelF RE No, Yds Aug Lg TO
Sears 3 50 16.7 21 0
Tabb 1 9 9.0 9 0
Totals 4 59 14.8 21 O
PUNT RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD
Totas 4 6 1.0 2 O
DEFENSE
Player Solo Asst Tot
Harris 3 3 6
Burgess 1 4 5
Mundy 2 1 3
Hall 1 2 3
Campbnell 2 0 2
Woodley 1 1 2
Sears 1 O 1
Stewart 1 0 1
Oluigbo 1 0 1
Jamison 1 1 1
Johnson 0 1 1
Germany O 1 1
Graham 1 O 1
Ryan 1 O 1
Taylor 0 0 0
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Team Big Ten Overall
By Scott Bell
Daily Sports Editor
SOUTH BEND - WarrenG. Harding High 24,
Notre Dame 21.
In a game where Notre Dame Stadium officially
became a part of Super Mario's world, it was a long-
time teammate of Mario Manningham's who jump-
started the Wolverines' upset bid.
Senior linebacker Prescott Burgess, Manning-
ham's teammate at Warren G. Harding High School
in Ohio silenced a hostile crowd in the game's open-
ing minute.
On the game's second play, Notre Dame tight end
John Carlson couldn't corral a pass from quarter-
back Brady Quinn. His misfortune quickly became
Burgess's joy: The ball was tipped directly toward
the starting outside linebacker. It soon became evi-
dent that the gift-wrapped interception was going
to turn into a gift-wrapped touchdown, as Burgess
trotted 31 yards into the endzone, shocking the Irish
crowd and giving Michigan an early 7-0 lead.
"It's nice to have the defense score," senior
defensive end LaMarr Woodley said. "Definitely
at the beginning of the game, with Prescott getting
in there, it changed the momentum of the game. It
takes the crowd out of it."
Burgess agreed and said he was just glad his play
could help get his teammates involved as well.
"Anytime a defender scores on an interception or
turnover, it gets everyone going," Burgess said. "I
was just happy that it was me that had everybody all
wanting to get out there and make plays."
The excitement resonated on the sideline, and
Manningham was the beneficiary of it. His three
receiving touchdowns over a 17-minute span gave
the duo from Warren four touchdowns in the first
half - more than Notre Dame's entire team could
muster for the entire game.
But Burgess had plans on making a repeat trip to
the endzone.
With the score at 34-14 midway through the
third quarter, Burgess had another ball come his
way. Quinn couldn't cleanly get a pass off after
Michigan's front four pressured him. The always-
opportune Burgess stepped across the passing lane
and caught the ball, and for the second time in the
game, it was off to the races. This time, a slew of
golden domes stood in between Burgess and his
destination, and he ended up just yards short from
navigating his way to his second touchdown.
"The second one, there were a couple people I
had to show my little skills I had to, but they got
me on the five-yard line," Burgess said. "We still
got three points out of it. I wish we could have got-
ten seven out of it, but we still scored (on the next
possession)."
Burgess wasn't the lone Wolverine defender to
find the end zone. In the game's waning minutes,
Woodley jumped on a fumble created after the ball
slipped out of Quinn's hand on a passing delivery.
When Quinn unsuccessfully tried falling on the
ball, Woodley picked it up and took it 54 yards for
the game's final score after pushing away Carlson
on his way to endzone.
"I was just running, and I saw one of the Notre
Dame guys jump on the ball and it came out, so I
scooped it up like we work on at practice and I just
said, 'Let me get to this endzone.' " Woodley said.
A
I
PETER SCHOTTENFELS/Daily
Linebacker Prescott Burgess notched two interceptions against Notre Dame, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
"I saw the guy from the corner of my eye, so I just
did what I've seen Mike (Hart) do before with the
stiff arm, and I got in."
Even though Burgess and Woodley made the big
plays and received the praise on the surface, the
buzz around the locker room following the win
was Michigan's ability to put pressure on Notre
Dame quarterback Brady Quinn without constant-
ly blitzing.
