4B - September 15, 2008
Sportsanday
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
48 - September15, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
GAME STATISTICS
.
Tam Stats
First DownsC
Rush/Yds
Offensive Plas
Total ORfese
CompR/AttInt
Punts/Avg
Fumbles/Lost
PASSIN
Play
ThCr pet
ShridanCR
TotCCCal
RUSING
MICH
21
42/159
229
70
388
59
19/28/2
4/52.8
7/4
7/79
32:12
C-A Yds
16-23 17S
3-5 54 .
19-28 229
ND
34/115
147
55
260
70
10/21/2
6/43.8
3/0
3/38
27:48
TD
1
0
1
Att
2s
1
s
2
4
3
1
1
42
No.
6
4
4
3
2
19
Yds
131
13
8
S
4
1
0'
-3
202
Avg
5.2
13
1.6
2.5
1.0
0.3
0.0
-3.0
3.8
Avg
9.3
11.8
11.5
11.7
22.5
12.1
Lg
29
13
21
3
7
9
0
0
29
Lg
33
40
16
20
45
45
Int
0
2
2
TD
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
TD
0
1
0
0
0
1
1-
Yds
56
47
46
35
45
229
a
No. Yds Avg Cg
4 211 52.8 58
.4 211 52.8 58
No.
2
2
5
Yds
28
30
57
Avg
14.0
15.0
11.4
Ls
18
16
18
TD
0
0
0
No Ys Avg g TD
2 -2 0.0 3 0
Senior Morgan Trent was.part of a Michigan secondary that allowed two deep pass plays in the Wolverines' loss to Notre Dame.
Solo
4
3
3
3
2
0
2
0
1
t
0
i
t
t
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
23
Asst
4
4
4
6
2
4
2
2
0
0
0
0
t
1
1
1
t
1
1
46
Tot
9
8
7
7
6
6
4
4
3
2
2
t
1
1
t
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
69
Poor communication, predictable
breaks burn Michigan secondary
6
I
N 0 T R E D A M E
PASSING
Player C-A Yds TD Int
Clausen 10-21 147 2 2
Totas 10-2 14 2 2
RUSHING
Player Att Yds Avg Lg TO
Hughes 19 79 4.2 18 2
Aldridge 9 28 3.1 8 0
PAlln 2 CC .C C 0
TEAM 2 -3 -1.5 0 0
Totals 34 113 3.3 18 2
RECEMVNG
Player N. SACs Ag CC TO
Floyd 2 10 5.0 9 0
Kamara 1 10 10.0 10 1
Grimes 1 3 3.0 3 0
Totals 10 147 14.7 60 2
PUNTING
Player No. Yds Avg l
Maust 6 263 43.8 52
Totals 6 263 43.8 52
KICKOFF RETURNS N. Ys Ag t D
Noayrthwestern Av0 0 g3T0
Tate 3 58 19.3 27 0
Indina 1 00 0 2 0 0
llns04 58 14 27 0
PUNT RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD
Allen 1 9 90 9 0
Pe 1 3 0 0 1 31
Total 2 12 6.0 9 0
TACKLESH
Player Solo Asst Tot
Wruton 10 5 15
McCarthy 7 3 10
wrown 2 2 4
Tntz 3 0 3
Anello 2 1 3
McNeil 2 1 3
Larmbert 2 0 2
Blanton 2 0 2
BrownM 1 2
Srith 1 0 1
Totals 42 28 70
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Team Bier Ten Overall
Wisconsin 0 0 3 0
Iowa 0 0 3 0
Minnesota 0 0 3 0
Northwestern 0 0 3 0
Penn State 0 0 3 0
Indiana 0 0 2 0
Ohio State 0 0 2 1
Illinois 0 0 2 1
Michigan State 0 0 2 1
Purdue 0 0 1 1
Michigan 0 .0 1 2
THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS
NOTRE DAME 35, Michigan 17
MICHIGAN STATE 17, Florida Atlantic 0
SOUT HERN CA L 35, Ohio State 3
Wisconsin 13, F RESNO STATE 10
IOWA 17, Iowa State 5
ILLINOIS 20, Louisiana-Lafayette 17
Penn State 55, SYRACUSE 13
NORT HWESTERN 33, Southern Illinois 7
Oregon 32, PURDUE 26
MINNESOTA 35, Montana State 23
By IAN ROBINSON
Daily Sports Editor
SOUTH BEND - As he waited
on the line of scrimmage before
his 48-yard touchdown recep-
tion, Notre Dame freshman wide
receiver Golden Tate knew what
would happen.
