8 - Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Boren's Big House return M' dumps Eagles*

won't be a warm welcome

ByANDY REID
Daily Sports Editor
Neat piles of equipment line the
perimeter of the Michigan foot-
ball team's practice field, ready at a
moment's notice. There are block-
ing sleds, orange cones and vari-
ous pads used throughout different
drills. Nothing out of the ordinary.
But if you take a closer look at the
sticker on the red tackling dum-
mies placed strategically around
the field, there is one thing you
might not expect - a giant Ohio
State logo.
Brandon Graham, who will play
in his final game at Michigan Sta-
dium on Saturday, said the Wol-
verines will smack the red pads a
little harder this week in practice.
Listening to the senior speak about
the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry -
he came close to tears at yesterday's
press conference - it's crystal clear
that the defensive end is getting
psyched for Saturday.
But you get the feeling this one
may be a little more personal.
When asked if he would ever let his
future children go to Ohio State, he
had this to say:
"I couldn't do that. I'm not Jus-
tin Boren."
Boren leftthe Michigan program
before the 2008 season, shortly
after the hiring of coach Rich
Rodriguez. He did the unthinkable,
the unprecedented - he jumped to
the other side of the greatest rivalry
in college football history. Because
of NCAA regulations, Boren had
to sit out last season, meaning this
will be his first appearance in The
Game from the Buckeye sideline.
Upon leaving Ann Arbor, Boren
infamously said the program's
"family values have eroded." The
harsh words came as a shock to
Michigan fans everywhere, who
were used to the squeaky clean tra-
dition of the Bo Schembecbler era.
"I don't know if it does much
good to go back in the past," Rodri-
guez said yesterday when asked

By ALEX HERMANN
Daily Sparta Writer
Traditionally, the Michigan pep
band blasts "The Victors" in Crisler
Arenaas cheerleaders stream out of
the tunnel holding block 'M' flags,
just ahead of the Michigan women's
basketball team.
But yesterday, the fight song
played as Michigan cheerleaders
mistak-
enly led MICHIGAN 67J
the blue- MARQUETTE 50
and-gold
Marquette Golden Eagles out onto
the floor.
The botched entrance proved an
ominous sign for the Wolverines,
as the offense slumped through a
20-point first half. But Michigan
(2-0) bounced back from a six-point
halftime deficit to win 67-50.
In the first half, the Wolverines
had 16 turnovers and shot 8-of-25
from the field against an aggres-
sive Marquette (1-1).defense. That
physicality prevented Michigan
from moving the ball and getting
open looks.
"It's Marquette," junior guard
Veronica Hicks said. "They're a big-
name school just like us. They're in
the Big East. ... And this game was
nothinglikethefirstgameweplayed
against Ball State. We had a lot more
energy coming out that game, more
excitement, we were amped."
Hicks, the only regular return-
ing starter on a squad with six
freshmen, built momentum with a

buzzer beater before halftime.
Returning to the floor, the band,
cheerleaders and teamwere on cue.
And as their entrance routine
righted itself, so did Michigan's
shooting touch.
On Thursday against Ball State,
Michigan shot just under 54 per-
cent from downtown and scored
more points (87) than they did in
any game last season. Against Mar-
quette, Michigan's stroke returned
in the second half, as the team
caught fire from the three-point
line and hit just under 58 percent.
Sophomore forward Carmen
Reynolds' third triple gave the Wol- 0
verines their first lead of the game
with just under 11 minutes to go.
Marquette regained the lead on the
next possession before freshman
guard Dayeesha Hollins respond-
ed with a three of her own to pull
ahead again.
Michigan didn't surrender the
lead the restofthegame.
TheWolverineshavenowdefeat-
ed two teams that played into the
postseason last year. The wins are
important for a program that won
just 10 games last season and was
picked to finish last in the Big Ten
by both the mediaand coaches.
When asked if the team's early
success is surprising, redshirt
senior forward Ashley Jones didn't
hesitate.
"No, not at all," she said. "I think
that our team is really good and
we're going to make a lot of noise
this year."

