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The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com October 1, 2007
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By KEVIN WRIGHT
Daily Sports Editor
EVANSTON - Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr walked into the pressroom and, in a
hoarse voice, put it simply.
"That was not the same Northwestern team
that I watched (last) Saturday," Carr said.
True, the Wildcats brought more inten-
sity than the team that took a 58-7 beating
at Ohio State.
But maybe more surprising than North-
western's play was Michigan's first-half
performance.
The Wolverines trailed by nine head-
ing into halftime, and needed four fourth-
quarter Wildcat turnovers and the return
of senior quarterback Chad Henne to steal
a 28-16 road win Saturday.
"We came out flat in the first half," defen-
sive tackle Terrance Taylor. "We really weren't
worried about the game. We went in the locker
room and we all talked about it and knew we
needed to pick it up and knew we weren't play-
ing Michigan football."
The Michigan defense, which had given
up just nine points in the last two games
combined, surrendered 16 in the first half
against Northwestern's spread offense.
But in the second half, the Wolverines (2-
o Big Ten, 3-2 overall) came with the heat.
"We started playing at a faster tempo,
which put a little bit more pressure on
them," safety Jamar Adams said.
And when Michigan turned up the inten-
sity, Northwestern quarterback C.J. Bacher
lost his rhythm - along with the ball.
Bacher fumbled twice and threw two
Henne's return
crucialfor success
EVANSTON -
or many Michigan football fans,
the decision boiled down to two
statistics.
Chad Henne:
0-2.
Ryan Mallett:
2-0.
Ergo, true,
freshman Ryan
Mallett - he of
the cannon arm
and quick feet F
- should start at DANIEL
quarterback for BROMWICH
the rest of the -----
season, especially Broms
after the Wolver- Away
ines' two early
losses eliminated
them from National Championship
contention.
But there's still this year's Big Ten
championship to play for (along with
a trip to the Rose Bowl), and Saturday,
Henne showed why he's still the quar-
terback Michigan needs.
For the Michigan players and
coaches, there was never a doubt
about the identity of this team's leader.
"It's Chad's team," Mallett said, and
then repeated, after the Penn State
game.
And the response after Henne's
return Saturday after a two-week hia-
tus echoed Mallett's sentiments.
"I was happy," senior captain Jake
Long said. "He's a great leader. He's
a leader for our offense when he gets
out there, and he took control and did
great for us. I was excited."
Henne's orchestrated an 11-play, 65-
yard drive that he capped with an 11-
yard touchdown pass to wide receiver
Mario Manningham on the first series
of the game. Mallett failed to lead
Michigan to a score for the rest of the
half, telegraphing passes and missing
open receivers. So when Henne indi-
See HENNE, Page 4B
,_ -
Sophomores Brandon Graham and Adam Patterson sandwich quarterback CJ. Beacher in the defense's
dominant second-half showing. The Wolverines have surrendered just 25 points in the past three games.
interceptions in the span of seven min- back.
utes. The first fumble gave the offense the Cornerback Brandon Harrison hit Bach-
chance it needed. Henne, who saw his first er on a blitz and the bad throw landed in
game action since injuring his knee against defensive end Tim Jamison's hands. The
Oregon, hit wide receiver Adrian Arrington redshirt junior rumbled into Northwestern
with a 16-yard touchdown strike to give territory to further deflate the already-tired
Michigan a 21-16 advantage. Wildcat team.
Once the Wolverines jumped ahead for Then, with 5:20 left in the game, Bacher
the first time since the 2:52 mark in the first forced a throw over the middle. Michigan
quarter, the Michigan defense made sure middle linebacker Obi Ezeh, starting in
Northwestern (0-2, 2-3) wouldn't come See DEFENSE, Page 4B
-"E
RODRIGO GAYA/Daily
Senior Chad Henne returned Saturday after missing two games with a knee injury. He threw
for three touchdown passes and was a force behind Michigan's comeback victory.
In deja vu game,
Wolverines come
up short on pitch
Blue's slide
continues
By COLT ROSENSWEIG
Daily Sports Writer
For the second weekend in a row,
the No. 10 Michigan men's soccer
team came away from a Big Ten
contest disappointed.
The 3-2 overtime loss to No.
19 Indiana was eerily similar to
last weekend's conference opener
against Wisconsin.
Michigan wore all maize, its
opponents all red, a replay of last
Sunday's game. A new referee con-
tinued whipping out numerous
cards of the same colors. Michigan
again fought back from deficits of 1-
0 and 2-1. And a goalscorer - this
time freshman defender Jeff Qui-
jano - was sent off with a red card
on a questionable call, forcing the
Wolverines to play one man down.
But there was one important dif-
ference.
This time, the Wolverines
couldn't hold off their foes in over-
time. With 3:30 remaining in the
first overtime period, Indiana's
Kevin Noschang headed the win-
ning goal past junior goalkeeper
Patrick Sperry, handing Michigan
its first loss of the season.
