4 4B - October 22, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom GAME STATISTICS Brown shines in Hart's absence TeamnStats llinois First Downs 15 Rush/Yds 31/137 Passing Yards 116 Offensive Plays 57 Total Offense 253 Return Yards 86 Comp/Att/Int 14/26/ Punts Avg 5/36.8 Fbls/lost 3/1 Penalties/Yards 10/107 Tire of Poss 25:11 MICH 23 46/115 228 79 343 52 21/33/2 4/44.0 3/1 4/35 34:49 Mallett 2-6 Arrington 1-1 Att 25 9 Yds Avg Lg TD 116 4.5 30 o0 4 20 3.2 13 1 4 4.0 4 5 1 -5.8 0 44 168 2.5 30 38 7.6 58 193 28 93 5 s5.0 TD By KEVIN WRIGHT Daily Sports Editor CHAMPAIGN - Carlos Brown fin- ished his interview session, but he wasn't finished soaking in the moment. Instead, he sat in the back of a small side room and listened to teammate Jamar Adams at the podium. Even with his breakout performance, Brown receded into the background of the room just like he took a back seat to quarterback Chad Henne. Brown, who finished with 113 rush- ing yards on 25 carries, recorded his first career 100-yard rushing game and was the first running back to gain more than 100 yards this season against a stingy Illi- nois defense. Not to mention he had to fill the Heisman-sized hole in the Michigan offense with senior captain Mike Hart pacing the sidelines in street clothes. But Brown would only play the foil to Henne's mid-game injury and late-game heroics. Brown didn't do anything flashy. He waited patiently waited for the Wolverine offensive line to open holes in their zone- blocking scheme. Still, while he moved Michigan down the field three yards at a time, Henne captured the big moments. Does that overshadowing take away from Brown's performance? With the up-and-down season Brown's had up to this point, he's just happy to contribute. "I just want to play," Brown said. "I want to be anywhere I can, any position I can be to get on the field and play." Last week against Purdue, Brown was an afterthought in the blowout win. He scored two touchdowns in mop-up duty in the second half, but the focus was on the two backs ahead of him on the depth chart. Hart was listed as day-to-day after an ankle injury, and second-stringer Brandon Minor left the field sitting on the back of a cart. 39 Sophomore running back Carlos Brown had his best day as a Wolverine Saturday, rushing for 113 yards on 25 carries in his first career start. 4 176 44.0 4 176 44.(0 Avg 10 18 14 13 Lg TD 12 0 18 0 14 0 18 0 Brown said he didn't know he would and see what we could do. Then we were start Sunday but prepared in practice like going to adjust from there." he would. And when Hart appeared on the And Brown started out slowly. He had sidelines in street clothes, Brown had to just 36 yards at halftime, but by the end of step up. the game, he showed the flashes everyone Offensive coordinator Mike DeBord expected when he arrived on campus. wasn't sure what to expect from the He didn't reach the end zone, but on Michigan ground attack minus Hart, but consecutive plays late in the third quarter, after Brown's explosiveness in the second Brown broke 12- and 30-yard rushes and half of the Purdue game, DeBord hoped almost broke the latter for a touchdown. the sophomore could play a bigger role. "He stayed with his reads," running "We didn't know what we were going backs coach Fred Jackson said. "He to be able to do, if we were going to be able talked about them after each series. He to run the ball effectively or not," DeBord talked about what's happening to him. said. "We really decided to go at it and And I thought that's what made him bet- kind of go through the course of the game ter today." Considering how Brown started the season, DeBord said he was glad to see him bounce back from an early-season wrist injury and fumbling problems and become the assertive back who found the seams in the Wolverine zone-blockingischeme. "You got to give Carlos a lot of credit, because a lot of people were down on him a little bit when he fumbled the ball earlyin the season," DeBord said. "He just stayed the course, kept working and now he's getting his carries." With the issues Brown has had during his time at Michigan, relaxing in the back of a press conference might be enough of a reward for the emerging running back. Player No. Yds Avg (g TD Mathews 1 -1 -1.0 -1 0 Toas 1 -1 -1.0 -1 DEFENSE Player Solo Asst ITot Engemon 5 6 1 Crable 