"The coaches NOTEBOOK
and I saw that
if we can go in there and make
it seem like we're running and
freeze the safety, we'll be all right
and we can get out past them,"
Tate said. "We did it."
He used a double move to cre-
ate confusion between senior
cornerback Morgan Trent and
junior safety Stevie Brown. Sec-
onds later, he was behind both
of them, celebrating in the end
zone. At the time the play-action
pass was Notre Dame quarter-
back Jimmy Clausen's longest
career completion.
"I guess we were both pretty
confident that guy was taken,"
senior Morgan Trent said. "I put
that on myself as a senior."
Michigan wasn't surprised
about Notre Dame frequently
taking its chances downfield.
On Clausen's first opportunity to
open up the field, he went deep
on the first two plays. Later in
the game, Clausen broke his own
personal record with a 60-yard
completion.
"I know (Clausen) likes to take
his chances," sophomore Dono-
van Warren said. "It was kind
of frustrating because we know
what they are doing."
Notre Dame executed its
gameplan as expected, but the
Michigan secondary couldn't get
on the same page. On the deep
throws, safeties didn't provide
support when they needed to.
On other plays, the safeties bit on
play-action fakes that opened up.
chances over the top.
"It's just communication, and
having each others' backs," War-
ren said.
INJURY REPORT: After
receiving a Gatorade shower to
celebrate his team's win over
Michigan, Notre Dame coach
Charlie Weis was carried off the
field - in the front seat of a golf
cart.
While covering a second-
quarter punt, defensive end
Brandon Graham blocked Notre
Dame linebacker John Ryan onto
the sideline. Ryan crashed into
the back of Weis's leg. The Notre
Dame coach fell backwards over
Ryan, awkwardly bending his
knee as he went down.
The Notre Dame medical
staff stabilized the knee on the
sideline with a brace, and Weis
coached the rest of the game. He
was diagnosed with a torn ACL
and MCL.
"I feel like an athlete - first
time in my life," Weis said.
The Michigan coaching staff
didn't suffer any injuries.
Wide receiver Greg Mathews
had to be helped off the field at
the end of the third quarter and
was limping on his way to the
team bus.
Mathews hurt his foot in the
season opener against Utah and
missed last week's game against
Miami (Ohio). He caught four
passes for 46 yards before leav-
ing.
Redshirt quarterback Ste-
ven Threet missed two fourth-
quarter drives with cramps but
returned for the final drive. He
was limping as he left Notre
Dame Stadium.
NOT SACKED: Michigan
entered Saturday's game as the
n'ational leader in sacks with
nine. The defensive line had been
a bright spot in two games. Last
year, Notre Dame allowed 58
sacks - and most of that offen-
sive line returned.
To say the least, the Wolver-
ines' line was expected to win
the battle in the trenches
But Michigan failed to get to
Clausen behind the line of scrim-
mage Saturday. -
"I just told the offensive line-
men in the locker room, I said,
'Pick a place where you guys
want to go to dinner, 'cause we're
going to dinner this week,'" said
Clausen, who called his line's
play the difference in the game.
The Fighting Irish employed
a combination of play-action
fakes and max-protect schemes
to limit the effect of Michigan's
blitz combinations.
TRICKY: Michigan coach Rich
Rodriguez came to Michigan
with a reputation as a gutsy play
caller. Part of that stems from the
fake punt he called in the fourth
quarter of West Virginia's 2006
Sugar Bowl win over Georgia,
going for it on fourth-and-eight
with 1.26 remaining.
Facing a 14-0 deficit and
fourth and two on its own 46
yardline in the first quarter Sat-
urday, Michigan punter Zoltan
Mesko scampered left out of the
punt formation for 13 yards and a
first down.
EJECTED: Junior tight end
Carson Butler was kicked out
of Saturday's game with less
than two minutes remaining.
After a Sam McGuffie two-yard
run, Butler appeared to throw a
punch at the head of Notre Dame
sophomore Emeka Nwankwo.
Butler was escorted off the field
by a member of the strength and
conditioning staff and a police .
officer. When approached by a
reporter after the game, Butler
pushed past the reporter.
