U The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com J October 3,2011
MICHIGAN 58 MINNESOTA 0
Finishing mentality helps 'M' offense showcases
Michigan blank Gophers new scheme in blowout1
By TIM ROHAN had been all the players heard.
Daily Sports Editor During winter conditioning, it
was finishing their workouts.
The Michigan defense was When practice started, it was
dangerously close to losing its finishing a play. Then it was fin-
shutout. ishing the games. They've said
Facing the 19th-ranked Wol- they want the fourth quarter to
verines' second-team defense, be their quarter.
Minnesota had the ball at the It's all about finishing.
Michigan 20-yard line with So with Minnesota knocking
about five minutes left in the on the door, Michigan penetrat-
game. ed the backfield and disrupted
Up 51-0, all the defense had the handoff. The ball popped
left to accomplish was to finish loose and sophomore corner-
the game and the shutout. That back Courtney Avery knew
what to do with it.
"I just saw the ball and I saw
the open field and I said, 'No
way I'm falling on this one,' "
Avery said.
He had to finish.
"We're not allowed not to
swarm to the ball - ever," said
junior defensive end Craig Roh.
"It's just natural in the games
that ... if one guy misses a tackle,
there'll be five more guys there."
"It's second nature now,"
Avery added.
See DEFENSE, Page 3B
By KEVIN RAFTERY
Daily Sports Editor
It's playoff baseball season,
and Michigan junior running
back Vincent Smith hit for the
cycle - a football cycle, that is.
In No. 19 Michigan's 58-0
rout of Minnesota on Saturday,
Smith caught, threw and ran for
a touchdown.
"I was just put in the right
place at the right time," Smith
said. "The coaches know what
I'm capable of. I just did what-
ever I had to do for the team to
help them out. It was real fun.".,
Smith's touchdown pass at
the beginning of the second
quarter was one of several trick
plays showcased by Michigan.
offensive coordinator Al Borges
on the day.
On 2nd-and-4 from the Min-
nesota 17-yard line, junior
quarterback Denard Robinson
pitched theball to Smith. Nearly
everyone in Michigan Stadium
thought he'd run - including
the Golden Gopher defense.
"Coach was just stressing
every time I'm in a trick play,
I have to definitely set up the
run," Smith said. "That's the
first thing defenders are look-
ing at."
Smith faked it to perfection,
and found sophomore wide
receiver Drew Dileo wide open
in the back of.e end zone 4r
the score, giving Michigan a
21-0 advantage.
"(Smith) does everything you
want him to do," Michigan coach
See BLOWOUT, Page 3B
* Blue unimpressive, lacks scoring in exhibition loss to Onario
By EVERETT COOK
Daily Sports Writer
No, this wasn't Notre Dame. It
wasn't Ohio State in the Frozen
Diamond Faceoff. It was an exhi-
bition game against an obscure
team the
Michigan UOIT 3
hockey MICHIGAN 2
team had
never played before. The oppo-
nent really didn't matter. Luck-
ily for the Wolverines, the game
didn't really matter either.
On Saturday, Michigan
dropped its first exhibition game
of the year to the Ontario Institute
of Technology, 3-2, in a sloppy
effort highlighted by the Wol-
verines' inability to finish near
the net. Michigan had twice as
many shots on goal as the Ridge-
backs, 56-28, but couldn't convert
54 of those shots into goals. On
top of that, Ontario played more
than a third of the game on the
penalty kill, amassing 22 penalty
minutes. The Wolverines led in
every major statistical category -
except for goals.
"That team turned out to be a
good team," said Michigan coach
Red Berenson. "We don't know
much about our opponent, but it
turned out to be a good team."
Michigan looked to be in the
driver's seat early on, when senior
defenseman Greg Pateryn rifled
in a shot from the blue line for the
early lead. The Wolverines domi-
nated the rest of the first period,
outshooting Ontario 20-6. The
tide started to turn in the second
period. The Ridgebacks tied it up
when sophomore forward Bren-
dan Wise scored an unassisted,
shorthanded goal. Michigan still
outshot Ontario 20-17 in the peri-
od, but failed to find the net.
"We carriedtheplayinthe first
half of the game," Berenson said.
"We kept them in the game. And
then sure enough, they started to
carry the play. They took advan-
tage of our turnovers in the sec-
ond period. They got back in the
game, and it was anyone's game in
the third."
The teams swapped goals in
the final period, with Michi-
gan freshman forward Phil Di
Giuseppe scoring 10 minutes
See EXHIBITION, Page 3B
iED MOCH/Daily
Michigan coach Red Berensorn' icers maanaged just two galen56 shots.
BIG TEN BULLIES,
Nkem Ezurike scored all three of Michi-
gan's goals on the weekend, as the Wol-
verines won a pair of Big Ten road games.
Page 2B
MEET BIG RED
Missing Alex Hunt, the rest of the Wol-
verines were introduced to the Big Ten's
newest volleyball power: the Nebraska
Cornhuskers. Page 2B