The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com September 27, 2010 - 3B The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom September 27, 2010 - 38 GAME STATISTICS Wolverines dominate in re m PageB Team Stats FirstDowns Rush/s Passig ar~ds Offensive Plays Total Offense Kick turns/ Yds Punt returns/Yds Cormp/Att/Int Punts/Avg Fobles/Lost Penalties/Yards Time of Poss PASSING ,soy, Player Forcier Gardner Robinson, D. Totals " RUSHING Player A Robinson, D. Touissant Smith 1 Shaw 1 Coxl Hopkins Forcier Gardner Totals 5 RECEMVNG Player Roundtree stonum Grady Gallon Hemingway Odorms McColgan Totals 2 PUNTING Player N KICKOFF RETURNS Player Totals PUNT RETURNS _ Gallon Dileo Totals TACKLES Player 5 Gordon, C. Demens Ezeh Robinson, M. Moundros Roh Hawthorne Johnson, Z. Gordon, T. Fitzgerald Reynolds Leach Gyarmati Chrstan Totas MICH 31 5/4GA 255 82 4/50 3/37 23/26/0 0/0 2/2 7/58 33:06 BG 27/32 251 58 203 9/145 0/0 19/31/2 5/474 0/0 5/55 26:54 zone due to stellarline Dlav M I C H I C-A 12-12 7-10 4-4 23-26 I G A N Ys 110 85 60 2ss5 TD 1 0 2 Att 5 2 12 12 6 6 4 6 3 56 No. 9 3 2 2 2 2 1 23 Yds 129 66 62 59 56 33 30 25 7 467 Yds 118 38 26 25 25 16 3 2 2 255 Avg 25.8 33 5.2 4.9 9.3 5.3 7.5 42 23 8.3 Avg 13.1 127 13.0 12.5 12.5 8.0 2.0 11.1 Lg 47 61 11 11 35 19 16 9 4 61 L9 36 30 17 14 17 14 2 36 0 0 TD 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 7 TD 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 No. Yds Avg Lg No. Yds Avg Lg TD 4 10 12.s 28 0 No. Yds Avg Lg TD 2 22 11.0 15 0 1 1s 1s.0 is5 o0 3 37 12.3 1s 0 Solo 36 4 Asst 3 3 Tot 6 5 2 1 3 2 0 2 2 0 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 39 18 57 3 0 W L I N G G RE E N By TIM ROHAN Daily Sports Editor It's hard to push the Michigar football team around espe- cially in the red zone. On both sides of the ball, the Wolverines' line play has beer somewhat of a strength NOTEBOOK this season. And Michigan has had suc- cess punching the ball into the end zone, as well as preventing opposing offenses from doing the same. In Michigan's 65-21 win ove Bowling Green on Saturday, twvo of the Falcon touchdowns came on fouTrth-and-goal situations after the Wolverines stoppe them short on the first three downs inside the five-yard line. Bowling Green resorted to the Wildcat formation and fresh- matsrunoing back Jordan Hop- good took a direct snap the first time, lie barely scored ans the second time, it took an extr effort to get around Michigan'si wall of defensive players. "We could not run the foot- ball, and really, even when we scored on some of those goal line plays, we were a little bit lucky,' Bowling Green coach Dave Classon said after the game. "t was because of a great individual. effort in the backfield; it's noI because we have people blocker up front or we created a push at the line of scrimmage. They completely controlled us up front. To be honest with you, thaI was our biggest concern coming into the game." All the offensive line did was pave the way for 466 rushing yards and eight red zone touch- downs - including six on the ground. After Saturday, Michi gan's red zone touchdown effi- ciency is 89 perent - the oteamr has scored touchdowns On 17 o 19 trips. "Anytime we get close to tha end zone, s an offensive line we're all talking to each other telling each other, 'We gotta gel in. We gotta get in,' " fifth-year senior offensive lineman Steve Schilling said. "We don't wan to settle for field goals. We wan seven points every time we're on the field." Last season, the Wolverines struggled to score touchdownsl inside the 20. Michigan cashed in its red zone trips at a 63-per cent clip and scored touchdowns just 53-percent of the time. 'fTe Wolverines are now scoring at will in the red zone and stopping their opponents too. As redshirt junior defensive end Ryan Van Bergen sees it, i all starts up front. "We're really good at getting HUNT FromPage 1B weak Minnesota block to send the Golden Gophers home with their hearts broken. "I think we learned a lot about our team," Rosen said. "We have the ability to compete, to have your back -against the wall and have the courage to say that we can get better. We are starting to believe a little bit." Hunt led the Wolverines in scoring, tallying 31 points. Redshirt sophomore Claire McElheny also contributed to Michigan's scoring offense. She followed Hunt with 16 points. Though the Wolverines' offensive production glossed the comeback performance, it was Michigan's defense that came through in the biggest of ways. Junior libero Sloane Don- hoff accounted for 16 digs, which was especially impor- PASSING Player Pankratz Pagel Totals RUSHING Player Geter Hopgood Pankratz TEAM Totals RECEIVING Player Jorden Pronty Geter Wiley Bayer Cooper Roblott Totals PUNTING Wright Totals KICKOFF RETURNS Player Pronty Totals TACKLES Leacock Morgan Fells l Gates Dunlap Farrington Lorenzi Campbell McIoy Robinson Jorden Bay"'v Wiey Hopgood C-A 17-28 233 19-31 Yds TDO 231 1 20 0 251 1 Redshirt junior Ryan Van Bergen and the defensive line have excelled OND/Dai ed zone situations this season. was in serious doubt. Rumors that he would transfer began swirling around campus after Rodriguez named Robinson the starter for the