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GAME STATISTICS

October 11, 2010 - 3B

Drops plague Michigan wide receivers

Team Stats
First Downs
Rush/Yds
Passing Yards
Offensive Plays
Total Offens
Kick retuns/Yds
Punt returns/ Yds
Comp/Att/Int
PuntsN/Hg
Fum es/Lost
Penalies/Yards
Time ofPoss
PASSING
Robinson, D
Toal
SRUSHING
Player A
Robinson, D
Shaw
Hopkins
Totals 3
RECEIVING
Player N
S Roundtree
Shaw
Smithy
Odoms
webb
Koger
Tta's
PUNTING
Player N
Hage l
PItyKN
KICKING
Broekhuize 1
Totals
KICKOFF RETURNS
Gallon
Stonum
Totals
*K T
PIT EURN
PlKyTN
TACKLES
Player
Ezeh
Mouton
Martin
Gordon, T:
Rodgers
Banks
Fitzgerald
Sim moms
Hi gwa
Van Bergen
Black
MI
PASSING
Couss
Nichol
Totals
RUSHING
Player A
Caper
Martin
TEAM
RECEIVING
Player N
Cunningham
Del
Nichol
Linthicum
Gantt
Caper
Toas 1
PUNTING
Playar,
Totals
PlyerN F
Conroy 2

KICKOFF RETURNS
Martin
Bell
Totals
TACKLES
Player
Robinson
Adams
Rucker
Worthy
Hammock
Sryhorn
Lewis
Hoover
White
El worth
Jones, J
Bates
Bullough
White
Totals

MICH
34/162
215
63
6/126
1/14
17/29/3
4/47.0
U/U
3/35
24:05

MSU
42/249
.287
68
4/56
1/9
19/26/0
4/45.U
1/U
6/65
35:55

M I C H I G A N
C-A Yds TD
17-29 215 1
17-29 215 2

Att
21
4
2

Yds
29
13
162

Avg
72
6.5
4.8

Lg
21
7
21

TD
1
0
1
TD
0

By RYAN KARTJE
Daily SportsEditor
The Wolverines trailed by
four points in the second quar-
ter as sophomore quarterback
Denard Rob-
inson dropped NOTEBOOK
back and saw
one of his favorite targets, red-
shirt sophomore wideout Roy
Roundtree, open across the
middle of the field. It looked as
though his throw would be a
guaranteed touchdown.
But as the ball reached
Roundtree, it hit the Trotwood,
Ohio native directly in the hands
and fell incomplete.
It wasn't until Roundtree
reached the endzone that he real-
ized he didn't have the ball.
"I just lost focus on it,"
Roundtree said after the game.
"I tried to just catch it go into the
endzone, but I realized I didn't
have the ball and thought of it as
a mistake. Lesson learned."
But Roundtree wasn't the only
BERENSON
From Page 1B
time in the box with offense.
The Wolverines out-shot Bowl-
ing Green 53 to 36 on the week-

receiver who made a few agoniz-
ing mistakes in the Wolverines'
34-17 loss to the Spartans.
In fact, many of the explana-
tions Michigan (1-1 Big Ten, 5-1
overall) players gave after the
loss centered around their own
mistakes on both sides of the ball
- mistakes that made the game
too far out of reach, especially
against a poised team like Michi-
gan State.
"There's nothing on the field
that went wrong that can't be
fixed," redshirt junior slot receiv-
er Kelvin Grady said. "We had a
couple of things that went wrong,
a couple of dropped balls - that
can be fixed."
None of the drives were more
frustrating for the maize and
blue, however, than the Wolver-
ines' drive late in the third quar-
ter when Robinson passed three
balls to three different receivers
- a different wideout on first,
second and third down - all of
which were dropped.
Robinson ended the game with

his worst completion percentage
of the year - 17 completions on
29 attempts - but the mistakes
made by his wideouts definitely
contributed to the Michigan
quarterback's worst performance
of the season.
TROUBLES IN THE GAP: For
much of the game, Michigan's
pass rush seemed to be in top
form.
Michigan State quarterback
Kirk Cousins, a natural pocket
passer, was forced to make quick-
er reads and scramble more than
usual as defensive linemen like
junior nose tackle Mike Martin
spent more time in the backfield
than they had in previous games.
And through the past three
games, the Wolverines have tal-
lied a three-sack effort (against
Bowling Green) and a pair of
two-sack efforts (against Michi-
gan State and Indiana).
"We were getting pressure on
the quarterback all day," fresh-
man defensive end Jibreel Black
said. "We just let up a few big

plays and that's kind of where
they got us."
But the line's play against the
pass wasn't the issue on Saturday.
Coupled with the linebackers,
the defensive line struggled to
fill running lanes, giving Spar-
tan running backs Edwin Baker,
Le'Veon Bell and Larry Caper
ample room to bust big runs.
"We just had miscommuni-
cation on who's got what gap,"
redshirt junior defensive line-
man Ryan Van Bergen said. "It's
simple. Run defense is simple.
Everyone has one gap and you're
accountable for that gap. We
weren't in the right one twice,
same play."
Those two plays resulted in
a 61-yard sprint from Baker and
a 41-yard run from Bell, both
for touchdowns, which gave the
Spartans a great deal of momen-
tum heading into the half.
The touchdowns runs were
the two longest running scores
the Wolverines have given up all
season.

