SportsMonday, September 25, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 5B
MAIZE GAUGE
The Michigan Daily football writers break down the weekend's stats that don't show up in the box-
score. The defense-o-meter measures the intensity of the defense, the Carr-o-meter judges Lloyd
Carr's demeanor following the game and the hypemeter measures the fans' game performance. ig
DEFENSE-O-METER
4 It's incredible that last year's defense - with virtu-
/ ally the same players - was Michigan's Achilles'
heel. After one sketchy drive to begin the game,
LaMarr the Wolverines gave Wisconsin next to nothing.
Woodleys
CARR-O-METER
3 When a reporter's cell phone rang, Lloyd Carr asked to
/4 speak to the caller. Clearly, Carr wasn't too worried about
his team's slow start. He wasn't as elated as last week,
Lloyd but he was quite satisfied with his defense's dominant day.
carrs
HYPEMETER
3/4 As always, Michigan students strolled in right near kick-
off, but clearly brought their cheering voices once they
arrived. And the Maize Out worked better than anyone
Student could have imagined - the Big House never looked better.
T-shirts
STAFF PICKS
Predictions against the
spread for Sept. 16
Kevin.
Stephani
No. 24 renn State (+17) at No.:L Unio state
Unio state
Buffalo (+42) at No. 2 Auburn Auburn
No. 3 Southern Cal (-23) at Arizona Southern Cal
No. 4 West Virginia (-21.5) at East Carolina West Virginia
Kentucky (+24) at No. 5 Florida Florida
Iowa State (+26) at No. 7 Texas Texas
No. 8 Louisville (-14.5) at Kansas State Louisville
Colorado (+28) at No. 9 Georgia Georgia
Tulane (+37) at No. 10 Louisiana State Tulane
Cincinnati (+28)at No. 11 Virginia Tech Cincinnati
No. 12 Notre Dame (-3.5) at Michigan State Notre Dame
No. 14 Iowa (-21) at Illinois Iowa
Marshall (+22) at No. 15 Tennessee Tennessee
Middle Tennessee Stat (+28.5) at No.17 Oklahoma Oklahoma
Rice (+31) at No. 18 Florida State Rice
North Carolina (+17) at No. 19 Clemson Clemson
No. 20 Boston College (-7) at North Carolina State Boston College
No. 22 Arizona State (+7.5) at No. 21 Califomia Arizona State
Troy (+23.5) at No. 23 Nebraska Troy
Hawaii (+15) at N. 25 Boise State Boise State
Best Bet West Virginia
Record 6-14-1( 1)
Overall 29-25-3 (2-1)
Micnigan
Penn State
Buffalo
Arizona
West Virginia
Florida
Iowa State
Louisville
Colorado
Tulane
Cincinnati
Notre Dame
Iowa
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Florida State
North Carolina
Boston College
Arizona State
Troy
Hawaii
Iowa
10-10-1 (0-1)
2&26-3 (0-3)
Kevin
Wright
Michigan
Penn State
Auburn
Southern Cal
West Virginia
Florida
Iowa State
Louisville
Georgia
Louisiana State
Virginia Tech
Notre Dame
Iowa
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Florida State
Clemson
Boston College
Califomia
Troy
Boise State
Califomnia
812-1(10)
28-26-3 (2-1)
Stephanie
Wright
Michigan
Penn State
Buffalo
Southern Cal
West Virginia
Florida
Texas
Louisville
Georgia
Louisiana State
Virginia Tech
Notre Dame
Iowa
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Rice
Clemson
Boston College
Arizona State
Troy
Boise State
Boston College
-1441( 1)
25-29-3 (2-1)
Fielding H. Yost 1ll
Michigan
Penn State
Buffalo
Southern Cal
West Virginia
Kentucky
Iowa State
Louisville
Georgia
Tulane
Cincinnati
Michigan State
Iowa
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Rice
Clemson
Boston College
Califomia
Nebraska
Hawaii
Michigan
12-8-1(0-0-1)
34-1&3 (1-1-1)
YostfNrules day as writers lay egg
On a weekend where only Matt Singer, self-proclaimed "laughingstock" of staff picks, finished .500 for the Daily football writers, the celebrities opened up quite a dominat-
ing lead. Fielding H. Yost, III - the grandson of legendary Michigan football coach Fielding Yost and member of the Save the Big House campaign - didn't think he knew
enough about college football to pick against the spread, but he proved he had a leg up on the Daily prognosticators.
BELL
Continued from page 1B
longer combating opposing defenses or
understanding all of his routes. That's
cake. Manningham's biggest obstacle on
Saturday came when he had to face the
media about his success.
Ever caught five touchdowns in
two games?
"No, no sir, no I've never (done)
that," Manningham sheepishly replies
during Saturday's post-game press con-
ference. It's the first time he's had to
appear at the dreaded podium in front
of the media following a home game.
He looks behind him to see if he
can leave yet. Sorry, the torture has
just begun.
Did you hear it a lot around cam-
pus about the Notre Dame game?
"No, not really. I wear a hat
around, so ..."
Manningham drifts off. Nice try,
you're not off the hook yet.
Is that by design that you wear a
hat? Are you trying to hide?
"No, I just wear a hat," Manning-
ham says matter-of-factly. "It's been
raining this week."
Makes sense. Affected by rain, you
say? Maybe he is human, after all.
One last question: Would you rath-
er just lay low and have others take
the spotlight?
