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October 04, 2010 - Image 9

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The Michigan Daily, 2010-10-04

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B The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com I October4, 2010

SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
Discussing a
n Michigan's second play first five weeks (383, 504, 345,189,
from scrimmage Saturday, 494), you've said the same thing to
I yourself as he sprinted away from
looked on as the mere mortals that were left in
sophomore his dust.
virtuoso Then, as the dust cleared from
Denard Robin- Robinson's near-eclipsing of the
son sliced and sound barrier, that word crept into
diced, bobbed my head.
and weaved It's too early, I thought. It's only
and outright RYAN beenfive weeks, and thosefive teams
embarrassed KARTJE weren't even that good.
the Indiana But then it began to fester. My
defense for a friends were talking about it. Your
72-yard run that made him look like friends were talking about it. ESPN
a grown man dominating a peewee was talking about it. There was no
game. Media members from Indi- escaping it.
ana looked impressed, but I was You could talk about how bad
shocked and appalled by my own Michigan's defense was, but that
lack of astonishment. wasn't the story. It was Denard Rob-
After all, I had seen this before, inson. It was the obliterated Michi-
um, nine or 10 times. gan record books.
In fact, Denard wasn't even to the It was the H-word.
second level of defenders before I I still cringe a little bit when I say
whispered to myself - He's gone. it, but it's not worth ignoring any-
Chances are, if you've followed more. Denard Robinson is no longer
Robinson's performances in the just great. He's blurring the lines

certain
between hyperbole and reality.
Still I searched for every possible
reason not to start the discussion,
to battle against the omnipresent
power of the national media hype
machine. It has only been five games
after all. But the last five Heisman
winners' stats through five games
offer little consolation to the doubt-
ers.
Last year, Alabama running back
Mark Ingram had just 487 yards and
six touchdowns through five games.
The year before, Sam Bradford had
accumulated almost 1,700 yards and
18 touchdowns by game five, but
most of that came through the air.
Going back even further, Tim
Tebow, in one of college football's
greatest seasons, accumulated 1,730
total yards (1,297 passing, 433 rush-
ing) and 19 touchdowns by week five
of the 2007 season. And in 2005, if
you can still consider ita Heisman
year, USC running back Reggie Bush
notched 791 yards and eight touch-
downs.

trophy
Solid seasons - for someone with
his shoes tied.
But Robinson's numbers tower
over the award's modern winners
through five games of their legend-
ary seasons. His 1,008 yards passing
nearly eclipses 2006 winner Troy
Smith, and Smith rarely ran for any
yards. Robinson's 905 yards on the
ground are closer to Ingram and
Bush's total combined than either
of their separate contributions. And
though itgoes without saying, his
total yardage makes every member
on that list look pedestrian through
five games.
There's only one candidate in the
history of the honor who Denard
looks like through five games. And
it's the most staggering comparison
of all.
Barry Sanders' 1988 season is
arguablythe best of any collegiate
football player in the game's history.
He ran for 2,850yards and tallied 39
touchdowns from all over the field,
See H-WORD, Page 3B

THROUGH FIVE GAMES...
Denard Robinson's performance so far this year compared to past Heisman
Trophy winners through the same number oftgames,
IoDenard Robinson, Michigan
20101,913 total yards, 15 TDs
Mark Ingram, Alabama
487 rush yards, 6 TDs
Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
1 665 pass yards, 20 TDs
Tim Tebow, Florida
2 0 1,730 total yards, 19 TDs
Troy Smith, Ohio State
26 1070 pass yards, 14 TDs
Reggie Bush, USC*
792 total yards, 8 TDs
RETURNYARDS NO T INCLUDED IN TOTALS

With Shaw out, Smith
"replaces admirably

Robinson bails out 'D' in close win

By NICOLE AUERBACH
Daily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON - Denard
Robinson's explosive speed, a
struggling defense and a final-
minute victory - same old, same
old for the Michigan football team
in its win over Indiana.
There was one slight difference
in this game.
Five-feet-six-inches, to be
accurate. That's the height of
sophomore running back Vincent
Smith.
For the first time all season, the
Wolverines used just one tailback
in a game. It was a far cry from

last week's merry-go-round of
backs against Bowling Green (six
running backs had carries).
Smith rushed nine times for 80
yards, including a 56-yard touch-
down run late in the third quarter
to put Michigan ahead by a touch-
down.
"I'm sure it helped him get into
a bit of rhythm, being out there
every play," senior offensive line-
man Steve Schilling said. "A lot of
times with the run game, they'll
hit one, two, three yards and then
a big one, like he did.
"Denard's been having most of
our big plays so far, but Vincent's
See SMITH, Page 3B

By TIM ROHAN recalled telling Robinson through
Daily Sports Editor a headset before the drive started,
"Let's go win this ballgame. Go do
BLOOMINGTON - The score- it for us, again."
board read 35-35 with 1:15 remain- Three quick sprints from the
ing in the fourth quarter. Both speedy signal caller got Michigan
Michigan and Indiana had already just past midfield with less than 30
amassed preposterous yardage, but seconds remaining. Then, the Wol-
the ball was in Michigan's hands verines called for vertical routes,
now - sophomore quarterback with redshirt junior wide receiver
Denard Robinson's hands, in par- Junior Hemingway lined up to the
ticular. far right.
And just as he had against Notre Robinson had overthrown a
Dame weeks earler, Robinson did it couple of passes earlier in the quar-
again - leading a clutch last-min- ter, but this time he threw it up and
ute drive to deliver a 42-35 victory let Hemingway make a play on the
for the Wolverines in the confer- ball. Hemingway adjusted to the
ence opener on Saturday afternoon, ball and leaped to make the catch at
extending their winning streak the four-yard line.
over the Hoosiers to 17 games. "He threw it and I had to come
Quarterbacks coach Rod Smith back, go up, high-point it and catch

it," Hemingway said after the
game.
When the team returned from
a timeout, Robinson took the ball,
kept it in his own hands and slipped
around the left side into the end
zone for the game-winning touch-
down with 17 seconds remaining.
It was an ending that seemed
inevitable throughout the game:
whoever had the ball last would
win.
Indiana entered the game with
the Big Ten's top passing attack.
And fifth-year senior quarterback
Ben Chappell played like it, fin-
ishing with 480 yards, setting an
all-time record for passing yards
against Michigan (5-0,1-0 Big Ten).
On the very first drive, Chappell
connected with his three veteran

wide receivers: Tandon Doss, Dam-
arlo Belcher and Terrence Turner.
The Hoosiers (3-1, 0-1) dinked and
dunked their way down the field
throughout the game, taking bits
and pieces here and there.
And it worked against Michi-
gan's defense in the first half. Indi-
ana had three drives that lasted
10-plus plays and 70-plus yards
to tie the game 21-21 at the half,
including a gutsy call at the end of
the half to go for a touchdown with
just enough time for a single play.
While the Hoosiers were din-
king and dunking, Michigan took
full-sized bites out of the Indiana
defense. It started with a 72-yard
touchdown run that Robinson
broke on the Wolverines' second
See ROBINSON, Page 3B

RUSTY PERFORMANCE
U The Wolverines opened their season with
coach Berenson looking for his 700th win. But
after blowing a four-goal lead, 'M' was lucky to
escape the supposed 'tune-up game'. Page 2B

SWEET REVENGE
* The Michigan men's soccer team got some
revenge yesterday against Penn State, who
knocked the team out of the Big Ten
Tournament last year. Page 2B

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