The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com I November 23,2009
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Defensive end Brandon Graham had four tackles for loss in his final collegiate game. Ohio State safety Kurt Coleman intercepts a Tate Forcier pass to halt a Michigan drive in the fourth quarter. Forcier threw four interceptions in his first game against the Buckeyes.
Forcier's struggles doom olverines: Blue 'D' shines,
ByCOURTNEYRATKOWIAK "had to get the seniors to a bowl
Daily Sports Editor game," but after throwing three
straight interceptions in the fourth
Wif-'k qu2r-trone -naic-0igan,- o--oes put
With 33 seconds left in another
miserable Michigan football sea-
son, the freshman quarterback who
was hailed as Michigan's savior just
two months ago stood red-eyed on
the sideline.
Running back Mike Shaw had
something to say about that. He
marched up to Tate Forcier, gripped
the sides of the freshman's helmet
with both hands and forced him to
listen.
Keep your head up, Shaw told
Forcier. You're young, and you have
a lot of work to do. Work hard.
The game ended, but neither
moved. Shaw gave his quarterback
a few last words and a hug before
leaving to face the postgame locker
room scene.
"I told him, he's a freshman. This
is his team," Shaw said. "Rebuild-
ing is over. Michigan is gonna be
back."
The freshman who led his
team to two early-season,
last-minute comebacks ended .
his team's chances forpne when
it needed it most - in Saturday's
21-10 loss to Ohio State. Forcier's
mantra this week was that he
quarter, the Michigan coaches put
Denard Robinson behind center as
the 5-7 season wound down.
Offensive coordinator Calvin
Magee's postgame talk with Forcier
sounded similar to Shaw's.
"These exact
words: It's -
tough. You
gonna hurt. ' .
But you got
to learn
from it," Magee said. "Now he has With a little more than 13 min-
time to sit back, see it, study more, utes left in the game, Forcier
get his coverages"imore and learn loked ready to lead another come-
from those mistakes." . , , , from-behind effort. He started the
The freshman finished the game drive by throwing the ball to red-
23-of-38 for 226 yas, and looked.shirt freshman wide receiver Roy
much more effective on paper than Roundtree, who made an excellent
Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor (9-of-17, play by finding a hole for a 43-yard
67 yards). But after factoring in five gain. But two plays later, at the
Forcier turnovers - four intercep- Ohio State 35-yard line on third
tions and a fumble that gave Ohio down, Forcier overthrew a pass to
State its first touchdown - the the 10-yard line. Buckeye defensive
Michigan offense disappointed. back Kurt Coleman intercepted the
It was a sharp departure from ball with a leaping catch to endthe
last week against Wisconsin, when Michigan drive.
Forcier had one of his better games The Michigan defense then
of the year, finishing 20-of-26 with forced the Buckeyes to go three-
188 yards, two touchdowns and and-out, and down two scores with
one interception. But the 10 minutes left, the Wolverines got
missed red zone oppor- the ball back at midfield and drove
tunities were again a it to the Ohio State 6-yard line. But
problem - Michigan con- with the maize-and-Mue faithful in
verted on just one of its the Big House ready to celebrate,
three chances Saturday. Forcier faked and then threw the
The Wolverines converted on ball to Ohio State cornerback Devon
a d'ismal 66 percent of their red Torrence. That drive proved to be
zone chances this season, good Michigan's last real chance for seal-
for dead last in the Big Ten. ing bowl eligibility, and Forcier left,
"We had to settle for field the field visibly rattled.
goals and we turned the ball "You can't be excited on one play
over," redshirt junior offensive when he scrambles and finds a guy
lineman Steve Schilling said. "It for a touchdown, and then he does
hurts when you're so close. It's a it again and throws a pick," Magee
rough one." See FORCIER, Page 3B
~offense falter s
. y MIC AEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports Editor
Fourteen points.
Michigan's defense - statisti-
cally worse than 81 others in the
country - held No. 10 Ohio State
to just a pair of touchdowns Sat-
urday. After the unit gave up 26,
30, 25, 38, 38 and 45 points in
its six other Big Ten losses, the
defense played its best in its big-
gest game of the season.
But the Wolverine offense sur-
rendered another score on a fum-
ble in the end zone, and freshman
quarterback Tate Forcier's four
interceptions ended any hopes
Michigan had at winning a bowl-
clinching sixth game.
"When you hold a team- like
Ohio State to 14 points, you
expect to have a little bit better
result than you did today," red-
shirt sophomore defensive tackle
Ryan Van Bergen said.
