4B - October 13, 2008
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
GAME STATISTICS
Herbert's 100-yard pick a jumbo play
Tam Stats
Firt Downs
Rush/Yds
PasingYards
0ffensiv Plays
Total Offense
Kiketrns/ Yds
Punt returns/Yds
ComRp/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
Fmbles/lost
Penalties/Yards
Tmeof Pos
TOLEDO
22/70
257
327
2/40
1/2
33/50/0
5/41.6
11
7/74
33:08
M I C H I G A N
C-A Yds
8-16 65
MICH
519
39/170
120
290
3/75
0/0
15/27/3
5/496
0/0
5/60
26.52
PASNG
Play
Sherida
Threat
Totals
RSHIN
Payer
PGyR,
Serida
Sh7aw 8
Threat
GradyR.W
P688,ra
Toals
RECIVING
PUSy
W8u.,,
Mathew
Clemens
Minor
Toals8
PUNTIN
5lay88
sk.,
Total
TD
0
Att
25
5
4
2
2
1
35
No.
5
5
4
1
15
Yds
105
21
19
15
6
4
170
Yds
44
19
30
27
120
4.2
48
40
44
Avg
8.8
3.8
7.5
10
9
4
Lg9
29
10
29
Inc
z
3
TD
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TD
0
0
0
1
1
By DAN FELDMAN
Daily Sports Editor
Clips from Toledo's win over
Michigan on Saturday will be
played on televisions for years
to come. But
Rocket fresh- NOTEBOOK
man free safety
Tyrrell Herbert got an early peek
at seeing his team's highlights
during his 100-yard interception
return in the first quarter.
"I was running, and I looked
in the Jumbotron and I saw
(Threet)," Herbert said. "I said,
'Man, please don't let me get
caught. Please don't let me get
caught."
Herbert's interception return,
the longest ever against Michi-
gan, was one of the two records
for Wolverine opponents Toledo
set during the game. Receiver
Nick Moore's 20 receptions were
the most anyone has ever had
against Michigan.
With six runs in the first quar-
ter, the Wolverines marched from
the Toledo 33-yard line to the
Rocket five-yard line. On the sev-
enth play, redshirt freshman Ste-
ven Threet threw his first pass of
the drive.
Threet faked a handoff to
freshman running back Sam
McGuffie and rolled to his right
- a play Herbert said the Rockets
practiced defending. Herbert was
assigned to cover freshman tight
endKevinKoger. Koger didn'tsell
the run fake, so Herbert immedi-
ately got into coverage.
"He was a big guy, so I hid
behind him," Herbert said. "And
the quarterback didn't see me,
and he threw it and I cut in front
of him and went the other way
with it."
Toledo quarterback Aaron
Opelt had no trouble finding
Moore before he caught a pass.
He usually lined up in the slot
and was covered by a linebacker
or a safety. His 20 catches pro-
duced 162 yards.
"I never thought I would have
that many catches ever -not even
in little league, high school, any-
thing," Moore said.
The previous records were
set before Michigan coach Rich
Rodriguez graduated from West
Virginia, before Tom Brokaw
became the lead anchor for "NBC
NightlyNews"aodbeforeMcDon-
ald's introduced the Chicken
McNugget. Illinois's Bruce Sulli-
van had a 99-yard return in 1966,
and Northwestern's John Harvey
had 17 catches in 1982.
ROCKET LAUNCH: Toledo
football coach Tom Amstutz
couldn't sleep Tuesday night.
"I woke up at 3 o'clock, 4
o'clock, 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock in
the morning- nervous,"Amstutz
said.
He wasn't nervous because
the Rockets would be facing the
Wolverines at Michigan Stadium
on Saturday. He was concerned
because his team had struggled
that day in practice.
"You know - throwing, catch-
ing, blocking, the snaps," Amstutz
said. "Literally, literally, all those
things."
He had plenty of reason to be
concerned. Prior to the Rockets'
13-10 upset of Michigan, they
were 1-4 and had dropped three
straight games - all to non-BCS-
conference teams. The first loss in
the streak came to Fresno State,
and the last two were to BallState
and Florida International by a
combined 50 points.
Toledo entered the game tied
for the fewest wins in the Mid-
American Conference. The only
statistical category it was in the
top-50 nationally entering the
game was fewest sacks allowed
(.8 per game).
When Appalachian State upset
Michigan last year, the Mountain-
eers were back-to-back defending
national champions, riding the
longest win streak in Division I
(14 games) and returnrf most of
their starters. They saw their win
over the Wolverines as another
high point for the top I-AA pro-
Free safety Tyrrell Herbert had a Michigan Stadium-record
tion return in the first quarter that put the Rockets up 7-0.
No. Yds Avg Lg
s 248 49.6 63
5 248 49.6 63
No. . Yds Avg Lg TD
No 04, 4 CR2 0
3 7s 2s.0 33 0
No. Yds Avg Lg TD
0 0 0 0 0
Sob
6
6
4
6
5
3
2
3
2
2
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
44
T O L E D O
C-A Yds
33-50 257
33-50 257
Asst
1
1
3
0
0
1
2
0
1
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
1
14
Tot
7
7
7
6
5
4.
