The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

September 20, 2010 -

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom September 20, 2010

GAME STATISTICSI

Special teams still a problem

Team Stats
First Downs
IRuh/Tds
Passing Yards
Offensive Plays
Total Offense
Kikreturns/Yds
Punt returns/ Yds
Comp/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
fables/Lost
Penalties/Yards
Time of Poss
PASSING
Paye,
Robinson, D.
Tota's
PIUR
RUSHING
Player
Robinson, D.
Totals
REC TAVING
Player
Stonur
VHeringway
Shaw
PUNTING
Hager up
TeRa
Totalsd
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player
Toal
PUNTRETURNS
Player
GaonN
Totals
Kovacs
Ezeh
Martin
tBanks
Goron C.
Rob
Leach
Roundtree
Fitzgerald
Patterson
Tabott
Totals
M
PASSING
EPlayer
RUSHING
Hernndez 2
Griffin I
Nelson
Havens
lp Totals a
RECEIVING
Player N
Talky
Nelson
Sheeran
Kreis
Hernandez
Totals 2
PUNTING
Player
Viote
Totals
KICKOFF RETURNS
Pslaer
Duggan
Totals
TACKLES
Player 5
Holmes
Thellen
Byrn
VYvees

Davis
Flnagan
Carven
Tharpe
Adeoba
Talle
Mc aughlin
Carter
Duggan

MICA
42/284
241
56
525
3/62
1/17
10/14/1
2/16.5
2/1
3/16
22:22

MASS
26
49/217
222
78
7/145
1/19
22/29/1
3/36.7
1/1
6/46
37:38

M I C H I G A N
C-A Yds TD
10-14 241 2
10-14 241 2

Att
17
1
42

Yds
104
15
284

Avg
6.1
15.0
6.8
Avg
403
36
16.0

lg
20
11
50
15
50
L9
12
43
16
36
7
7
66

TD
2
0
4
TD
2
0
0

No. Yds
3 121
2 49
1 16
1 36
1 7
2 12
2 241

No. Yds Avg Lg
1 33 33.0 33
1 0 0.0 0
2 33 16.5 33
No. Yds Avg Lg TO
No. Yds Avg g TO
1 -17 -17 0 0
8 3 11
6 3 9
6 0 6
4 2 6
3 3 6
4 0 4
3 1 4
1 0 1
1 0 1
1 0 1
0 1 1
65 20 81
AA S 5 A C H U 5 E T T S

