0 8 - Friday, October 9, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 0 Night game awaits Blue By RUTH LINCOLN Daily Sports Editor They say the freaks come out at night. The 1984 "Moonlight Madness on Mountaineer Field" between Penn State and West Virginia saw plenty. And for Rich Rodriguez, the madness started early. That October night, the West Virginiaseniorstartedandgrabbedan early interception. But Rodriguez MiChgan was just a catalyst a JIoa for the eventual bedlam. Matchup: After going Michigan 4-1; winless in the Iowa 5-0 rivalry since 1955, When: Satur- this West Virginia day, 8 P.M. team was about to make history Where: Kin- athis st nick Stadium under a minute TV: ESPN left to play and Twitter: the Mountaineers @michdailysports up 17-14, Penn State threw an interception at the West Virginia 18-yard line. Then all hell broke loose. Fans rushed the field, taking a goal postdownwiththem.Thescoreboard ignored the 50-some seconds left on the clock and read, 'WOW.' The TV announcers declared,"The game is not over, folks." But Penn State coach Joe Paterno knew better. Amid all the on-field chaos, Paterno, who at the time held an 18-0 record against West Virginia, ran across the field to shake the hand of Mountaineers' coach Don Nehlen and offered some advice. "We can't stop the clock, and we can'top this crowd,butthis game is over. Let's get our teams out of here," Nehlen recalled in his book, "Tales from the West Virginia Sideline." Paterno sprinted to the visitors' locker room, and the Mountaineers continued with the on-field celebration. But outside the stadium, no one was going anywhere. A year after a sluggish trip to Alaska, Michigan returns with revenge on mind Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez was 23-7 in night games at West Vir A bonfire in the middle of a campus street seemed like the appropriate answer to the Mountaineers' unimaginable win. It wasn'tquite the style of East Lansing's Cedar Village, but little was spared from theblaze. "They were burning couches, chairs and tables, lawn furniture," Rodriguez recalled in what he said was his most memorable night game. "That happened to be a block from - the house I was renting, so I saw all the smoke." As the Mountaineers' head coach from 2001 to 2007, Rodriguez was familiar with the 'Backyard Brawl,' West Virginia's annual rivalry with Pittsburgh, which is often played at night. At the helm in Morgantown, Rodriguez was 23-7 in nightgames. "Our players took a little extra pride in that, because it was a special atmosphere for them," Rodriguez said. Tomorrow, Rodriguez will coach in his first night game as Michigan's head coach when the Wolverines travel to No. 12 Iowa. After losing to Michigan State last weekend in East Lansing, the Wolverines have yet to prove themselves in a hostile road atmosphere. With kickoff scheduled after sunset, the lights will be on in Kinnick Stadium, and the crowd will likely be as rowdy. "Sometimes the crowd gets into it for whatever they were doing the six, seven, nine hours before the game," Rodriguez said with a laugh. "They seem to be more prepared for the game attnight than those noon kickoffs,ifyouknow what Imean. t'm sure their students and the fans will be juiced up - if that's the rightword -forthenightgame." But if you ask Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta, there is a fine line between use and abuse. For the Hawkeyes' home games so far this season, Bartahasn'tbeen pleased. Barta suggested that tows fans still have fun but do so responsibly. Regardless whether the fans are staying warm because of their beverage choice or layers of clothing, nothing could shine brighter under the moonlight than the Wolverines' rumored throwback ensemble. Against Iowa, the Wolverines may complement their white away jerseys with white pants, but an Athletic Department spokesman told The Michigan Daily last night he had "no definitive answer." The uniform change would include everyone, even the 300-pound linemen. "We alreadyhave someprettyself- conscious offensive linemen. I don't know if that will help out," left tackle Mark Ortmann said. By RYAN KARTJE Daily Sports Writer It wasn't the performance that Michigan coach Red Berenson had hoped for from his new top line. Last November, as the Wolver- ines left Fairbanks following a two-game split with the Nanooks, then-sophomore and top scorer Louie Caporusso left as the only first-liner to score a goal all weekend. Mdigan Berenson's atAlaska comments about Caporusso's sin- Matchup: gle first-line goal Aacha n 0-0; spoke for them- selves: When: Today, "Your best 9PM. players have Where: Sul- to be your best hvan Arena players in these Live Blog: games," Beren- michigandaily. son said afterthe com/thegame game. As No. 4 Mich- igan returns to Alaska this week- end to open regular season play, Berenson is breaking in another first line. Caporusso, sophomore David Wohlberg and junior Ben Winnett will have to redeem themselves for last year's perfor- mance. The Wolverines will face Alaska-Fairbanks tonight and non-conference foe Alaska-An- chorage on Saturday. In that first series against the Nanooks last November, Wohl- berg. emerged as an offensive force, scoring two goals on the weekend, including one in a 3-2 victory that helped