6 8 - Tuesday, October 5, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom lMAX COLUINS/Daily Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's offense is among the best in the country. The defense is a different story. Skewed time of possession deepens 'M' defensive woes r By TIM ROHAN Daily Sports Editor Check out the Michigan football team's offensive and defensive stats. They're polar opposites. On offense, you'll find national rankings in the top 20 for most categories. The NOTEBOOK defense, on the other hand, is the worst in the coun- try at stoppingthe pass, allowing an average of 307 yards per game. During Monday's press con- ference, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the contrast between his two units. On offense, the players have gained experi- ence and the execution on the field matches that. The defense can't say the same. "I think there's some moments on defense where we have gotten a little bit better but there's also some things we have not gotten better at and it's going to take a little more time," Rodriguez said. "Some of it is goingto be coming with experience, and as they get more reps, but you know, we are not a real deep team over there." Because of the brevity of the Wolverines' drives against Indiana, the Michigan defense was forced to spend a lot of time on the field. The Hoosiers held the ball for nearly 42 minutes. Part of that was the Wol- verines' offensive efficiency, but the other ingredient was the defense's inability to stop the Hoosiers on third down - they converted 11-of- 19. Rodriguez estimated that several defensive players were on the field for more than 100 snaps, while the offense was on the field for less than half of that. And when Michigan's starters got tired on defense, Rodri- guez was forced to play less experi- enced backups. "You're leery to take them out because the next guy in is not close to him from a physical or experi- ence standpoint," Rodriguez said. "We are in a tough, tough situation, but we have to just keep battling through that. And the best way to limit that is to get more three and outs, to get more shorter posses- sions and hopefully get a few turn- overs." There were some positives to take away, even though the Wolverines allowed 568 yards of total offense. Rodriguez said that Michigan did tackle better, which has been a point of frustration this season. As Rodriguez sees it, the Wolver- ines are still 5-0, which is the most important statistic. "We have won and it's like win- ning a prize and winning $10,000 and being all upset because you have to pay taxes on half of it," Rodriguez said. "Still going to take the money, you know, and be happy with it and we won. May not be as excited as taking home money but you're still taking half." ROBINSON GOES DEEP: Sopho- more quarterback Denard Robinson wasn't completely perfect last Sat- urday against the Hoosiers. He did win his third Big Ten Player of the Week award of the sea- son and posted 494 total yards and five touchdowns, but there were a couple of deep passes that Robinson could have connected on in the sec- ond half. "He's missing three out of ten, that's not bad," Rodriguez said. "He missed a couple on Saturday, the one wide open to Junior (Heming- way) - he would love to have that one back. But he's really been pretty good at it for the most part. But a lot of it is just a little bit of touch on it and he'll get better the more we throw with it but I've really been pleased with his accuracy for the most part." Robinson still finished with career highs in passing yards (277) and passing touchdowns (3) and completed 10-of-16 passes. RIVALRY WEEK STARTS NOW: Michigan has lost to its in-state rivals from East Lansing each of the past two seasons. Now the excitement on both sides is at its most intense in years - both teams are 5-0 and ranked in the top-25. The Wolverines have always placed a great deal of impor- tance on the matchup. "They are all big, but this one is bigger," Rodriguez said. "The rival- ry games are always bigger. I'msure they will tell you the same thing. It's a huge thing for both teams every year. The more you win, there's more at stake and there's more at stake this year because both teams are undefeated." INJURY REPORT: Rodriguez said that no new names were on the injury list after the game against Indiana. Rodriguez did note that junior running back Michael Shaw and fifth-year senior nose tackle Greg Banks were fine. Redshirt freshman running back Fitzgerald Toussaint is day-to-day. And to keep Robinson fresh for Saturday, Rodriguez said the quar- terback would be limited in prac- tice, as would some of the defensive players who had extensive playing time. Daily Sports Power Rankings Nick Spar 11 Daily Sports Editor 1 Denard Robinson, Quarterback (Football) It's hard