season opener. The rumors gathered steam when Gard- ner became the second-string quar- terback and Forcier got bumped to third string. "A lot of people said I'm not stay- ing here," Forcier said. "But I'm still here. I love Michigan. I love every- thing about it. I'm not going to leave - not a chance. I love Coach Rod. I love these fans. I love Michigan football." Forcier's giddiness was evident when he was asked what it felt like to get into the game. "Oh God, I was so happy. I was so happy," Forcier said. "It felt like it was my first start again. It just felt so good to go out there and hear the crowd." Fans gave Forcier a warm recep- tion both when he entered the game in the second quarter and when he exited in the fourth after his flaw- less passing day. While some teammates main- tained that Forcier was the same quarterback he was last year, Forci- er and the coaching staff discussed notable improvements. Forcier said - the game has slowed down for him. Rodriguez agreed. "He's more comfortable seeing the field," Rodriguez said. "As (he and Robinson) go throughout their careers, they start seeing things as coaches see them as far as not just focusing on one thing during the play, but they see a whole field and why a play should work." In addition to Forcier's reads and comfort in the pocket, he also showed improvement his passing. The Wolverines, who mixed their pass and run games well - 466 rushing yards and 255 passing - saw very crisp, accurate passes from Forcier. More passing plays are part of the game plan when he's under center. "We try to gear to each quarter- back's strength," Smith said. "All of them can run - Denard's just more explosive than others. (True fresh- man Devin Gardner) can run and Tate can rut, too. We still mix it in, but maybe not quite as much. We try to play to their strengths and go from there." Robinson tweaked his knee, according to Rodriguez, in Satur- day's first quarter and didn't return. The injury isn't expected to be seri- ous, so Forcier's and Gardner's play- ing time will likely decrease in the coming weeks. Forcier says he'll be readyto fill whatever role he's need- ed for. "You never know when your number is going to be called. The Big Ten is a big conference, a rough conference, and it starts up next week," Forcier said. "You have to be prepared. "Coach Rod is the coach and I'm going to let him make the decision, and iftheydecide togowith (Robin- son) and play with him, I'll be right there, ready." Att 12 9 5 1 27 No. 5 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 19 Yds 33 25 -7 -19 32 Yds 64 92 27 25 20 10 7 6 251 Avg 2.8 2.8 -1.4 -19.0 1.2 Avg 128 307 9 12.5 10 5 13.2 Lg 16 8 7 0 16 Lg 24 71 16 19 13 5 71 int 1 1 2 TD 0 2 0 0 2 TD 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 off the ball, and we really take t pride in not gett ing pushed back- wards," he said. RUNNING AWAY WITH IT: s It may have been hard to keep track of which runnting back was on the fiekd by the end of Satur- day's game. Nine players carried the ball 56 times. Sophomore Vincent Smith i and junior :Mike Shaw each lead f the team with12 carries each. M ich igan's leadi log rushers, t however, were sophomore quar- terback Denard Robinson who ran for 129 yards on five carries, t and redshirt freshman running r back Fitzgerald Toussaint, who carried the ball six times for 129 t yards. t The efficient group effort o resulted in 466 yards on the ground. s But the takeaway might be s that Michigan coach ich Rodri- guez was finally able to play more of his running backs. Sat- urtday marked the season debuts of Toussaint and redshirt sopho- t more Mike Cox. "I think all of my guys are pretty good," running backs coach Fred Jackson said. "I t just got to put them in situa- tions where they can have some success so I can examine what tant considering Minneso- ta's physical advantage. The Golden Gophers are a taller and bigger squad, and they recorded 17 team blocks to Michigan's nine. "One thing we talked about before the match is that (Minnesota) is a very physical team," Rosen said. "They make their money by being physical. I kind of liken them to being bullies... They will come in here and try to intimidate our team a little bit. I told our team that, that's what they're trying to do." Thanks to a balanced game plan, Michigan snuck in an upset win over its first ranked opponent of the season. "This is one of the big- gest wins ever," Rosen said. "That's because of how the match played out. It's big because of how down we were. And honestly, I told them that this team is just better than us. "But that doesn't mean that we can't still win it." they're doing."I Freshman Stephen op- kins was the first to spell usual starters Smith and Shaw, andt le began on the right foot. But a late first quarter fumble had him benched for quite some time. When Toussaint got his chance late midway through the fourth quarter, he brokeI through the line of scrimmage' for a 6-yard run- bfore he was n caught from behild on the five- i yard line. Toussaint didn't play a in the first three games of the< season because of a knee injury.' Jackson doesn't think that he's back to full strength jist yet. 1 "You usually don't catch him from beh ind, I'll put it that way," Jackson said. "Fitz can run." Cox also broke a long run of his own. Ite finished aith 56 yards on just six carries- including a 35yard dash. It remains to be seen whether r six different ruining backs wril receive carries when Big Ten plao starts next week. But with a large lead in hand, ichiganI gave a few of its runners some valuable experience. With Robinson out oflthe game for precautionary reasons due too a minori jury, the running boclss shined. 