Michigan avoid a sweep. This year may be a little easi- er for Wohlberg and Co. - they won't have to deal with an All. American between the pipes for Alaska-Fairbanks. Last year's CCHA Player 'o the Year and Hobey Baker Award Finalist Chad Johnson, now a member of the New York Rang. ers, was a dominating force in the net for the Nanooks last year and allowed 1.66 goals per game. Johnson is replaced by sopho- more Scott Greenham, who regis- tered three wins and a tie in five .games of action last season. "We don't really know a lot about this guy," Caporusso said of Greenham. "We obviously knew a lot about Chad Johnson. But at the end of the day, if we're shooting well enough, we should beat any goaltender." The Nanooks play a style o offense that players and coaches agreed is dangerous because it can "lull a team to sleep" and force opposing teams to lose focus. By employing a neutral zone trap when Michigan crosses the blue line, Alaska-Fairbanks will try to limit the Wolverines' opportuni- ties near the net. But senior captain Chris Sum- mers thinks Michigan is more than capable of keeping its com- posure, even with the high num- ber of young, inexperienced players that will likely see the ice this weekend. "We need to implement ou own style, that's the most impor- tant thing," Summers said. "We're a fast offense and a shutdown defense, so if we can beat them we'll beat them with our speed." The weekend's matchup also - poses a challenge that Michi- gan won't encounter the rest of - the season - a 10-hour flight and r a time difference of five hours. The Wolverines have expressed f "If you want to build momentum t... itstarts with this weekend." t f a range of feelings in anticipation of theoad trip, but most of all, the team sees it as a bonding experi- ence for its younger players. "(Winning) makes the whole f trip so much more positive when you go all the way up there," t Berenson said. "It's not like a one- hour bus ride ... and it's a long 10 hours coming back. It's so much more positive when you have a good weekend." After opening last season with a - relativelydisappointingiO-6 record before cruisingto a CCHA Champi- - onship, the Wolverines know that starting off the conference season - strong could make a huge differ- - ence come March. "If you want to build any momentum for r the rest of the - year, it starts this week- end," Sum- / mers said. Guest Picker: Michigan Marching Band Drum Major David HinesaJr. Michigan Florida Colorado Alabama Boston College Wisconsin TCU Miami Oregon Penn State Oklahoma St. Kansas Arkansas BYU Oklahoma Missouri ' Georgia Tech South Carolina Indiana Michigan State Minnesota Northwestern 9-10 57-52-1 a 6 6 STAFF PICKS The Daily Football writers do their best to predict what happens Michael Eisenstein in the 2009 football season. .rtI Ruth Lincoln Andy Reid Courtney Ratkowiak Michigan (+8) at No.12 Iowa No.1 Florida (-7.5) at No. 4 lSU No. 2 Texas (-32) vs. Colorado No. 3 Alabama (-5) at No. 20 Ole Miss No. 5 VA Tech (-13.5) vs. Boston College No.9 Ohio State (-16) vs. Wisconsin No.10 TCU (-10.5) at Air Force No.11 Miami (FL) (NS) vs. Florida A&M No.13 Oregon (-6.5) at UCLA No,14 Penn St. (NS) vs. Eastern Illinois No.15 Oklahoma St (-8) at Texas A&M No.16 Kansas (19.5) vs. Iowa State No.17 Auburn (-2.5) at Arkansas No.18 BYU (-17) at UNLV No.19 Oklahoma (-26) vs. Baylor No. 21 Nebraska (-3.5)at No. 24 Missouri No.22 GA Tech (+3) at Florida State No. 25 So. Carolina (-9.5) vs. Kentucky Indiana (+7) at Virginia Illinois (+4) vs. Michigan State Minnesota (-3.5) vs. Purdue Northwestern (-19) vs. Miami (Ohio) Last Week Overall Michigan Florida Texas Alabama Boston College Wisconsin Texas Christian Miami Oregon Penn State Texas A&M Kansas Arkansas BYU Oklahoma Missouri Florida State Kentucky Indiana Illinois Minnesota Northwestern 8-11 62-47-1 Michigan Florida Texas Mississippi Virginia Tech Wisconsin TCU Miami Oregon Penn State Texas A&M Kansas Arkansas UNLV Oklahoma Missouri Florida State Kentucky Indiana Illinois Minnesota Miami (Ohio) 5-14 56-53-1 Michigan LSU Colorado Alabama Boston College Ohio State TCU Miami Oregon Penn State Oklahoma St. Kansas Arkansas 'BYU Oklahoma Missouri Florida State Kentucky Indiana Illinois Purdue Northwestern 10-9 60-49-1 Michigan L SU Texas Alabama Virginia Tech Wisconsin TCU Miami Oregon Penn State Oklahoma St. Kansas Arkansas BYU Oklahoma Missouri Georgia Tech Kentucky Indiana Illinois Purdue' Northwestern 9-10 51-58-1 0 To apply to be a guest picker, e-mail lincolnr@umich.edu. If you're chosen and can beat at least two of us, you'll stay on for another week. The longest tenured guest picker will get a prize at the end of the season. a Your Path ues at Lehigh. Stop by our table at the Graduate School Information Fair on October 14 or discover us online at http://cas.lehigh.edu/discover. LEHIGH VU N I V E R S I T Y. Discover Our Degrees in: American Studies - M.A. Biological Sciences - Ph.D. Chemistry - M.S., Ph.D. Clinical Chemistry - M.S. Earth and Environmental Sciences - M.S., Ph.D. English - M.A., Ph.D: EnvironmentalPolicy Design - M.A. History - M.A., Ph.D. Mathematics - M.S., Ph.D. Photonics - M.S. Physics - M.S., Ph.D. Political Science - M.A. Polymer Science and Engineering - M.S., Ph.D. Psychology - M.A., Ph.D. Sociology - M.A. 6 6 a