4 2 6 Graham, C. 4 2 6 Trent 5 0 5 aylor 1 4 5 Waren 3 1 4 amison B 3 3 Johnson 0 3 3 Thompson 0 2 2 Rogers 1 0 1 Graham,B. 0 1 1 BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Big Ten Overall 4 Ohio State Michigan Penn State Illinois Wisconsin Purdue Northwestern Indiana Michigan State Iowa Minnesota 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 8 6 6 5 6 6 5 5 5 3 1 0 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 3 5 7 THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS OHIO STATE 24, Michigan State 17 PENN STATE 36, Indiana 31 Purdue 31, lowA 6 Wisconsin 44, NoRTHERNILLINOIs 3 NORTH DAKOTA STATE 27, Minnesota 21 NORTHWESTERN 26, Eastern Michigan 14 AROUND THE NCAA KANSAS: NOT JUST A BASKETBALL SCHOOL The Jayhawks, led by sophomore quarterback Todd Reesing's 153 yards through the air and 84 on the ground, notched their first win at Colorado since 1995. Adding to the chaos that is this season in college football, the Jay- hawks, perennially a Big Twelve North Division doormat, is 7-0 and in the driver's seat to compete in the confer- ence championship game. Kansas has yet to get any love from the pollsters though. Despite their unblemished record, it still barely cracked the BCS top 10 this week, landing at No. 9. TIGERS HOLD ON IN SEC BATTLE Louisiana State has had a brutal three-week stretch. A punishing con- test against Florida, a shocking three overtime loss to Kentucky and a last- second victory against Auburn later, and the Tigers are more than grateful to have a bye this coming Saturday. Quarterback Matt Flynn tossed a touchdown pass with just one second left on the clock to give Louisiana State a 30-24 win. The victory reasserts the Tigers into position to make a run not only at the Southeastern Conference title, but also the National Championship. MISSOURI STIFLES POTENT RED RAIDERS Coming in with the highest scor- ing offense in the nation, Texas Tech couldn't move the ball against the Tigers' stout defense in a 41-10 blow- out. Red Raider quarterback Graham Harrell threw four interceptions to just one touchdown pass. Texas Tech was also held to -9 rushing yards. Missouri's win puts them in second place in the Big Twelve North, with a showdown at undefeated Kansas on Nov. 24. The winner of that game will most likely play in the Big Twelve Championship game. Running back Mike Hart missed Saturday's game with injury and hopes to return next weekend. Despite tea-mmates' predicion, Hart sits out, By DANIEL BROMWICH Daily Sports Editor CHAMPAIGN - His teammates said he would play. Defensive end Tim Jamison basi- cally guaranteed it, and cap- tain Jake Long said he had "no NOTEBOOK doubt." Michigan coach Lloyd - Carr was more evasive, but no more than usual concerning injuries. So Wolverine fans, by and large, expected their Heisman Trophy candidate to take the field Saturday against Illinois. Throughout the week, however, rumors cropped up that running back Mike Hart's injury was worse than his teammates had pre- viously thought. Nerves rose rapidly, and when No. 20 wasn't dressed during pre-game warm- ups, whispers started racing. And Hart's appear- ance in street clothes finally confirmed the fans' worst fears. At least one of the Michigan coaches knew this was coming. "(I knew) Monday," running backs coach Fred Jackson said. But Hart didn't know until Thursday. "I know him probably better than he knows himself," Jackson said. "I knew he would not want to perform unless he could give everything he had. I think he realized he couldn't do it. He couldn't cut the way he wanted to yet." Carr maintained he didn't know Hart wouldn't play until Thursday, saying the injury was day-to-day throughout the week. Backup running back Brandon Minor suf- fered a sprained ankle against Purdue as well, and many thought he was less likely to play Sat- urday than Hart. He didn't practice on Tuesday, and Carr was pessimistic that he would be avail- able against Illinois. "We felt like his injury might be a little worse than (Hart's)," Carr said. "He came back and practiced on Wednesday, he called me at home I think Monday night, and he said, 'Coach, I'm going to play.' I never believed he would play until I saw him Wednesday, and he came out and practiced well, and on Thursday he looked even better." Minor was still hampered by his injury come game