'heir success could help TEAM EFFORT From Page lB You just wanna keep hearing that." Forcier looked like he hadn't missed a beat from his 4-0 start last season. On his first drive, the quarterback marched the Wolver- ines 69 yards in 10 plays to score on a two-yard run by junior Michael Shaw. The touchdown gave Michi- gan a 14-point lead at halftime. "At halftime, we weren't real happy," Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said after the game. "We were happy with what we could do, but we weren't happy with the score." One thing Michigan had no trouble doingwas runningthe ball. Rodriguez played six different running backs and got significant contributions from five of them. On Michigan's first offensive drive of the second half, Shaw and sophomore Vincent Smith com- bined to run the ball eight out of Michigan's 10 plays on the drive, which culminated in a play-action pass from Forcier to redshirt junior fullback John McColgan. And after an interception by senior linebacker Jonas Mouton on the next drive, the Wolverines scored easily on an eight-yard run by Smith, the first of his two touch- downs on the day. In the fourth quarter, Michi- gan fans got their first glimpse of redshirt freshman running back Fitzgerald Toussaint, and he didn't disappoint. On his very first carry as a Wolverine, the Youngstown, Ohio native burst through the Bowling Green defense for 61 yards before being brought downo from behind. He ran the next play in for the touchdown. That long run put Toussaint ahead of Michigan's two premiere backs - Smith and Shaw had 62 and 59 yards, respectively, while Toussaint ended up with 66. Red- shirt sophomore Mike Cox had 56 Robinson down the road. "'When you can line 03 and run the football, y0 oLoo 11up the passing lanes for throwing and you open up so much more," quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said. INJURY UPDATE: With another game came another Robinson injury scare. Near the end of a 46-yard roun doWnl the left sideline, Rob- inson was cauglot from beh ind and tackled out of bounds. He came down hard on h is left knee. When Robinson came out of the locker room to start the second half, loe had the knee heavily wrapped and was seen jogging ol thesidelines. "Ie's fine," Smith said. "Ile just banged himself up a little bit oo bthat last run. IIe actually could've went back in. But We decided not to, let hin rest the rest of the half and then if we needed to come back with him we cooold." Shaw also injured himself blocking down field for Vincent Smith. .fter the game, Rodri- golez soeaid lie was fine. Aod sophomIore quarterback Tate Forcier, who injured his knee, sa id he was looe after the gamooe. No. Yds Avg lg 5 237 47.4 55 5 237 47.4 55 No. 7 1 1 9 Solo 7 9 4 4 3 4 4 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 i Yds 126 16 3 145 Asst 6 3 3 2 3 1 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 Avg 18 161 12 7 5 4 4 34 3 3 3 1 Lg TD 27 0 27 0 Junior running back Michael Shaw had 12 carries for the team lead on Satuday. 0 0 WAN NA WRITE FOR SPORTS? Come to our Sunday meeting at 1 p.m., 420 Maynard St. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE. yards of his own, as well. "All the guys just have their own skill set," redshirt freshman left tackle Taylor Lewan said after the game. "Shaw's really quick, Fitz just has a hard edge, it's all good. These guys are playing really well, and I'm excited to see what they'll do the rest of the season." Lewan, who was made a starter this week after backingup redshirt junior Mark Huyge the first three games of the season, played every offensive snap until seven minutes remained in the fourth quarter. The win makes Michigan 4-0 for the second straight year. But Rodriguez said this team feels dif- ferent from last year, when it fol- lowed its hot start by losing seven of its last eightgames. "We're deeper on offense, for sure," Rodriguez said. "We're deeper at just about every position offensively. Last year was last year and this is a completely different year." Seeing Forcier at the podium after the game was a throwback to last year. The sophomore was great, finishing a record 12-for-12 through the air for 110 yards and a touchdown. The game showcased all three of Michigan's quarterbacks and all three played very well. Overall, Rodriguez was happy with what he saw. "Against Bowling Green and what we were doing today, I thought all three quarterbacks were very efficient," Rodriguez said. "The neat part for us is that all three of those guys have not hit their ceiling yet. Not even close." JED MOCH/Dai Senior setter Lexi Zimmerman set the program's all-time assists record on Friday night against Iowa in Michigan's 3-0 victory.