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Michigan 65, Bowling Green 21
HREE'S COMPANY
TOREHAN SHARMAN/Daly
Sophomore quarterbacks Denard Robinson and Tate Forcier and freshman quarterback Devin Gardner walk out of the tunnel before Michigan's 65-21 win over Bowling Green. Each quarterback played in the rout.
Forcier makes most of opportunity 'M' wins behind
By NICOLE AUERBACH
Daily Sports Writer
He waited 10 months and 205
game minutes, which felt like an
eternity to the quarterback who
started every Michigan football
game last season as a true fresh-
man.
In the shadow of sophomore
sensation and Heisman hopeful
Denard Robinson, Tate Forcier
learned his role on the team and
what being a backup quarterback
meant.
Robinson was sidelined with a
minor injury in the first quarter
of Saturday's game against Bowl-
ing Green. True freshman Devin
Gardner replaced the starter for a
few drives. Then, with 5:07 left in
the first half of Saturday's game
against Bowling Green, Forcier
entered a game for the first time
this season.
Senior offensive lineman Steve
Schilling said after the game that
Forcier had been "biding his time"
waiting for his chance to go in.
"Today was his time," Schilling
said.
Forcier made the most of it. He
went 12-for-12 passing, throwing
for 110 yards and a touchdown. He
also carried the ball four times for
full team effort
By JOE STAPLETON
Daily Sports Editor
In what could be considered the
ultimate team effort, the Michigan
football team had no trouble rolling
over Bowling Green on Saturday,
beating the Falcons 65-21.
The Wolverines got valuable
contributions from three quar-
terbacks - sophomores Denard
Robinson and Tate Forcier, as well
as freshman Devin Gardner. All
three took a good deal of snaps on
the way to a 34-point Michigan
victory.
The 109,933 in attendance at
Michigan Stadium held their col-
lective breath near the end of the
first quarter when Robinson, whose
play so far this season has vaulted
him to the top of the Heisman race,
laid on the ground injured after
being tackled on a 47-yard run
down Michigan's sideline.
Before being knocked out of the
game, Robinson was on track for
another statistically mind-boggling
afternoon. In just the first quar-
ter, the sophomore sensation was
4-for-4 for 60 yards through the air
and rushed for 128 yards and two
touchdowns on the ground.
Gardner replaced Robinson with
about six minutes to go in the first
quarter and looked impressive. The
Detroit native drove the Wolver-
ines down the field to score with an
11-yard touchdown pass to redshirt
freshman wide receiver Jeremy
Gallon.
Michigan went into the second
quarter up 21-0 on the Falcons, but
down a quarterback.
The second quarter was a forget-
table one for the Michigan defense,
which played well otherwise, as
Bowling Green scored two touch-
downs to cut the lead to seven.
But with five minutes left in
the first half, the crowd at the Big
House was treated to a familiar
sight. Forcier ran outon the field for
the first time this season and got a
very warm reception.
"Of course I heard (the crowd),"
Forcier said after the game. "How
can you not? Our crowd is so loud.
The crowd always motivates you.
See TEAM EFFORT, Page 3B
Sophomore Tate Forcier completed 12 passes for 110 yards in his season debut against Bowling Green.
30 yards.
Forcier's 12-for-12 day set the
Michigan record for completion
percentage when the quarterback
has taken at least 10 attempts. The
previous record belonged to Jim
Harbaugh, who went 12-for-13
(92.3 percent) against Purdue on
Nov. 9,1985.
"Tate's a good thrower, a good
football player," quarterbacks
coach Rod Smith said. "The key to
him, just like any other player, is
you've got to stay focused, you've
got to stay disciplined in your reads
and what you do. Everything else
comes natural for those guys."
Focus has been a word thrown
around when discussing Forcier
over the past few months. After a
teammate called him out for miss-
ing voluntary workouts and Michi-
gan coach Rich Rodriguez took
away his wings (from his helmet)
in August, Forcier's future as the
Wolverines' starting quarterback
See FORCIER, Page 3B
Hunt leads Wolverines to signature win i
By ZAK PYZIK - defeating Minnesota in three
Daily Sports Writer straight sets to send the fans home
happy.
Michigan volleyball coach "Being down is something you
Mark Rosen said last Tuesday that have to deal with, its something
the Wolverines needed a signature in sports," junior outside hitter
win. Alex Hunt said after the match.
In No. 22 Michigan's first 13 "We just had a challenge, and we
matches, the team didn't have a had to beat it. We didn't want to
chance to secure that kind of win. go home on Saturday night feeling
Before Saturday, the closest thing like that."
thus far was the Wolverine's 3-0 Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 13-1
blowout victory over Iowa on Fri- overall) won the third game, 25-22,
day night. But the team, down two after Hunt spiked a bullet off the
sets to Minnesota on Saturday shoulder of a Golden Gopher.
night, took Rosen's words to heart Then, Hunt came through in the
clutch again as she sealed a 25-23
win with a spike in the fourth
game. Hunt finished the evening
with a career-high 28 kills.
"I think the scores of the first
two games said that what we were
doing was not working," Hunt
said. "So I knew I had to get into
the game and do something differ-
ent."
The opportunity Rosen had
talked about lay before them.
Michigan's chance to get a signa-
ture win in signature fashion was
15 points away from happening
in the most signature of ways - a
comeback after being down 2-0
against a top-25 team.
Michigan kicked off the fifth
and final set by taking a 6-3 advan-
tage. But after a few attack errors,
the Golden Gophers (1-1, 11-3)
scored six points straight and took
the lead 9-6. After mistakes on
both ends of the court, the decid-
ing set was notched at 13-all.
On the first match point, Michi-
gan couldn't finish, but on their
second opportunity, the Wolver-
ines signed the dotted line. Hunt ToREHAN sHArM
took hold of the pen and killed a Michigan volleyball junior outside hitter Alex Hunt had a career-high 28 kill:
See HUNT, Page 3B Saturday in the Wolverines' come-from-behind upset over No.14 Minnesota.
CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
Despite outshooting No. 23 Ohio State two-
to-one, the Michigan men's soccer team
suffered a tough 1-0 loss in the Wolverines'
Big Ten opener on Saturday night. Page 2B
ON THE HOT SEAT
N Daily Sports Editor Ryan Kartje says
defensive coordinator Greg Robinson is the
real coach under scrutiny in Ann Arbor, four
weeks into the season. Page 2B