C-A Yds TD
22-29 222 2
22-29 222 2

17
1
4
49
No.
7
6
4
2
1
22

Yds
114
96
5
4
217
Yds
91
37
37
11
12
7
5
222

5.6
5.0
1.0
4.4
Avg
13
6.2
9.25
5.5
5
101

19
5
7
19
L~g
19
19
13
7
5
19

Int
1
1
TD
2
0
0
1
3
TD
1
0
0
1
0
0
0

By JOE STAPLETON
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan coach Rich Rodri-
guez has a message for the Wol-
verinestudenttbody:
"Any student out there who's
enrolled at the
University and NOTEBOOK
is in good aca-
demic standing and a good guy
and can kick field goals and can
kick the ball into the end zone,"
Rodriguez said. "We'll have
another tryout for yu."
It maybe more of a message to
Michigan's kickers.
Michigan's special teams
struggled mightily once again
this week during the Wolver-
ines' 42-37 win over Massachu-
setts.
Redshirt freshman Seth
Broekhuizen missed the only
Michigan field goal attempt, a
39-yarder in the third quarter,
making Wolverine placekickers
a combined 1-for-5 on the sea-
son.
But it's not only the field
goals the coaches are worried
about. Brendan Gibbons, also
a redshirt freshman, has been
handling the kickoff duties for
the first two weeks of the sea-
son with unsatisfying results.
His kicks often land near the 10
or 15-yard line and have little
hangtime, which doesn't give the
kickoff team enough time to get
downfield.
The coaches gave Broekhui-
zen a shot at kicking off on Sat-
urday and were happier with his
performance.
"I thought Seth kicked bet-
ter," Rodriguez said after the
game. "He got down to the five a
couple times, with better hang-
time. Brendan hadn't been kick
ing well."
The placekickers weren't the
only ones struggling. Highly-
touted freshman punter Will
Hagerup has also had his share
of trials this season, and they
continued on Saturday. Hag-
SHAW
From Page lB
Dame the previous week.
After Robinson carried the ball
29 and 28 times in the first twoo
games, respectively, he only had
to carry the ball 16 times against
Massachusetts. That decrease
can almost entirely be credited
to Shaw and fellow running back
VincenttSmith, who accounted for
45yards on11 carries.
"That was part of the plan to be
quite honest with you," offensive
coordinator Calvin Magee said.
"We went into it since game one,
the plan was to run Denard in the
first two games, and this game, the
plan wastorunnthetailback alittle
more.
"We kind of kept feeding them,
DRAW
From Page 1B
cameupjustshorteach time.
The Wolverine offense forced
Notre Dame goalie Will Walsh
to make seven saves in the match,
despite the fact that the strikers
struggled to get quality shots off all

game.
The Michigan defense was truly
the story of the night. The Wol-
verines were forced to defend nine
Fighting Irish corner kicks, but on
a night when Blais tied his then-
careerlhigh forsaves (seven), Mich-
igan wasn't letting Notre Dame
capitalize on any of them.
Defender Chase 'Tennant cred-
ited the discipline of the back line
and Blais, as the Fighting Irish
offense was visibly frustrated all
night.
"(Notre Dame) came on
full force," ennant said. -
"They had some really
good forwards that were
very fast. But defensively,
we've been playing great,
and one of the things
we've been working on is
to not let the other team
score and to not let them
get in behind us.
"I was so proud of the
whole backline, because
as soon as a ball slipped
in behindus, wewould get
back and block the shots
or crosses or anything
thatwas comioighbock." t
Coming off thec tic at
home on Friday, Michi-
gan had little time to
regroup as the team trav-
eled to Milwaukee totake
on Marquette on Sunday.
The Wolverines are in the
middle of the toughest
portion of their sched-
ule, playing five games
in ten days starting with

erup averaged just 16 yards on
two pints and fumbled a snap,
which resulted in the punt being
blocked.
"It's an inexperience thing,"
Hagerup said. "Yougo from high
school with a couple thousand
people, then you play out here.
It's getting experience, getting
used to the game and getting
comfortable. It'll come ...special
teams is definitely something
that sticks out as something our
team has to get better at."
Hagerup alsosaid that despite
the struggles of the kickers, he
has not been asked to kick field
goals.
BACKUPS STAY ON THE
BENCH: The plan going into the
game on Saturday was to give
the backups an opportunity to
play. Massachusetts is, after all,
a Football Championship Sub-
division team.
Especially pressing was get-
ting some snaps for the backup
quarterbacks, freshman Devin
Gardner and sophomore Tate
Forcier. Not only did the coach-
es want to get the two some game
action, but they also wanted to
rest sophomore Denard Rob-
inson, who took a lot of punish-
ment in the first two weeks of the
season.
But the Minutemen flipped
feeding them, and I'm glad (they)
did okay."
Running backs coach Fred
Jackson said much of Shaw's and
Smith's previous struggles in the
run game had to do with the ball-
carrier's impatience after receiv-
ing thehandoff. Instead ofwaiting
for their blocks, Shaw and Smith
often darted straight intoothe hole,
which led to a lot of tackles in the
backfield.
Against the Minutemen, how-
ever, Shaw made sure to hesitate
and see his blocks. Andwith a brief
stutter on a handoff in the third
quarter, Shaw'spatiencepaidoffas
he took it tolthe house for a 34-yard
touchdown.
Jackson said a running back's
patience with those handoffs is
something that comes with expe-
rience, which Shaw and Smith

