8 - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily~o 8 - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 The Mkhiean Daily - michieasdailv.com I JEREMY CHO/Dai Redshirt sophomore Nick Sheridan briefly lived outside of South Bend while his fatherwas a coach at Notre Dame in 2001. He will play in his first road game Saturday. Sheridan preparedfor first -eroa game in fam-iiar territory AROUND THE BIG TEN Bucks, Trojans game to watch By ANDY REID Granted, those numbers came Daily SportsEditor against less-than-stellar compe- tition, but all signs point to huge Never has perfection looked so offensive numbers in air and on unimpressive. Last week, the Big the ground. Ten went a far-from-spotless 11-0. And while the strength of the Its poster child, Ohio State, nearly Big Ten continues to come into succumbed to the biggest upset of question, this game is a huge the year against Ohio, Wisconsin opportunity for the conference to spotted.Marshall 14 points before assert itself on a national stage. deciding to play, Michigan narrow- U$, ly escaped Mid-American Confer- NO. 10 WISCONSIN AT NO. 21 ence "powerhouse" Miami (Ohio) FRESNO STATE and Illinois's sluggish start against The Sleeper Award for the best Eastern Illinois wasn't pretty. game of the week goes here. For This week poses much stiffer starters, Fresno State is perenni- competition. In 10 games, the Big ally one of the scariest non-BCS Ten will play five BCS teams - teams in the country. The Bulldogs Southern Cal, Oregon, Iowa State, have taken down several big-con- Syracuse and Notre Dame - and ference teams in the past. They've one of the biggest giant killers in , beatenWisconsin(already)in2001, the non-BCS ranks, Fresno State. Oregon State, Virginia, UCLA and Even the most optimistic Big Ten Georgia Tech, as well as a 24-7 fan can't expect another undefeat- drubbing of Rutgers this year. It's ed weekend, but no one can deny a night game in California, which that this weekend is a whole lot means the stadium is going to be more exciting on paper. rocking when the top-t0 Badgers These are the best games to come to town. watch this weekend and why. This has upset written all over. NO. S OHIO STATE AT NO. 1 it, and maybe it's justme,but those SOUTHERN CAL are the best games to watch. Is it just me, or did this match- $ "1 up lose a whole lot of draw after NO.17 PENN STATE AT the Buckeyes' 54-minute suck- SYRACUSE fest against THE Ohio University Saying that the Nittany Lions Bobcats? While it was great to see are playing a BCS team is like buy- Ohio State almost lose its title as ing a Rolex on the streets of New The Best Team in Ohio for a year, I York and saying it's real. Sure, it would be a lot more excited for the says Rolex, but you're really not Buckeye-Trojan matchup if both fooling anyone. Syracuse is - well, teams still looked invincible. other than Duke - the worst BCS Beanie Wells's injury is still a team out there. Let's be honest major question, freshman wun- - you can't lose to Akron by two derkind Terrelle Pryor has looked touchdowns and have much digni- human so far, and it's no stretch ty left. But hey, with the Big Eastas to say that the Buckeyes need to weak as it is, the Orange may still play a whole lot less sloppy this be in contention for a conference weekend. The Trojans, however, crown and BCS berth. played so well against Virginiatwo After watching Penn State com- weeks ago that it looks as though pletely dismantle Oregon State the NCAA is simply holding the last week, it's hard to imagine this national championship trophy for game being worth three hours of them until January. your time. 0 By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK Daily Sports Editor Nick Sheridan was a Notre Dame fan for nine months. That was eight years ago, when the now-redshirt sophomore quar- terback lived just over the Michigan border in Granger, Indiana, and was NOTEBOOK taking snaps with his middle school's eighth grade "B" team. Sheridan's father, Bill, now the linebackers coach for the New York Giants, was Notre Dame's safeties and special teams coach in 2001. Nick went to every home game and watched the Fighting Irish finish 5-6. "It was a pretty bad year for my family," Sheridan said. He insists he never cheered for Notre Dame to beat Michigan - the teams didn't meet that season. And though he rooted for every team his dad coached, he was quick to point out that his Notre Dame allegiance "wasn't by choice." Fighting Irish coach Bob Davie resigned after the season and