The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com GAME STATISTICS BADGERS From page 1B Monday, November 16, 2009 - 3B Team Stats First Downs Rush/Yds C Comp/AtI nt Offensive Plays Tota Offense Kick returns/Yds Punts/Avg Fumbles/Lost Pealtis/Yards Tme of Poss PASSING Forier Totals RUSHING Player Robinson Pmith Brown Shaw RECEIVING Play RoBndtreA Smith Mathews Totals PUNTING Mesko Totas - KICKOFF RETURNS Player Stanm Totals PUNT RETURNS Payer ** TACKLES Playe Kovas Brown Smit. Woolfok Mouton Moore *PIBHBI Heininger Stow.m NoNh Johnson PASSING Player RUSHING Player Kendricks Brown Gilreath ITolien EC VING Player I Kendricks PUNTING Player I Nortman ::CKFF RETURNS Payer Anderson Borand PUNT RETURNS Player Gilreath Tota TACKLES Player Schofield McFdden Brinkley Henry Hartmann Croma is Hampton Wisconsin Michigan 28 15 52/229 32/71 even though going into the 245 S1 game, Wisconsin ranked fifth 76 63 in the country in time of pos- 469 265 session and Michigan came in 8/ 36 5/335 at No.118. 2/S U/U 1/34 3/40 But the Wolverines take 1/1 0/U advantage of the time-of-pos- 4/U 3 3/AR session disparity, scoring just 10 offensive points in the first M I C H I G A N half and allowing the Badgers to block a 19-yard field goal. 2U-VA TAR N 1 Michigan, the worst red-zone 1/5 6 0 o team in the Big Ten, managed 2/31 14 2 1 just three points in two red- zone trips in the first half. Att Yds Avg Lg TD "You want to put those into 5 36 7.2 23 0 touchdowns," offensive coordi- A UN 35 6 nator Calvin Magee said. "Soit 2 2 1 2 N hurt a lot, offensively. Any time 2 -5 -25 0 0 you're down in the red zone, A2 -1571 2you need to put the ball in the end zone. It was good to come away with points the second Na Yds Avg Lg T time, but of course you want 7 54 77 21 1 those extra few points, and we 4 53 133 25 o didn't do that today. We gotta U UN 1US 14 0 get that down." 1 A 6 615 21 194 9.2 26 2 Wisconsin flexed its muscles after halftime, though. The No. Yds Avg Lg Badgers bled the clock and con- 3 120 40 48 trolled the ball for more than 22 3 120 40 64 minutes. They didn't punt in the second half, and their only drive No. Yds Avg Lg T that didn't end in a touchdown 6 135 22.5 33 0 6 135 22.5 33 0 FRIR FORCIER No.Yd VAvgUBB g TS From pagei1B was capped by a field goal with 1:20 left in the game. On the other hand, the Wol- verines only had 21 offensive plays after the break - seven of which came in the last minute and a half of the blowout. "In the second half, it just seems like, defensively, we're not able to get off the field," Rodriguez said. "Our offense, we need to be in some rhythm, and when we're not on the field much offensively and the other team is controlling the ball, it's hard to get into a rhythm offen- sively. "We need to evaluate every- thing: the players, scheme, and try to come up with answers. That's my job to do as a coach." Rodriguez's job as coach is now to get Michigan prepared for college football's greatest rivalry. Although the Michigan Ohio State game traditionally decides the Big Ten title, the Wolverines are shooting for a much lower goal this week: Bowl eligibility. "It's not a game that's gonna be hard for either team to get fired up for. It's Michigan and Ohio State," Rodriguez said. "We got a lot at stake. "The focus this week should be great. I just hope the play next Saturday is." too early. And after halftime, the fresh- man didn't play nearly as well against an adjusted defense. Just as Purdue successfully switched schemes last week, Wisconsin changed its techniques on the defensive line and disguised its safeties better. "The techniques were designed to keep him out of the pocket and (give) him less time to throw the ball," Brinkley said. Those adjustments, coupled with Michigan's seven minutes of possession in the second half, limited Forcier to just 5-of-8 passing and 49 yards. But as he said last Monday and echoed after the game, Forcier is focused on improving his play to achieve one goal: "getting