2B - November 21, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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Buckeyes bury 'M' in first
sweep at Yost since 1986
Michigan coach Brady Hoke has the Wolverines ranked No.15 in the latest BCS standings after a 9-2 start.
Signature win puts Blue
back in spotligh
When the Nebraska
football team last
visited Michigan Sta-
dium, the year was 1962 and the
Cornhuskers were Big 8 bottom
feeders. They
had had just
three winning
seasons in
the previous
two decades,
posting an
overall record {
of 72-125.
Under STEPHEN J.
then-first- NESBITT
year head
coach Bob
Devaney, Nebraska planned to
resurrect its embarrassment of a
football program. In the season
opener against South Dakota, the
Huskers rolled, 53-0.
Even so, the Sept. 29 matchup
with Michigan wasn't expected
to be pretty. Nebraska fans liked
the week-one shutout, but top-
pling a football giant wasn't in
the itinerary - even when facing
a relatively weak Michigan team,
the resurgence could wait.
It didn't. Devaney and the
Cornhuskerstrumped the Wol-
verines, 25-13, at the Big House,
en route to an 8-3 season. That
game, a signature Devaney vic-
tory, set the program on the fast
track to national prominence. His
11-year resume featured a 47-8
record at the helm in Lincoln.
The Cornhuskers' return to
Michigan Stadium last Saturday
was a welcomed trip down mem-
ory lane for Nebraska, in its first
season in the Big Ten.
But the tides were turned for
this go-round at the Big House:
Michigan played the part of
the rebuilding program with a
first-year coach, while Nebraska
has grown into a national pow-
erhouse. On paper, it was a titan
clash between the two win-
ningest programs in college foot-
ball history. In reality, the scales
were tipped in the visitors' favor.
It didn't take long for Michi-
gan coach Brady Hoke to prove
Michigan's turnaround. A 45-17
victory against No. 17 Nebraska
doesn't need much of an explana-
tion - the Wolverines proved
dominant.
After 50 minutes of play, a
"Beat Ohio" chant circled the sta-
dium. The fans had seen enough.
They lauded Hoke by looking
ahead to the season finale against
Ohio State, a matchup he has
anticipated since his arrival in
January.
But don't jump ahead too
quickly. Try to put this victory
in perspective before looking to
next week. It was arguably the
program's biggestcwinsince the
Lloyd Carr era - fitting, since
Carr was honored before the
game.
The resounding victory was a
statement and a signature Hoke
win.
Hoke preaches three simple
things to his team: Win the turn-
over battle, plug the gaps to stop
their running game and establish
your ground game early and
often. Check, check and check.
Special teams players
swarmed to the ball, forcing two
turnovers on kickoffs and block-
ing a punt. Michigan leads the
nation in fumble recoveries with
19 recoveries in 11 games - under
former coach Rich Rodriguez,
the Wolverines had 23 recoveries
in three full seasons. Michigan
held Nebraska running back Rex
Burkhead, the Big Ten's third-
leading rusher, to a season-low
36 yards.
The Wolverines' ground game
dominated from start to finish.
The backfield duo ofjunior quar-
terback Denard Robinson and
redshirt sophomore running back
Fitzgerald Toussaint combined
for 221 yards. Unlike last season,
it hasn't been all Robinson.
Hoke's fingerprints are all over
this team. And it looks like the
prints are going to stay there for a
long time to come.
Rolling into the lastweek of
the season with a 9-2 record,
Hoke has his team in a perfect
position: a victory over the Buck-
eyes could possibly earn Michi-
gan an at-large invitation to a
BCS bowl - think about it.
After years of mediocrity and
embarrassment, Brady Hoke has
the Wolverines back on top. Ann
Arbor is, no doubt, relevant again.
No one wants to visit Michigan
Stadium, where Hoke and Co. are
7-0, outscoring teams 267-65.
Just like Bob Devaney in 1962,
Hoke proved his worth with
Michigan and Nebraska at the Big
House.
- Nesbitt can be reached
at stnesbit@umich.edu or on
Twitter: @stephenjnesbitt.
By ZACH HELFAND
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan coach Red Berenson
almost always opens his post-
game press conference with some
opening
remarks, OHIO STATE 2
but then MICHIGAN 1
again, the
Michi- OHIO STATE 6
gan hock- MICHIGAN 5
ey team
almost never gets swept at Yost
Ice Arena.
So after a weekend in which
No. 7 Michigan couldn't make
a closing statement, Berenson
didn't make an opening state-
ment.
No. 14 Ohio State buried the
Wolverines for its first sweep at
Yost Ice Arena since 1986. The
sweep relegated Michigan to sev-
enth place in the CCHA and put
the Buckeyes in sole possession
of first.
"They're a good team, give
them credit," Berenson said. "Of
course, our players are embar-
rassed. These are tough losses."
Fifth-year senior goalie
Shawn Hunwick endured his
roughest series of the year. On
Friday, Ohio State won, 2-1, on a
shot from behind the cage that
banked off of Hunwick's blocker
and into the net.
The Buckeyes bombarded
Hunwick with shots on Satur-
day. They dissected the Wolver-
ines' defense and fired 37 shots
on the cage, many of them from
point-blank range or with little
defensive resistance.
"We've got a lot of work to
do," said Michigan coach Red
Berenson after Saturday's game.
