The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
September 19, 2011 - 3B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom September 19, 2011 - 38
GAME
STATISTICS
Team Stats
Rsh/Yds
Passing Yards
Offensive Plays
Total Offense
Kickreturns/Yds
Puntreturns/Yds
Comp/Att/nt
Punts/Avg
Fumbles/Lost
Penalties/Yards
Time ofPoss
PASSING M
Player C-A
Robinson, D. 7-18
Totals 7-18
RUSHING
Player Att
RAbi, . 28 1
Toussaint 11
Gardner 1
Totals 50 3
MICH
24
50/376
95
68
471
6/350
3/17
7/18/1
3/35
1/0
2/17
32:15
EMU
46/207
29
52
236
2/133
2/16
3/6/1
5/43.6
1/1
5/45
27:45
DEFENSE
From Page 1B
position," Kovacs said. "We were
right on the goal line. What more
could you ask for?"
Added Eastern Michigan
coach Ron English: "I think
you've got to score from the one-
inch line. If you can't score from
the half-yard line then you're
going to have a hard time win-
ning."
Opening the second quarter
with another fourth down, this
time from the three-yard line,
English had learned his lesson.
He kicked the field goal, giving
the Eagles their first and only
lead of the day.
The saving grace for Michigan
actually ended up being the East-
ern Michigan trailing away from
their jet sweep package.
On a first down in Wolver-
ines territory early in the second
quarter, English checked in Tyler
Benz, his backup quarterback to
an unfamiliar formation.
"They gave us a little funky
formation," Gordon said. "We
knew something tricky was up."
Gillett took the snap and threw
left to Benz, who had stepped
back from the line. He took a
look downfield and angled a pass
toward the near pylon.
Gordon, though, had "sniffed
it out." He lunged for the over-
throw with his right hand, hold-
ing the receiver off with his left.
"It just came down in my
glove," Gordon said.
The explanation was simple
enough, but the catch was spec-
tacular.
Then junior quarterback
Denard Robinson and the offense
woke up, tacking on two touch-
downs before the halftime break.
Another pair of touchdowns
in the third quarter all but sealed
the game up.
Gillett finished the first half
with 29 passing yards. He ended
the game with 29 passing yards.
Zero second-half passing yards,
throwing just once while facing a
double-digit deficit - that's rare,
even for a run-heavy team.
Hoke pointed to the pressure
provided by his defensive line as
a key factor, saying he "felt them
a little more this week." The front
four were led by junior defensive
end Craig Roh, who finally made
his mark on the stat sheet - and
on the field - with five tackles
and a sack.
It seemed Mattison and the
defense had figured the Eagles
out - after their wide-receiver
pass and flea-flicker (two of just
five passes on the day) stumped
them in the first quarter.
"They came out and threw the
kitchen sink at us in the first half
- some formations we've never
seen - and we stayed calm and
knew eventually they'd have to
play some football," Kovacs said.
But English had a different
explanation.
"To me, the biggest thing that
happened was, we weren't doing
that," English said, thrusting
his fist forward to simulate his
running backs running straight
downfield.
"We were doing this," he con-
tinued, movinghis fistin azig-zag
pattern. "And I thought Michigan
improved obviously, but I know
we can run it. And you have to be
willing to take those tough yards
as a back. That was disappointing
to me."
The Eagles finished with 207
rushing yards, compared to the
Wolverines' 376.
Michigan's defense switched
AI C H I G A N
k Yds 1
8 95
1 s5
TD
2
2
Senior linebacker J.B. Fitzgerald and the rest of ther Michigan defense held
Eastern Michigan to 51 yards of total offense in the second half.
RECEIVING
Play'
Gallon
Koger
Dileo
Jackson
Totals
No.
3
2
t
1
7
Yds
46
7
382
Yds
43
21
19
12
95
Avg
4.2
7
7.5
Avg
14.3
14.5
19
12
13.6
L9
52
12
52
24
TD
1
0
1
0
0
0
2
TD
0
1
1
0
2
from making the special plays
occasionally in the first half to
making the correct plays down
the stretch. Eastern Michi-
gan's three points were the least
allowed by Michigan since a 38-0
shutout of Notre Dame on Sept.
15, 2007.
But from the looks of the open-
ing drive, Mattison has plenty to
work on with this group.
Play N No. Yds Avg Lg
Wile 3 10s 3s 41
Totals 3 10s 3s 41
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg Lg TO
Smith 2 31 15.5 17 A
Totals 2 31 15s5 17 0
PUNT RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg Lg TO
"allon 2 17 3
Dileo 1 2 3
Totals 3 17 s6 1 0 1
TACKLES
Player Solo Asst Tot
Hawthorne 7 3 10
Kovacs 4 4 8
Gordon, T 2 4 6
Demens 0 1 1
Blac 3 1 4
Van Bergen 0 4 4
Fitzgerald, J 2 1 3
Floyd 1 2 3
Johnson 1 0 1
Bey' 1 0 1
Washington 1 0 1
Fur"an 1 0 1
Avery 0 1 1
Tas 38 30 68
RAFTERY
From Page 1B
were no bright lights, no para-
chutists, no College GameDay,
no Desmond Howard, no special
band performances and certainly
no intriguing matchups - Robin-
son made it worth watching.
Sure, he had his struggles. He
was just 7-of-18 passing for 95
yards, two touchdowns and an
interception.
