4B - Monday, September 10, 2007
GAME STATISTICS

The Michigan Da
Freshman thrust into playing

Team Stats
First Downs
Rush/Yds
Passing Yards
Offensive Plays
Total Offense
Cop/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
Fumbles/Lost
Penalties/Yards
TirneofFPoss
PASSING
Player
Henne
RUSHING
Player
Hart
Minor
Manningham
Prown
Mallett
Herne
Tota
RECEVNG
Player
Manningham
Arrington
Minor
Totals
PUNTING
Payer
Totals
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player
Massey
Brown
Totals
PUNT RETURNS
Totas
DEFENSE
Crable
Warren
Englemnon
Graham, C.
amison
rown
Stewart
Ezeh
Moundros
Logan
Campbell

MICH
22
44/144
221
84
365
18/40/2
6/45.8
3/2
8/58
31:14
MICHIGAN
C-A Yds
12-23 172

ORE
28
51/331
293
77
624
33
17/26/
2/44.0
2/1
6/55
28:46
TD Int
1 1
Lg TD

Att Yds
25 127
8 30
1 16
1 6
5 -16
4 -19
44 144
No. Yds
8 117
6 69
2 34
1 5
1 -4
18 221

Avg
5.1
3.8
16.
-3.2
-4.8
3.3
Avg
146
11.5
-4.0
12.3

16
1
2

0

Lg TD
35 0
21 1
30 0
0 0
35 1

By KEVIN WRIGHT
Daily SportsEditor
The "We want Mallett" chant started
with 3:29 left in the second quarter and
grew louder when the
Michigan student see- NOTEBOOK
tion saw the freshman
put on his helmet two
minutes later.
Senior Chad Henne suffered a leg inju-
ry when he was forced out of bounds with
just more than a minute left in the second
quarter. Freshman Ryan Mallett strapped
on his helmet, but Henne finished the
half. He didn't return to the sideline for
the third quarter, leaving the offense in
Mallett's hands.
And what a game for Mallett to make
his debut.
The 6-foot-7 signal caller was faced
with the daunting task of bringing the
Wolverines back from a 25-point deficit in
the first game action of his career.
"Mallett came out and did a great job,"
tight end Carson Butler said. "He had to
come out and play a big role. We never
quit, so with him, it wasn't just to get
experience, it was to make plays and see if
he can make reads so we could score and
get back into the game."
Running backs coach Fred Jackson
reserved judgment until he could look at
the game tape, but he did note that the
more playing time the No. 2 quarterback
gets, the better he'll perform.
Mallett finished the day 6-of-17 for 49
yards and one interception. He also lost
a fumble on an exchange from center
Justin Boren. Many of Mallett's throws
went through wide receivers' hands, gnd
the interception first deflected off Mario
Manningham as the wid receiver fell to
the ground.
"I thought he went in there and played
with moxie," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr
said. "I don't think he was intimidated
at all. I think he made some throws that
should have been caught."
Big plays, big woes: Defensive coordi-
nator Ron English can't figure it out.
He tried different schemes, but in the
end, the same thing kept happening: an
Oregon deep pass that resulted in a touch-
down.
"They're happening in zone coverag-
es, they're happening in man coverages,
they're happening in fire zone, so I'm soul
searching right now," English said. "I just