"I've said all along our front is very good," defen-
sive coordinator Ron English said. "We five-man
pressured early, then we dropped to four man, and
we were still fine because our front is good. They're
good."
Defensive tackle Alan Branch, whose hit on
Quinn caused the errant pass that led to Burgess's
second interception, agreed that the key to quieting
the Fighting Irish's offense was the ability to pres-
sure Quinn without using too many men.
"If you blitz every time, the offense is going to
be able to make checks, and eventually, they'll hit a
big one on you," Branch said. "Really, it just shows
the confidence Coach E. has in his D-line. ... Today,
our front four got the job done."
Front four, middle three, back four - you name
it, they all got the job done.
For the game, Michigan caused five turnovers
(one from the front four, two from .the linebacking
corps and two from the secondary) against a team
that hadn't committed one in 273 consecutive plays
entering the game.
The Wolverine defense had one more turnover
than the Fighting Irish rushing attack had total
yards.
And Quinn, arguably the Heisman frontrunner
before the game, went from feeling the pressure as
a Heisman favorite to feeling the pressure sent by
the Michigan defense.
"I know he felt us today," said Burgess after the
game, grinning.
owa
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Purdue
Wisconsin
Indiana
Minnesota
Northwestern
Penn State
Illinois
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
4
THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS
Michigan 47, NOTRE DAME 21
Syracuse 31, ILLINsIS 21
lOWA 27, Iowa State 17
Michigan State 32, PITTSBURGH 23
Osio STATE 37, Cincinnati 7
NORTHWESTERN 14, Eastern Michigan 6
MINNESOTA 62, Temple 0
PURDUE 38, Ball State 28
WISCONSIN 14, San Diego State 0
PENN STATE 37, Youngstown State 17
Southern Illinois 35, INDIANA 28
AROUND THE NCAA
FANTASTIC FINAL MINUTE
DOWNS SOONERS: No. 15 Okla-
homa suffered a startling defeat at
the hands of No. 18 Oregon. Leading
33-20 in the final two minutes, Okla-
homa saw the game slip away with
two late Oregon touchdowns. The
comeback was controversial, however,
because the officials appeared to miss
an illegal touching call on an onside
kick recovered by Oregon. Oklahoma
had a chance to win it with a 44-yard
field-goal attempt with time expiring
but the kick was blocked to seal the
34-33 Oregon victory.
IN BATTLE OF TIGERS, AUBURN
WINS: No. 3 Auburn scored a third-
quarter touchdown to knock off its
Southeastern Conference rival, No. 6
Louisiana State 7-3. Brandon Cox's
one-yard quarterback sneak was the
first touchdown allowed by the Loui-
siana State defense this season. It
was the first time both Auburn and
Louisiana State have met while both
ranked in the top 10 since 1972.
CARDINALS FLY THROUGH HUR-
RICANES: Despite the loss of its
starting quarterback to injury, No. 12
Louisville drubbed the 17th-ranked
Hurricanes, 31-7. Miami drew first
blood with a first quarter touchdown.
But from then on, it was all Lou-
isville. Running back Kolby Smith
scored two touchdowns for the Big
East-contending Cardinals.
Henne
breaks
out with
big game
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Editor
In Michigan's first two blowout
wins, quarterback Chad Henne
didn't get an opportunity to prove
himself.
On Saturday, Henne finally got
that chance. But it probably didn't
come the way he
envisioned it. NOTEBOOK
On the third
play of Michigan's first drive, the
Wolverines' offensive line failed
to pick up the Notre Dame blitz.
Under pressure, Henne threw an ill-
advised pass into the hands of Irish
safety Chinedum Ndukwe, who
returned the interception 51 yards to
the Michigan four-yard line. Notre
Dame scored a touchdown two plays
later.
"It was just a poor decision by
myself" Henne said. "Some of those
plays are out there, and you don't
want them to happen, but it's all
about bounce-back ability. Coming
to the sideline, I explained to every-
body, 'That was my fault.' I knew I
was going to come back because I
always put that stuff behind me and
go out and make better plays."
Which is exactly what Henne did.