the script and kept the game
close, forcing Michigan to keep
Robinson and most of its start-
ers in the entire game.
"If we would have played bet-
ter, we could have played more
guys," Rodriguez said. "But that
didn't happen."
Still, fans were looking for-
ward to seeing other players get
some action, including running
backs freshman Stephen Hop-
kins, redshirt sophomore Mike
Cox and redshirt freshman
Fitzgerald Toussaint
In the end, it wasn't meant
to be. The incumbent running
backs, junior Michael Shaw and
sophomore Vincent Smith, got
all the carries and excelled.
"It was the plan to get the
other guys in, but obviously we
didn't play well enough to do
that," Smith said.
One backup who did get
some playing time was redshirt
freshman offensive lineman
Taylor Leian. The 6-foot-8
294-pound left tackle hadn't
played in the first two games,
other than one snap against
Notre Dame last week. He was
neck-and-neck with the starter,
redshirt junior Mark Hugye
during the spring, and he final-
ly got his chance to play with
almost 10 minutes left in the

FrMAnCN
Freshman punter Will Hagerup (pictured here at Notre Dame) has struggled punting thus far in the season.

third quarter on Saturday.
"The first drive, I was so ner-
vous. My heart was leating a
thousand milesperhour," Lewan
said. "At the end of the drive, I
was so tired. I was wondering,
'Why am I so tired right now?'
because usually I'm not tired at
all. Then I realized, that's just
first-game jitters. After the first
series, things started going real
well."
FIRST TURNOVER OF THE
YEAR: For the first two games of
this season, Michigan had been
turnover-free.
After tallying 16 turnovers
last year, holding onto the ball
on offense was a point ofoempha-
sis th roughout the offseason. It's
clearly paid off - while Michi-
gan has fumbled the ball three
times, the Wolverines have yet
to lose one.
And until Robinson's first
pass on Saturday, he hadn't
thrown an interception.
After lie threw the pick early
in the game against Massachu-
setts, Robinson came back to the
bench smiling.
"He came off to the sidelines
with a smile on his face," junior
wideout Darryl Stonum said.
"And he looked at us and was
like 'Look guys, I got that off my
system.'"

UMASS
From Page 1B
Robinson's own eight-yard dash
into the endzone. By the middle of
the third quarter, all facets of the
offense were final ly clicking.
""They created a couple of prob-
lems for us on the first few drives,"
senior offensive lineman Steve
Schilling said. "We just had to
get the motor going - took a little
while to start up."
But Michigan's sloppy play in
the fourth quarter from missed
tackles to a seemingly flustered
special teams unit - allowed the
Minutemen to claw their way back
into the game. Massachusetts
torched the Wolverines for three
touchdowns in the fourth. Michi-
gan's 35-17 lead at the beginning
of the quarter melted into a 42-37
edge with just over two minutes
remaining.
Massachusetts's onside kick
went out of bounds at the 2:05
mark, giving Michigan the ball,
and it was all but over then. Rob-
inson and the rest of the offense
remained poised and got the first
down they needed to run out the
clock.
After the game, the Wolverines'
mood was rather subdued. Schil-
ling said the win was more of a
relief than anything, and that he
felt lucky to leave the stadium with
a victory.
Redshirt freshman tackle Tay-
lor Lewan called it a "bittersweet
feeling."
"You can't be upset with a win,
but you can be upset with the way
you played, and we did not play
well," Michigan coach Rich Rodri-
guez said in the post-game press
conference.
Robinson's final statistics were
impressive (though not quite on
par with his record-breaking
performances from the past two
weeks): 10-of-14 for 241 yards and
two touchdowns in the air, 17 car-
ries for 104 yards and one rushing
touchdown.
"I guess you could say the one
thing to take away was we held
Robinson to only about 350 yards
- if that's a bonus," Massachusetts
coach Kevin Morris said.
If Morris wanted to hit a more
positive note, he'd point outthat his
offense exposed quite a few holes
in the Michigan defense through-
out the game. Massachusetts quar-
terback Kyle Havens picked apart
the Wolverine secondary at will,
going 22-of-29 for 222 yards with
two touchdowns.
Members of Michigan's defense
were adamant after the game that
they would learn from their mis-
takes and improve by next week-
end's matchup.
"Bowling Green they're not
going to see this team next week,"
redshirt freshman safety Thomas
Gordan said.
Added sophomore linebacker
Craig Roh: "The thing with this
defense is we're just going to come
back here and fight even harder.
We're going to prepare even hard-
er. The concentration and drive of
th is defense will not let this hap-
pen again."
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may ge
Robins
fairly o
But)
perforr
"...
the
run
al
showed
ment in
"A ho
impatie
with hi