time, though, and sophomore running back Carlos Brown received most of the car- ries. Brown recorded the first 100-yard game of his career against the Illini, which hadn't let a runner top the century mark against them all year. And with quarterback Chad Henne in and out of the game because of a shoulder injury, Hart missing and Minor limited, the Wolverines needed some replacements to take on a bigger load. "It's tough having those guys down," Long said. "ButI was really proud of the backups, and the guys behind them really stepped up ... Every- body just really was accountable today, and it was a great team effort and a team win." Michigan did see some players return Sat- urday. Jeremy Ciulla made his first start of the season at right guard after missing time from an injury suffered against Appalachian State. Line- backer John Thompson played in limited duty after missing the previous two games. And the Wolverines could see an important cog return next week as well. After the game, Jackson gave a prognosis on Hart's injury. "I'm thinking he'll be back this week," Jack- son said. Carr said Hart's status remained at day-to- day. "We'll see next week how it's going to go," Hart said. "Hopefully, I'll be back, but if not, then I won't." Here we go again. SPECIAL Z: Punter Zoltan Mesko had his best game of the season Saturday. He boomed a 67- yard punt to the Illinois 4-yard line on his first kick of the game. He landed three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line and two of them inside the five, averaging 44 net yards on his punts. But it was his shortest punt of the day that made the real difference. Midway through the fourth quarter, Illinois returner Kyle Hudson muffed the kick at his own 12-yard line, and long snapper Sean Grif- fin recovered the ball for the Wolverines. Two plays later, wide receiver Adrian Arrington found fellow receiver Mario Manningham in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown and a 24-17 lead that Michigan didn't relinquish. "That was a great punt," Carr said. "We were punting with the wind. A lot of times in those situations, you're going to kick the ball into the end zone ... That was simply a great punt, a very difficult punt to handle down in there ... it was awful high and it had a good spin on it." ERRORS IN JUDGMENT: Illinois coach Ron Zook couldn't have been pleased with the dis- cipline his team showed Saturday. The Illini racked up 10 penalties in the game, costing them 107 yards. They were called for four dif- ferent personal fouls, two of which gave the Wolverines first downs on plays after they would've otherwise had to give the ball back to Illinois. "You don't teach facemask and holding penal- ties, but when you teach guys to be aggressive, it is going to happen," Zook said. "Playing aggres- sive and playing hard is good, buf up against good football teams, you can't do some of the things we did and get away with it." ILLINI From page 1B ing to understatement. "I've been coaching college foot- ball since 1980, and I've never seen a guy who went through what he went through for his team," Jack- son said. "He's the ultimate war- rior in my mind." At 16-for-28 for 201 yards, Henne's performance wasn't one for the record books. And the stat sheet will note it was wide receiver Adrian Arrington who hit Mario Manningham midway through the fourth quarter on an end-around pass for the game- winning score. But the presence Henne brought after sitting out the third quarter could be one destined for Wolverine lore. Henne restored order to a Mich- igan offense spiraling out of con- trol under freshman Ryan Mallett, who looked much less composed under the lights of Memorial Sta- dium than he did in the Big House earlier this season. Up 17-14 coming out of the half, Mallett took a third-down sack in a spot where he seemingly would have gunned a pass down the field one month ago, earning a sternlec- ture from Carr. And as Michigan looked to pull away later in the quarter, he fumbled away a snap and tossed an interception to kill two near-scoring drives. Henne didn't necessarily win the game for the Wolverines when he returned (they have a botched punt return by Illinois on its own 13-yard line to thank for that), but he minimized the mistakes that could have cost them. With slop- py' play and 10 penalties, Illinois