At times, he looked more
like a shot-put thrower than a
Division-I quarterback. After
Robinson underthrew fifth-year
senior receiver Junior Heming-
way and Eastern Michigan's
Latarrius Thomas picked it off
on the Wolverines' first drive of
the game, I'm pretty sure I heard
a few strands of hair being pulled
out Michigan fans' heads.
A few plays later, with the
Wolverines on their own two-
yard line, Robinson rolled right
looking to pass, couldn't find
anybody, danced around in the
end zone, juked a couple defend-
ers, lowered his shoulder, ran to
his right and was tackled at the
line of scrimmage.
I'm tired just from describing
the play. It was a no-gain and the
drive resulted in a punt and more
groans from the stands.
But in a way, that's part of
what makes watching Robinson
so fun: You never know what he's
goingto do.
Most quarterbacks would've
just thrown the ball away. Not
Denard. He'd rather dance
around all day looking for day-
light to run. He'll run 20 yards
backwards, 30 yards sideways
and then 21 forward just to gain
a yard.
With the Wolverines down
3-0 early in the second quarter, a
radio announcer behind me pro-
claimed, "This one is starting to
have the smell of an upset."
I'm not sure what he was
smelling, but there was no way
the Eagles would keep Robinson
bottled up forever.
Two drives later, Robinson
found the light. With the Wol-
verines on their own three yard
line, he found a seam and burst
"We can't be getting behind
at the beginning of the game,"
Kovacs said. "If we want to be a
great defense, we've got to stop
them in their tracks at the begin-
ning of the game.
"We came out a little flat, got
off to a rough start again. There's
definitely some things that we
need to do. We need to come out
with that intensity every game."
In Michigan's first drive of the
second half, Robinson racked up
29 rushing yards and zero pass-
ing, capping the drive off with a
one-yard run up the middle for
the score to give the Wolverines
a 21-3 edge.
He cut left, cut right, sprinted
forward, ran backward, juked
sideways, turned it all around -
everything short of completing
the Hokey Pokey - for 198 total
rushing yards and one touch-
down.
On a day when his game was
clearly off, he out-rushed all of
the Michigan running backs by
himself. He nearlyout-gained the
whole Eastern Michigan team.
And asked after the game
what he felt was wrong with his
passing game, Robinson paused
for a second.
"I always got room for
improvement," he said. "That's
the biggest room."
Even confined to a press room,
he found the open space. I'd say
he's worth the price of admission.
-Raftery can be reached
at kraftery@umich.edu.
CHRIS DZOM8AK/Daily
Junior quarterback Denard Robinson was bottled up for a while before he
broke a 52-yard run in the second quarter, on his way to a 198-yard rushing day.
through the Eagles' defense for
52 yards, breezing by defenders
who could only crank their necks
and watch. The play eventually
led to Michigan's first score of
the game.
For the rest of the game, Rob-
inson continued to excel on the
ground and struggle through
the air.
Eastern Michigan I
PASSING
Player
Gllett
RUSHING
Gillett
White
Bufield
Totals
RECEIVING
Player
Shlb
C-A
3-5
Yds
29
29
11
7
5
1
46
No.
3
Yds
80
61
34
18
14
2
220
Yds
18
6
5
29
5.5
4.9
24
2
45
Avg
18
9.7
TD
0
0
0
Lg
14
19
10
18
12
2
19
ig
18
6
5
18
Int
0
TD
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TD
0
0
0
0
ROBINSON
From Page 1B
the first quarter 0-0.
"As much as you say to a play-
er, 'He's going to make plays,' I
think it can be demoralizing,"
English said.
It was never the design to run
Robinson as much as they did.
Earlier in the week, offensive
coordinator Al Borges said he
wanted Robinson to carry the
ball about 15 to 17 times.
"We don't want to get him
beat up," Michigan coach Brady
Hoke said.
"We're going to play in a pret-
ty physical league, so we have to
make sure we get other ways....
It takes a toll on your body, and
he's not the biggest guy in the
world."
But, while Michigan got 118
yards from junior running back
Vincent Smith, the Wolverines
needed Robinson to continue
running the football because
of his struggles in the passing
game from the outset.
On Michigan's first drive,
Robinson threw behind his
receiver for an interception
while attempting to convert on
fourth down. Early in the second
quarter, fifth-year senior wide
receiver Junior Hemingway had
beaten his cornerback on third
down. Robinson overthrew the
long touch pass.
Robinson finished the game
7-for-18 for just 95 yards and one
interception. He did have two
touchdown passes - his second
going to sophomore wide receiv-
er Drew Dileo - but it was the
second straight game Robinson
had completed just two passes in
the first half.
"I think we just got to be bet-
ter with our feet, setting our feet
on some throws," Hoke said.
"That's usually is where it starts
with a quarterback."
By the end of the game, Rob-
inson got benched - in a good
way. With 39 seconds left in the
game, sophomore quarterback
Devin Gardner trotted out to
take the last three snaps. Two
were handoffs, the final was a
designed quarterback run for
seven yards.
When a quarterback passes
for less than 100 yards and still
controls the game enough so
that the backup quarterback
comes in for mop-up duty, some-
times all you can do is laugh.
PUTING
Player
Karutz
Totals
gKICKOFF RETURNS
Player
Paopao
TACKLES
Player
Cudworth
Slater
Poole
wRos
WOsrman
No. Yds Avg lg
5 218 43.6 53
5 218 43.6 53
No.
4
1
1
6
Solo
5
6
5
4
2
4
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
40
Yds
92
17
13
122
Asst
a
2
3
3
5
0
2
2
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
28
Avg
"3
Lg
"2
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