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 A 4 A A I