4
3
3
3
3
i
t
1
1
i
1
58
Int
0
0
TD
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
gram.
But the Rockets saw their upset
as a turning point for a struggling
team.
"Besides the win today, the big-
gest win was I think the players
learned how, when things aren't
going so great, you've got to stay
together, battle," Amstutz said.
REPLACING THE INJURED:
The Wolverines were without
three usual starters due to inju-
ries:
Sophomore cornerback Dono-
van Warren (quad): Freshman
cornerback Boubacar Cissoko
replaced Warren and played well.
Defensive coordinator Scott Sha-
fer pointed him out as bright spot.
He had one of Michigan's two
pass breakups. Fifth-year senior
Morgan Trent had the other.
"It felt great," Cissoko said. "I
came in, did what I had to do to
help my team win, but obviously it
didn't happen. But I felt great out
there."
Warren's injury allowed fifth-
year senior Doug Dutch to see his
first action at cornerback since the
season-opener against Utah.
Junior defensive end Brandon
Graham (leg infection): Redshirt
freshman Ryan Van Bergen took
junior Brandon Graham's spot
on the defensive line. Van Bergen
didn't show the pass rushing abil-
ity he had in backup duty in previ-
ous games. He had three tackles,
none for a loss.
Slot receiver Martavious
Odoms (shoulder): Sophomore
Toney Clemons replaced Odoms
as the primary slot receiver. He
had four catches for 30 yards, but
had two drops that led to inter-
ceptions.
IN-GAME INJURIES: Threet
bruised his elbow late in the sec-
ond quarter and didn't throw well
in second-half warm-ups.
Redshirt sophomore Nick
Sheridan, who started Michi-
gan's season opener against Utah,
replaced Threet for the second
half.
Quarterbacks coach Rod Smith
said Threet "probably" would
have played in the second half had
he been healthy, but the Wolver-
ines might have looked to Sheri-
dan anyway for~a spark.
Threet finished 7-of-11 for
55 yards with a touchdown and
an interception. He also rushed
twice for 15 yards. Sheridan was
8-of-16 for 65 yards and had two
interceptions. He had four runs
for 21 yards.
Michigan coach Rich Rodri-
guezsaidhe didn'texpectThreet's
injury to linger.
Two other offensive skill play-
ers were hurt in the game, too.
Junior running back Brandon
Minor bruised his ribs on his
27-yard touchdown catch in the
first quarter and was taken to the
hospital.
On Michigan's final drive,
freshman running back Sam
McGuffie struggled off the field
after his 29-yard catch. He said
later that he was just hit in the
stomach really hard and thought
he was going to throw up, but the
injury wasn't serious.
NOTES: Saturday was the first
time Michigan and Toledo played,
and the Rockets are now the 15th
team to hold the advantage in an
all-time series against the Wol-
verines.
Michigan started the same
offensive line in straight games
for the first time this season. Red-
shirt freshman Perry Dorrestein,
redshirt junior Mark Ortmann,
redshirt freshman David Molk,
redshirt junior David Moosman
and redshirt sophomore Stephen
Schilling started fromleft to right.
Rodriguez said on Wednesday
that he was tinkering with posi-
tion changes among those five.
Redshirt junior Zoltan Mesko
pinned four of his five punts inside *
the20-yardline.He averaged49.6
yards per punt with a long of 63,
and now ranks eighth nationally
in yards per punt.
The Wolverines entered the
game tied for last in the nation in *
fumbles lost (11). Michigan didn't
fumble for the first time this sea-
son Saturday and now rank 117th
of 119 teams.
TD
0
0
Att
10
4
4
1
2
1
22
No.
20
6
3
1
1
1
1
33
Yds
65
17
-8
-16
70
Avg
6.5
4.2
.5
-16.0
3.2
L9
24
9
11
24
Yds Avg Lg TD
1 03 1 0
9 9.0 9 0
4 40 4 0
257 239 31 0
No. Yds Avg Lg
5 208 416 62
5 208 416 62
ROCKETS
From Page 1B
shellshocked and more numbed.
"Quiet. Quiet," Michigan run-
ning backs coach Fred Jackson
said, describing the postgame
locker room mood. "It wasn't
crazy. Just quiet. Sometimes
after games, you get guys mad
and yelling and screaming and
things like that. Not today.
Everybody's just quiet."
Michigan coach Rich Rodri-
guez was also less animated
during his postgame press con-
ference, simply saying he was
"disappointed" and "embar-
rassed" instead of elaborating.
And most of the Wolverines
players and coaches said the
same things as they have after
every loss this season.
It comes down to execution.
The Wolverines haven't been
able to execute their game plan.
Give them 24 hours, and they'll
get over Saturday's loss and pre-
pare for the next game.