On the Wolverines' third offensive
series, Henne hit a wide-open Mario
Manningham with a gorgeous pass
for a 69-yard touchdown. It was
Henne's first completion longer than
30 yards this season.
"Those deep balls he threw to
Mario, all three of them couldn't
have been placed better" running
back Mike Hart said. "They were
all perfect. Hit him on the run, they
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Week three was named Separation Saturday, and appropriately
so. Michigan's blowout win over Notre Dame dropped the Irish
to No. 12 and sent the Wolverines climbing up to No. 6. In two
Southeastern Conference matchups, Florida and Auburn were
able to hold off rivals Tennessee and Louisiana State, respec-
tively. All in all, it made for an exciting Saturday and a new-look
top 25.
Chad Henne threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns against the Irish.
were perfect passes." do to win.' Then we knew coming in
Henne completed 13-of-22 passes here we'd have to throw it, and he did
for 220 yards and three touchdowns, a great job"
by far his most productive game of HART no sToP: Mike Harthad been
the still-young season. Through two the Wolverines' hero in their first
games, he had amassed just 248 two games, gaining 262 yards and
passing yards and two touchdowns, scoring three touchdowns.
totals he nearly doubled against the Not so against Notre Dame,which
Irish on Saturday. focused on stopping Michigan's
Unlike Vanderbilt and Central rushing attack, ranked fourth in the
Michigan, which had played deep nation coming into the game.
and forced the Wolverines to throw "They had a lot of people up in the
underneath, Notre Dame loaded the box, so we couldn't run the ball too
box and covered Michigan's receiv- well at first, but then we just threw it
ers man-to-man. With speedy Man- over the top of them;' Hart said. "It
ningham breaking free from the loosened everyone up, so we started
Irish cornerbacks, Henne exploited getting running lanes. The passing
the coverage. Five of Henne's 13 game started everything off today."
completions went for more than 15 In the first quarter, Hart gained
yards. just 12 yards on seven carries. But
"We really didn't throw the ball in once the Wolverines' passing game
the first two games" offensive coor- heated up and Notre Dame's defend-
dinator Mike DeBord said."We real- ers started backing off, Hart made
ly wanted to get our running game the most of it. The junior ended up
going, and I'm sure people were say- with 124 yards on 31 carries for his
ing, 'Are they ever going to throw?' third 100-yard rushing game of the
Chad never blinked an eye and just season.
said, 'I don't care what we've got to See HART, page 5B
TEAM
1. OhioState
2. Auburn
3. Southern Cai
4. West Virginia
S. Florida
6. Michigan
7 Texas
8. Louisville
9. Georgia
10. Louisiana State
11. Virginia Tech
12. Notre Dame
13. Oregon
14. Iowa
15. Tennessee
16. TCU
17. Oklahoma
18. Florida State
19. Clemson
20. Arizona State
20. Boston college
22. California
23. Nebraska
24. Penn State
25. Soise State
beat Louisiana State
7-3
beat Nebraska 28-10
beat Maryland 45-24
beat Tennessee 21-20
beat Notre Dame 47-21
beat Rice 52-7
beat Miami 31-7
beat UAB 34-0
lost to Auburn 7-3
beat Duke 36-0
lost to Michigan 47-21
beat Oklahoma 34-33
beat Iowa
State 27-17
lost to Florida 21-20
beat Texas
Tech 12-3
lost to Oregon 34-33
Buffalo
at Arizona
at East Carolina
Kentucky
Wisconsin
Iowa State
at Kansas State
Colrado
Tulane
Cincinnati
at Michigan State
at Arizona State
at Illinois
Marshall
Brigham Young
Middle
Tennessee State
4
LAST WEEK THIS WEEK
beat Cincinnati 37-7 Penn State
lost to Clemson 27-20 Rice
beat Florida North Carolina
State 27-20
beat Colorado 21-3 at California
beat Brigham at N.C. State
Young 30-23
beat Portland Arizona State
State 42-16
lost to Southern Troy
Cal 28-10
beat Youngstown at Ohio State
State 37-3
beat Wyoming 17-10 Hawaii
Games updated through Sept. 17.
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