* POK1 *i The Michigan Daily I michigandaily com ( October13,2008 .LOWER THAN LOW Loss to MAC team a first for Michigan By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK Daily Sports Editor Michigan had been there before. All the Wolverines needed to do with four sec- onds remaining was kick a short field goal to keep the game going. But kicker K.C. Lopata hooked a 26-yard attempt narrowly wide left of the uprights to secure Toledo's 13-10 win and leave the Michigan students sink- TOLEDO 13 ing to their seats in disbelief. MICHIGAN 10 The Rockets' celebra- tion on the field may as well have been Appalachian State's. "We just did what we had to do," Toledo quarter- back Aaron Opelt said on the field, seconds after his team's win. "We got to love it. We got to love it." As in last year's season opener, this was an oppo- nent the Wolverines should have handily defeated, even though they already had three losses on the books this season. The missed kick sealed the Wol- verines' first-ever loss to a Mid-American Confer- ence team in 25 games. It marked Michigan's second. straight defeat and dropped the Wolverines to their worst record (2-4) in 41 years. And it gave Michigan its worst nonconference record (1-3) since 1982, when the Wolverinesawere 0-2. But this time around, as they quickly and silently headed through the Michigan Stadium tunnel and into the locker room, the Wolverines looked less See ROCKETS, Page 4B Offense can't sustain drives against Toledo By IAN ROBINSON Daily Sports Editor Entering Saturday, the Toledo football team had allowed more than 30 points in four of its five games. In the other, the Rockets allowed 17 points to Eastern Michigan. Michigan couldn't even match that. They haven't put together a complete offensive game all season. "It's surprising every week," offensive coordina- tor Calvin Magee said. "You expect to work on it, and you expect to get better, and you expect the guys to execute, and they didn't do it." That has been Michigan's explanation after every game this season. But they appear to be regressing. At the beginning of the season, players talked about how they were just a couple of inches away on every play from breaking a long run. But that hasn't been mentioned in the last few games. Now, the common explanation is players not being on the same page. The Wolverines didn't have a drive longer than three first downs against Toledo. They only have one drive this year with four first downs that didn't come on a penalty or a fourth-down conversion. That happened against Notre Dame. The quarterbacks remained inconsistent. After SAM WOLSON/Oaily going 5-for-8 with 59 yards in the first quarter, red- See OFFENSE, Page 4B Sophomore Toney Clemons drops a pass in Saturday's 13-10 loss to Toledo. Will others reconsider four-year plan after Mitera's injury? Palushaj delivers late-game heroics ist just not fair. In the first weekend of a senior year that he didn't have to stay for, Michigan hockey captain Mark Mitera had to be helped off the ice, perhaps never to play again. "He's the consummate student-athlete - one of those top students MICHAEL who's also a top EISENSTEIN player," Michi- gan coach Red Berenson said at CCHA Media Day last month. "These are the kind of kids that the CCHA should be proud of - the kids that stay and graduate." Mitera, just the second first- round NHL draft pick to stay four years at Michigan, returned for the reasons Berenson constantly preaches. He shunned the Anaheim Ducks, the NHL franchise that holds his rights, multiple times, turning down a chance to sign his way into the NHL. He did it to earn a degree, to captain a young team, to develop as a player. And Friday, in the first period of the season, he went down with a "severe" knee injury, according to Berenson, possibly ending his col- lege career less than 20 minutes into his senior year. Berenson said a more precise timetable for his potential return would be deter- mined in the next two weeks as surgery is discussed. Mitera stayed for all the right reasons - and got unlucky. "It's unfortunate, but you never know you're going to get hurt," for- mer Wolverine Chad Kolarik said yesterday. "He took his chance. He's going to get his degree, and See EISENSTEIN, Page 3B By NICOLE AUERBACH Daily Sports Writer Aaron Palushaj knows he's in the spotlight. Last season, Palushaj played strong 3 behind ST. L AWRNCE 5 the MICHIGAN scenes,- 3 tallying ST. LAWRENCE 34 assists MICHIGAN in his freshman campaign. He was over- shadowed by Kevin Porter's Hobey Baker award-winning season and freshman Max Pacioretty's domi- nating presence. But now, as he steps up to play on the Wolverines' top line, Palushaj feels more pressure to put the puck in the net. In the season's first weekend, it didn't seem hard for the sophomore forward, who tallied two goals in Saturday's 5-3 win over St. Law- rence, including the game-winner. The Wolverines had a solid 2-0 lead after two periods, but in a back-and-forth third period, the Saints tied the game with five min- utes to go. Enter Palushaj. The Northville native flewup the ice, beat a Saints defensemen low and, as he fell forward toward the goalie, flicked the puck into the net. The electric Yost Ice Arena crowd erupted as the red light flashed. "When I picked it up at center ice, I just had some speed and I put it under (the defenseman's)-stick," Palushaj said. "I was going to take him wide, but he just stepped up, so I just put it back through his legs. He tried to trip me, soI used a bit of my soccer skills and picked it back up with my stick. Then I somehow just put it in the net." Though Palushaj made his play sound ordinary, it looked extraor- dinary. "(He) made that unbelievable See SAINTS, Page 3B CHRIS DZOMBAK/Daily Sophomore forward Aaron Paushaj scored twice in Saturday's 5-3 win over St. Lawrence. His second goal, the game-winner, came with five minutes remaining.