The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I October 6, 2008
ILLINOIS 45. MICHIGAN 20
LIF REEDER/Daily
Illinois quarterbackJuice Williams sprints away from the Wolverine defense towards the Michigan 10-yard line in the fourth quarter of the Illini's 45-20 trouncing oftthe Wolverines. Williams had 431 all-purpose yards.
THE JUICE IS LOOSE
Answers lie in old-
school approach
'M' fizzles after
We're not a
The last time the Michigan football
team took a beating like that, the Athletic
Director found a new coach.
The Wolverines have a losing record
the deepest into their season since they
finished 4-6 in 1967.
And Saturday's
45-20'loss to Illinois
was their worst in the
Big Ten since Ohio
State beat them 50-14
in 1968.
Bo Schembechler
coached Michigan's
next game, in 1969,
and stuck around DAN
for 21 years. He had FELDMAN
success because his
teams excelled in the
most boring of areas
- controlling the line of scrimmage.
Michigan is far from doing that this
year.
Wolverine coach Rich Rodriguez
needs the right skill players to run his
offense, and he may even have them.
But it's impossible to tell because of the
offensive line's struggles.
Michigan might even have a decent
pass coverage. But when the Wolverines
have no sacks and put little pressure on
the quarterback, like they did Saturday,
the secondary and linebackers have to
stay with talented receivers like Arreli-
ous Benn for way too long. Even if they're
pretty good in coverage, they just can't
be asked to do that.
Illinois junior Juice Williams will be
remembered as the star of Saturday's
game, the new-look dual-threat quarter-
back that's transforming the Big Ten.
His 431yards and four touchdowns on
the ground and through the air certainly
looked the part. He made it seem easy.
But it actually was.
The Fighting Illini's real heroes were
Xavier Fulton, Eric Block, Ryan McDon-
ald, Jon Asamoah and Jeff Allen - their
offensive line.
Add on that the Michigan defense fre-
quently bit on fake handoffs, and Illinois
had an even greater control of the line of
scrimmage, which gave Juice plenty of
time to find receivers downfield or run
himself. He had a hand in 14 plays that
See FELDMAN, Page 4B
very good promising start
football team
By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK consin. Redshirt freshman quarterb
Daily Sports Editor Steven Threet looked confident ea
throwing for 95 yards and leading
The Wolverines showed up to play Wolverines to a14-3 lead after 15 mint
Saturday - but they didn't stay. of play.
T hat's And after being trounced by the Illi- Michigan's biggest asset in the fi
ack
rly,
the
utes
irst
obvious....
I'm mad,
and I'm mad
beginning.
with me.
-MICHIGAN COACH
RICH RODRIGUEZ
nois offense in a 45-20 loss, nobody could
explain why.
"I told the team, 'We're probably going
to be sick when we watch the film,' "
said Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez,
who was visibly upset in his postgame
press conference. "Just seeing the break-
downs, mistakes we made on offense and
defense."
After falling behind quickly in their
last two games, 21-0 against Notre Dame
and 19-0 against Wisconsin, the Wol-
verines stressed the importance of com-
ing out strong Saturday. But Michigan
imploded after a strong first quarter,
givingup a Michigan Stadium record 431
all-purpose yards to Illinois quarterback
Juice Williams and 501 total yards in the
blowout.
The first quarter looked like it would
be a continuation of the Wolverines' pro-
lific, 27-point second half against Wis-
half was its return game, an area that
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez called
"atrocious" after last Saturday's win
against Wisconsin. The Wolverines aver-
aged almost 31 yards on kickoff returns
in the first half, a marked improvement
from last week's average of 18 kick return
yards at the half. And with consistent
completions leading to two touchdowns,
Michigan looked like it was getting into
a rhythm.
But the Wolverines regressed in the
final three quarters. Freshman wide
receiver Martavious Odoms fumbled a
kickoff in the fourth quarter while the
Wolverines were down 38-20 to give the
Fighting Illini the ball at the Michigan
16-yard line.
Between that and a Threet fumble on
a read play with running back Michael
Shaw late in the third quarter, the
See FIGHTING ILLINI, Page 4B
Exhibition sweep marred by penalties
VOLLEYBALL
Heartbreaking loss in
Madison motivates Blue
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
It took 48 penalties for the Mich-
igan hockey team to get the mes-
sage.
Referees will be calling the
games tighter this year.
Michigan had the opportunity
to practice its special teams play in
exhibition games at Yost Ice Arena
this weekend, defeating the United
States National Team Develop-
ment Program 4-1 on Saturday and
Waterloo University 3-1 on Sunday.
Atotal of31penaltieswere called
in the first game, 15 of them on the
Wolverines.
And while Sunday's game against
Waterloo had far fewer calls on
both teams (17 total), coaches say
the Wolverines must still adjust to
the new officiating system.
One reason for the high number
of infractions was the new CCHA
rule that puts two referees on the
ice, as opposed to one last year.
"As you can tell, and I warned the
players about this, there's always
going to be a referee that can. see
what you're doing, so you can't take
any liberties," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "The players have to a
learn from that." -
But regardless of who was in the
box, the Wolverines took advantage1
of the situation. Michigan scored
four power-play goals on the week-
end, and didn't allowa single short-
handed goal.,
Against Waterloo, sophomore SAID ALSALAH/Daily
See PENALTIES, Page 38 Sophomore Matt Rust scored two power-play goals in Saturday's 4-1 exhibition win.
By RYAN KARTJE
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's volley-
ball team had never left Wiscon-
sin's UW Field House victorious,
and after two sets in Madison,
Friday night, the 22nd-ranked
Wolverines seemed to have vic-
tory firmly within their grasp,
leading 2-0.
"Before the third game, we
were feelinggreat,"junior Juliana
Paz said. "Everyone was smil-
ing, and we were joking around
because we knew we were going
to go out there and put the game
away."
But it was a different story in
the locker room after the match.
The Wolverines were dead
silent.
Michigan dropped three
straight games against the Bad-
gers and lost its second Big Ten
match in a row.
The match was Michigan coach
Mark Rosen's second missed
opportunity to tie former coach
Sally Vong's all-time wins record
for the program.
"It was one of those classic
heartbreaks where we played
really well and did a lot of stuff
right, but we just didn't get the
See VOLLEYBALL, Page 2B
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