U The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com I November16, 2009 Sophomore Darryl Stonum is flipped during a kickoff return in Michigan's 45-24 loss to No. 20 Wisconsin. The Wolverines now need to beat rival Ohio State next weekend in order to qualify for a bowl game. Blue's defensive woes |o Even after shaky week, continue in blowout |Forcier has big game By ANDY REID DailySportsEditor MADISON - With about two minutes left in the Michigan foot- ball team's 45-24 blowout loss to No. 20 Wisconsin, the raucous, "Jump Around"-crazed Badger stu- dent section started to chant, "Let's get wasted." For different reasons - namely, to drown their sorrows and forget about the game - Michigan fans surely were thinking the same thing. For the fourth straight week, the Wolverines were blown out, showed serious flaws on the defen- sive side of the ball and inched closer to clinching their second consecutive bow-less season, which hasn't happened since 1974. But most frustrating of all, for the fourth straight week, the game's storyline was exactly the same: keep up for two quarters, built some offensive momentum and then completely shut down after halftime. The Badgers racked up 469 total yards, and quarterback Scott Tol- zien became the sixth person ever to throw four touchdown passes in a game against Michigan. Defensive coordinator Greg Rob- inson, who declined to speak with the media for the second straight week, decided to switch up his scheme a little bit this week. "We were really, defensively, really reaching to find an answer and to try tostop people," Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Smith started instead of safety Mike Williams. But he cheated up to the line of scrimmage all game, which left walk-on safety Jordan Kovacs as the last line of defense. More surprisingly, junior Dono- van Warren, one of the best cover corners in the Big Ten, logged some time at safety. He drifted back while J.T. Floyd and Troy Woolfolk covered the Wisconsin receivers. "I actually have no idea," middle linebacker Obi Ezeh said of War- ren's switch. "Monday we just kind of go out, and they tell us where to line up and that's how we practice." But before the break, Michigan (1-6 Big Ten, 5-6 overall) hung with the Badgers and was actually beat- ing them at their own game. The Wolverines held the ball for more than 20 minutes in the first half, See BADGERS, Page 3B By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN Daily Sports Editor MADISON - Tate Forcier's freshman campaign peaked nine weeks ago. The quarterback completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns against then-No. 18 Notre Dame as he led Michigan to a come-from- behind win. From there, Forcier's play slow- ly declined from very good to very freshman. The late-game heroics ran out, the losses piled up and Forcier threw just as many inter- ceptions as touchdowns in the next seven games. But this past Saturday was statistically his best game since the Fighting Irish visited the Big House. Forcier completed 20 passes for just the second time this season at an outstanding 77-percent clip. Though there wasn't any reason to bask in the 188-yard, two-touch- down performance after Wiscon- sin's dominating 21-point victory, Forcier's game seemed to take its first uptick in quite some time. "Tate made some very good decisions on some plays," offen- sive coordinator Calvin Magee said after the game. "The progress is going with Tate, and we see dif- ferent things every week that he's picking up." Wisconsin defensive back Niles Brinkley wasn't short with the praise, either. "He's a very good quarterback," Brinkley said. "We've seen a lot of good quarterbacks this year against the spread offenses, and I feel like he's one of the top quar- terbacks in the conference and he will be inthe future." But just two days before the game, it looked like Forcier wouldn't be the one running the offense againstthe Badgers. Forci- er missed a study table session earlier in the week, and the coach- ing staff was unaware that he was making the time up in another way. Once the situation was cleared up, Forcier made his 11th start of the season over freshman Denard Robinson. Robinson ended up get- ting just 10 touches, half rushes and half passes, most of which came in the game's waning min- utes. "Denard, he took a lot of reps throughout the week - I actually expected him to start," Forcier said about Robinson. "But Coach Rod threw me out there and I See FORCIER, Page 38 Michigan State sweeps Icers as 'O' continues struggling Harris posts triple-double in victory By MICHAEL FLOREK Daily Sports Writer EAST LANSING - As Michigan hockey fans took their seats in Yost Ice Arena on Friday, they figured a home win over rival Michigan State would speed up the Wolver- ines' slow start this season. After all, Michigan had beaten the Spar- tans six straight times. Instead, a 3-2 loss, followed by a 2-0 defeat at Munn Ice Arena on Saturday, only added to the early- season doldrums. Michigan has now lost four straight games. "The only barometer we have is the games," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "I would've told you that we would have been bet- ter this weekend. Were we in some areas? Yeah. But as far as the whole package, good enough to win, good enough to beat a top 10 team - no." Michigan's losses overshadowed the return of Spartan forward Corey Tropp to Yost Ice Arena after 0 his on-ice assault last season on senior defenseman Steve Kampfer earned Tropp a suspension for the rest of the year. Last season, Kamp- fer was knocked down on a cheap shot late in the game, and Tropp came and slashed Kampfer in the head region while the defenseman was motionless on the ice. While the Children of Yost booed Tropp everytime hetouched the puck, it didn't stop the CCHA's third-leading scorer from beating Kampfer one-on-one with a toe- drag and a wrist shot over junior goaltender Bryan Hogan's shoul- der. The goal was the Spartans' second of the night. "At Michigan, that's a really tough situation for a young kid to handle," Michigan State coach Rick Comley said. "I thought their crowd was fine, though. ... I thought both teams kind of let it go, and it was a non-incident." Perhaps the crowd should have saved its boos for the Wolverine power play. The unit failed to score See SPARTANS, Page 2B By NICOLE AUERBACH Daily SportsEditor A triple-double is arguably the rarest of feats for a Michigan bas- ketball player. For 22 years, Gary Grant was the founder, president and lone member of the club. Make room for Manny Harris. During Saturday's season- opening 97-50 win over Northern Michigan, amid questions about his health and conditioning level due to a lingering hamstring inju- ry, Harris made history. With 8:52 left in the game and Michigan dominating the game, the junior small forward passed the ball to freshman guard Matt Vogrich, who then drained his fourth 3-pointer of the night. It was a basic play and a nice shot, but the pass was the special part. It was Harris' 10th assist, which earned him just the sec- ond triple-double in program his- tory - and made Harris the first Michigan player to do it in Crisler Arena. Harris wasn't even alive on March 14, 1987, the night Grant recorded Michigan's first triple- double. Still, the junior knew what was at stake. When the Wolverines' coaching staff told Harris just three assists stood between him and the milestone partway through the second half, he relaxed. He knew he had plen- ty of time to dish out a few crisp passes. Less than three minutes later, the achievement became history. "The game has just slowed down so much (for Harris)," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "He trusts these shoot- ers, and he relishes the assists as much as he does the points." Harris' 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists certainly jump off the page, but perhaps the most important stat of the game was Michigan's 57.4-percent field goal percentage. "Actually, anybody can get 10 assists, because we shoot the ball so well," Harris said. Harris has a good point - four of the Wolverines' five starters tallied at least two assists, and every player who played signifi- cant time scored at least a bucket or two. Michigan dominated Northern Michigan in all areas of the court - the boards, the paint and the 3-point line - from the very start, See WILDCATS; Page 2B ARIEL BOND/Daily Junior Manny Harris recorded the second triple-double in program history. CROSS COUNTRY' * U The Michigan men's and women's teams competed in the Midwest Regionals this weekend. See how they did. Page 2B. WEEKEND SWEEP * The Michigan volleyball team gained momentum by sweeping Purdue and Indiana this weekend. PAGE 2B.