PHOTOCOURTESYbOF
Ohio State lineman Justin Boren transferred from Mich igan shortly af ter Rich Rodriguez came to An n Ar bor.

about Boren. "I've said several
times before that we pride our-
selves on the closeness that we
have as a family. ... I think if you
asked our players, the large major-
ity, if not all of them, would tell you
they feel that sense of closeness
amongst each other, amongst the
staff. They sense that atmosphere,
a family atmosphere, that perme-
ates throughout the program."
Graham said Boren's comments
didn't surprise him, because the
talented offensive lineman had
"distanced himself" in the weeks
after Rodriguez's hire. Boren
struggled to adjust from former
coach Lloyd Carr to Rodriguez, and
it soon became apparent that he
wouldn't be with the Wolverines
much longer.
"He just didn't feel likeheneeded
to be here no more," Graham said.
"A lot of people leave because it's

their situation. I just like splashing
it up because he went to 0-State.
He could have went anywhere else,
but he went to Ohio State."
"It was like a slap in the face."
And you can bet that Graham
won't hold back his sentiments this
weekend. After the Wolverines
lost to Wisconsin, Badger tight end
Lance Kendricks said Graham was
a big trash-talker on the field. Sure-
ly, Boren will be getting an earful
Saturday.
"I've got a lot of words for a lot of
people," Graham said. "Whoever's
in my way every play, I let them
know every play, 'Don't come my
way.' Some people talk back, some
people don't.... I'm just trying to get
in their head."
As much as Graham seemed hurt
by Boren's jump to scarlet-and-grey
uniforms, he laughed off the situa-
tion.

The same can't be said for offen-
sive lineman David Moosman. The
redshirt senior is usually even-
keeled and accommodating when
speaking with the media, but he
immediately clammed up at the
first mention of his ex-teammate.
"I don't talk to him, I don't think
about him," Moosman said. "He
doesn't come up in my daily life.
And I don't have to play against
him on defense. I wish I could. But
he's on offense and so am I."
With the national media already
writing off Michigan - ESPN's
Pat Forde said the Buckeyes "will
demolish Michigan" in his lat-
est column - and Boren's switch
fresh in their minds, the Wolver-
ines won't have any trouble getting
motivated.
Maybe Michigan won't even
need those red, block '0' tackling
dummies, after all.

Vogrich dead-on in
maize-&-blue debut.

-The Greatest Rivalry in Sport
Varsity upsets OSU in 'Snow Bowl'

From the Editor: We hope you're
enjoying our look back at the Dai-
ly's game coverage from famous
Michigan-Ohio State games. Here's
the story of the1950'SnowBowl.'
COLUMBUS - Michigan's relent-
less Wolverines saved the space for
anotherchapterintherags-to-riches
tale that records the activities of the
1950 Maize and Blue gridiron squad,
by beating Ohio State's Buckeyes in a
blizzard here yesterday.
By plowing through the foot of
snow which blanketed the playing
field to upset the Buckeyes, 9-3, the
Wolverines earned the right to repre-
sentthe BigTen inthe RosefBowlnext
January first. An assist on the play
was credited to the wondrous Wild-
cats of Northwestern who forced an
overconfident Illinois team to can-
cel westward travel reservations by
beatingthe Illini 14-7 in Evanston.
While the Conference Champi-
onship does not itself ensure the
Wolverines a trip to the Rose Bowl,
the official Big Ten poll Monday
which will pick the Western Con-
ference's Pasadena representative

was regarded as a mere formality.
Michigan's bigbreak came in the
waning minutes of the first half,
with the snow-covered scoreboard
reading: time to play: 47 seconds:
and the Bucks' one-man team, Vic
Janowicz, back on his own two-
yard line for a third down punt. At
that point, Wolverine linebacker
Tony Momsen crashed through
the middle of the OSU line, blocked
Janowicz' effort and fell on the ball
in the end zone to score the game's
only touchdown.
With 20 seconds remaining in the
first half, Harry Allis converted suc-
cessfully, making it 9 to 3, and end-
ing the scoring for the afternoon.
Earlier, Michigan had scored
two points on a similar blocked
punt which resulted in a safety.
... The Wolverines earned their
nine points without the aid of a sin-
gle first down and by gainingonly 27
net yards, all of them on the ground.
Ohio registered only three first
downs and 41 net yards, 25 of which
were due to Janowicz'passing.
It was a game of football in the

literal sense. Michigan's Chuck
Ortmann booting the ball 24 times
for a 30-yard average. The versatile
Janowicz handled all the punting
shores for Ohio, his kicks averaging
32 yards in the ceilingzero blizzard.
Western Conference records
were shattered by thq total of 45
punts, with Michigan tying the
previous record of most punts by a
single team - 14 - in the first half
alone.
... Especially brilliant were the
efforts of defensive ends Ozzie Clark
and Allis who consistently crashed
through the Ohio blockers to bottle
up Janowicz' running and passing.
Center Carl Kreager effectively
handled the difficult assignment of
passing the icy ball to the back field.
Michigan's six fumbles beingimuch,
less than might be expected under
such difficult playingconditions.
The Wolverines returned only
two of the Ohio punts registering a
scant eight yards on the two plays.
The pigskin was as slippery as an
ice-cube and ball-handling was
kept to a minimum.