did its best to hand Michigan the game. Without Henne, Michigan might have returned itcto sender. "He didsomethingspecialtoday BELL From page 1B ity morphing into stupidity. But by game's end, DeBord's gameplan had a creative feel to it rarely seen by Michigan fans. Trailing 14-3, the Wolverines marched down the field with ease, albeit on a road less traveled. Straying from the usual ground route, Chad Henne and the Michi- gan offense traveled through the air. The courageous senior, play- ing through the pain of a shoulder injury, went 4-of-5 for 80 yards and a touchdown, with the lone miscuea dropped pass. Simply choosing to pass more is far from innovative, though. More than the plays, the formations in DeBord's gameplan were espe- cially impressive. With an all-everything like Mike Hart out, DeBord knew he needed to adjust to give his quarterback more time to pass. He threw out formations nobody in Michigan had seen, putting multiple blockers in the backfield in some shotgun situations and overloading sides he expected blitzes to come from. Even though his quarterbacks took some hits, it could have been much worse for a Hart-less offense. But the pinnacle of Saturday's game came midway through the fourth quarter. Inside Illinois' red zone, DeBord called for an end- around pass. The play worked per- fectly and gave Michigan a lead it wouldn't relinquish. DeBord's play call was a great in that stadium that anybody who was a member of this team will never forget," Carr said. Henne's performance saved a number of his teammate's own redeeming showings from going to waste. Filling in for Hart, third-string running back Carlos Brown proved he's better than the back who strug- gled with a wrist injury and holding on to the ball earlier this season. With injured backup Brandon Minorseeinglimited action, Brown -whobrieflyswitchedto defensive back this spring and nearly trans- ferred from Michigan - ran for 113 yards on 25 carries, becoming the first back to break triple digits against Illinois this year. And the defense that has strug- gled to stop running quarter- backs time and again finally came through. Illinois scored an early pass- ing touchdown when cornerback Donovan Warren bit on a fake, and the defense's trouble with reads allowed quarterback Juice Wil- liams to engineer a 90-yard drive early in the second quarter. But Michigan stuck to its gameplan and limited the two Illini quarterbacks to just 29 yards on the ground and 116 in the air. The Illini managed just a field goal after halftime. "Anything can happen in the running game, and we shut that down and forced them to pass and that helps us out a lot," Michigan linebacker Chris Graham said. With 1-6 Minnesota up next on the schedule, Michigan should get some much-needed rest before its grueling end-of-season stretch. Carr says Hart's status is still day- to-day, and Henne's availability for the game is unknown. What's not, though, is this: His performance Saturday will remain timeless. one for the scenario, but chalk an assist up to dumb luck. DeBord called the playunder the assumptionthatGreg Mathews - the receiver who had practiced the play all week long - would be in the game. He wasn't, and when the play was relayed to the huddle, an unprepared Arringtonknew he'd have to step up. "When itogot called, I was just thinking, 'I'm going to run it,' in my head," Arrington said. "And then I saw Mario come out wide open, soI had to throw it to him." The night's biggest playcall may have been a mistake, but I'll take a blind squirrel finding a nut over status quo any day. After an 0-2 start, the team feels the same way. In a game where Michigan's Heisman Trophy candidate watched from the sidelines and its quarterback left the locker room with his arm in a sling, players like Carlos Brown, Brandon Minor and Ryan Mallett were praised as unsung heroes. But the most unexpectedboost came from DeBord, the guy who wrote the script for those support- ing actors to steal the show. Is this script going to be renewed, or was it a one-night show while Hart sat on the side- lines? That's yetoto be seen. But Saturday night showed if the Wolverines ever want to perma- nently ditch its black-and-white programming to get in line with the color TV world, it can be done, and it can work. - Bell can be reached at scotteb@urich.edu.