I less of than most since helps," Jackson said. "A couple of
on calls his own number his long runs came after hesita-
ften. lion - you have to have patience
Shaw especially, in his best as a running back to be effective."
aance in a Michiganjersey, Opposing defenses will likely
spend the rest of the season try-
ing to key oo Robinson or force
him to throw, just like the Min-
this gam e, utemen did on Saturday. So an
effective run game outside of
plan w as to Robinson, which the Wolverines
showed for the first time with
L the tailback Shawand Smith's performance,
will be increasingly important as
ittle m ore." Michigan faces bigger, faster and
stronger front sevens in Big Ten
competition.
"(UMass) really keyed in on
Ihis maturity and develop- Denard and it just opened up for
I the run game. the running backs," Smith said.
t oftimes, young backs are "Wie got Denard's back whenever
snt on reads, and he stayed they're keyinggon him.We're going
is reads longer and that topickup thetorch from there."

No. Yds Avg Lg
3 110 36.7 44
3 110 36.7 44
No. Yds Avg Lg TD
1 5 5 5 0
7 145 207 28

Solo
6
4
3
4
3
3
1
2
2
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
0

Asst
5
4
2
0
1
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Tot
11
8
45
4
4
2
2
1
1

Wedne
"It's
Blais s
would r
tice. It'
tean,
thi
a
guys ar
Mis
acteriz
quette,
Golden

sday's win over Oakland. But Marquette kept pressure
a crazy schedule of games," high, blasting nine shots on goal
oaid. "But I think any of us that Blais defended to reach a new
rather play games than prac- careerlhigh in saves at eight.
s goingto be tough (but) the Four minutes into the second
even though we're young I period, Meram connected with a
e're mature, and I thik the ball on the left side of the goal to
give the Wolverines the 1-0 lead
on the road. Michigan couldn't
celebrate for long as Marquette's
think w e're equalizer at 78 minutes came off
a set piece that found its way past
ature, and i Blaisto tie the ga me atoon
ink the guys "(Marquette) hit a decent ball
off the right side of the goal, off-
x dcenter to the right," Michigan
coach Steve Burns said. "Blais got
there, but right as he was making
his power step to play the ball wide,
his plant legswent outon him.
eready forthis stretch." The offense couldn't push any
sed opportunities char- shots past Marquette in regulation,
ed the game against Mar- despite freshman forward Soony
as Michigan out-shot the Saad's team-high seven shots in the
I Eagles, 29 to 19. game.

Freshman midfielder Dylan
Nencia provided fresh legs in the
match, coming in with three shots
off the bench for a worn-down
starting crew.
Sunday marked the team's
fourth overtime game this season
- three of which have resulted in
a tie.
Michigan needs its big scorers
to step up and start netting some
of its shots in regulation, start-
ing nithW oesnd'soonengam
against Kentucky.
But if the enthusiasm of the
school-record crowd from Friday
continues to show up in masses, the
team can't help but feedsoff of it.
"The more fans we get, the bet-
ter we play," 'fennant said. "When
the atmosphere is big and we get
people out here, it's a good feeling
to know we have thewhole school
behind our back because we're
playingiwith a lot ofpride."

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