"As long as we're winning, it don't
even matter," Manningham says. "As
long as we're winning, I don't care if
I get the ball once, eight times, two
times. It don't matter to me."
Well, it matters to Michigan.
Something tells me there might be
a correlation between Manningham
touching the ball and the Wolverines
winning.
Don't believe me? Let's look at
some of Michigan's big games since
Manningham's arrival.
Penn State enters the Big House
undefeated with national cham-
pionship aspirations. Yawn.
Manningham's game-winning-no-
time-remaining-just-another-day-at-
the-office grab sealed the Nittany
Lions' fate there.
Notre Dame? All Manningham did
there was end a school's national title
hopes (again), a quarterback's Heis-
man Trophy aspirations and his own
school's 12-year drought of wins in
South Bend.
And then Saturday's game against
Wisconsin: Seven catches, 113 yards,
two touchdowns and about 2,000
people coming up to him today on
campus asking him when he'll wear
No. 1.
Sorry, Mario, but I've got a feeling
you'll be back at that podium. Again
and again. We'll actually save you a
spot at the podium for the next two-
plus years for convenience sake. I
think your quarterback agrees.
"I think he'll get used to it," said
quarterback Chad Henne after replac-
ing his teammate in front of the podi-
um following Saturday's game. "With
a young guy like that, everyone's
nervous their first time coming in.
But he'll get used to it, especially if
he keeps making plays like this. He'll
be in here a lot."
Remember after Michigan's first
two games when everyone was up in
arms about the Wolverines' lack of
a passing attack? I don't want to say
that was an overreaction, but even
Tom Cruise thinks you guys should
switch to decaf.
Over the past two weeks, Michigan
hasn't just beaten two good football
teams. The Wolverines have helped
themselves by filling in the biggest
perceived hole in their game.
Consider the passing game hole
(if there ever was one to begin with)
filled in, covered, cemented in with a
cement truck - however you want to
look at it, it's gone.
Gone should also be the questions
about the passing game for the rest
of the season, because the solution is
right in front of our eyes.
He'll be the guy walking down the
Diag with his hat on and his head
down - rain or shine.
- Bell can be reached at
scotteb@umich.edu.
THE MICHIGAN DAILY TOP 10 POLL
Michigan Daily Top 10 has 6. Michigan: Even though the Wolverines handily
:a fers will fill out ballots, defeated Wisconsin, they moved down a spot in the
Ioints, second-place polls. Henne and his receivers are finally starting to
ery Monday, the results _ click, and thedefense has remained dominant, allowing
otes in parentheses. just12 net yards rushing against the Badgers.
or about57 minutes.Ohio State <
8. Texas: Despiterunning alloverIowa State,Texas
dropped a spot in the polls. The Longhorns have
steadily improvedeahweek, b stthe gsod't1fshion
heatingOhimState putontheminAustin still remains
the strongest image sf this team in the votens'uinds.
3. Southern Cal: How's this for a change - the
Trojans won alow-scoring game. Beating Arizona
20-3 is nothing special,butthe SouthernCal
defense deserves some props for taking over a game.
Here's to Pete Carroll,defensive mastermind.
yr-
10. Virginia Tech: The Hokies move into the
Daily Top 10 for the first time this year. Frank
Beamer's squad has Slown under the radar this
season, going 4-0.sMaybe it's because the Hokies
do' hae nvsx ffers o tetam
5. Florida: The Gators fit the theme of the week
well. They let a subpar Kentucky team hang around
for a bit, but pulled away before things got really
scary. Florida's good, but a hellish upcoming
schedule might knock the squad off this list.
BADGERS
Continued from page 1B
just got back in our groove and played
good defense."
Defensive end LaMarr Woodley said
Michigan (1-0 Big Ten, 4-0 overall) was
overrunning the ball on the first drive,
giving Hill open running lanes. Once
the Wolverines adjusted, they shut down
Wisconsin's run game and forced the
Badgers to throw the ball, something
they rarely do.
Wisconsin quarterback John Stocco fin-
ished with 236 yards and one touchdown
on 22-of-42 passing. But Stocco had to
deal with Michigan defenders in his face
for much of the afternoon. The Wolverines
notched four sacks in the contest, giving
them 16 on the season, the nation's third-
highest total. Three of the sacks came
from defensive linemen (Branch,Woodley
and defensive end Tim Jamison).
"It's nice to see those kind of numbers
on the rushing yardage, but I think the key
thing is that we brought a lot of four-man
pressures today" Stripling said. "We were
able to get some pressure on the quarter-
back by just bringing four guys."
Michigan's stout defensive play made
up for an offensive attack that showed only
glimpses oflast week's electrifying display
against Notre Dame. Manningham caught
seven balls for 113 yards, including two
touchdown passes, giving him five touch-
downs in the last two games. Receiver
Adrian Arrington broke out with 79 yards
on four receptions.
Wisconsin (0-1, 3-1) stopped Hart's
streak of 100-yard rushing games at three;
the junior gained 91 yards on 23 carries
but did score his fifth touchdown of the
season.
The Wolverines' balanced offense ben-
efited from great field position throughout
the game, thanks to the defense mak-
ing quick work of the Badgers and Steve
Breaston's stellar day returning punts.
Butin the endthis victory couldn't start
until the run was stopped.
"I think we took a major step today
because you're not going to find a bigger
offensive line," Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr said. "I thought our defense was out-
standing. I don't know if you'd call ita per-
sonality; I just call it Michigan defense."
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