The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4
12A - Thursday, September 6, 2007
Not tired of all the
Appalachian State coverage
yet? Good, because we've
got some more for you. Two
of our football writers debate
some key questions about
the Michigan football team
after the most stunning
upset in college football
history.
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much better. Defensive coaching
was pretty bad, too. The Wolverines
used the same awful scheme where
a linebacker ends up against a wide
receiver when the opponents show
the spread. It didn't work against
Ohio State, why would it work
against Appalachian State? So if I
don't have to focus on a single play-
er to blame, I'll go with the whole
defense.
Will Michigan ever learn how
to stop the spread offense?
SB: Stop completely? No. Will
Michigan improve against the
spread? Yeah. Luckily for the Wol-
verines, they won't be punished too
much by spread teams the rest of the
year, simply because most of their
big opponents don't use the spread.
Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio
State all will come after Michigan
with more traditional formations
because those teams don't have the
personnel to spread the Wolverines
out. With another year to tweak
things and with young, fast play-
ers coming in as recruits, Michigan
should eventually be able to figure
out how to defend the spread. And it
can't get much worse than it is now,
so there's really nowhere to go but
up.
DB: I know this is point/counter-
point, but I agree with Scott. The
Wolverines already showed signs of
improving against the spread, hold-
ing ASU to just two field goals in
]the second half. They had asafety
come up to defend the fifth wide
receiverinstead oftryingtomake
a linebacker do it, and they spied the
quarterback on a number of plays.
And, as Scott pointed out, Oregon
is the only team left on Michigan's
schedule that runs the spread. So
after this weekend, the Wolverines
won't have to worry about it until a
(potential) bowl game.
Should Michigan aim for cup-
cakes or BCS contenders on their
schedule?
DB: I've been told that I have
a limited perspective as a current
student, and I understand that I
have a different viewpoint than the
fans that have to pay full price for
their tickets. But I think we have
to remember that the ultimate goal
is to win a National Championship.
The best odds of getting a chance
to do that come when you finish
the year undefeated. And as long
as other teams are scheduling the
worst Division I teams they can
find, I see no reason for the Maize
and Blue to make its road tougher
than everyone else's.
SB: I feel bad that my fellow col-
league is so misinformed and that I
have to correct him, but hey, that's
my job. I'm not saying loading your
schedule up with four powerhouses
to start the season is the answer, but
Michigan needs to demand respect
from pollsters. One of the reasons
the Wolverines were left out of the
National Championship Game was
because of their weak nonconfer-
ence schedule last season. Instead
of an Appalachian State, why not
schedule a decent major-confer-
Where should most of the
blamelie?
Daniel Bromwich: I'm not a
big-blame-game kind of guy, but
if you've got to point the finger at
one person, it's Chad Henne. As
a fourth-year starter, he's got to
open the season better than he did.
Favorite target Mario Manning-
ham beathis defender every time he
went long, and Henne either over-
or underthrew him each time. The
interception he threw was absolute-
ly inexcusable, and Henne might
have made his worst mistake when
he took a delay-of-game penalty
instead of calling a timeout when
Michigan was ahead with just more
than two minutes left and it was
3rd-and-6 in ASU territory.
Scott Bell: If we have to single
out one player, I'll probably go with
Henne, too. But the bigger problem
on Saturday was the defense. Henne
played badly. But the team scored
32 points. That should be enough
to beat a D-SAA/FCS foe. It wasn't,
and we have the defense to thank
- er, blame - for that. The second-
ary was embarrassing in the first
half and the linebackers weren't
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Senior Chad Henne and the Wolverines ne
loss as fast as they can. A big win over Oreg
ence team? Wisconsin took a lot of
flack for having a ridiculously easy
nonconference season in years past,
so the Badgers added Washing-
ton State to their schedule. It's still
pretty much a sure win, but it also
isn't laughable. And defending a loss
to a Pac-10 team is much easier than
defending a loss to a D-SAA/FCS
team.
What happens if the Wolver-
ines lose Saturday?
SB: Their record becomes 0-2.
What's there really to say? Wol-
verine Nation is already furious.
If Michigan loses again, it will just
get uglier (if you can imagine that).
More people will fall into depres-
BIG TEN
From page 10A
digit underdog, but it beat Minne-
sota in overtime last weekend and
the Spartans are in the bottom
half of the Big Ten along with the
Golden Gophers. The Falcons will
give Michigan State problems.
They can air it out, and judging
on just one week's performance,
the Spartans will have a problem
against the passing game. Enjoy
your last few days of superior-
ity Sparty; you'll come crashing
down hard.
Bowling Green 38, Michigan
State 34
Notre Dame at No. 14 Penn
State -6 p.m., ESPN
Hey, remember when Char-
lie Weis was going to turn Notre
Dame around? Well, after three
years, he's not much better than
his predecessor Ty Willingham,
and this season doesn't look to be
much better. The game should be
interesting because it will be the
first collegiate start for Jimmy
Clausen and, you know, he's sup-
posed to be pretty good having
been the No. 1 recruit in the nation
and all. Penn State has reversed
its fortunes of a few years ago and
have played more like the teams
that made Joe Paterno famous.