the seniors to a bowl game. "If I have to spend 10 hours on film this week, I'm going to do it," Forcier said. "But we're gonna get them a bowl game and we're going to come out and do what we can do against Ohio State." By RUTH LINCOLN DailySportsEditor MADISON - Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has said it time and time again - the Wolverines are a different team with Brandon Minor in the game. The senior tailback has battled a high ankle sprain all year, and he suffered a bruised shoulder during his three-touchdown performance against Purdue. Those injuries NOTEBOOK forced Minor to disappear after just seven carries for 26 yards against Wisconsin. Minor was just one lowly com- ponent of the Wolverines' dismal rushing attack Saturday. The Wol- verines had just 71 yards on 32 car- ries and went without a rushing touchdown for the first time since losing to Michigan State on Oct. 3. "After that first touchdown last week, (Minor) was kind of hurt a little bit," senior defensive end Brandon Graham said. "He was just telling me how I wish I could go for you, but I was like, 'Don't worry, we got people that's gonna pick up where you left off.' " One of those to pick up in Minor's place was freshman Vin- cent Smith. Michigan fans have seen little of the 5-foot-6 tailback during the conference season. Excluding his 17 carries against Delaware State, Smith had just 15 carries heading into Wisconsin. But Saturday, the pint-sized Smith used his versatility and flashiness in Michigan's produc- tive first half as he pounded away for 26 yards on seven carries. "For being such a little guy, especially in the Big Ten, you don't see little backs too often," fresh- man quarterback Tate Forcier. "Look at Wisconsin. Twice the size of him. But Vince played great today. He made some key blocks for me. He made some big plays." Matched up against the tower- ing Badger defense, Smith's big- gest plays came in the passing game. He gained impressive yards after each catch and tallied six receptions for 55 yards by half- time. The Pahokee, Fla., native's most impressive play came when Forcier connected with him on a 21-yard swing pass to tie the score at 7-7 early in the first quarter. But besides Smith's unexpected receiving performance and sopho- more slot receiver Roy Roundtree's seven receptions for 56 yards, the Badger defense shut down the Wolverine receivers in the second half. After notching 15 receptions in the first half, Michigan man- aged just six after the break. "Our defensive line was active," Wisconsin defensive lineman O'Brien Schofield said. "Guys were running to the football and mak- ing some plays that normally you wouldn't think a defensive line would make on some screens. Just running to the receivers catching the ball and trying to get in there." D-LINE IMPRESSIONS: Very rarely in college football do you see a team relying solely on its front four to carry its defense. The Wolverines clearly aren't moving in that direction under defensive coordinator Greg Rob- inson. But the performances Michigan are getting upfront from Graham and defensive tackles Mike Martin and R-yan Van Ber- gen makes the thought somewhat appealing. Despite giving up a season-high 45 points to Wisconsin, the trio had career days. Martin tallied a career-high nine solo tackles, including three for loss. The sophomore stifled Badger quarterback Scott Tolzien on a number of occasions. Van Bergen's fumble-recov- ery-turned-touchdown gave the Wolverines critical points. It was the first recovery turned score since former Wolverine and two- time Super Bowl winner LaMarr Woodley did it against Notre Dame in 2006. Graham, who is easily the Wol- verines' best player each game, moved into second place for career forced fumbles (seven). He now trails just Woodley (10) for first place. The Badger defense couldn't keep Graham out of the pocket throughout the game. His two sacks for 25 yards, four tackles for a loss of 28 yards and his mouth had