On most occasions, both Jano-
wicz' and Ortmann's kicks came to
rest in a foot of snow without bounc-
ing a bit. They landed like horse-
shoes in a bed of soft clay, making
punt returns virtually impossible.
One of the Buckeye junior's
numerous quick-kicks came to rest
onthegoal line, aftergivingappear-
ances of heading for the end zone.
On the play, the pigskin hita mound
of snow which had been collected
by the broomtenders - who were
delegated to keep the goal-linesvis-
ible and brought frozen spectators
to their numb feet as it tottered on
the brink of the end zone.
... The big moment of the day
came with just 2:17 left in the ball
game when the public address sys-
tem announced the result of the
Illinois-Northwestern tussle. Mich-
igan fans all but held their breath for
the remainder of the contest hoping
their team could preserve its 6 point
lead for the final minutes.
The team did, and the fans hoist-
ed Al Wahl on their shoulders in
victorious salute to the team.

ByJOE STAPLETON
DailySports Writer
Since the early stages of his
recruitment, all Michigan fans
heard about Matt Vogrich was that
the kid had one of the smoothest
jump shots in the Midwest.
"Oh, he can shoot it," Zack
Novak said before the Wayne State
game. "No question about it, he
can really shoot."
On Saturday, Vogrich showed it.
The freshmanwent5-for-5 from
beyond the arc, at times stepping
back to fire from NBA range, and
finished with 15 points in Michi-
gan's 97-50 win against Northern
Michigan.
"I was just excited when I hit
the first one, justkind of relieved to
make my first shot," Vogrich said.
"Manny (Harris) found me and I
just made the open looks."
Vogrich's assault from the
3-point line began with six minutes
toplayinthe firsthalf.Injustunder
two minutes, he made three triples,
each one bringing raucous cheers
from the Maize Rage student sec-
tion. He got his last two 3-pointers
near the end of the second half, and
his last one came on Harris's triple-
double-solidifying assist.
After the freshman's unspec-
tacular performance in Michigan's
exhibition win against Wayne
State, Michigan coach John Bei-
lein said Vogrich was putting in
extra time on his shotto make sure

he was ready for the Wolverines'
first official game.
"He's really been working
extra hard on his shot over the
last week," Beilein said. "When
Manny's putting them right there,
(Vogrich) has an easy job to do, just
shoot it."
Beilein is known for recruiting
pinpoint 3-point shooters. If Vog-
rich can keep hitting allseason, he
would be able to shoulder some of
the scoring load to free up Harris
and senior DeShawn Sims.
Vogrich wasn't the only one
who provided a scoring boost.
Michigan had five players finish in
double digits: Harris, Sims, fresh-
manDariusMorris,redshirtsenior
Zack Gibson and Vogrich.
Morris said he was happy for his
fellow freshman.
"We know Vogrich can shoot,
but for anybody to go 5-for-5,
that's amazing," Morris said.
"Class of 2013, I was happy to
see my other freshman out there
doing his thing."
Gibson also had a good offensive
night, himself going 5-for-5 from
the field. Most of his points came
in the paint, but he also showed off
a midrange fallaway.
"It felt good," Gibson said.
"Everything was flowing. I made
shots. I really felt good out there."
But the focus was still on Vog-
rich's 5-for-5.
"He did a great job shooting the
ball," Gibson said.

Frosh wins tourney

No guarantees for Wolverines this season

EAST LANSING -
or nearly 20 years, the idea
of the Michigan hockey
team making the NCAA
Tournament has been taken for
granted.
The Wolver-
ines happen to R
hold the nation's RYAN
longest active KARTJE
streak of tour- On ice hockey
nament appear-
ances.
But the last time the Wolverines
held a sub-.500 record through
10 games like they do this season,
it was 1986. Michigan coach Red
Berenson had only been behind the
bench for two full seasons.
Michigan finished a dismal
14-25-1 that year. Obviously, the
Wolverines didn't make the tourna-
ment.
Today, with 10 games in the
books and the Wolverines boast-
ing a very modest 4-6 record - just
the second time that has happened
in Berenson's tenure - Michigan
hockey fans shouldn'tsgive up on
this season just yet. But a sub-500
record should alert them that ar,