want to find a way to give our players the
best chance to be successful. I'll keep try-
ing to do that."
The first quick Duck strike came two
plays after Michigan wide receiver Adri-
an Arrington corralled a Henne pass to
give the Wolverines a 7-3 lead with 5:29
left in the first quarter.
On the Ducks' second play of their
ensuing possession, quarterback Den-
nis Dixon hit Brian Paysinger, who beat
Brandon Harrison downfield for an 85-
yard touchdown.
Dixon lit up the Wolverine secondary
again in the third quarter when he con-
nected with Derrick Jones for a 61-yard
score.
"I feel like we were more prepared,"
cornerback Donovan Warren said. "I
don't know where we went wrong. We
didn't execute on certain plays, and they
had too many big plays."
The moral of the story: During his
postgame press conference, Carr took an
opportunity to offer a response to the hits
he's taken publicly since the season open-
ing loss to Appalachian State.
When asked a question toward the end
of his time at the podium, he responded
with a story about Peter, a second grader
at Saint Francis Elementary School.
Carr said Peter, who is in the same class
as Carr's granddaughter, is an avid Michi-
gan fan and when Carr's daughter, Emily,
asked him how he was doing, Peter was
more concerned about Carr.
Carr took the time to answer it.
"I'm doing great because I've got great
kids here," Carr said. "You don't know
me, but those who do know me, friend or
foe, I think would agree that I'm a tough-
minded, competitive guy, and there isn't
anything that comes my way that I can't
handle, and there is nothing, there is
nothing, that can keep me down, not a loss
to Appalachian State, not a loss to Oregon,
not 100 losses and not the loss of my job."
Injury update: Quarterback Chad
Henne, who did not return to the side-
line for the second half after suffering an
apparent leg injury, was listed as "very
doubtful" by Carr following the game.
Carr added that left tackle Jake Long,
who left the game in the fourth quarter,
was suffering from cramps and should be
fine.
Mike Hart suffered a thigh bruise but
said he'll be ready to play come next Sat-
urday against Notre Dame.

ily - michigandaily.com
role
p }

No TA, Avg UL
6 275 . 45.8 52

No.
3
6

Yds
63
119

Avg
100
210
198

Lg
24
24

TD
0
0
0

TA, ANN Lg TA
11 1.0 1
11 11.0 11

5

Solo Asst
5 4
5 4
4 4
6 1
5 2
5 0
2 3
2 3
2 2
1 3
2 1
1 1
0 2
1 0

Tt
8
7
7
5
4

ANGELA CESERE/Daily
Freshman quarterback Ryan Mallett replaced an injured Chad Henne in the second half.

1

7 o i
o i i
o
o i
o

HERMAN: Hart's prediction may be right
jxk - From page lB

BIG TEN STANDINGS
Team BixgTen Overall

Northwestern
Indiana
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Iowa
Purdue
Minnesota
Illinois
Michigan

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
2

"Do I like it? He said it,"
Lloyd Carr said. "So we got
to back it up, we got to back
him up now I guess."
What's that, though
Mike? You have a plan? "I
don't think I've been doing
my job asa leader so far,
getting this team ready
to go. I think I'm going to
step my leadership up this
week."
Mike, I know I had alot
of nice things to say about
you before. But, come on,
not even you can sell a cli-
che guarantee like that to
a grizzled journalism vet
like me.
Then again, I just looked
at next week's schedule.
You know what? Maybe
you're not so crazy.
- Herman can be reached
at jaherman@umich.edu.

I

4

THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS
Oregon 39, MICHIGAN 7
NORTHWESTERN 36, Nevada 31
MICHIGAN STATE 28, Bowling Green 17
MINNESOTA 41, Miami (OH) 35
OHIO STATE 20, Akron 2
PURDUE 52, Eastern Illinois 6
PENN STATE 31, Notre Dame SN
ILLINOIS 21, Western Illinois o
INDIANA 37, WESTERN MIcHIGAN 27
IOWA 35, Syracuse o
Wisconsin 20, UNLV13
AROUND THE NCAA
FOUR TDS FOR BRENNAN LEAD TO WIN
Heisman hopeful Colt Brennan tossed
four touchdowns to lead No. 20 Hawaii to
a 45-44 overtime victory over Louisiana
Tech. Brennan went 43-for-61 for 548
yards and connected with Jason Rivers for
a touchdown on the second play of over-
time. After the Bulldogs' Dustin Mitchell
brought Louisiana Tech within one with
a touchdown catch, Bulldog coach Derek
Dooley decided to go for two. But quar-
terback Zac Champion's pass was batted
down to keep the Warriors' BCS dreams
alive.
TIGERS FALL AT HOME Upsets seem to
be popping up everywhere, and the new-
est destination is Auburn, where South
Florida took down No. 17 Auburn 26-23.
The Bulls' quarterback Matt Grothe threw
to the wide-open Jesse Hester Jr. for a
game-winning 14-yard touchdown pass in
the first overtime. The sophomore quar-
terback threw for 184 yards, completing
18-of-27 passes. As much as South Florida
won the game, Auburn lost, as the Tigers
lost three fumbles and quarterback Bran-
don Cox threw two interceptions.
NO MERCY FOR HOKIES The most-hyped
game in the first two weeks of the college-
football season proved to be no game at
all as No. 2 Louisiana State destroyed Vir-
ginia Tech 48-7 in Baton Rouge. Louisiana
State quarterback Matt Flynn went 17-for-
27 for 217 yards, includingseven passes
for 125 yards to receiver Brandon LaFell.
Louisiana State running back Keiland
Williams ran for 126 yards and two touch-
downs on just seven carries. The Louisi-
ana State defense allowed just 149 total
yards and 11 first downs to the Hokies.