everyone taking notice. "They were definitely strong," Wisconsin tight end Lance Ken- dricks said. "They talked a lot of junk too. ... (Saying) 'You can't hold me. Anybody want to hold me? Somebody better hold me.' Especially No. 55, Graham, he was messing. But it was a good time." RED ZONE WOES: Examining Wisconsin's 95.1 red zone conver- sion rate would make any Wolver- ine fan envious. One can point to Wisconsin's old-school, smashmouth offense that works especially well at the goal line. "Welcome to Wisconsin foot- ball," Badger head coach Bret Bielma said. "That's what we do. It may not be pretty." With Minor limited, the Wol- verines couldn't match the same physicality at the goal line. After going just 2-for-3 in the red zone against Wisconsin, Michigan now finds itself ranked last in the Big Ten with alowly 68.9 percentage. "It could be playcalling, you know, it could be really anything," Forcier said. The Wolverines' biggest blow came when Michigan couldn't convert on a first and goal from the Wisconsin six-yard line late in the first quarter. Michigan's 19-yard field goal attempt was blocked. "You want to put those into touchdowns - any time you're down there, you want to punch it in," offensive coordinator Cal- vin Magee said. "It was good to come away with points the sec- ond time, but of course you want those extra few points, and we didn't do that today. We gotta get that down." NOTES: Brandon Smith started at safety in place of redshirt soph- omore Mike Williams and had four tackles. ...Obi Ezeh started at linebacker after Kevin Leach started against Illinois and Pur- due. ... After missing last week's game against Purdue with back pain, Perry Dorrestein started at right tackle Saturday. Pint-sized Smith steps up for injured Minor and Brown in loss Solo Asst 6 5 9 1 8 2 5 4 5 1 3 2 2 2 2 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 49 26 Wisconsin C-A Yds 16-24 240 16.24 240 T 1 7 made the most of it. You know, we at just got a little bit of an argument, " but me and Coach Rod are fine." 10 The most impressive part 9 about Forcier's performance may be that it was in the absence 4 of senior running backs Brandon 3 Minor and Carlos Brown, who were limited to a combined nine 2 carries due to injury. As a result, 2 the Badger defense focused pri- g marily on Forcier rather than on stopping the ground game. But that isn't to say Forcier is playing as well as he needs to for the Wolverines to have a chance s against Ohio State. Forcier missed a few throws when receivers got behind the T ,nt defense, according to Magee. a 1 He also struggled with negative rushing yardage. Though Forcier was sacked just twice (once on L9 TO third down), he lost 24 yards on 15 N the ground and hurt Michigan 12 o at times by pulling the ball down 12 0 Att 26 16 2 1 1 6 52 No. 5 5 4 1 1 16 Yds 151 62 15 12 1 -12 229 Yds 98 62 65 8 7 240 Avg 7.5 12.0 1.0 -2.0 Avg 70 150 I 0 12 33 Lg TD 8 0 36 4 The Greatest Rivalry in Sport~- O.S.U Snowed Under - Their Great Hopes Pounded to Pieces in First Few Minutes T,14 (eBon Review MCATEns1 40 10 Point -Avg Score Increase A 12 Point -Top Quarter Increase 105 hours live instruction A 5 expert instructors ComBer ofS. UnNN.BNNB& S. fort No. Yds Avg Lg 1 34 34.0 34 1 34 34.0 34 No. Yds Avg Lg TD 2 55 27.5 29 0 1 /s 1s.0 1s 0 3 70 23.3 29 0 No. Yds Avg Lg TD 2 5 2.5 5 0 2 5 2s5 s 0 Solo Asst 3 4 2 s5 5 1 1 3 3 0 4 0 2 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 BIG TEN Tot 11 7 4 4 3 3 1 From the Editor: In celebra- tion of Michigan-Ohio State Week, we dove into the Daily archives to find game stories from seminal Michigan wins in the series. Here's the story from the Wolverines' 86-0 vic- tory in 1902, one ofFielding H. Yost'sfamous "PointA Minute" teams. We hope you enjoy the quirky writingstyle of the era. What will we do, What will we do, We'll rub it into O. S. U. That's what we'll do. Thus sang the Michigan rooters yesterday afternoon in answer to the old Wah-hoo yell