4B- October 6, 2008 S*ortsMondai The Michigan Daily - michigandailycm 48 --October6,.2008.The.Michigan ..aily . ..hina.....c.... I GAME STATISTICS Tam Stats First Downs Ruh/Yds Passing Yards Offenie Pays Total Offense Kick returns/ Yds Punt returns/Yds Comnp/Att/Int Punts/Avg FumIbes/Lost Penalies/Yards Tim~eof Poss MICH 17 35/69 250. 70 8/204 3/39 18/35/0 8/46.9 0/0 6/49 33:06 19 47/191 310 4/76 1/6 13/26/0 6/39.0 5/2 4/45 26:54 Odoms excels in increased role, but receiver can still improve, PASIN RUHING Player McIuffi Minor, SVhHaw Odoms, PThIr Totals,1 M I C H I G A N C-A Yds TD 18-35 250 2 18-35 250 2 Att 19 1 11 35 Yds 3 -24 69 No. 7 4 2 1 1 18 Yds 129 73 -1 24 2 250 Avg 37 3.0 -2.2 2.0 Avg 18.4 * 18.3 .05 24.0 2.0 139 L9 21 3 16 21 Lg9 30 31 2 24 2 31 Int 0 0 TD 1 0 0 0 0 1 TD 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 By NATE SANDALS Daily Sports Editor As the clock wound down on Michi- gan's 45-20 loss to Illinois on Saturday, a young fan near the Michigan Stadium tunnel put the afternoon into context. "I can't believe Michigan lost by this much," he shouted, speaking to no one in particular. "This is so embarrassing." There were plenty of lows for the Wolverines against the Fighting Illini, but freshman slot receiver Martavious Odoms was one of the few bright spots on the afternoon. Odoms led Michigan with 129 receiv- ing yards on seven receptions, making him the first Wolverine receiver to break the century mark this season. Along the way, Odoms appeared to establish a rhythm with redshirt freshman quarter- back Steven Threet that had been absent in the first four games of the season. "He's exciting, he can run and do a lot of things," Michigan wide receivers coach Tony Dews said. "We're just try- ing to find some ways to get the ball in his hands and let him play." The 5-foot-9 receiver took advantage of the absence of two of Michigan's top wide receivers, Junior Hemingway and Darryl Stonum, to set career highs in catches and receiving yards. Heming- way will be out for several weeks with mononucleosis and Stonum did not play for violating team rules, so Odoms' increased role in the Michigan offense may continue in the near future. Odoms also had the chance to return Michigan's kickoffs on Saturday and showed the ability to find another gear and get to the next level. He returned seven Illinois kickoffs for 183 yards, including a 36-yarder on the opening kickoff, Michigan's longest return of the season. Until Saturday, Michigan return men struggled to get past the first wave of coverage, but Odoms made good reads at the first level and often cut the ball to the outside to gain more yardage. Unlike in past weeks, Odoms was the lone deep man on kick returns for Mich- No. Td, Avg U, N8 375 46.. 55 8 375 46.9 55 No Yds Avg LgU TD 1 21 0 21 0 8 204 25.5 36 0 N3 39 13.0 32 TD0 3 39 13.0 32 0 Solo 10 1 4 3 4 2 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 43 Asst s 6 2 3 t 2 2 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 28 Tot 15 7 6 6 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 71 CLIF REEDER/Daily Freshman slot receiver Martavious Odoms' 315 all-purpose yards accounted for 56 percent for Michigan's total yardage in Saturday's loss. igan, putting more pressure on him to back to Illinois at the Michigan 16-yard we've got to coach it better." cover the entire field but also giving him line. After the fumble, Rodriguez sent red- an additional blocker to run behind. "That little guy had been playing shirt freshman Avery Horn in to return Even with a good deal of success, his tail off the whole game, but the one the last kickoff of the afternoon. Odoms wasn't immune to the Achilles' time he dropped it low, they put a hat In a day when little went right for heel of Michigan special teams so far on him, he fumbles," Michigan coach Michigan, Odoms was the standout. But this season. In the fourth quarter, with Rich Rodriguez. "I'm not going to drop even Odoms has improvements to make Michigan trailing by 18 points, Odoms him into grease because of it, but we've in the weeks ahead if Michigan hopes to fumbled a kick return, giving the ball just got to be better fundamentally. And avoid getting embarrassed again. I L L I N O 1 S PASSING Payr C-A Yds TO I Willams 3-26 310 2 '" Totals 13-26 310 2 0 RUSHING Player Att Yds Avg Lg TO Benn 3 20 6.7 13 0 Ford 5 9 1.8 5 1 Leshoure 4 2 0.5 1 1 Po"la'd 1' - -70 0 0 Totals 47 191 4.1 50 4 RECEIVING Player No. Yds Avg Lg TO Benn 6 122 203 46 9 Dufrene 2 66 330 57 1 Cumberland 1 1 0 1 udson 1 14 140 14 0 Jenkins 1 6 6.0 6 0 ToMso 310 219 77 2 PUNTING PlyrNo Yds Avg 4 Totals 6 234 39 48 KicKOFF RETURNS Player No2 4ds Avg Lg TD Saenn 2 0 120. 