RODRIGO GAYA/Daily
ed to scramble away from last weekend's
gon would definitely help.
sion, more people will call for Carr's
head and more people will jump off
the bandwagon. But if the team has
its collectivehead onstraight,Idon't
see an L in its future on Saturday.
DB: Their record becomes 0-2.
But this isn't going to happen. The
team is too embarrassed and pissed
off to let it. If it happens anyway? To
be honest, I can't see things getting
much worse. Michigan is already
the laughingstock of the nation, it's
unranked after opening the season
at No. 5 and it will be immortal-
ized for all time on countdowns and
ESPN Classic. I don't even see any
potential drastic personnel changes
comingifthe Wolverines lose.
With senior quarterback Anthony
Morelli and an experienced core
of receivers coming back, the
Nittany Lions could be a threat
for the Big Ten and Bowl Cham-
pionship Series championships.
It's a later game and the students
will be very happy in the valley
(read: drunk), so this will be a
deadly atmosphere for the Fight-
ing Irish.
No. 14 Penn State 48, Notre
Dame 10
No. 5 Wisconsin at UNLV
-10 p.m.
This game isn't on the Big Ten
Network, which means that not
even its own conference thinks
that this Wisconsin game is
worth watching. Despite being
on the road, the Badgers should
take care of business in the city of
sin. UNLV was porous against the
run last season and wouldn't you
know, Wisconsin's strength is the
running game. P.J. Hill had just
84 yards last week, but his run-
ning mate Lance Smith-Williams
gained 60 making it a solid after-
noon for the running game. This
one shouldn't be different. The
Rebels hope the saying "What
happens here, stays here" will be
in effect for this one because they
won't want the rest of the nation
knowing what happened.
No. 5 Wisconsin 37, UNLV 14
1VOLLEYBALL
From page 9A
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AP PHOTO
Notre Dame has a large task in frontof
it after getting manhandled by Georgia
Tech last weekend, 33-3. This weekend
they venture into Happy Valley.
The University of Michigan
Department of Recreational Sports
REC DpIntramuralSports Program REC
SPORTS www.recsports.umich.edu SPORTS
INTRAMURALS 734-763-3562 NTASLS
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Michigan Vol
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Team Tennis
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11:00 AM - 4:30PM
IM Building .
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ring this voucher to either game to be entered to win one of
five sets of Michigan Men's Pasketball Season Tickets
Free admission with valid M-Card
*Must be UM Student to be eligible for this promotion
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Tues, 09/11 6:00 PM
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Wed, 09/12 6:00 PM
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Soccer
Manager's Meeting:
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so tba
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leading the way, it's hard to
imagine this team crumbling
under any pressure - especially
after the victory over Hawaii
- which played in front of 7,343
screaming fans in Honolulu.
Let's not forget that Michigan
has Draves, the tallest volley-
ball player in university history.
Good luck getting anything -let
alone a volleyball - by her.
Desire is what's really going
to push the team deeper into the
NCAA Tournament.
The seniors have never made
it out of the second round of
the NCAAs. What better way to
close out their college careers
than to go out in a bigbang?
If Michigan was to run the
table until Sept. 11, when the it
plays host to Eastern Michigan
(7-1), Xavier (7-2) and Oakland
(1-6), the Maize and Blue will
have its second longest win-
ning streak since 1998 (13 in
2006).
Before Big Ten play begins
on September 21st against Illi-
nois, the Wolverines have three
more non-conference games.
The Michigan/Nike Invitation-
al will pair the Wolverines up
against Utah Valley State (3-1),
Temple (3-5) and Georgia Tech
(2-1). With that schedule, and
the fact that Michigan has 71
more kills, 11 fewer errors and is
connecting on nearly 10 percent
more attacks than its opponents,
it's very possible that Michigan
marches into conference play
undefeated.
A 12-0 start would be nice, but
it's all about how you finish the
season.
Since 1998, Michigan has
played its last five games over
.500 just twice and have a com-
bined 15-30 record over that
stretch. But don't be surprised
to see the Wolverines end this
season stronger than last year's
1-4 finish.
If it does, the seniors will
most likely be playing past the
second round, and will have put
Michigan on the women's vol-
leyball map.
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Manager 3on3 Basketball
Mon,09,1 ON LY"Manager's Meeting:.
MANDATORY
Wed, 09/12I
7:15PMEnyFe:
IM Building $45 per team
Need a FUN and FLEXIBLE job???
Officials CliniCS: Soccer - TONIGHT 7pm IMSB
Softball - Mon. Sept. 10 7pm IMSB
Contact Nicole @ 764-0515 or nmgreen@umich.edu for more information
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