ANGELA CESERE/Daiy
Mike Hart rushed for 127 yards on 25 carries against Oregon and believes it's his job as a leader to motivate his teammates to get a win against Notre Dame.

SPREAD: Defense struggles against speed

From page 1B
can escape sacks and make things happen
on the run.
And when Oregon coach Mike Bellotti
watched the game tape of Appalachian
State, he was excited by what he saw.
"It was encouraging, certainly, because
we have a mobile quarterback and we run
the spread," Bellotti said. "Obviously the
fact that (Michigan) saw (the spread) and
had a week to prepare and knew about it, I
wasn't sure what that was going to do. We
are a different team (than Appalachian
State)."
But Bellotti didn't see the Wolverines'
defense make any adjustments, and the
Ducks' offense took full advantage.
They scored on five of their six first-half
drives, with touchdowns finishing the job
four times. And just a week after attempt-
ing only 15 passes against Houston, Dixon
took to the air early, often and effectively
against the Wolverines. He completed 16
of 25 passes for 292 yards, including three
long touchdowns of 85, 61 and 46 yards.
On each of those touchdowns, an Ore-
gon receiver simply raced past a Michigan
defender, raising the oft-asked question of
whether there is a significant speed dif-
ference between the Pac-10 and Big Ten
Conferences.
"I don't know if (the difference in
speed) is the biggest difference (between
the conferences), but it's definitely one of
the differences that I noticed very well,"

first half Saturday.
"It's kind of funny," Stewart said. "Iwas
looking at one of the d-linemen, and I was
like 'Aw, they about to quit.' So I mean, I'm
thankful for our offensive coordinator ...
and we caught them off guard alot (with
the fast pace)."
On several plays, it appeared that the
Wolverine defense wasn't set when the
play was called, and had to scramble to
get into position.
"Oregon just hustled guys in and out,
in different formations, and so we were
getting the call late," defensive tackle
Terrance Taylor said. "I'm not making
excuses, but we were getting the call late,
and we couldn't get where we needed to
be, and that's how they got a couple of big
runs."
Fortunately for Michigan, Oregon is
the last "spread" team it will face until a
possible bowl game. None of the teams
in the Big Ten run the spread (Ohio State
abandoned it after Smith left), and the
Wolverines should be relieved to face
some familiar competition.
"It's a more simple offense," Taylor
said. "It's not the spread. For the spread,
you got to roll different guys in for differ-
ent plays, so (Notre Dame) is more of a Big
Ten kind of offense, just the same guys all
the time, like we do.
"We're just ready to move on. We're
not going to hold our heads down. We're
Michigan, so we're not going to do that.
We're going to next Saturday with the
intent to win. Go Blue."

Defensive tackle Terrance Taylor wrapped up Oregon quarterback Denris Dixon for a sack.
Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart aforementioned games, and also strug-
said. "Just running the ball, their line- gled against a faster Southern Cal team in
backers don't change direction as fast as last season's Rose Bowl.
other defenses in our league." The quick pace of the spread offense
Speed is an integral factor in the spread makes it difficult to substitute defensive
offense, and Michigan has recently had players, and fatigue definitely became a
trouble with both. They lost the three factor for the Michigan defense late in the