raised proudly by 2,000 wearers of the scarlet and gray. And rub it in they did with both hands and feet by the abso- lutely unhoped for score of 86 to 0. The Ohio rooters began to arrive at 9:30 a. m. and special train followed special train at short intervals until the whole city was thronged with the excursionists. They overran the campus in all directions and penetrated into every building including the Anatomical Labo- ratory. Shortly after 1 o'clock the crowd began to stream out toward Ferry Field and by a quarter past two every inch of available room on the big stands and bleachers was occupied, the late comers being forced to stand up along the wire fences enclosing the field. The O. S. U. rooters filled the whole east half of the south bleachers and part of the grand stand while the supporters of Michigan swarmed on both sides of the field. The rooting before the game was by far the best ever heard on Ferry Field, song answering song, and yell answering yell in never ending succession. Michi- gan seemed to have a shade the best of it principally on account of their forces being on both sides of the field where the could applaud each others efforts. The O. S. U. band and the Michigan band took turns at working up the enthusiasm and at 2:15, when the Michigan men trotted on the field, followed almost at once by the Buckeyes the excitement was at the high- est pitch. The halves agreed upon were 35 and 25 minutes. O. S. U. won the toss and chose to defend the east goal. Michigan having had no dif- ficulty in stopping the visitors rushes decided to punt at () expectingtowinonanexchange of punts or else regain the ball on downs and so advance more rapidly than by a rushing game. McLaren, the veteran half- back, who had grown gray in his service on the O. S. U. team, became obstreperous at this juncture and it looked for a minute as though there would be a little trouble but Hoagland warned him for rough playing and Hinkey gave a short lecture to the two captains and the play went on. As usual Sweeley punted at once and as usual the Ohians were held for downs. While Cartet was getting his hand ban- daged, Weeks called for a play and it went just the same with only 10 men in the line-up... 0. S. U. has come and gone and Michigan is eighty-six more points to the good. We won the game fairly and squarely, and every point was contested freely. But the overwhelming victory was almost as much of a surprise to Michigan as to Ohio State. We had expected victory, but had hardly hoped for a land- slide. This decidedly removes all doubts as to the team being in the best of shape next Saturday. The apparent slump of a week or so has done the team a great deal more good than a week of ordinary practice. It has brought the team and the rooters to a thorough realization of the fact thatthe stiffestkind of work and absolute unity must be the price of the championship. This spirit pervaded the team yesterday, and the rooters did their full share in encouraging them. The rooting was much better yesterday than it has been at any time this year, a fact due in great measure, no doubt, to the suc- cessful singing. STANDINGS Team Big Ten Overall Ohio State 6-1 9-2 Iowa 5-2 9-2 Penn State 5-2 9-2 Wisconsin 5-2 8-2 Northwestern 4-3 7-4 Michigan Slate 4-A 6-5 Minnesota 3-4. 6-5 Purdue 3-4 4-7 Illinois 2-6 3-7 Michigan 1-6 5-6 Indiana 1-6 4-7 Big Ten Results Ohio State 27, Iowa 24 (OT) Michigan St. 40, Purdue 37 Penn State 31, Indiana 20 Northwestern 21, Illinois 16 Minnesota 16, South Dakota St.13 YOST ICE ARENA AND UUAP GO BLUE GROUP PRESENT CE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH 8:00-9:50 PM First 30 people to BRING Ur4i Uio THISAD to the skate will mC N H 1 receive a FREE T-SHIRT! A W IN CELEBRATION OF THE GAME, WE'RE RUNNING OLD DAILY'M'- OSU GAME COVERS. THE ABOVE STORY IS FROM 1902. CHECK THE DAILY ALL WEEK TO SOAK UP THE HISTORY OF THE GREATEST RIVALRY IN SPORT. www.unicti.edu/-yosti1e 1000 S. State St. (734) 764-4600