MISTAKES
HAUNT
ICERS
SM COLUMN 2B

DRAMATIC
GOAL SEALS,
VICTORY
WOMEN'S SOCCER 3B

SportsMonday
THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Monday, October 23, 2006


michigandailycom '

Redshirt frehsman tight end Carson Butler reached career highs in receptions (3) and receiving yards (42) in Michigan's 20-6 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes. Butler started for the second time of the season.
MICHIGAN 20 IOWA 6
POACH ED
'M'\. shuts down Iowa, for eighth -wiln

Believe
it: Next
3 key
for Blue
After Chad Henne took a
knee to seal a hard-fought
victory over Iowa, there
were no visible signs of relief from
the Maize and
Blue.
No wild
celebrations.
No hugging at
midfield. No
stampedes to
the student
section.
The Wol-
verines had
just emerged
unscathed MATT
from a bru- SINGER
tal six-game
stretch, set- Spitting Fire
ting the stage
- according to pundits and fans
alike - for a monumental clash in
Columbus Nov. 18.
You're excited about that game.
I'm excited about that game. Your
grandma's best friend's second
cousin is excited about that game.
The anticipation is completely
understandable, given the poten-
tially earth-shattering ramifica-
tions of this year's Michigan-Ohio
State matchup.
But this Wolverine squad is too
smart to fall into that line of think-
ing.
"Everyone's talking about No. 1,
No. 2," junior running back Mike
Hart said. "Everyone's talking :
about 0-State, 0-State 0-State. But
we know we have games before 0-
State - obviously that's the big one
, but we have games before that. So
that's where leadership comes in."
All season long, Michigan has
had plenty of reasons to let down
its guard.
After beating Notre Dame, the
Wolverines could've soaked up the
hype and looked past Wisconsin.
A few hiccups at the beginning
notwithstanding, they rolled to a
two-touchdown victory.
Likewise, Michigan could've let
Michigan State's shocking loss to
Illinois affect its approach against
the Spartans. But the Wolverines
stayed focused and crushed their
in-state rivals.
And on Saturday, Michigan
could've underestimated an Iowa
team coming off a stomach-churn-
ing upset loss to Indiana. Again,
SINGER PAGE SB

By KEVIN WRIGHT
Daily Sports Editor
When Michigan kicker Garrett
Rivas knocked in a 20-yard field
goal with just more than seven
minutes left in the second quarter,
defensive tackle Alan Branch and
the rest of the defense knew the
game was over.
"We always tell each other that
three points is good enough,"
Branch said. "We don't need any
more points because we're going
to stop them. That's kind of our
motto."
The unit held up its end of the
bargain, keeping Iowa out of the
end zone, and the offense did just
enough to keep the second-ranked
Wolverines undefeated in a 20-6
win over Iowa on Saturday.

On a day when the Michigan
offense mirrored the drab skies
above, the defense shined.
It didn't knock out any Hawkeye
quarterbacks, but Iowa signal call-
er Drew Tate knew it was there.
Linebacker David Harris intro-
duced himself by knocking Tate
to the ground on Iowa's second
possession of the game. From that
point on, Tate stayed down a little
longer each time he got hit, and the
defense took notice and smelled
the blood in the water.
"Every time we hit him, he was
getting up slowly," defensive end
LaMarr Woodley said. "We knew
he was back there hurting. Our
main thing was to get pressure on
him and force him to make bad
passes."
They didn't quite reach the

seven-sack plateau set last week
against Penn State, but three by
ShawnCrable and two from Wood-
ley did the trick.
Unlike Penn State, Iowa (2-3
Big Ten, 5-3 overall) finished with
positive rushing yards, but just
more than half of the 41 came off
a 21-yard Tate scramble late in the
fourth quarter.
Dominating like few Michi-
gan defenses have since the 1997
National Championship season,
this year's team has made all the
clutch plays.
And Saturday was no different.
When Henne threw an ill-
advised interception in the third
quarter, Iowa had a chance to
swing momentum back to its side.
But the Michigan defense held
strong, forcing Tate to throw the

ball away on a third-and-one from
the Wolverine 18-yard line. And
instead of taking the lead, Iowa
settled for a game-tying field goal.
"(The Michigan defense was)
pretty tough," Tate said. "They
were without a doubt the best
defense we've played all year. How
physical they are, their size, their
speed - we haven't seen anything
like that."
While the defense controlled
the line of scrimmage, the Michi-
gan offense needed a spark in the
form of a 64-yard Steve Breaston
kickoff return in the third quarter.
The Wolverines (5-0, 8-0) used
the fifth-year senior's lone return
of the day to finally reach the end
zone. Running back Mike Hart
rushed up the middle for a nine-
yard score. Later in the fourth, he

added a second with a shifty move
in the backfield to find daylight for
a 10-yard touchdown scamper.
Early in the game, Hart - who
eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season
with his 126-yard performance
against the Hawkeyes - had a
tough going. Few holes in the
trenches opened for the junior.
With the stalled ground attack,
quarterback Chad Henne went to
the air. The Wolverines moved the
ball effectively but couldn't reach
the goal line.
Widereceiver AdrianArrington,
who caught eight passes for 79
yards, had two chances to put
six points on the board, but both
times he failed to corral the pass
inbounds.
"Youknow Iowa's alwaysprided
HAWKEYES PAGE 5B


