The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
September 26, 2011 - 3B
ThAihgn al qihiadiyomSpebr26 01-3
GAME
STATISTICS
Michigan handed first
loss of season by Purdue
Tam Stats
First Dwn
Rush/Yds
Pssing.Yar
OffesiePlays
TtlIOffense
KickreGt1r/ Yds
Pun0t rer/ Yds
Comp/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
Fuble/Lost
Penaltie/Yar
Timo OPos
MICH
45/320
93
62
413
0/0
2/21
8/17/2
4/49
3/2
4/25
30:13
SDSU
50
29/123
253
77
376
4/75
2/22
23/48/0
6/38;2
4/3
6/5
29:47
ASNG M I C H I G A N
Player C-A Yds TD Int
Robinson, D. 8-17 93 0 2
Totals' 8-17 93 0 2
RUSHING
Player Att Yds Avg Lg TO
Smith 9 47 5.2 32 1
Hopkins 1 8 8 8 7
O~Tea 1 92 92 92 0
Pos 4s 3OA A.1 3 47
RECEMVNG
Player No. Yds Avg Lg TO
Rondtree 2 5
Dileo 1 17 17 17 0
Hemmngwa 4 0 A
Gllon 1 3
Totals 8 93 1106 32 0
PUNTING
Player No. Yds Av -
Totals 4 196 49 51
PCOP R ETCRNo. Yds Avg Lg TD
Totals 0 0 0 0 0
Plye REUNNo. Yds Avg Lg TD
Gallon 1 21 21 21 0
Tota 1 21 21 21 0
TACKLES
Player Solo Asst Tot
Gordon, T 6 1 7
Ryan 4 1 5
Woolfolk 3 2 5
Hawthorne 2
Floyd 2 1 3
Johnson, C. 1 2 3
Rah 2 0 2
Furm 1 1 2
Morgan 1 1 2
Martin 1 1 2
Heininger 0 1 1
Totals 44 24 68
S A N D I E G O S T A T E
PASSING
Player C-A Yds TO Int
ByMATT SPELICH
Daily Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE - The
final nail in the Michigan volley-
ball team's coffin Saturday night
was a service ace, courtesy of
Purdue defensive specialist Blaire
Bashen.
That MICHIGAN 3
final kill INDIANA 0
whipped
the Boil- MICHIGAN 0
ermakers' PURDUE 3
student
section into a frenzy. The crazed
fans - basking in the score-
board's bright red glow of Purdue
3, Michigan 0 - looked as though
they were about to tear the stands
apart board by board.
With blank expressions the
Wolverines stuck to routine -
they shook hands, collected bags
and jogged into the locker room.
For all the plays and scenarios
that Michigan coach Mark Rosen
ran his team through, he never
taught it how to lose. After a spec-
tacular undefeated preseason and
conference opener, perhaps he
believed it never would.
The 18th-ranked Wolverines
lost to No. 13 Purdue in three
sets, dropping each of the first
two sets by the same 26-24. Both
teams handily won their confer-
ence openers the night before,
with Michigan sweeping Indi-
ana in three sets and the Boiler-
makers dismantling Michigan
State in similar fashion. Both the
Wolverines and Purdue also had
undefeated records entering the
weekend and shared the label of
having strong offenses. But the
Boilermakers managed to find
that slight edge to put it away.
"You don't learn stuff from
succeeding all the time," Rosen
said. "You learn a hell of a lot
more from losing. It's all about
the process. It's alongseason, and
we are looking to be the best team
we can be by the end of the year.
Tonight we failed at some things,
but we have to learn from those
failures and go from there."
Prior to the game, Purdue's
Associate Athletics Communica-
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior outside hitter Alex Hunt was held in check by Purdue in Michigan's 3-0
loss on Saturday.
ROBINSON
From Page lB
season.
If it weren't for a wide-open
dump-screen pass to Smith,
which went for 32yards, Robin-
son would've finished the game
with 61 passingyards.
His 93 total yards through
the air were the lowest com-
plete-game total in his career.
He broke his record from a
week ago, when he threw for 95
yards.