THREET
From Page 1B
great vision and kept his feet
moving on his runs, allowing
him to break tackles and find
the open field. He finished
with 178 all-purpose yards -
131 yards on 25 runs and 47
yards on four catches.
By halftime, Threet had
128 passing yards. That's more
than any Michigan quarter-
back had in an entire game
this year (the previous high
was redshirt sophomore Nick
Sheridan's 98 against Utah).
Rodriguez said he planned
to rotate the quarterbacks as
he did last week, when the
former walk-on subbed for
Threetlateinthe firsthalf.But
Sheridan didn't play Saturday
until Threet was cramping up
in the fourth quarter.
"He's been playing better
than Nick," Rodriguez said. "I
thought he played pretty well
today, at times."
Threet finished 16-of-23 for
175 yards, a touchdown and
no interceptions. He routinely
hit the downfield passes he
struggled with last week.
Sheridan's performance
also helped squelch the talk
of using two quarterbacks.
He was 3-for-5 for 54 yards,
but both drives he led ended
with interceptions on poorly
thrown passes.
Rodriguez has maintained
that McGuffie and four other
backs - freshman Michael
Shaw, juniors Brandon Minor
and Carlos Brown and red-
shirt junior Kevin Grady
- were all on equal footing
when healthy. But the other
four had just 10 carries for a
combined 10 yards.
Threet's lone touchdown
pass came on a 40-yard screen
pass to McGuffie. McGuffie
leaked from the backfield to
the right and took the screen.
About 15 yards later, he cut
toward midfield when he
ran into redshirt sophomore
left tackle Perry Dorrestein.
McGuffie spun off the only
contact he faced on the play
for his only score.
"Sam did well today,"
Threet said. "He ran the ball
well. He ran the ball hard.
You're always going to get
good effort out of him."
If Rodriguez sees similar
effort from his running back
and quarterback in coming
weeks, his rides home will
probably be more cheerful.
Sloppy play in sloppy wea her
spells doom for Wolverines
IRISH
From Page 1B
Dame cornerback Mike Anello.
With the ball back, the Fighting
Irish needed just three plays for
their second touchdown in the
game's first four minutes.
"Well, obviously, sometimes
I feel like we're the Bad News
Bears," Michigan quarterbacks
coach Rod Smith said. "We got a
guy open, we drop the ball. There's
always something."
After the Fighting Irish scored
again to make it 21-0, the Wolver-
ines' offense showed life for the
first time midway through the
first quarter on a 40-yard touch-
down reception by freshman Sam
McGuffie.
And they continued to chip
away at the three-touchdown def-
icit with 10 points in the second
quarter. But their 23-yard field
goal and seven-yard touchdown
run sandwiched another Notre
Dame scoring drive, highlighted
by a 60-yard pass - the longest
completion of Notre Dame quar-
terback Jimmy Clausen's career
- that torched the Michigan
defense as a steady rain began to
fall.
"The conditions weren'ttough,"
safety Brandon Harrison said. "It's
just hard to get after somebody
after so many turnovers."
The turnovers continued in the
fourth quarter, when Notre Dame's
two picks off of Sheridan effec-
tively ended any remaining chance
for a comeback. Instead, the Wol-
verines' flash of glory in the clos-
ing minutes happened when senior
cornerback Morgan Trent picked
off a Clausen pass in the end zone
to prevent the Fighting Irish from
gaining a25-point lead.
When the clock finally ran out,
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Redshirt junior running back Kevin Grady fumbled the ball on a 2nd-and-goal late
in the third quarter, addingto the Wolverines' turnover woes. They finished with
seven fumbles (four lost) and two interceptions.
a red-faced Rodriguez hastily dan said, despite his stats, the
herded his players into the visitors Wolverines continue to get better
locker room. Weis gave his fans a every week.
smug shrug as he was driven off And junior safety Stevie Brown
the field in a golf cart, his entire thought,.despite the score, Michi-
left leg immobilized in a blue-and- gan's " turnover-filled afternoon
white brace after one of his own showed little of the team's true
players bowled him over in the talent. I
second quarter. "I mean, they did beat us today,
A few of the Wolverines said, as it happens," Brown said. "But in
despite the loss, Michigan is "still our hearts, we know that we're the
undefeated in the Big Ten." Sheri- better team."
A