NCAA Tournament berth is far
from guaranteed this season.
It's easy to point fingers. The
defense was supposed to be this
team's strong point. But on two
occasions this weekend, both of
which led to goals, Michigan defen-
semen turned the puck over in the
neutral zone and left junior goal-
tender Bryan Hogan out of position.
And then there's the power play,
where the Wolverines rank 46th
out of 58 teams in the NCAA.
Considering Berenson said that
this year's team spent more time
practicingspecial teams than any
team he's ever coached at Michigan,
that statistic has tobe a major disap-
pointment. Even Berenson called
the Wolverines' power play "one of
the weakest in the country."
But the real reason for this
team's poor play rests squarely on
the offense's shoulders. And as
much of a case you can make that
"the puck just isn't going Michi-
gan's way," nothing will change
the fact that the Wolverines have
scored just six goals in six games
against ranked opponents.
The Wolverines' tup leading

scorers from last year, forwards
Louie Caporusso and David Wohl-
berg, have managed just one goal
each this season. Through 10 games
last year, the pair had 12 combined
goals.
"I think we're just not that
good," Berenson said about the
offense. "We've got one returning
20-goal scorer (Caporusso) and he's
got one goal. Outside of that, every-
body else is doing what they can,
but we don't have a lot of prolific
offensive players."
There's no doubting that
Michigan has talent on offense,
but without someone to set up the
Wolverines' goal-scorers-- someone
in the mold of Aaron Palushaj, who
left for the NHL after last season
- scorers like Caporusso and Wohl-
berg are going to be counted on to
make their own plays.
And without a consistent offense,
the Wolverines will continue to fall
into the trap that they have found
themselves in against every upper
echelon team this year: fall behind
early and then try to claw their way
back into the game.
Thus far, it hasn't beeo a pattern

of success.
Michigan is currently 10th in the
CCHAstandings, 13 points behind
conference leader Michigan State,
which also happens to lead the con-
ference in scoring (22 goals). The
Spartans boast the NCAA's second-
leading goal-scorer in Corey Tropp
and one of the nation's top-scoring
freshmen in Derek Grant. And after
Michigan State left the ice on Sat-
urday having sweptthe Wolverines,
it's clear that they are the state's
best hockey team.
Beyond the Spartans, the CCHA
is the class of college hockey this
year, with four teams besides Mich-
igan ranked in the top 13.
That means there won't be any
red carpets rolled out for the Wol-
verines as they try to make their
way to the NCAA Tournament.
"We'll turn it around," Berenson
said. "It's just amatter of when. It's
like any team, there's going to be a
weak point in your season."
But when that weak point is the
weakest start in 20 years, it may
take more than Michigan has need-
ed in Berenson's tenure to right the
ship. V

ByKEVIN RAFTERY
Daily Sports Writer
Sometimes, success in sports can
come down to one thing: Having
fun.
Michigan freshman wrestler
Dan Yates learned that over the
past two weeks.
After losing his first-ever career
collegiate match at last weekend's
Eastern Michigan Open, Yates real-
ized that his biggest problem wasn't
mechanics or training.
"I went out last week for the first
match and kind of took everything
too seriously," Yates said. "It didn't
end up goingwell in the first match.
Today I just came out and wanted
to have fun, relax a little bit, and not
take things so seriously."
Since his opening loss, Yates
has won 12 straight matches over
the course of two tournaments.
On Sunday, he came out relaxed
and won the 165-pound freshman/
sophomore weight class at the
annual preseason Michigan State
Open.
"He got a little too excited for
that first match and let his emo-
tions get the best of him," Michigan
coach Joe McFarland said. "I think
he was much more relaxed coming
into this tournament."
Yates defeated Kyle Yang of Ohio
University by decision (6-1) to cap-
ture thetitle.
Redshirt junior Anthonypiondo

experienced similar success at the
MSU Open.
Following a second-place fin-
ish last week at Eastern Michigan,
Biondo headed to East Lansing
lookingforatitle.Andthat'sexactly
what be got
After winning by pin in the
first three rounds of the open 197-
pound weight class, Biondo won
his final match by decision (7-6)
over Andrew Kissel of Purdue.
"He's got all the tools to suc-
ceed," McFarland said. "When he's
wrestling and scoring like he did
today, he is really tough to beat."
Biondo has emerged as a leader
for the young Wolverines, whose
lineup consists of mainly freshmen
and sophomores.
Sophomore Zak Stevens is step-
ping up as a leader this season. On
Sunday, Stevens placed third in the
open 133-pound weight class.
"Zak is a warrior on the mat, and
he just keeps getting better and bet-
ter," McFarland said. "He is going
to be a great example for the rest of
the team."
While a few growing pains are
to be expected due to the young
roster, success in these early events
certainly helps.
"We're taking some things from
these early season tournaments, but ,
we need to continue to make sure
that we're scoring earlyand scoring
often," McFarland said. "We need
to continue to get etter."