"(Former TCU quarterback)
Andy Dalton had plenty of
problems with (that defense)
a year ago - and it's not an
easy defense to try and figure
things out," Hoke said. "But he
did a good job there in the run
game."
Every week, Borges and
Hoke key in on Robinson's foot-
work: feet set, clean pocket,
choose wisely. That was the
case several times Saturday, but
Robinson still couldn't deliver.
"They go out there and they
fly around everywhere," Robin-
son said. "So you can say it was
(the defensive scheme), but we
worked on it all week and I've
just got to execute.
"Just some throws, I
shouldn't have forced them.
Just take my time and do what
coach taught me."
In the fourth quarter, Lind-
ley looked like the NFL-caliber
quarterback Hoke spoke of
all week - feet set and follow
through. Michigan couldn't
have played better coverage on
several throws Lindley com-
pleted. But the Wolverines had
a plan early on - hit Lindley
and make him scared of getting
hit again.
"We knew that if we got in
his face, got pressure to him,
pressed the pocket on him, he'd
get happy feet and make missed
throws," said senior defensive
tackle Mike Martin. "He's a
good quarterback and he can
sling that thing around. If you
don't get in his face, he can
throw it as well as anyone."
Even with a clean pocket,
and no pressure, Lindley's
throws were off target at times.
When the pressure did come,
he got rid of the ball so early
the receivers were still running
their routes. Michigan's mind
games had no bigger impact
than on third downs, where
Lindley and San Diego State
converted just 8-of-18 attempts.
Lindley didn't have much
help from sophomore running
back Ronnie Hillman, who was
the nation's second-leading
rusher entering the game. He
fumbled twice.
Still,withLindley's11-for-25,
114-yard three-quarter perfor-
mance, the Aztecs were within
two touchdowns of upsetting
Hoke's new school after Lind-
ley threw a strike to his wide
receiver, who had a Michigan
defender draped all over him.
Then Lindley threw for 139
yards in the fourth quarter,
making NFL throw after NFL
throw - the kind of throws
Borges wished Robinson would
make.
Lindley made his case.
But the Aztecs had to stop
Robinson with eight minutes
left and the ball near midfield.
Robinson did what he does
best, sprinting for a nail-in-
the-coffin, catch-me-if-you-
can 30-yard run.
New examples arise each
week as to why Hoke shouldn't
try and pound a square peg
into a round hole. But he still
struggles with the question:
how can he play to Robin-
son's strengths and still have
a respectable West Coast pass-
ing game and a traditional
running back-led ground
attack? It's an even tougher
question if Robinson's running
ability or the threat to run is
winning games.
"We. know we just have to
sustain drives, get the ball
flowing and get in a rhythm,"
Smith said after the game.
That's up to Robinson, spe-
cifically his arm.
"I want to see what plays
he got us into," Hoke said,
defending his quarterback.
"That's something that the
quarterback never gets credit
for.
"We won the game."
Hoke's quarterback is now
the fourth-leading rusher in
the country with 552 yards,
but he's also tied for fourth-
most in interceptions thrown,
and tied for 84th in passing
yards.
But would Hoke choose
Ryan Lindley over Denard
Robinson?
Probably not.
tions Director Wendy Mayer laid
out what she believed to be the
Boilermakers' plan of attack.
"We are looking to shut down
(senior outside hitter) Alex
Hunt," Mayer said. "We want to
make her invisible. She's burned
us too many times in the past."
The Boilermakers did exactly
that - Hunt had a season low of
two killsin the first set that ended
up contributing to a total of seven
kills over the course of the match.
Although sophomore middle
blocker Jennifer Cross picked up
the slack, leading the pack with
nine kills overall, it wasn'tenough
to put Michigan over the top.
The match was relatively even
with the exception of two key
aspects - attack errors and block-
ing. The Wolverines earned twice
as many attack errors as Purdue,
and the Boilermakers doubled
Michigan's blocks.
The inverse correlation was no
accident.
Purdue had one of the biggest
front lines Michigan has seen all
season. It wasn't particularly tall,
but it was quick in the air. If a
team can be up in the air quickly,
it can block more attempts, put
the opponent on its heels, and
cause its players to augment their
shots and force errors.