3 Jenkins 2 36 18.0 23 2 Totals 4 76 19.0 23 0 HPUNT RETURNS Player No Yds Avg Lg TO Pene Stte20,PU6 U6. 6 0 Total 1 6 6.0 6 0 TACKLES Player Solo Asst Tot Miller 8 1 .9 -Davis, V 6 3 9 Hardemnan 7 1 8 Bly ' 3: 2: 5 Das W 3 1 4 Hicks 1 3 4 Jfeson 2 0 Waer 2 0 2 Pilcher 2 0 2 Lindquist 2 0 2 Guillen 1 0 1 Ellington 1 0 1 Lugset 1 0 1 Edwards 1 0 1 Totals 50 16 66 BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Big Ten Overall Penn State 2 0 6 0 Michigan State 2 0 5 1 Ohio State 2 0 5 1 Northwestern 1 0 5 0 Minnesota 1 1 5 1 Ilinois 1 1 3 2 Michigan 1 1 2 3 Purdue 0 1 2 3 Wisconsin 0 2 3 2 Iowa 0 2 3 3 Indiana 0' 2 2 3 THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS ILLINOIS 45, MICHIGAN 20 Ohio State 20, WISCONSIN 17 Penn State 20, PURDUE 6 MICH IGAN STATE 16, IOWA 13 .Minnesota 16, INDIANA 7 Williams torches Wolverine defense By IAN ROBINSON line, junior defensive end Brandon Gra- Daily Sports Editor ham came off the line of scrimmage } and tackled Illinois running back Mikel Not everything is new with Michigan Leshoure. football these days. Graham started celebrating with a After Illinois quarterback Juice Wil- teammate. liams set a Michigan The television cameras focused on Stadium record Satur- NOTEBOOK that. day by running all over Illinois offensive coordinator Mike the Wolverine defense, it was clear that Locksley said once he saw Leshoure go one thing has remained: Michigan still down, he started looking whatplayto call has trouble stopping mobile quarter- on the next down. backs. "Coach LocksleythoughtIgave the ball Williams dominated the Michigan to Mikel," Williams said. "So I faked him defense the same way Texas quarterback out as well. That's something we work on Vince Young did in the 2005 Rose Bowl, every day in practice." - Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith did in They all missed Williams calmly run- - M the Horseshoe two years ago and Oregon ning into the end zone. quarterback Dennis Dixon did lastyear. INJURY REPORT: From offensive line Statistically, the Illinois quarterback to running back and receiver, the Michi- did better than either of those guys. He gan offense has had injury problems. racked up 431 yards of total offense, ran This weekend, it was the coaching for two touchdowns and threw for two staff. more. His offensive production was the Offensive coordinator Calvin Magee best in Michigan Stadium history, sur- fell Friday morning, underwent tests all ROB MIGRIN/Daily passing the previous record of 403 yards day and spent the night in the hospital. Illinois quarterback Juice Williams set a Michigan Stadium record with 431 yards of offense. set by Illinois quarterback Tony Eason in . "They had concerns if there was any He emerged from the locker room after wasn't 100 percent. 70-21 Michigan win in 1981. heartissues," Michigancoach Rich Rodri- the game with his left arm in a sling and STONUM'S SITUATION: Rodriguez Williams won't be the only highly guez said. "They did a bunch of tests, and said he expects to be practicing again suspended freshman wide receiver Darryl talented dual-threat quarterback the he was able to come over. He's goingto be soon. Stonum for Saturday's game for a viola- Wolverines face. Michigan travels to fine." The other two players apparently tion of team rules and wouldnot elaborate Columbus Nov. 22 to face Ohio State and He was released in the morning and injured during Saturday's game were on the length of the suspension. its mobile quarterback Terrelle Pryor. coached the game from the press box as sophomore cornerback Donovan Warren Redshirt junior LaTerryal Savoy start- YOU WEREN'T THE ONLY ONE: Many usual. and redshirt junior running back Kevin ed in Stonum's place and caught one pass fans might have missed Williams' finest In terms of player injuries, freshman Grady. Grady slowly got off the field after for seven yards. moment. defensive tackle Mike Martin left the field a kickoff, and Warren hobbled out of the Stonum would not comment after the On second and goal from the six-yard slowly near the end of the third quarter. locker room after the game and said he game. 0 0 Blue's success needs to be measured by 0 -line From Page 1B produced at least 10 yards. Long passes come from time in the pocket, and long runs come from big holes. Juice had plenty of both. "On defense, you can't give them plays - not in this league and not