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The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I October 29, 2007
I C-GAN.4.MNNESO A
Big Ten
streak
over for
Blue
By JASON KOHLER
Daily Sports Writer
The precedent: The No. 6 Mich-
igan women's cross country team
wins the Big Ten Championships.
The problem: The Wolverines
finished third at this year's Big
Ten Championship in Columbus
and failed to defend their five
straight conference titles.
"In the past, we had stepped
up at Big Tens," redshirt junior
Nicole Edwards said. "And we had
gotten the job done, even when
our ranking was lower than this
year's."
Instead, Minnesota ended
Michigan's reign with 72 points,
and Michigan State finished sec-
ond with 73 points.
Edwards led the Wolverines,
finishing seventh (20:17), while
fifth-year senior Erin Webster
came in at 11th place (20:22).
"I thought we gave the best
effort we could, but we just
weren't very good today," Michi-
gan coach Mike McGuire said.
"We were just ordinary. And if
you're ordinary in this confer-
ence, you are not going to win it."
Over the pastfew years, the rest
of the Big Ten has gained ground
on Michigan.
"Without question, this is the
deepest conference in the coun-
try," McGuire said. "And third
place is still a fairly good accom-
plishment."
But McGuire was quick to note
that there are no excuses for the
third-place finish.
"We knew we had a job to do,
and unfortunately, we didn't fire
on all cylinders," McGuire said.
"We were aware that would take
an outstanding effort to win
the race. But we just didn't do it
today."
The race's pace was much fast-
er thanlast year's when Webster
won with a time of 20:23. This
year's champion, Iowa's Diane
Nukuri, ran a 19:37.
Michigan struggled earlier this
season with a third-place finish
at the NCAA Pre-Nationals and a
fourth-place showing at the Notre
Dame Invitational. But the Wol-
verines were confident that they
could wintheir sixth straight con-
ference title. Coming into the sea-
son, they were not only preseason
favorites for the Big Ten, but for
the National Championship.
"In the past we had stepped up
at Big Tens, and we had gotten the
job done, even when our rank-
ing was lower than this year's,"
Edwards said. "So we knew that
we'd done it before, and that's
what I planned on us doing."
Michigan is a much younger
team this season than last year,
and four Wolverines were run-
ning in their first Big Ten Cham-
pionship.
See BIG TENS, Page 3B
Sophomore running back Brandon Minor rushed for a career-high 157 yards and one touchdown on Saturday after replacing Mike Hart at tailback.
Fresh faces lead way for
Wolverines
Manningham's back
to business,
By KEVIN WRIGHT'
Daily Sports Editor
Even without senior stars Mike Hart
and Chad Henne, the Michigan offense
was still expected to light up the over-
cast skies over the Big House.
So who would've guessed the Minne-
sota defense - a unit allowing an aver-
age of 533.6 yards per game heading into
Saturday - would blank the 15th-ranked
Wolverines through the first quarter?
For the first time this season, the
Golden Gophers had held an opponent
scoreless through the first frame, and
Michigan looked ahead toward a pos-
sible upset.
But a Hart-less and Henne-less Michi-
gan stormed back from a 10-0 deficit to
run away from Minnesota in the second
half. The Wolverines won 34-10 to retain
the Little Brown Jug and stay just one of
two teams unbeaten in the Big Ten.
"We knew coming into the game we
didn't have Chad of Mike, so we really
weren't panicking," defensive tackle
Terrance Taylor said. "We were just like,
'We have to score touchdowns, get turn-
overs.' We weren't really worried about
it."
In what has become a trend against
inferior teams, the Wolverines found
themselves in a close game heading
into halftime. Michigan (5-0 Big Ten, 7-
2 overall) held a slim 13-10 lead in part
because freshman quarterback Ryan
See GOPHERS, Page 4B
ide receiver Mario Man-
ningham caught his first pass.
mid-
way through the
second quarter
Saturday - a 44-
yard bomb along
the left sideline
that put Michigan
in position to tie
the game at 10..
The catch was DANIEL
magnificent. The BROMWICH
junior reached out
as far in front of Broms Away
him as he could,
using his finger-
tips to tap the
ball back into the air in order to eventu-
ally snag it. But Manningham really
impressed after the catch.
"Super Mario" has become notori-
ous for his celebrations this season.
Against Penn State, he did the Worm in
the backfield before time had expired.
Against Northwestern the next week,
with the Wolverines trailing 16-7, he
taunted the Wildcat sideline after an
average six-yard run. And against
Illinois last week, he celebrated apass-
interference penalty.
But after his circus catch Saturday
against Minnesota, things got weird.
There was no fist pump, no posing,
not even an exaggerated first-down
motion. Nothing.
See BROMWICH, Page 4B
Michigan skates by Boston
in second straight sweep
By NATE SANDALS
Daily Sports Editor
Three minutes into Saturday night's game
against Boston University, Michigan had
taken three shots. One trickled over the
goalline for an apparent goal that was waved
off because of an early whistle. But the other
two hit the back of the net.
With the early lead, the Wolverines kept
up the offensive pressure, easily winning the
game 6-2 and sweeping Boston University
(0-4-1 overall) in the Terriers' first visit to
Yost Ice Arena since 1989.
Slow starts had plagued No. 3 Michigan
all season, but the Wolverines played the
role of instigator Saturday and saw immedi-
ate rewards.
"Since Boston College, we haven't had
A really strong first period, and I think it
helped staying out of the penalty box and
scoring early," Michigan coach Red Beren-
son said.
Eighteen seconds after Michigan's first
line had a goal taken back, the second line
made up for it. Freshman Ben Winnett took
a backhand pass from junior Tim Miller and
deposited the puck past Terrier goalie Kar-
son Gillespie top shelf.
Michigan (5-1-0) used a bruising fore-
check and crisp neutral-zone play to stifle
Boston University in the opening minutes.
See TERRIERS, Page 3B
'M' needs
to fight 60
minutes
By ANDY REID
Daily Sports Writer
After Friday night's game, the
Michigan hockey team got the
memo.
The first 20
minutes are just NOTEBOOK
as important as
the final 40.
In the first game of the week-
end, the Wolverines seemed over-
whelmed in the early minutes of
the contest by a more aggressive
See HOCKEY, Page 25
JENNFER KRON/Daily
Junior Tim Miller and the Wolverines swept Boston University this weekend, 4-2 and 6-2. Michigan has
now posted four straight victories.