for- mer Michigan coach Lloyd Carr hired Bill Sheridan as his lineback- ers coach. Four years later, his son walked on to Carr's team and, coin- cidentally, saw his first game action against Notre Dame. Surrounded by his family of Irish Catholics, Sheridan will play in his first Michigan road game this week- end in an atmosphere he knows quite well. "It's kind of been a Notre Dame thing for my family, which I'm hesi- tant to say," Sheridan said. "But I'm sure everyone in my family will be rooting for me on Saturday." Similar situation for quarter- backs: This weekend, the quarter- back shuffle will remain the same as it was against Miami (Ohio). Red- shirt freshman quarterback Ste- ven Threet will probably start, but Sheridan will also take snaps k against the I know w Fighting Irish. playingin th "It's 'or' (on the or somethin depth chart) because it it, or if you' really is 'or" S i o Rodriguez Station, you said. "Both of those that reset guys arestill there in the Rodrigu mix. If one guy would emerge and play to the point where it's just him and he's playing at that level, that would be good." Freshman Justin Feagin, who Rodriguez said last week will red- shirt, has been working with the quarterbacks and the slot receivers during practice. Before signing with Michigan last February, Feagin was recruited by Louisiana State as a wide receiver. Michigan has already received verbal commitments from Tj .1 1 U t .+ four-star quarterbacks Shavodrick Beaver and Tate Forcier for the class of 2009, meaning there may be five quarterbacks in the mix to start next season. Despite the Feagin's versatility, Rodriguez said redshirt sophomore David Cone is the team's third quar- terback. REPEATED PLAYS: Brandon Harrison's pass breakup in the end zone dur- ing Satur- day's third hen you're quarter pre- vented the ie backyard RedHawks from tying ig, you redo the game at 10. re on Play- But if not for an over- i can push ruled play, Michigan's button," defense would have .ez said. been off the field four plays ear- lier. With two yards needed for the first down, Miami quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh appeared to throw an incomplete pass from the Michigan 16-yard line. The Red- Hawks called a timeout and chal- lenged the play. The officiating crew ruled they had incorrectly called the play a forward pass, but on further review, determined it was a lateral pass. Miami was allowed to repeat third down and got a first down on the next play. Rodriguez said Monday he was. looking to learn more about the reasons behind the referees' deci- sion. "I didn't know there were do- overs," he said. "I know when you're playing in the backyard or something, you redo it, or if you're on PlayStation, you can push that reset button. I didn't know there was such a thing in Division I-A. I'll have to get that cleared up." INJURY REPORT: Rodriguez said redshirt junior left tackle Mark Ortmann dislocated his right elbow and will not play this week- end against Notre Dame. Ortmann was in a block 'M' sling after Mich- igan's win last Saturday. Possible candidates to replace Ortmann on the leftside are redshirtsophomore Perry Dorrestein, redshirt sopho- more Bryant Nowicki or freshman Patrick Omameh. Nowicki played in Ortmann's absence Saturday. Junior running back Carlos Brown wore a white jersey for the first time during Sunday's practice, signifying that he could partici- pate in practice as normal. Brown took a snap at quarterback against Utah but didn'tplay against Miami. Rodriguez said that Brown, who has been struggling with a wrist injury since fall camp, should be "full-go" against the Fighting Irish. Wide receiver Greg Mathews (foot) and running back Michael Shaw (groin) are also expected to return tothe field Saturday. Still, any time two historic powerhouse programs collide in an early season game, it's a must- watch matchup. Warwa NO.16 OREGON AT PURDUE Yeah, yeah, Southern Cal and Ohio State are playing this week. We know But, in all the time spent hyping that game, both media pun- dits and college football fans have forgot about this intriguing Big Ten-Pac 10 battle. To say this game is not for the defensive-minded fan would be a grotesque understatement. Through three games (Oregon has played two-and Purdue just one), the Boilermakers and the Ducks have combined to score 152 points. IOWA STATE AT IOWA This is one of the most mind- boggling rivalries in college foot- ball. Anyone who hasn't paid attention to the battle for the CyHawk Trophy would expect it to be lopsided - towards the Hawkeyes, no doubt. But Iowa is a head-scratching 3-7 against the Cyclones in the BCS era, including a 36-31 loss in the Hawkeyes' 2002 Orange Bowl season. A rivalry is. a rivalry, so there's obviously going to be excitement and collegiate pageantry, but both teams are rebuilding and far from the upper echelons of their confer- ences at the moment. 