Want to know how to steal the show with a sports-themed costume? See Page 2 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.