4B - Thursday, January 4, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 40 GAME STATISTICS BreaS on Team Stats USC MICH First Downs 21 19 Rush/Yds 23/61 27/58 Passing Yards 391 309 Offensive Plays 68 68 Total Offense 439 321 Return Yards 63 52 Comp/Att/Int 27/45/S 26/41/1 Punts/Avg 4/352 6/418 lflercoSt er T Imbes/Lo st oss 31: 29:1 Pnaltie/Yar 3/27 2/20 r J W L . a L U Tme ofPoss 30:02 2958 'M' career M I C H I G A N C-A Yds 26-41 309 26-41 309 TD Int RUSHING Player Manninghar Att Yds 17 47 2 3 1 2 7 -40 No. Yds 7 115 6 79 6 78 4 34 2 -2 1 5 26 309 KICKOFF RETURNS Player PUNT RETURNS Player Totals DEFENSE Player Trent Harris Barrnger By SCOTT BELL Daily Sports Editor Avg Lg TD 2.81 0 PASADENA, Calif. - It was a different year with a 2.0 2 0 different opponent and different expectations. But for -5.7 4 o senior Steve Breaston, Monday's Rose Bowl was deja vu 0.4 11 all over again. Two years removed from his previous Rose Bowl, a Avg Lg TD game where he delivered an all-time record in all-pur- 164 41 1 pose yards (315), Breaston returned to Pasadena in hopes 13.2 17 o of putting a positive end to his roll- 13 36 0 er-coaster career at Michigan. NOTEBOOK 8,5 16 1 His stats didn't rival those of his 0 2standout performance as a sopho- 119 41 2 more, but Breaston once again saved one of his best games of the year for The Granddaddy of Them All. He grabbed seven passes for 115 yards and a score. s Avg Lg Yet the fifth-year senior's favorable numbers weren't 1 418 54 enough for him to look over the one stat he really cared about. "I think the biggest disappointment is that we didn't Avg Lg TD win," Breaston said. "I just wanted to win. I really can't look at anything else after that." The outgoing senior class leaves with a 0-4 record in bowl games during their tenure as Wolverines. Avg Lg TD Breaston wasn't the lone outgoing senior going out 0 0 0 with a solid game. Tight end Tyler Ecker, who was hounded by a nagging ankle injury for the majority of Asst Tot the season, had his best game of the season. 2 8 The California native corralled six balls for 78 yards, 2 8 almost all of which came in the second half. His final 1 6 catch was a 36-yarder, a season-long amount. Ecker and Breaston's game highlighted Chad Henne's passing stats, which were quietly very solid. 0 3 Though overshadowed by John David Booty's 391- 0 3 yard performance, Henne's game was hard to ignore. 1 3 His 309-yard performance Monday trumped his previ- 0 2 ous career-high of 270 yards in last year's Alamo Bowl. Bye Bye Branch?: Monday may have been junior Alan 0 2 Branch's final game as a Wolverine. 1 2 Juniors Shawn Crable, Mike Hart, Chad Henne and 1 2 Jake Long all announced in between the Ohio State 0 1 game and Monday's Rose Bowl that they'd be back for their senior years. Branch, however, did not give Michi- gan fans the same reassurance. 1 1 The 6-foot-6, 331-pound defensive tackle is projected S 1 to be a top-10 pick in this year's NFL Draft. Following Monday's game, in which he recovered a fumble, Branch refused to talk to the media. At game's end, though, he did talk to Southern Cal defensive end Lawrence Jackson. Jackson said their discussion was more a sign of NDINGS mutual admiration than anything else. "I was just telling him that he's a great player, and en Overall I watched him on film," Jackson said. "First, I'm a fan of college football, and I love seeing players like that. 0 12 0 He played a great game today, and I just wished him 1 12 1 the best of luck if he decides to turn pro or return next 1 11 2 year." Fifth-year senior Steve Breaston closed out his Michigan career with another impressive Rose Bowl performance. The reevernabbed seven catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. At the Rose Bowl Media Day on Dec. 30, Branch said he was focusing on the Rose Bowl before making a deci- sion about next year. "I haven't really thought about it yet," Branch told reporters at the team's practice facilities in Carson, Calif. Hanging it up: While Branch may be leaving volun- tarily following the Rose Bowl, many other Wolverines weren't given that choice. Three offensive starters (Rueben Riley, Mark Bihl and Steve Breaston) and five defensive starters (Rondell Biggs, LaMarr Woodley, David Harris, Leon Hall and Willis Barringer) played in their final game