Tears flowed freely in the lock-
er room afterward.
The team's two senior defen-
sive starters, defensjve end
Brandon Graham and linebacker
Stevie Brown, had nothing more
left after 60 minutes of rousing
football.
They are the third straight
class to graduate without beating
Ohio State.
"I feel really bad for them -
even more so because they're my
class," redshirt junior linebacker
Jonas Mouton said. "They left
here without ever beating Ohio
State, which you know is a ter-
rible thing."
The 21-10 loss is the Wolver-
ines' sixth in a row to the Buck-
eyes.
With eight defeats in the
2000s, the series is now the most
lopsided since Fielding Yost's
Michigan teams beat Ohio State
nine times in the 1900s.
"It's not so much disappoint-
ment as - I don't want to say
regret - but we just want another
shot to keep going," fifth-year
senior center David Moosman
See DEFENSE, Page 3B
MEN'S BASK ETBALL
Sims' hot hand leads
Michigan over Huskies
'M' ends five-game skid in series split
By CHRIS MESZAROS
Daily Sports Writer
After struggling through much
of Friday's opening half against
Houston Baptist, the Michigan
basketball team went to a likely
source to find a cure - forward
DeShawn Sims.
But it wasn't from the senior
forward's usual spot in the post.
As 16th-ranked Wolverines
pulled away from the Huskies in
the second half en route to a 77-55
win, Sims's shooting from beyond
the arc ignited the team.
After the Wolverines missed 16
of their first 20 shots and allowed
the Huskies (0-4) to gain a five-
point lead, Sims finally got Michi-
gan (2-0) going. He spotted up
from the wing and nailed a three
to start the rally.
"I've been shooting the ball
great lately," Sims said. "That
zone really forced us to shoot
some threes today andI'm glad I
hit them."
Just . 20 seconds later, the
senior hit the same shot from the
same spot.
Aftfer it was clear that Sims had
the hot hand, his teammates kept
feeding him the ball, and Sims
made two more threes to end the
first half. He finished with five
total in the game.
The late first-half run helped
Michigan take a 41-29 lead into
the locker room.
"When he's hitting from the
outside, you have to look for him,"
freshman guard Darius Morris
said of Sims. "Once he hit them
back-to-back, you have to keep
looking for him, even if he miss-
es."
Sims finished the game shoot-
ing 7-of-18, including 5-of-8 from
See HUSKIES, Page 2B
By NICK SPAR
Daily Sports Writer
TOLEDO, Ohio - Going into
this weekend's home-and-home
series against Bowling Green, all
four of Michigan's wins had one
thing in common - three goals
before the first intermission.
And against the Falcons, the
Wolverines desperately needed
that type of quick start. No. 16
Michigan stood at 4-6 before the
start of the series - its worst ten-
game opening stretch in 23 years.
The team was also trying to
elude a five-game losing streak,
which would have been its longest
since 1988.
The Wolverines extended that
streak after losing in Friday's
game, but they did garner their
first win since Oct. 31 with a 4-1
victory Saturday.
Another three-goal first period
spurred Michigan's fifth win.
"That was huge," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said. "I
thought we had a quick start (on
Friday), but it never amounted
to enough. We got one goal and
then we gave up a goal, but we had
seven really good chances.
But on Saturday, the Wolverines
converted on those chances.
Junior winger Carl Hagelin
put the Wolverines (5-7-0) on the
board just over two minutes into
their first-ever game at Toledo's
Lucas County Arena with a tip-in
goal off of a Brandon Burlon shot.
Freshman A.J. Treais and senior
Brian Lebler also tallied goals in
the first period, as Michigan held a
3-1 lead and a 16-4 shot advantage
heading into the second period.
Neither team scored in the
middle stanza, but the Wolverines
imposed their will in the defensive
zone and held the Falcons to just
three shots.
And in the third period, with
a dangerous power play looming
for the Falcons, Michigan utilized
their conference-best penalty kill
to silence the Bowling Green threat
and put the game away.
"For once, we actually played all
60 minutes," Hagelin said. "In the
See FALCONS, Page 2B
ARIEL BOND/Daily
Junior Carl Hagelin fights for a loose puck in Michigan's 4-2 home loss Friday.
SENIOR SW R K
0. Veteran trio shines in final home match ' Wolverines' comeback effort falls short,
as No. 14 Michigan volleyball team awaits handing women's basketball team its first
NCAA Tournament bid. Page 2B. k loss of young season. Page 2B.