Miami
trips Up
Sshocked
By IAN ROBINSON
Daily Sports Writer
With the game still scoreless, the
Michigan hockey team came out of
the locker room to start the second
period with 1:06 remaining on a
power play.
By the end of the penalty, Miami's
Nathan Davis had scored, to put the
Wolverines behind, where they
would stay for the remainder of
Friday night's 4-1 loss to the ninth-
ranked RedHawks at Yost Ice
Arena.
Coming off a 6-3 win over the
RedHawks Thursday night, No. 5
Michigan (1-1-0 CCHA, 3-1-0 over-
all) hoped to make a statement by
completing a sweep of the defend-
ing conference champions. Instead,
the RedHawks sent a message on
Friday night, beating Michigan in
nearly every facet of the game.
"(Miami was) a different team
tonight (than Thursday), and we
have to be honest about Michigan
- we were a different team," Mich-
igan coach Red Berenson said. "We
didn't come out with the fire that
we needed to, and they did."

Tigers win, deadlock Cards

DETROIT (AP) - Shades of the
old Jeff Weaver returned at pre-
cisely the wrong time for the St.
Louis Cardinals.
Squinting for signs all game
but finding few answers, the
stringbean righty who revived his
career this postseason took a big
step backward on a nippy Sunday
night.
Weaver was lucky to leave
Game 2 of the World Series after
five innings trailing by only three
runs. The Detroit Tigers, the team
that gave him his start in 1999,
went on to win 3-1 to even things
at one game each.
Weaver did not consider this
a setback, nor did manager Tony
La Russa or pitching coach Dave
Duncan. Duncan said the Tigers
made solid contact only a handful
of times.
"They managed to get some
miss-hit balls over the infield and
through the infield, and some-
times that happens," Duncan said.
"He threw the ball very good, he
had good stuff, pretty good com-
mand.
"You don't miss-hit balls unless
they're balls that are hard to hit,"
he said.
Still, the Tigers had Weaver in
trouble the whole time. He earned
points for escaping dire situations,
but his outing illustrated how
close the Tigers came to turning it
into a rout.
"They were aggressive and
swinging early and made it tough
all night," Weaver said. "But it's a
team that can be pitched to and
we feel good about our chances."

Despite giving up a run, Todd Jones earned a save in the Tigers'3-1 World Serieswin.
It certainly wasn't the same left-field wall.
Weaver that the Cardinals had The problems were just begin-
seen lately. ning as he reverted to early-sea-
Weaver threw five scoreless son form - he began the season
innings against San Diego in 3-10 for the Angels this season
Game 2 of the first round of the and got traded away.
playoffs, freezing the Padres with "I felt good," Weaver said. "Just
breaking balls. a lot of balls that bled in. The only
In the opener of the NL cham- pitch I would take back was the
pionship series, he pitched well in cutter that I threw to Monroe, I
losing 2-0 to the New York Mets. just missed my location."
He then worked six strong innings The Tigers had at least two bas-
to win Game 5 in St. Louis. erunners in all five innings, get-
But against the Tigers, Weaver ting nine hits and a walk against
struggled from the start. The sec- the right-hander. It added up to
ond batter he faced, Craig Mon- another bitter World Series mem-
roe, sent a fat fastball well over the TIGERS PAGE 2B

BEN SIMON/Daily
The Miami RedHawks dumped Michigan 4-1 on Friday night. Despite showcasing
their new Maize jerseys for the first time, the Wolverines failed to generate offense.
Later he added: "We weren't pace of play whenever the Wolver-
going to beat anyone with that ines had a man-advantage.
effort tonight." At even strength, the RedHawks
The RedHawks (1-1-0, 4-2-0) kept the pressure on the Michigan
beat the Wolverines to loose pucks, defense, preventing the breakaway
against the boards and on special opportunities that propelled the
teams. Miami's penalty killers out- Wolverines victory on Thursday
shot and out-scored (2-1) the Michi- night.
gan power play and controlled the REDHAWKS PAGE 2B