No,
6
2
2
1
1
1
17

Yds Avg Lg
48 8.0 15
42 220 2
17 8.5 10
13 6.5 9
49 49.0 49
12 12.0 12
6 6.0 6
215 12.6 4

No. Yds Avg 
4 188 47. 6

r . ; r rtv, F+
k ° . ;.. .. s
}j of .
x .. T
":
" . . _

SPECIAL TEAM
From Page lB

S
u
ft
t(

FG Pc Lg
1-2 50.0 34

XP Pts

No. Yds Avg Lg TD
4 1 22,8 26 0
2 35 175 21 0
6 126 21.0 26 0
No Yds Avg Lg TD

end.
"If you win the first game on
the road you know the second
game is going to be tougher and>
it was," Berenson said after Sat-
urday's game. "We were fortu-
nate to get the lead in the first
period, but Bowling Green bat-
tled back and they were always
in the game. You never felt like ARIEL BOND/Daly
you were safe, even with a two- Senior forward Louie Caporusso showed his prowess on special teams this
goai lead." weekend, getting his first penalty-kill time of his Michigan career


Solo
4
4
2
3

Asst
3
5
4
2
2

9
9

I 1
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
0 1
42 33
4 1 C H I G A N

T A T E
TD
1
0

C-A
18-25
1-1
19-26

Yds
284
3
287

Att
8
1
9

Yds Avg
34 4.2
15 15.0
- - 1.0

Lg
8
15
0

TD
1
1
1
0
0
0
3
TD
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0

No. Yds Avg
5 40 8.0 15
3 3 31.0 44
1 42 42.0 42
1 34 34.0 34
1 7 70 7
1 5 5.0 5
1 23 3 .0 0

No. Yds Avg Lg
4 180 45.0 69
FG Pct. Lg XP Pts
2-2 100.0 38 4 10

On Saturday, junior left wing minutes into the second period. the
David Wohlberg scored his sec- Caporusso's responsibilities ute
and goal of the season and the increased when senior center del
series to put the Wolverines up Matt Rust - a crucial mem- sid
1-0 with just under 10 minutes ber of Michigan's top line and he
remaining in the first period. penalty-kill unit - went down
Freshman defenseman Jon with an undisclosed injury on Ru
Merrill added a power play goal Saturday. "O
three minutes later and junior But the Wolverines didn't we
defenseman Brandon Burlon net- miss a beat. Senior netminder W
ted Michigan's third goal of the Bryan Hogan - the starter in to
night as the Wolverines looked Saturday's contest - came up als
unstoppable in the first period. big for the Wolverines, making siti
"Obviously, taking the crowd 16 saves to get the win. yoi
out of the game I think is impor- His counterpart, senior goal- ph
tant," Berenson said. "We're on ie Shawn Hunwick, got the nod
the road and you don't want in Friday's game and didn't dis- Ly
to play from behind. We were appoint either. Hunwick made jus
fortunate to get the lead, so I 17 saves to grab Michigan's first pe
thought that was a big advan- win of the season against the for
tage. We played the whole game Falcons (0-2-0 CCHA, 0-2-0
pretty much with the lead." overall). Be
While Michigan would never In Friday's matchup, the sm
relinquish its one-goal advan- Wolverines found themselves ing
tage Saturday, 25 penalty min- down 1-0 after eight minutes in pa
utes in the second period alone the first period, when Bowling
put the Wolverinepenaltykill in Green made good on a power Gr
overdrive. Senior center Louie play. But Michigan responded tea
Caporusso found himself called less than two minutes later with ga
to play onthe penalty kill for the a power play goal of its own gat
first time in his Michigan career when Rust scored on the give- thi
this weekend and didn't miss his and-go from senior forward bel
opportunity to impress, as he Carl Hagelin. to,
scored a shorthanded goal five Wohlberg added his name to his
making the right decisions on
RED ZONE who he was targeting on those
From Page 1B interceptions, but that Robin-
son just didn't time the throws
It didn't help that, at one correctly.
point, the Spartans scored 31 Robinson had thrown just
points on five straight posses- one interception all season
sions spanning the second and before Saturday, when he threw
third quarters. But without the three.
turnovers, the Wolverines may And the Wolverines had pre-
have been able to keep up. viously converted touchdowns
Michigan did have a chance in 38 of 42 red zone trips - for a
to cut into Michigan State's 90-percent success rate. Michi-
24-10 lead early in the second gan reached the endzone on two
half. of its five trips against the Spar-
But Robinson threw another tans.
red zone interception and gave "All year, every time we get
the ball back to the Spartans' down there, we've been able
lethal offense. to score," fifth-year senior
Smith said that Robinson was offensive lineman Steve Schil-
inson was starting only his sixth ki
game of his career Saturday g
From Page 1B afternoon.
"He wasn't as sharp as he th
In the second half, the Spar- usually is," Rodriguez said. in
tans could do anything they "You've got to remember he's ig
wanted on offense. Michigan's still a young player and this is his as
defense continued to struggle sixth game. As soon as we watch of
the way it has all year, only get- some film with him and find out th
ting stops when it brought the what he was thinking on some of TI
blitz and put pressure on junior those plays, we'll have a better th
quarterback Kirk Cousins. answer." be
Michigan State scored on its After the interception, the fr
first drive of the second half. Spartans scored on the ensuing
Michigan followed that by turn- drive on an eight-yard run by h
ing it over once again, when Rob- sophomore running back Larry I
inson looked for redshirt junior Caper, putting Michigan State se
wideout Junior Hemingway up 31-10. li
coming across the middle but At the end of the third quar- P
threw another interception in ter, Robinson led an impressive se
the red zone. drive that included a 17-yard Bt
Robinson had by far his fourth-down pass to redshirt to
worst outing of the season. The junior wide receiver Kelvin ye
first-year starter threw three Grady and resulted in a four-
interceptions and just one touch- yard touchdown run by Robin- st
down. son. ne
"I kind of hesitated a lot," The Wolverines appeared w
Robinson said. "Made some bad to have one last chance in the H
reads ... I got too excited." fourth quarter, but a deep throw
Rodriguez urged media after by Robinson was intercepted. aT
the game to remember that Rob- Michigan Stte got the ball and w