against a good team like Illinois," Michigan defensive coordinator Scott Shafer said. That was true 40 years ago, and it's true today - no matter which offense is in vogue. You can talk all you want about the spread, but the Illini won because they played like the better old-school, hard-nosed team. It's still football, and it's still largely a battle in the trenches. And that was also true on the other side of the ball. Yes, redshirt freshman quarter- back Steven Threet struggled after his excellent first quarter. But his, protection, behind an offensive line returning only one starter, faded in the last three quarters. He was sacked four times and pressured on several other plays. The Wolverines started a dif- ferent combination on the left side of the offensive line for the fourth straight game. The most recent contingent struggled with Illinois linebacker Brit Miller's blitzes, and the four-man rushes it faced most of the game, too.. After the game, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez sounded almost jealous of his longtime friend, Illi- nois coach Ron Zook. Zook, in his fourth year with the Illini, has had a chance to put his stamp on the program. "They're a very talented team, and they've done a good job increasing their talent," Rodriguez said. "And we're going to -" He sounded like he was going to say he would do the same. But then he changed course. "- We've got some talented guys." Give Rodriguez credit for not throwing this season away. But if he hopes to succeed in the future, he has to have more than just the Juices. He needs the Fultons, Blocks, McDonalds, Asamoahs and Allens. - Feldman can be reached at danfeld@umich.edu. FIGHING LLIN tional offense last week. for the drive. FIGHTING ILLINI "We just had a couple of Before Saturday's game, From Page 1B blown assignments," safety the Wolverines had out- Brandon Harrison said. scored their opponents 39-13 "Guys weren't fitting around in the fourth quarter. Wolverines looked sloppy right." But Michigan ended up and disjointed by the end of But blown assignments with minus-15 total rushing the game. started to become a trend. yards in the second half and When asked about his A 46-yard bomb to Illinois was outscored 21-6 in the team's turnovers, Rodriguez wide receiver Arrelious last frame. became animated, speaking Bennwith less than a minute After giving the crowd of faster with every sentence as left in the first quarter set up 109,750 a show for the first his voice rose. Illinois' first touchdown of 15 minutes, the Wolverines "You think I like stand- the game five seconds into left the field the same as ing there watching that?" the second quarter. they have two other times he said. "You think I want Minutes later, Williams this season. Some ducked to stand and watch us drop launched a 57-yard touch- out the other door of the the ball? I mean, you think down screen pass to running Junge Family Champions it hasn't been addressed? I back Daniel Dufrene that put Center, away from fans, par- mean, you've got to be kid- the Illini ahead for the first ents and media. Others just ding me. I've never seen time. And in his first drive shook their heads in disgust nothing like it. And I don't after halftime, Williams and quickly walked into the know if you can work on it threw a lofting 77-yard pass parking lot. The players and more than we're working on to wide receiver Jeff Cum- coaches who stopped to talk it." berland to give the Fighting recited the same refrain: the But it was the Michigan Illini a 24-14 lead. . Wolverines will keep work- defense's inability to cover "How open some of those ing hard. the Williams-led spread guys were was ridiculous," But- five games into the offense that slaughtered the Rodriguez said. "It should season, it's still unclearwhen Wolverines' chances for a never happen that way." working hard will turn into win. As the game unfolded, the consistent success. Sophomore cornerback Wolverines continued tolook "You knowyou're goingto Donovan Warren attributed lethargic. Midway through get better, you know you're the mess to a "lack of disci- the third quarter, Threet going to improve because pline" by the defense, saying was sacked on a third-and- there's signs of it," running the Wolverines were sur- 17 to give the Wolverines backs coach Fred Jackson prised after being able to "get fourth down and 26 on their said. away with certain things" own 10-yard line. Michigan "But growing pains hurt. against Wisconsin's tradi- tallied minus-10 total yards They hurt." 0 A 4