01 TOM BRADY'S SURGERY Ex-Wolverine, NFL MVP out for the season with left knee injury FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) - The New England Patriots have come back from injuries before, winning three Super Bowls and reaching a fourth despite los- ing Rodney Harrison, Richard Seymour, Junior Seau and Drew Bledsoe. Now they will try to do it with- out Tom Brady. The 2007 NFL Most Valuable Player will miss the entire '08 season with a left knee injury that needs surgery, the team said yes- terday. That leaves the Patriots with- out one of the game's great quar- terbacks and severely damages their hopes of a return trip to the Super Bowl. Coach Bill Belichick would not say what the injury is, but the play, Brady's reaction and the progno- sis all point toward a torn anterior cruciate ligament. "As a team we all just have to do our jobs. That really doesn't change," Belichick said yesterday, a day after Brady's knee collapsed under him when he was hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard in a 17-10 victory over Kansas City. "He played one position, he played it very well. We have some- body else playing that position now." The Patriots issued a one-para- graph statement that the two- time Super Bowl MVP will have surgery and be placed on injured reserve. Thatleaves theminthe hands of a backup who's barely been tested - in part because of Brady's 128- game starting streak that was the third-longest for a quarterback in NFL history. Matt Cassel, who guided New England to its 20th consecu- tive regular-season victory after Brady was hurt, will start Sunday at the New York Jets. It will be the first meaningful start since high school for Cassel, who backed up Heisman Trophy winners Car- son Palmer and Matt Leinart at Southern Cal and spent the last three years holding a clipboard for Brady. "I'm not trying to be Tom Brady. I'm just trying to be Matt Cassel," he said when subbing for Brady on his regular weekly radio show. "I don't know where that's going to take us." Brady, who played his college football at Michigan, took the Patriots to three NFL titles since 2001 and led them to a perfect record in the regular season last year before a loss in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants deprived them of a fourth cham- pionship and an unprecedented 19-0 season. Theyhadbeen favored to return - before Brady's injury. "We're not going to tank it the rest of the season. That's not going to happen," defensive lineman Richard Seymour said in a somber and nearly empty Patriots locker room. Seymour was across from where Brady's locker remained stocked with equipment and per- sonal items. "There's always a way to win. We're not going to have a lot of excuses about it." Even without Brady, the Patri- ots remain a team stocked with veterans in a mediocre division, and with ofte of the most success- ful coaches in NFL history. "The leadership on this team will take care of itself," offensive lineman Matt Light said. "I expect (Cassel) to do his job, and that's the same thing he expects from each one of us. There's nobody on this team that we don't have con- fidence in. You can't have a better mentor than Tom Brady." The Patriots have just two quarterbacks on the roster: Cassel and rookie Kevin O'Connell. Matt Gutierrez, who signed as an undrafted free agent before the 2007 season and has thrown one career pass, was released in the final cutdowns before the season. But Belichick denied media reports that out-of-work quarter- backs Chris Simms and Tim Rat- tay were headed to Foxborough to take physicals orto audition. "In spite of what some people are putting out there, we haven't worked out anybody," he said. "We had a lot of people call us, I can tell you that." For now, Cassel is his starter. "I'm happy for his opportunity to have a chance to play," said Leinart, who, ironically, is now a backup' with the Arizona Cardi- nals. "I'm bummed for Tom. You just hope he can heal as well as he can and get back out there as soon as he can. But Matt will step up. I think he'll be all right." KEEP UP WITH THE WOLVERINES! 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