The Wolverines knew this for-
mula well, because they are usu-
ally the ones imposing their will
on other teams. The shoe didn't
fit so well on the other foot this
weekend.
In sharing his feelings on the
game, Rosen harkened back to a
quote by Hunt, which she uttered
two weeks ago over dinner after
the Pepperdine win:
"Boy, what a difference two
points can make," Hunt said.
Those words haunted Rosen in
the locker room after that third
and final set. Two points in the
other direction in either the first
or second set could have yielded
an entirely different result.
"(If we had won) Purdue would
have been in the locker room
before set three asking them-
selves some tough questions,"
Rosen said. "Then we could have
jumped on them in game three,
and gutted out the win.
"What you're seeing is the
frailty of athletics. We're all just
walking on a balance beam. The
wind is blowing, and it could go
either way. We just have to find a
way to win."
RUSHING
Player A
Hillman
Lockett
Kazee
McFadden
Lindley 7
Totals
RECEIVING
Player P
Oenso ;
Lockett 7
Escobar
Hillman 2
Russell t
Kazee
Totals
Att
21
2
3
2
1
29
No.
7
7
5
2
1
1
23
Yds
109
13
10
5
-14
123
Yds
77
71
64
15
15
11
253
Avg
3.3
25
42
Avg
11
1s5
Ls
20
s
4
10
-14
30
LS
21
16
0
13
15
11
30
TD
0
TD
0
1
PUNTING
Stahovich
Totals
KICKOFF RETURNS
Lockett
Totals
TACKLES
Player
Parker
Lemon
Andrews, R.
McFadden
Thomas
Fely
Siluano
Harris
Andrews, M.
Meredith
Tenhaeff
Stves
No> H, Avg g
6 229 38 2 w
No. Yds Avg ' !g
4 75 18.8 29
4 75 18.8 29
Solo Asst
7 3
4 2
3 .3
3 1
2 2
3
2
1
1
0
2
3
0
24
Tot
10
6
6
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
60
DEFENSE
From Page 1B
fumbles of his careeer - his
other was on his first career
carry for Hoke last season.
Fifth-year senior defensive
tackle Ryan Van Bergen caught
Hillman from behind inside the
10-yard line and knocked the
ball loose for the second fumble.
Try reading it this way: a 288-
pound defensive tackle caught
the nation's second-leading
rusher from behind in the open
field - 30 yards away from the
line of scrimmage. Van Bergen
got a block from fifth-year senior
defensive tackle Mike Martin,
but most of his help came from
practice.
"But when it comes down to
it, we have the most explosive
player in the country in our
backfield," Van Bergen said. "We
get to play against (junior quar-
terback) Denard (Robinson),
so we've learned how to take
angles at guys who have speed.
"I took off on my horse just
thinking, 'I've almost caught
AZTECS
From Page 1B
the goal line or short-yardage
defense.
There were other uses for the
pictures as well.
"It was our way of telling them
how much we missed them,"
Long said. "But the real reason
we used them was because they
know our signals. So we were try-
ing to figure out a way to signal
the defense to our defense with-
out them knowing exactly what
we were in."
The plan didn't work out as
well as Long would have liked.
He said the signs might have been
part of the reason the Aztecs
struggled on defense in the first
half - San Diego State gave up
208 yards on the ground, with no
answer for Michigan junior quar-
terback Denard Robinson, who
rushed for 140 yards and three
touchdowns.
Denard before, maybe I can
catch this guy."'
The lion caught the gazelle,
for once. But the whole family
feasted on Lindley.
Michigan learned early that
Lindley couldn't handle the blitz
- throwing erratically with a
collapsing pocket. So Mattison
dialed up the pressure.
"We knew that if we got in
his face, got pressure to him,
pressed the pocket on him he'd
get happy feet and would miss
throw," Martin said.
The final line on the quar-
terback read 23-for-48 passing
for 253 yards and a touchdown.
Not gaudy. Not glorious. Not the
same quarterback his old coach
remembered Ryan Lindley being.
The lone score came late in the
third quarter, when Lindley spun
a tight throw to wide receiver
Colin Lockett crossing over the
middle for a 16-yard touchdown.
It ended a nearly six-quarter
scoreless stand by the Wolver-
ines, stretching back to a field
goal by Eastern Michigan to open
the second quarter last Saturday.
