91
8 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011
SpQort s
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
PACKAGE
From Page 1B
many questions in the open-
ing five games, Michigan hasn't,
yet answered one big question
whether it can perform on a
rad trip.
IJ don't know if it's different
or not," Hoke said. "We'll find
out just the demeanor that we
travel with. ... They're out of
the security of the Campus Inn.
There's a lot of familiarity there
with alot of the guys, especially
with the guys who have played
a lot of football here. There's
a lot of distractions out there
you may not have when you're.
verines into a road atmosphere
before playing Michigan State
in Spartan Stadium the follow-
ing week. With a large Michigan
alumni base in Chicago, many of
the fans at Ryan Field will be
sporting maize and blue any-
way.
But whenever the Wolverines
face a hostile crowd that pro-
duces a lot of noise, there won't
be much adjustment needed on
offense.
"We've never really had a
problem in that part of it," Hoke
said. "it hasn't been previously,
and (offensive cooidinator) Al
(Borges), he doesn't do a lot
with it. We've got silent counts
and everything else that we
already use so it's not s big as
an issue."
INJURY NOTES: The biggest
name left off the dress list last
Saturday was redshirt junior
left guard Ricky Barnum, whose
leg was rolled up on during the
San Diego State game.
On Monday, his status for
Northwestern was still uncer-
tain.
"it will kind of be a daily
deal," Hoke said.
Redshirt sophomore line-
backer Cam Gordon, who hasn't
played this season due to a back
injury, dressed on Saturday but
didn't play.
Hoke was concerned with his
conditioning in previous weeks,
but redshirt freshman Jake
Ryan has taken over Gordon's
starting spot and has played
well.
HOKE
From Page 1B
Van Bergen. "If anything, it just
provides motivation for the team
playing against us.
"We don't think we've played
to the potential we need to yet.
We don't think we've played to
the potential of the No. 12 team
in the country. Can we be there?
Possibly, but we still have to puta.
couple different things in order."
Hoke said he has left it up to
the seniors to keep tabs on young-
er players and temper excitement
over the team's ranking.
"We're not the No. 12 team in
the country," Van Bergen said.
"In our opinion, we are overrated.
"We've played five games,
we've won five games. But, are
we a top-15 team in the country?
I don't think we've played like
that."
Plenty of things have certainly
gone in the Wolverines' favor
through five games this season.
Michigan hasn't played a ranked
team yet and it hasn't left the
friendly confines of Michigan
Stadium.
The Wolverines travel to Evan-
ston to take on Northwestern this
Saturday in a night game at Ryan
Field. The players are aware of
the target on their backs as a
result of the high national rank-
ing.
"Everybody in the locker room
knows we've got to do way more
work than we have done," said
junior quarterback Denard Rob-
inson. "We didn't play a perfect
game this weekend, so we got to
keep comingto work."
But the polls aren't the only
charts Michigan is climbing. In
part, the ranking is thanks to the
defense, which has allowed just
10 points in the past three games.
The Wolverines are second in the
nation in scoring defense, allow=
ing 10.2 points per game.
But Hoke insisted that those
rankings, as well as the national
team ranking, don't matter.
For Hoke, it's business time -
he won't let the team forget that.
"I'm not telling you anything I
didn't tell them yesterday," Hdke
said. "We're not playing the foot-
ball we need to play.
"We've played five games, and
we signed up for 12, guaranteed."
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