The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I September 14, 2009 MICHIGAN 38, NOTRE DAME 34 Senior Greg Mathews caught the game-winning pass with 11 seconds remaining in the game. Mathews slanted in, cut back toward the pile-on, and freshman Tate Forcier found him for the score. Michigan is 2-0 for the first time since 2006. CF REEDER/Daily RICH ROD-EMPTION 'Physical' Minor keys'M' By ANDY REID healthy - has invoked visions of former Daily Sports Editor NFL standout Eric Dickerson's hard-nosed style, finding a hole and sprinting north- Bring him up after a game - any game, south toward the end zone. Just even a loss. Ask around - any Michigan If there happens to be a defender in the football coach or player will have the same way, so be it. Minor is more likely to run numb thing to say about Brandon Minor. through opponents than around them. "The biggest thing he brings is a physi- And Saturday against Notre Dame, Mi- and then cal presence when he runs," Rich Rodri- nor did just that, especially in the game- guez said after last year's 45-17 beatdown changing third quarter when he tallied 64 referee reminded at Penn State, in which Minor was the lone yards on his way to a 106-yard day. bright spot, bruising his way to 117 yards. "On offense, I couldn't tell you exactly me to be smart. It "You can expect a real aggressive, physi- what they did," said Fighting Irish coach cal game," Minor said this offseason, when Charlie Weis, who calls all of his team's made me think of asked about his performance this year. offensive plays. "I was trying to get our of- And after sitting out against Western fense straightened out. I know they were Coach Rod saying Michigan with a slight ankle tweak, the se- moving the ball some and had us reeling, nior running back's 2009 debut lived up to especially on the inside run. When I would Hand the ball to his reputation. see something, it was usually an inside "He was physical," sophomore tight end run, No. 4 (Minor's jersey number) getting the referee and Kevin Koger said. "He ran hard. It was good through right there" to have him back there.' And while Weis was frustrated with Mi- celebrate with your Well, there's nothing new there. nor's pounding running style, Notre Dame On his second carry of the season, Mi- defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta was teammates, and nor showcased just why he might be one of scratching his head for a wholly different the Big Ten's most explosive ball carriers. reason - Minor's intense blocking abilities. that's what I did." He took the ball, found the hole and burst Tenuta's schemes are based around aggres- Senior wide receiver Greg through it for a 22-yard gain. sive blitzes that are difficult for any quar- It wasn't a juke-heavy, SportsCenter- terback to read, especially a freshman like Mathews on his game-winning worthy run. But that's never what Minor Tate Forcier. catch in the final seconds against has been about. Instead, Minor -when See MINOR, Page 31 Notre Dame. Forcier the real Golden Tate When I was a freshman three years ago, it was easy to spot the football players on cam- pus. I walked to class behind those black backpacks with the small Rose Bowl logo and knew who I was walking behind. That was a Michigan foot- ball player.- Then Lloyd Carr's MICHAEL team lost to Appala- EISENSTEIN chian State, he retired and Rich Rodriguez came to town. Those backpacks slowly disappeared. The longing for the football team's prominence on campus will disappear today. Things will feel different. Michi- gan football under Rich Rodriguez finally has a tangible image. Tate Forcier. Forcier isn't a normal freshman in An- gell Hall. People spell his first name with three letters now ("G," "O" and "D"). The quarterback is the cover boy of the Ro- driguez Michigan football turnaround success story that started a little more than a week ago. His older brother Jason said that Tate has blended into his classes well so far because he's "not the biggest guy around." But after this weekend, are you really not going to recognize one of the most talked-about football players in the country? Forcier's game-winning drive Satur- day against Notre Dame has transformed him in everyone's eyes. It was certainly surprising that it came from a freshman - even for fans that witnessed a simi- lar freshman-quarterback performance when Chad Henne beat Michigan State in triple overtime five years ago. And it was also somewhat surprising because he's a completely different type of quarterback fromthe physical and pro- skill mold that Wolverine fans were used See EISENSTEIN, Page 3B Wolverines smash Lipscomb Paz sets tone in tourney victory By JAKE FELDMAN Daily Sports Writer A group of U-13 soccer players lined the stands yesterday at the U-M Soccer Complex to watch the men's Michigan soccer team battle Lipscomb University. They stood in awe as Wolverine play- ers flicked passes with their heels and delivered perfectly placed balls across the field. Just minutes after the referee's game-starting whistle, one youngster smiled and said sarcastically, "I feel bad for Lipscomb." Even early in the game, it was obvious that Michigan (4-1) would take no pity on the small school from Nashville, Tenn. The Wolverine offense exploded in the first half, barraging Lipscomb goalkeeper Patrick Walsh with 11 shots en route to a decisive 3-0 victory. "We were trying to put a complete game together and we came closer," Michigan coach Steve Burns said. "There's an ener- gy level that has to be sustained, particu- larly when we've got a good bench with some depth.' Senior forward Mauro Fuzetti dis- played his trademark nifty footwork again yesterday, once sending a Bison de- fender to the ground as the player's knees buckled beneath him. On a breakaway early in the first half, Fuzetti buried his team-leading sixth goal of the season to give the Wolverines an early 1-0 advan- tage. Michigan continued to overwhelm Lipscomb with quality scoring opportu- nities but failed to convert again until the 25th minute. On a free kick from 18 yards out, fresh- man midfielder Hamoody Saad rocketed See BISON, Page 2B By MARK BURNS Daily Sports Writer Another regular-season tournament, another victory. To some teams, it might come as a sur- prise, but to the Michigan volleyball team, it's just another step. The seventh-ranked Wolverines have won 17 consecutive regular-season tour- naments, the most recent coming this weekend at home in the Michigan Chal- lenge. "We're progressing really well," Michi- gan coach Mark Rosen said. "This week- end, we were able to work on the depth of our team and work some players into the lineup that haven't played a whole lot this year. "Every game, we put just enough pres- sure on (other teams) that after a while, they would break for a few points.' The Wolverines (10-0) capped off the weekend with a three-set victory over Missouri (7-3) on Saturday night, after also defeating Fairfield, Morehead State and Virginia Commonwealth. Senior outside hitter Juliana Paz paved the way for Michigan all weekend. The Porto Alegre, Brazil native registered 13 kills and 11 digs in the weekend's final match against the Tigers. Paz nabbed MVP honors for her stellar four-match weekend. "It's an individual award, but it's really for the team," Paz said. "If I didn't have the pass or the set, I wouldn't get the MVP.... I'm just trying to do my best here and the award shows our team's hard work." See VOLLEYBALL, Page 2B SAIDA LSALAH/Daily Senior Juliana Paz celebrates the Wolverines' 4-0 record in the Michigan Challenge. The Michigan women's soccer team had never won in California. Did the Wolverines fare better this weekend? Page 2B. The new music in Michigan Stadium has caused quite a stir. Fans love it, but is there any way to make it better? Page 2B.