for Michi- gan. Their end result wasn't what they had hoped it would be, and their individual success varied, but most left Monday's game with fond memories of their time at Michigan. "I was an offensive lineman at the University of Michigan," Riley said. "I have no regrets about any- thing. I got my degree and, hopefully, am on to bigger and better things." Said Hall: "It's kind of unfortunate. j never won a bowl game here, but I still had a great experience here. All my friends I made and the coaches and everything, I like to look at the positives." Positives aside, it was a tough way for any of the seniors to go out, as they were the first Wolverine class in 31 years to go winless in four consecutive bowl attempts. "This is going to be something that sticks with you the rest of your life because it's your last college game," Woodley said. "But you've got to learn from it. I can't change it now." 0o BIG TEN STA Team Ohio S Wisco Michig Penn S Purdue Minne Indian Iowa NorthS Michig Illinois _ Big T late 8 nsin 7 >i 7 an i tate 5 3 9 4 e 5 3 8 6 sota 3 5 6 7 a 3 5 5 7 2 6 6 7 western 2 6 4 8 an State 1 7 4 8 1 7 2 10 BOWL GAME RESULTS Southern Cal 32, MICHIGAN 18 WisCONSIN17, Arkansas 14 PENNSTATE20, Tennessee 10 TEXAs TEcH 44, Minnesota 41 OT MARYLAND 24, Purdue 7 Texas 26, loWA 24 AROUND THE NCAA BRONCOS, AWAY FROM THE BLUE TURF, SHOCK THE NATION: In one of the most exciting college bowl games in recent memory, Boise State upended Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day. After falling behind early, Okla- homa made a late comeback and took a seven-point lead following an intercep- tion returned for a touchdown. Then, the Broncos dusted off the trick plays in the playbook. Boise State used a hook-and-ladder to send the game to overtime. There, the Broncos proved that mid-major conferences can com- pete and defeat major powerhouses like Oklahoma. Boise State employed the classic Statue of Liberty play on a two-point conversion in overtime to send the Sooners home empty-handed. MASON LOSES JOB AFTER GOPHERS' SECOND-HALF COLLAPSE: Texas Tech faced a 31-point deficit late in the third quarter, and Minnesota coach Glen Mason must have felt comfortable enough with a 38-7 lead. Oh, how15 minutes can change things. The Red Raiders quarterback Graham Harrell orchestrated the biggest comeback in Division I-A bowl history. The Red Raiders Alex Trlica hit a 52-yard field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime. Texas Tech finished the furious comeback and Mason's coach- ing career at Minnesota. Shannon Woods ran the ball from three yards out to give the Red Raiders a 44-41 win. BALL'S INELIGIBILITY, COMEBACK DOOM GEORGIA TECH: Georgia Tech sophomore quarterback Taylor Ben- nett did something only former Southern Cal quarterback Matt Lein- art has done: throw a touchdown pass on his first ever collegiate pass- ing attempt. Bennett, filling in for ineligible senior quarterback Reggie Ball, finished with three touchdowns and 326 yards. Even though the Yel- low Jackets jumped out to a 28-10 lead in the third quarter, West Vir- ginia rallied with a three-touchdown fourth quarter to win the Gator Bowl 38-35. Quarterback Pat White scored the winning score on a 15-yard scramble with 5:57 left in the game. TROJANS From page 1B season with a rush to its left - the defense's right - to running back Mike Hart behind the strength of its line: guard Adam Kraus and tackle Jake Long. But Southern Cal knew what was com- ing, and quarterback Chad Henne had to audible to the other side on the game's opening play. Even though Hart gained 11 yards (just one less than the team's total for the game) on that carry, the Trojans' open- ing formation foreshadowed what was in store for the rest of the game. Outside of that initial rush, the Wol- verines struggled mightily to establish a ground game. Hart rushed for a season- low 47 yards, but it wasn't due to a lack of trying. While Southern Cal had completely abandoned the ground game, executing 29 consecutive second-half plays without handing the ball off to a tailback, Michigan continued trying to remain balanced, rush- ing a total of 27 times. But in this case, repetition didn't trans- late into success. Offensive coordinator Mike DeBord maintained it was the right decision fol- lowing the game, and