to imagine that, just a month ago, the early-season Heisman frontrunner wasn't even Mich- igan's clear-cut starter. With each zigzagging run and touchdown pass, we easily forget just how lost he looked under center at times last season, especially when he tried to pass the ball. But here's what's easy to remember: the Wolverines wouldn't have salvaged victories over Notre Dame or Indiana (or Massachusetts,efor that matter) if it weren't for Shoelace.While Tate Forcier led his owngame-winning drives over the Fighting Irish and the Hoosiers ayear ago, only a quarterback who seems to dominate at will on every snap can compensate for the miserable state of the Wolverines' defense. Lexi Zimmerman, Setter (Women's Volleyball) Despite a 1-1 record last weekend for the volleyball team, Zimmerman stays put at No. 2. For starters, the loss came to No. 4 Penn State, a team akin to John Wooden's UCLA Bruins in the realm of college athletics. (The Nittany Lions have won 115 of their last 117 matches, dating back to 2007.) In that match, as well as the team's victory against Ohio State, Zimmerman managed to post more than 30 assists and more than 10 kills. With each assist, she's inching her way closer to the all-time Big Ten record. And none of the Michigan athletes who tie their shoes or cleats or skates had incredible eye-popping performances in the last week, so Zimmerman still deserves the hype more than a week after breaking the Michigan assists record. Besides the football team, only the volleyball team has more than one of its players in the rankings (see No. 5). 4 3 Nkem Ezurike, Forward (Women's Soccer) Ezurike is climbing the rankings after yet another clutch performance on Saturday. She scored a game-tying goal in a double-overtime 1-1 draw against Northwestern. It was already the second.time this season she scored a game-tying goal that helped the Wolverines earn a draw. The freshman has six goals in her first 10 collegiate games. Michigan Offensive Line (Football) The offensive line had an entirely different role against Indiana than it did against Bowling Green. Only two players - Denard and Vincent Smith - had carries against the Hoosiers, whereas virtually every running back and quarterback on the Wolverines' roster had a carry against the Falcons. At times, the line didn't open up enough holes for Smith. But as long as the offense is putting up its usual 42 points per game, the unit as a whole is doing enough to hold its spot in my book. S Alex Hunt, Outside Hitter (Volleyball) Hunt has been arguably the most consistent player for Michigan this season, maybe even more consistent than Zimmerman. She has tallied 250 kills, more than double that of any other Wolverine. Thirty of them came last weekend, but her high level of play is nothingnew, as two weeks ago she was named BigTen Player of the Week. Junior Hemingway, Wide Receiver (Footbqll) Hemingway surges into the rankings after hauling in the most important pass of the day against Indiana - a slightly underthrown ball that he went up and grabbed with less than 30 seconds left in a tie game. The 42-yard reception brought the ball to the Hoosiers' four-yard line and all but sealed the deal for Michigan. Hemingway also had a 70-yard touchdown catch early in the third quarter, making him the fourth Michigan receiver this season to have 90-plus yards in a game. 7 Sam Critser (Women's Tennis) In just her second collegiate tournament, Critser won her section of the draw at the Wolverine Invitational after rolling through three consecutive matches. Michigan controlled the tournament from start to finish. Junior Michelle Sulahian won the other half of the draw and the doubles teams took seven of their nine matches. Roy Roundtree, Wide Receiver (Football) Hemingway may be ranked ahead of Roundtree, but Roundtree is becoming Denard's favorite target. He has surpassed 80 yards in three of the first five games and has totaled 14 catches for 244 yards in the last two. Roundtree also gets credit for responding well against Notre Dame (8 catches for 82 yards and a touchdown) after being injured from a huge hit in the opener against Connecticut. Zara Saydjari, Forward (Field Hockey) Through two weeks, the field hockey team has taken ownership over the ninth spot. Last week, goalkeeper Haley Jones earned the spot for posting her third shutout of the season. This week, Sayd- jari takes Jones's place after scoring both goals in a 2-1 upset win over No. 6 Michigan State. The field hockey team also almost took down No. 1 Maryland two days after Saydjari's performance, but the Terrapins ultimately held on for a 4-3 win. Danielle Tauro (Women's Cross Country) At Michigan's first scored meet of the season, Tauro finished sixth individually at the 20-team Wisconsin Invitational last weekend. She shattered