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 STUDENT VETERANS: BECOME A NEW LEGIONNAIRE Learn what the Legion stands for and what it can do for you. Obtain valuable information from U of M Veteran's Connection website, http://vets.umich.edu, and Student Veterans Association website http://sitemaker.umich.edu/svaum/home. Request free brochure by writing to American Legion. Post 46. PO Box 2192, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. 0 6 Phone (734) 222-7880 2420 S. Industrial Hwy, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 www.recycleannarbor.org HOURS: Mon-Sat 9-5 Sun 10-2 Donation pick-up available. Call for details.