said he'd continue running if he had the chance to change things. "I'd run the ball again," he said. "When you're getting sacked, tell me how you're going to keep throwing the ball if you're going to make improvements. So no, I'd run theball." The Wolverines were sacked a total of six times, including five sacks in the game's opening half. Michigan's failure and Southern Cal's willingness to make adjustments may have been the game's determining factor, con- sidering it was deadlocked at halftime. But Michigan coach Lloyd Carr echoed senti- ments similar to DeBord's. "We felt like we had to have good bal- ance," Carr said. "We had to be able to run the football some to be successful against (Southern Cal), and to be able to run the ball effectively, we've got to have a quarter- back under center." Carr defended his decision to opt out of calling many plays from the shotgun, claiming the team's shotgun packages are designed almost exclusively for two-min- ute drill situations. Michigan had many possible ways to adapt to Southern Cal. Whether it was going to shotgun more often, turning to more three-step drop plays or giving up on the run altogether, there were many alter- natives to staying the course with its origi- nal strategy. Although there was no consensus on how the Trojan defense should've been countered, if Michigan's fatal flaw wasn't its predictable playcalling, it could very ALEX DZIADOSZ/Dai Southern Cal linebacker Dallas Sartz notched one sack in the Trojans' 32-18 Rose Bowl victory. Southern Cal's imposing front seevn sacked Michigan quar- terback Chad Henne six times in Monday's game. well have been the Wolverines' failure to abandon the game plan early enough. But those in the Wolverine camp didn't share thatthought following the game. "We had a really good plan going into the game," DeBord said. "I still believe that coming out of it. We tried to make adjust- ments throughout the course of the game. Some helped us and some didn't." Tacticalquestionsweren'toffense-exclu- sive. After givingup 32 points to a teamthat scored just nine in its regular-season finale against UCLA, Michigan's defense brought on a lot of questions as well. Two days prior to the Rose Bowl, South- ern Cal coach Pete Carroll hinted that his team knew it could exploit a predictable Michigan defensive squad, just as the Tro- jans' front seven did to the Maize and Blue offense. "Michigan doesn't have (Leon) Hall shadow receivers like a lot of the other top corners in the nation do," Carroll said dur- ing the Rose Bowl's Media Day on Dec. 30. Southern Cal quarterback John David Booty, who threw for 391 yards and four touchdowns, took advantage of favorable matchups all day long in his Rose Bowl debut. "We thought with the coverage they were playing, we could get some quick routes and get the ball in the hands of our playmakers," Booty said. That's exactly what the Trojans did in the second half. After an uneventful first half, one that Offensive Player of the Game Dwayne Jarrett admitted was "too conser- vative" for his team, Southern Cal came firing out of the blocks following halftime adjustments. "We really felt like we could throw the ball on them," Booty said. "We weren't running the ball extremely well, or the way we wanted to, so we just felt like we had to put the game in the hands of me, Dwayne and Steve (Smith) and make plays, and we did." Southern Cal tallied foue touchdowns and a field goal in a span of 29 plays, 27 of which were passes. The only two runs were both quarterback sneaks by Booty in short yardage situations. Most of the time, the Trojans went right after sophomore cornerback Morgan Trent. As Carroll expected in the days leading up to the game, Michigan didn't match its All-American cornerback against Jarrett, and Jarrett made the Wolverines pay for that. He exploited the overmatched second- ary for atotal of 205yards on11 catches and two scores. But Jarrett's final touchdown came on a 62-yard pass where he burned Hall, proving the Wolverines' secondary woes weren't limited to Trent. "Sure it's frustrating, of course it is," Trent said of the Trojans' repeated passing attempts in the second half. "But it's our fault. If we stop the pass, they'll stop pass- ing on us, but we didn't. It's on us." 0 0 0 0 DAILY SPORTS. WERE ALWAYS UP FOR A REMATCH.