UThe Michigan DailyI michigandailycomI October 10, 2011 tED MOCH/itly Michigan hounds Wildcats, overcomes halftime deficit By MICHAEL FLOREK Daily Sports Editor EVANSTON - It's fitting that football is played in four quarters, because the Michigan football team's defense had an identity for each in Saturday's game against Northwestern. The defensive unit didn't dis- play its dominant form until the third quarter of the 12th-ranked Wolverines' 42-24 win at Ryan Field. During the first quarter, the Michigan defense was porous, being gashed by the option and giving up 14 points. In the second quarter the defense was inconsistent, mak- ing a huge stop on 4th-and-1 but also givingup 132 yards passing. Behind the porous and incon- sistent defense, the Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten, 6-0 overall) went into halftime down 10 points, 24-14. As the Wolverines mounted the comeback, the fourth quar- ter was when the corps provided the killer instinct - finishing the second-half shutout. But the tone was set in the third. Early in the third quarter, when Michigan pulled within three at 24-21, Wildcat quarter- back Dan Persa was stopped for no gain. A sack followed on the next play. And on 3rd-and-16, senior defensive lineman Ryan Van Bergen broke free, crush- ing Persa and forcing an early, incomplete throw. Persa stayed in the grass a split second longer. Van Bergen got up and strutted off the field. This was the defense that they were supposed to be playing - the third-quarter defense. "We knew as a front four, it would come down to us," Mar- tin said. "We knew we had to get to the quarterback." The Wolverines ended the day with four sacks, three in the second half. The third quarter also pro- duced the calling card for the Michigan defense - turnovers. While the Wolverines lost the turnover battle, 3-2, the turn- overs they did force had a bigger impact. Michigan junior quar- terback Denard Robinson threw three interceptions, setting up 10 'of Northwestern's 24 total points. It would have been 14 had Wildcat receiver Christian Jones not dropped a pass in the endzone with seven seconds left in the first half. But the Northwestern inter- ceptions were all in the first half. Junior linebacker Brandin Hawthorne's diving intercep- tion late in the third quarter sparked a drive that put Michi- gan up 35-24. Sophomore safe- ty Thomas Gordon's strip and fumble recovery came on North- western's next drive, with the Wildcats in Michigan territory. "We're very confident in our abilities to get turnovers," Mar- tin said. "If you get a lot of guys to the ball, good things are going See COMEBACK, Page 3B Roundtree, Hemingway and receiving corps step upin dutch By KEVIN RAFTERY Daily Sports Editor EVANSTON - Entering Saturday night's game against Northwestern, Michigan red- shirt junior wide receiver Roy Roundtree had as many recep- tions this season as he did games started - five. After one half against the Wildcats (0-2 Big Ten, 2-3 over- all), Roundtree was nonexis- tent on the stat sheet yet again. The Wolverines trailed 24-14 and were in desperate need of a spark heading into the second half. Roundtree, Michigan's recep- tions leader last season, was the catalyst of an eight-play, 80-yard drive out of the break that helped spark the Wolver- ines' 42-24 victory. On the opening drive of the second half, No. 11 Michigan (2-0, 6-0) was faced with a 3rd- and-11 from its own 19-yard line. Junior quarterback Denard Robinson dropped back in the pocket, looking for a receiver. He found Roundtree cut- ting left down the middle for a 17-yard gain to keep the drive alive and keep the dynamic Wildcat offense off the field. Just two plays later, Robinson found Roundtree again - this time for a 57-yard bomb. On play action, Robinson rolled right and noticed Roundtree streak- ing down the field in single coverage. Robinson lofted the ball up, and Roundtree beat the Wildcat defender on the jump ball at the Northwestern three- yard line. "We were working all sum- mer on stuff like that," Robinson said. "That's what he does. Our wide receivers can get big like that." The catch set up the Wolver- See RECEIVERS, Page 3B MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daily Redshirt junior wide receiver Roy Roundtree had three catches for 83 yards against Northwestern after going two games without a reception. Fifth-year senior wide receiver Junior Hemingway had a game-high ing yards on five catches in Evanston. Freshman Di Giuseppe scores twice in 'M' weekend sweep of Bentley By LIZ VUKELICH Daily Sports Writer Sunday marked freshman Phil Di Giuseppe's first birthday as a Wolverine. And he kicked off the celebra- tions a day early with a pair of goals in the BENTLEY 1 series fina- MICHIGAN 5 le of the the Michi~ BENTLEY 1 gan hockey MICHIGAN 4 team's weekend sweep of Bentley Uni- versity. Di Giuseppe's goals on Satur- day night were just two of the nine that No. 6 Michigan (3-0) scored over the course of two days. And though there were moments during both games when Bentley seemed to give the Wolverines a little more than they bargained for, the 5-1 and 4-1 outcomes silenced the Falcons. "It was a good weekend over- all," said Michigan coach Red Berenson. "Bentley played real- ly well, they played hard and they gave us everything that we could handle." But Di Giuseppe had no dif- ficulty taming the Falcons on Saturday. He tipped a loose puck in the net for his first career goal a little more than 10 minutes into the first period to give Michigan its first lead of the night. And after Bentley responded with a goal of its own midway through the second stanza, Di Giuseppe received a feed in the crease from sophomore forward Luke Moffatt on a power play to beat the goaltender and give Michi- gan a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The puck found itself in the back of the Bentley net two more times after that - junior for- ward A.J. Treais capitalized on another Michigan power play in the third period and freshman forward Alex Guptill added an empty-netter. It was Di Giuseppe, though, who set Michigan's tone for the night. A Bentley goal that appeared to put the Falcons in the lead in the second period was waved off due to goalten- der interference. That was the wake-up call the Wolverines needed in order to get their act together, and that was when Di Giuseppe answered with his second goal. Di Giuseppe claims it was all a matter of being in the right place at the right time and gives full credit to his linemates. Whether it was opportunistic or not, Berenson recognized the improvement in DiGiuseppe's play over the course of the weekend. "I think (Di Giuseppe) played simpler and not as cute," Beren- son said. "We're after him to use his speed, and then (we) can make our moves. If you're not See SWEEP, Page 3B ALDEN REISS/Daily Freshman forward Phil Di Giuseppe scored his first two career goals in Michi- gan's 4-1 victory over Bentley at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday. BENT-LEY NOT BROKEN Michigan relied on late scoring to put away Bentley, who hung with the Wolver- ines much of the weekend. Page 2B LITTLE BIG HOUSE Northwestern may be Chicago's Big Ten team, but Michigan fans ruled the stands at Ryan Field on Saturday. Page 2B