e stat sheet just over one min- lin
later when he splitthe Falcon te
fenders and scored blocker- mt
e to put Michigan up 2-1 pe
ading into the second period.
"We started off strong," m
st said after Friday's game. aft
ur first four or five shifts, vic
matched their intensity. to
e knew that they were going we
come out strong and hit. It's alt
ways that way. This rink tran-
ions really, really fast and Pe
u've got to get ready for the we
ysical game." fir
Sophomore right wing Kevin ig
nch added a power play goal
t 52 seconds into the second th
riod to give Hunwick a com- Be
table two-goal lead. of
"Lynch's goal was huge," op
renson said. "(It was a) real Mi
art playby Jon Merrill, shoot- ga:
the puck on the ice, getting it he
st the penalty killer."
As Michigan and Bowling a
een were the only two CCHA Po
ims playing in-conference so
mes this pastweekend, Michi- fr
n's sweep put the team atop 1c
E conference for the time ste
ing - and sent Berenson back as
Ann Arbor with 701 wins for se
career.
ling said. "Obviously having
those turnovers and getting
zero points, not even coming
away with three is tough. If
we had those two touchdowns,
it would've been a different
game."
Michigan's offense wasn't
completely shut down by the
Spartans. Although there were
times of struggle, the Wolver-
ines did finish with 377 yards of
total offense.
The difference in the game
may have been that when
Michigan needed to punch the
ball into the endzone in order
to hang with Michigan State,
the Wolverines left with three
points instead of 21.
cked a field goal to seal the
ame.
The loss is Michigan's first of
e season, but it is a heartbreak-
g one for Michigan fans. Mich-
an State was viewed by many
the Wolverines' first true test
the season. But it wasn't just
e fans who were heartbroken.
he game was a gut punch for
re seniors as well, who haven't
eaten the Spartans since their
eshmen year.
"It's really hard. Having to
ave to say that I lost more than
beat them is tough," fifth-year
nior lineman Stephen Schil-
ng said. "I wanted to get the
aul Bunyan trophy back my
nior year and go out that way.
ut I just told the younger guys
go outthere and getthem next
ear"
After the game, Robinson
ressed the need to move on to
ext week, when the Wolverines
ill welcome Iowa to the Big
louse
"We've got to turn it around
td get ready for Iowa next
eek." Robinson said.