"It's a devastating loss for our
team," senior defender Ben Carter
said. "We worked so hard ... I real-
ly feel like with 11 men, we would
have beaten that team."
The Wolverines had trouble con-
tainingtherelentlessHoosier attack
for much of the first half, but Sperry
and his defenders fought off most of
See HOOSIERS, Page 3B
Senior Ben Carter and his teammates couldn't hold off the Hoosiers in overtime.
WOMET eSeCCEend
Michigan struggles in Big Ten opening weekend
By ALEX PROSPERI
Daily Sports Writer
After a month of unde-
feated play, the No. 11
Michigan volleyball team
has had recent trouble
closing out games.
"I thought we played
really well (this week-
end)," Michigan coach
Mark Rosen said. "But we
didn't compete as well as
we need to when it was on
the line."
Michigan arrived at the
Sports Pavilion in Minne-
apolis on Sunday looking
to avoid falling to 1-3 in the
Big Ten.
The Wolverines (1-3 Big
Ten, 13-3 overall) took a
quick lead in the first game
before the 12th-ranked
Gophers (4-0,11-3) wont on
a 10-0 run. Michigan tied
the score at 11 and briefly
held a 29-28 lead, but the
Wolverines couldn't stay
ahead as Minnesota came
back to take the game, 31-
29. Game two featured 16
ties, and Michigan held
the lead at 26-22 before
Minnesota cut the deficit
to 28-27.
The Gophers survived
two game points and won
by another 31-29 margin.
In game three, Minnesota
went on a 15-4 run, coun-
tered by a 7-1 run by Mich-
igan. But the Gophers'
defense was too strong and
closed the game out, 30-26,
to seal the match.
Sophomore Veronica
Rood had a rough day, com-
mitting nine attack errors
while connecting on just
five kills, and junior Beth
Karpiak had a season-low
three kills. To make mat-
ters worse, both Karpiak
and Rood had negative
attack percentages.
"That's what really
hurt," Rosen said. "To beat
a teamlike Minnesota or to
beat Wisconsin, we've got
to be balanced, and we've
got to have offense coming
from our entire team. We
didn't have that tonight
and that hurt us."
Friday was the begin-
ning of what would be the
Wolverines' worst week-
end of the season.
Michigan went into
Carver-Hawkeye Arena
in Iowa City looking to
recover from last week's
loss to Wisconsin, its first
of the year, by taking out
Iowa (1-3, 9-6). But the
Wolverines fell short and
lost their first five-game
match of the season.
Michigan struggled all
game and never recorded
an attack percentage high-
er than 24 percent. The
Wolverines squeaked by in
a first stanza (30-28) that
featured 23 ties and nine
lead changes. Game two
was just as close, with the
Maize and Blue winning,
See VOLLEYBALL, Page 3B
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
The contest at Iowa yesterday blew
the Michigan women's soccer team off
course in the opening weekend of Big
Ten play.
Literally.
In a blustery day at Iowa City, the
Wolverines fell victim to mother nature
- and a strong Hawkeye team, losing 2-
1. And Michigan didn't fare any better
in its conference opener at Minnesota,
where it fell 2-1.
Michigan (0-2-0 Big Ten, 2-6-1 over-
all) struggled from the onset against
the Hawkeyes, with the brisk breeze
blowing into their faces and thwart-
ing any offensive production. The Iowa
defense added to Michigan's problems,
turning askew Michigan's quality scor-
ing chances.
"With the wind against us inthe first
half, it was hard to get much offense,"
Michigan coach Debbie Rademacher
said. "Many of our passes and shots
were affected by the wind."
Iowa capitalized on Michigan's
struggles with a goal at the 13 min-
ute mark, forcing the Wolverines
to turn up their offensive play.
And Michigan did just that in the sec-
ond half with the wind behind it. Out-
shootingthe Hawkeyes after Kaeding's
goal, the Wolverines came back to tie
the game on a Sarah Banco goal.
"We haven't (come back to tie) yet
all year," Rademacher said. "That was
a big hurdle to get over."
But just as luck began to side with
the Wolverines, it turned just as quick-
ly. A questionable foul called by the
referee gave Iowa a free kick deep in
Michigan's zone. And, like the Hawk-
eyes have all year, they converted on
their opportunity, crashing the net and
scoring off the foot of Stephanie Hyink
at the 83rd minute mark.
Despite the late goal, Michigan had
a great opportunity on a last-second
corner kick. Freshman Jackie Carron
headed the ball into the crossbar, but
the Wolverines couldn't net the tying
score.
The game highlighted Michigan's
recent struggles in the second half The
Wolverines have given up nine of their
12 goals allowed in the final stanza.
"We're disappointed with the result,
but we know we've got to make our
own luck." Rademacher said.
The game against Minnesota, while
having a similar score, was won by two
Minnesota goals scored just four min-
utes apart.
After taking an early 1-0 lead, the
Wolverines allowed the Gophers to
take the game with the two second half
goals in the 2-1 loss.
Michigan hopes to rebound next
weekend with home games against Big
Ten foes Indiana and Purdue.
A
I