"We actually thought in the
process it would help us," Long
said. "I don't think it did. It prob-
ably would have been better if we
hadn't done it.
But it was really a tribute to
them, because we're all friends
and we know they're gonna do a
great job here."
As for the Michigan players:
"We were laughing," Robinson
said. "Everybody was in that hud-
die laughing. They got pictures of
our coaches up there - it's crazy."
A YOUNG DONOVAN WAR-
REN?: In the second quarter,
fifth-year senior cornerback
Troy Woolfolk was off the field,
injured. Again.
Woolfolk has suffered vari-
ous injuries this year, including a
tweaked left ankle in the season
opener against Western Michi-
gan. And it was that same ankle
that he "tweaked" again on Sat-
urday.
"I'm sure that's day-to-day,"
Hoke said of the injury. "If I
The offense scored 52 points in
that time.
"Whenever we can watch
our offense (from the sidelines),
we always play better defense,"
Martin said.
But the Michigan offense
wasn't so kind as to oblige against
the Aztecs. Robinson threw two
interceptions and running backs
fumbled the ball away twice, put-
ting the defense back on the field.
"Don't let (turnovers) trans-
late into points, because that's
how you get beat," Van Bergen
said.
For this new Michigan
defense, there's one way to
respond.
"Get 11 hats on the ball," Van
Bergen said.
The forced turnovers came -
three fumbles. So did the stops.
Michigan made three fourth-
down stops and ten third-down
stops.
"I thought our defense kept us
in the game, because we tried to
give it away," Hoke said.
Hoke may not have recog-
nized his former offense across
know Troy, he'll come out tomor-
row and do everything that we'll
do."
Freshman cornerback Blake
Countess replaced Woolfolk,
and he made the most of his time
on the field. He recorded seven
tackles - tied for a team-high -
and broke up a pass.
"(Countess) is a talented
young guy," Hoke said. "He's
done a good job. He has great
pride in performance, so he gets
himself ready to play."
Fifth-year senior Ryan Van
Bergen compared Countess to
former Michigan cornerback
Donovan Warren, a 2009 All-Big
Ten selection and current mem-
ber of the Detroit Lions practice
squad.
"He has a swagger about him,"
Van Bergen said. "He's very con-
fident in his abilities, and I think
the more reps he gets, the more
time he'll see because I think
he'll prove that he can play. I
think the coaches are slowly get-
Redshirt sophomore safety Thomas Gordon wraps up an Aztec running back.
the field, but the defense was as coached at Michigan in the mid-
familiar as an old friend. He saw 1990s, and he took it with him.
this style of defense when he Now it just might be back.
1
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ting more comfortable with him
and rotating him in."
WILL IT EVER GET BETTER?:
Entering Saturday's game, red-
shirt sophomore kicker Brendan
Gibbons had only attempted one
field goal this season - a 21-yard
chip shot that he converted
against Eastern Michigan last
week.
That didn't exactly convince
Michigan fans that he's the
answer for the Wolverines' kick-
ing woes.
Gibbons and redshirt sopho-
more Seth Broekhuizen went a
combined 4-for-13 on field goals
last year, good for last in the
nation.
And on Saturday, Gibbons
didn't exactly help the cause.
With 3:30 left in the third
quarter and Michigan leading
21-0, Gibbons lined up on the
right hash for a 40-yard field
goal as the Big House collective-
ly held its breath.
He had the distance, but he
pushed it left. No good.
"I think it was just one bad
kick," Hoke said. "I can tell
you from how he planted, not
that I'm (former NFL Pro Bowl
kicker) Garo Yepremian at all or
know much about the kicking
aspect, but he just didn't plant
well and kind of pushed it."
ONE BIG, POWERFUL FAM-
ILY: When asked after the game
if there was anything about his
team that surprised him, Hoke
paused.
He made a few faces and
thought about it for a good five
seconds.
And then his face lit up.
"I like how they like each
other," he said. "I've been
around teams that don't like
each other. And if they like each
other enough and respect each
other enough, they're gonna play
for each other.
"When they play for each
other and they play for Michi-
gan, that's a powerful thing."