her personal-best 6000-meter time and helped the Wolverines to a fourth-place finish. i " S Early on, Glendening embracing co-captainship role By CASANDRA PAGNI Daily Sports Writer After the Michigan ice hockey team's disappointing 4-4 tie with unranked Mercyhurst to open the season on Saturday, Michigan coach Red Berenson decided to switch up the team's top line head- ing into Sunday's exhibition contest with Western Ontario. Berenson moved junior co- captain Luke Glendening from left wing on the team's third line to right wing on the top line. With two goals and one assist in the Wol- verines' 4-2 victory, it's safe to say Glendening made the move pay off. The Grand Rapids native spent the latter half of last season playing on a line with senior Louie Capo- russo and junior David Wohlberg. The three Wolverines netted a com- bined 38 goals on the season, with 63 assists. But to kick off this season,.Glen- dening played on No. 4 Michigan's third line with sophomore A.J. Treais and freshman Luke Mof- fat, while Caporusso and Wohlberg added sophomore Chris Brown to their line. While Caporusso scored one goal in Saturday's game, Wohl- berg and Glendening were kept off the stat sheet against Mercyhurst. On Sunday, after moving Glen- dening to the top line, the unit exploded offensively. The chemis- try and familiarity among Wohl- berg, Caporusso and Glendening was evident. They finished the night with a combined twelve shots on Western Ontario netminder Josh Unice. With Wohlberg at left wing, Caporusso at center, and Glenden- ing at right wing, the line scored three of Michigan's four goals. Caporusso finished with three assists on the night, and Wohlberg added a goal and assist of his own. "(The three of us) just know where each other are going to be on the ice," Glendening said after prac- tice Monday. "We're used to playing with each other, the spacing and all that. It really helps when we don't ('.school of information Connect with SI AN INFORMATION SESSION FOR PROSPECTIVE MASTER'S AND PH.D. STUDENTS Noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23 Great Lakes Room, Palmer Commons RSVP by Monday, Oct. 18 at si.umich.edulrsvp A graduate degree from the School of Information prepares you for an exciting array of Information Age careers, Our Ph.D program prepares you forteaching and research in academia and corporate research labs. Find out how our flexible, multidiscplinary progam wi bene t you! A Michigan MKi can lead to a career as: Archivist, Librarian, Research Analyst Web Marketing Manager, Multimedia Consultant, Data nalyst , Usability Engineer Information Architect, Auction Designer/Manager Cromputational Linguist, Natural Language Engineer, Policy Advisor Museum Curator Community Organizer - and many more! have to think out there and we ju have to play and have fun." While he's unsure whether h will remain a line-mate of Woh berg and Caporusso, Glendenin would rather not focus on it. "Any way we can create a foi | Honoring our pas( >phomore ever to be named an alternate captain on the Michigan hockey team. st mula to win is what we need," he Wovlerines. said. The other alternate captain last ce That perspective shows why season was then-junior Carl Hage- l- Glendening was named an alter- lin, now Glendening's co-captain. ig nate captain for Michigan last sea- Having led by example together son - the first sophomore ever to before, Glendening is comfortable r- be voted into that position for the in the leadership role. "(Carl and I) are both hard work- ers and that's what our leadership Inspiring our future. styles are," Glendening said. "I think also there's a time for being vocal and we are both learning that as we go. There are times we need to step up and say something and make sure whatever needs to be said is said, that people aren't left thinking'well what's going on?"' Tempering his offensive suc- cesses from Sunday with his team-first attitude, Glendening will take a level head into Michi- gan's upcoming road series against e Corps Volunteer Generation. Bowling Green. But as a defen- sive-minded forward, Glendening Event:knows that while the Wolverines irector Aaron Williams found theback of the net often this 30 p.m. past weekend, solid defense will be the key to this team's ultimate suc- nIrton cess. "I think definitely we need to work on defense," Glendening said. is leaving "We need to take pride in that ...If iversary Year! we're letting up as many goals as we had this weekend, it's going to 1il you go? be tough to score that many every gov/application night." Be part of the next Peac Special Information Meet Peace Corps D Thursday, October 14 at 6:: Kuenzel Room, Michigan U peacecorps.umich.edu Apply this Fall for program in 2011 -- Peace Corps'50th Ann Life is calling. How farv 800.424.85801 peacecorps.