That mantra - and the Wol-
verines' issues - were no dif-
ferent after this loss. Freshman
running back Sam McGuffie,
who ran for 110 yards on 25 car-
ries, was the lone highlight for
the Michigan offense. The Tole-
do offense deliberately stuck to
short passes and the Wolverine
defense continued to miss tack-
les.
"They hadn't shown the
spread as much, but then again
having watched us on film and
seeing we had struggled with
it, it didn't really surprise me,"
Rodriguez said. "At some point,
we tried to make some adjust-
ments, but inevitably playing in
space again hurt us at times."
Most importantly, Toledo
scored 10 of its 13 points off
of Michigan interceptions.
Through six games, 68 of the 149
total points scored against the
Wolverines have come off turn-
overs.
The Wolverines (1-1 Big Ten,
2-4 overall) had an opportunity
to score after abotched fake punt
in the first quarter by Toledo (1-1
MAC, 2-4). But Toledo safety
Tyrrell Herbert picked off a pass
at the goal line and returned it to
the other end zone untouched to
set a Michigan Stadium record
for the longest interception
return.
Michigan's only touchdown
came on a27-yard catch by junior
running back Brandon Minor.
Threet threw a quick pass down
the middle, and Minor was pum-
meled by the Toledo defense as
he crossed the goal line. He did
not return after-the play and was
later taken to the hospital with a
rib injury.
Threet suffered a bruised
right elbow before halftime and
redshirt sophomore Nick Sheri-
dan played the whole second,
half in his firstgame action since
Sept. 13 against Notre Dame.
But Sheridan's 8-of-16, two-
interception performance gave
the Wolverines little chance
to win. In the first play of the
fourth quarter, Sheridan's pass
was tipped by sophomore wide
receiver Toney Clemons before
Herbert picked it off.
The situation was reminis-
cent of Sheridan's performance
against the Fighting Irish, when
he threw two late-game inter-
ceptions, that ended any chance
for a comeback in South Bend.
And the drive after the turn-
over again proved to be the
difference Saturday. Toledo
kicker Alex Steigerwald kicked
a career-long, 48-yard field
goal that bounced off the cross-
bar before rolling through the
uprights - but it gave the Rock-
ets a three-point lead that would
stick.
When the Wolverines got the
ball back at their own 33-yard
line with 92 seconds remaining,
they drove to the nine-yard line
before Lopata's failed field goal
attempt.
And as it has been in the past
four losses, as the Wolverines
know but can't seem to fix, the
difference in the game came
down to failed execution.
"Everything went well, opera-
tion-wise," punter Zoltan Mesko
said. "The snap was good. The
hold was good. We missed it by
inches. I don't know what went
wrong."
0
0
No. Yds Avg Lg TO
2 40 40.0 24 0
No. Yds Avg Lg TO
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Lack of playmakers dooms Michigan
Solo
7
4
5
4
4
4
2
2
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
0
45
Asst
5
5
1
2
1
1
3
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
22
Tot
12
9
6
6
S
5
S
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
67
Team
Pen s tate
Ohio State
Michigan State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Michigan
Iowa
Illinois
Purdue
Wisconsin
Indiana
Big Ten Overall
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
S 7
0 6
1 6
1 5
1 2
2 4
2 3
2 2
3 3
3 2
Q
4
3
1
1
4
3
3
4
3
4
OFFENSE, From Page lB
shirt freshman quarterback
Steven Threet threw for
minus-4 passing yards in the
second quarter.
He bruised his throwing
elbow at the end of the half,
and redshirt sophomore Nick
Sheridan took over in the sec-
ond half.
Sheridan couldn't ignite
the offense, either.
He didn't complete a pass
in the third quarter. In the
fourth, he threw two inter-
ceptions before leading the
10-play drive that set up the
potential game-tying field
goal.
"We got to make a play
when we have a play present-
ed to us, and we're not doing
it now," quarterbacks coach
Rod Smith said.
Earlier this season, Michi-
gan coach Rich Rodriguez
stressed the need to find
players who can make a play
to break the game open the
times in one answer.
He couldn't find one of
those Saturday.
Even the lone bright spot
for the Wolverines' offense,
freshman running back Sam
McGuffie, couldn't break the
game open.
He rushed for 100 yards for
the second time in his career
and made the catch to put the
Wolverines in field-goal range
at the end, but he could never
find a way to break the big
one.
McGuffie found his way
into the Rocket secondary
throughout the afternoon,
but he still couldn't get into
the open field. His longest
gain on the ground was 17
yards. Whether it was making
the wrong cut or solid Toledo
tackling, McGuffie was held
in check.
And in a game as close as
Saturday's, a well-executed
offensive play can be the dif-
ference. Michigan has been
missing those every week.
THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS
Toledo 13, MICHIGAN 10
Iowa 45, INDIANA 9
Minnesota 27, ILLINOIS 20
MICHIGAN STATE 37, Northwestern 20
Penn State 48, WISCONSIN 7
OHIo STATE 16, Purdue 3
0
6
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