Through three games, the penal- a
kill has continued its dominance e
>m last year, allowing just three
als in 25 opportunities, and pick- b
g up two shorthanded goals of its c
n, the first coming from senior s
ater Matt Rust in the season- a
ener against Mercyhurst, and the
cond from senior forward Louier
porusso on Saturday. u
According to
Ust, regardless
the team's suc-
sses this week- "I'm i
d, the bottom"
e is that the ...We Tr
am is taking too
any ill-advised killing W
nalties.
"I'm guilty many per
yself," Rust said
er Friday's 4-1
tory. "We need
find ways to stay out of the box, b
're justkilling way too many pen- b
ies." r
OLD DOG LEARNS NEW TRICK:I
rhaps the biggest surprise of the 1,
eekend was Caporusso getting his
st penalty-kill action of his Mich- g
an career. C
Caporusso has been a specialist on p
e power play for a few seasons, but a
renson senthim on the ice to stave E
f a Bowling Green man-advantage
portunity on Friday. And when r
ichigan was down a few men in i
me two of the series, Caporusso g
ard his name called again. 1
With just six seconds left in
second-period Bowling GreenI
wer play on Saturday, Caporus- b
capitalized on a centering passt
om senior Carl Hagelin on a 3-on- E
counterattack after a center-ice r
eal, beating the goaltender with
lapshot for his second goal of the y
Cason. i
"I credit the coaches for having
"We preach ball security
every day in practice and every
week," Schilling said. "It's one
of our goals on offense every
week, to not have any turn-
overs. Obviously you see that
when you have turnovers things
don't go your way and you lose
games."
As a team, Michigan threw
one interception and lost four
fumbles in five games before
Saturday. And when Robinson
threw his third interception
of the game early in the fourth
quarter, the Wolverines were
down just 14 points despite the
missed opportunities.
"Everybody gets frustrated
when they lose," Smith said.

TO PUNT OR NOT TO PUNT:
With 5:41 remaining in the
game and Michigan trailing by
17 points, coach Rich Rodriguez
sent freshman punter Will Hag-
erup out to give the ball back to
the Spartans. His decision was
met with resounding boos from
Michigan fans, and the Wolver-
ines never got the ball back.
After the game, Rodriguez
admitted that it may have been
the wrong call.
"It was probably a mistake,"
Rodriguez said. "I thought we'd
get a quick turnaround and
maybe get a minute-and-a-half
or two minutes off the clock
and have it ... If I had do-overs, I
wouldn't punt."
INJURY REPORT: Rodriguez
said after the game that junior
slot receiver Martavious Odoms
may have a broken foot.... Martin
said he would be ready to go for
Iowa ... Senior cornerback James
Rogers's status is unknown, but
Rodriguez said Rogers likely just
dealt with in-game cramps.
rust in me," Caporusso said on Sat-
trday. "If you want to play hockey
or a long time, you're going to have
o learn to play in the defensive end
nd play the PK, so I'm pretty excit-
d about it."
Expect Caporusso to continue to
tring a force on both ends of spe-
-al teams play - in addition to the
horthanded tally, he also has a goal
nd three assists on the power play.
INJURY NOTES: In the opening
ninutes of the second periodon Sat-
irday, Rust was tripped up in front
of the Falcons'
net. After being
helped off the ice,
Rust didn't return
to the game.
just The type of
injury has not
ray too been specifically
disclosed, but it
iaities." is being called a
"lower body inju-
ry."
As a mem-
ser of Michigan's top line, it was a
slow to the team, forcing Hagelin to
nove oyer to center on that line as
Vaughan and freshman Derek DeB-
ois filled in for Rust.
"No matter what you do, you're
oing to miss a guy like Matt Rust -
sur top centerman and arguably top
enalty killer," Berenson said. "He's
I real force on the team to lose that
arly in the game."
After Vaughan and Bennett were
elegated to the locker room follow-
ng game misconducts, the Michi-
an bench had to run just three
lines.
"I looked down the bench at one
point and I was like, 'Is there any-
sody on this bench right now?' "
Caporusso said. "It seemed like
very time you got off thatcyou were
ight back out there.
"Sometimes that's good because
ou get into the swing of things, but
t can kind of grind you down after
a while."
"We just have to get our tim-
ing back and be a little bit more
decisive with our decision-mak-
ing."
The last time Michigan over-
came a turnover differential as
great as it faced on Saturday and
won the game was in the 2008
Capital One bowl against the

Florida Gators. In Lloyd Carr's
last game as Michigan's head
coach, the team won 41-35 even
though Chad Henne threw two
interceptions and Mike Hart
fumbled twice.
"When you come away with
three turnovers on defense and
don't give up any on offense, it's
tough to lose the football game,"
Dantonio said.

No. Yds
3 30
1 26
4 56

Avg Lg TD
18 18 0
16 26 0
14 26 0

Solo
6
5
4
5
2
4
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
45

4
1
0

6
3
3
2
2
2

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