"I can't say we got exposed, but
we definitely broke down in
places tonight, and we gave up
goals too easily."
The last time Michigan
scored five goals and lost was
in the Western Regional of the
NCAA Tournament in 2007
against North Dakota..
"You have no chance of win-
ning when you give up six,"
Berenson said. "I can tell you
(in practice) Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday next week will be
defensive-zone coverage."
Perhaps Friday's win-
ning goal - which Berenson
described as "fluky" - still lin-
gered in Hunwick's mind the
following night. Early on, he
failed to cleanly cover up a puck,
though he had ample time, and
it almost led to a goal.
After Ohio State's first goal
on Saturday, Hunwick slung the
puck down the ice in frustra-
tion.
Hunwick broke his stick
against the post after the fifth
goal, which put the Buckeyes up
by two goals entering the third
period.
He could only look down at
his skates and let his arms sag
limply by his sides after the
sixth and final goal.
"When you leave a guy wide
open in front of the net, your
goalie can't make that save very
often," Berenson said. "The
winning goal (on Friday) was a
bad goal, butI didn't see any bad
goals out there (on Saturday). I
thought the puck was going in
because of good plays on their
part, turnovers on our part and
deflections."
When Hunwick shattered his
stick, he spoke for the whole
team.
"Shawn's an emotional kid,"
said senior forward Luke Glen-
dening. "That's the way he plays,
he plays with an edge. And that
gets usrfired up. Obviously he's
frustrated, we're all frustrated
- that's fine."
Every time the Wolverines
grabbed the momentum on
Saturday, the Buckeyes stole it
back. Freshman forward Mike
Chiasson scored the first goal of
the game, but Ohio State (7-2-1
CCHA, 10-3-1 overall) coun-
tered just three minutes later.
After sophomore forward
Luke Moffatt tied it in the sec-
ond stanza, junior forward
Chris Brown picked up a five-
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JEDMOCH/Daily
Ohio State goaltender Cal Heeter celebrates the Buckeyes' series sweep of
Michigan on Saturday evening at Yost Ice Arena.
minute major penalty for board-
ing. Michigan killed off the first
four minutes of the penalty, and
the Yost crowd appeared ready
to erupt. Then a turnover led to
a goal, followed by another sec-
onds later.
The Wolverines showed life
late, down two goals, when
sophomore forward Derek DeB-
lois converted on a shorthanded
opportunity. Michigan gave it
right back minutes later.
"I really can't explain it,"
said a frustrated senior forward
David Wohlberg. "It's just - it
seems like things are going that
way right now, and we need to
turn it around. We need to get
the bounces going our way."
The top two forward lines
didn't score a single goal over
the weekend. Freshman for-
ward Alex Guptill led the third
and fourth lines with two goals
on Saturday.
On Friday, only sophomore
defenseman Mac Bennett
scored. Michigan led early in
that one too, but couldn't capi-
talize on a five-minute power
play of its own.
Michigan is winless in its last
four games, its longest winless
streak in two years.
By the middle of the third
period inthe finale as Ohio State
led by two goals, the band's
newest instruments - a pair of
bagpipes - sounded funeral.
"We're really frustrated,"
Glendening said. "We got one
point out of the last 12. No one
likes to lose, and it's not expect-
ed of Michigan. We're expected
to win."
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MEN'S to fpu
Wolverines to face elite competition at Maui Invitational
By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily SportsEditor
Monday morning usually isn't
the highlight of anyone's week.
But the No. 17 Michigan bas-
ketball team gets to spend it in
Hawaii,taking on No.10 Memphis
in the first round of the Maui Invi-
tational.
The last time the Wolverines
played the Tigers, the setting was
similar. In 1996, the teams played
in the Rainbow Classic in Hono-
lulu, Hawaii. But this time, they'll
be 150 miles to the northwest, and
Michigan won't be on probation.
The game will be the first of
the eight-team Maui Invitational,
which features
some of the big- Memphis vs.
gest basketball Michigan
brands in the
country. Matchup:
No. 6 Duke, Memphis 1-0;
No. 12 Kansas, Michigan 3-0
Georgetown, When: Mon-
UCLA and Ten- day 3 P.M. EST
nessee will all be Where: Lahai-
part of the big- na Civic Center
gest early-sea- TV/Radio:
son tournament ESPN3
in college bas-
ketball. If Michigan wins Monday,
it will play the winner of Duke and
Tennessee on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
EST. The championship game will
be on Wednesday at 10 p.m.
"I think this is one of the best
basketball tournaments there
is anywhere, at any level," said
senior guard Zack Novak. "It's
fun to be here. You look at the
programs that will be here - 21
national championships between
all of us - so that's special. It's a
good opportunity and I'm just
looking forward to getting in and
playing in it."
Led by Glen Rice, the Wolver-
ines won the tournament in 1988
and they last played in it in 1998.
"It's an early measuring stick
in the season that you're going to
really see where you are against
teams that are going to be in the
NCAA Tournament," said Michi-
gan coach John Beilein on Sunday.
"So we'll find out very soon where
we are in regards to that and what
we have to work on going for-
ward."
Michigan (3-0) has techni-
cally already played its first Maui
Invitational game. It beat Towson
64-47 last Monday as part of the
"Maui on the Mainland" portion
of the tournament. These games
consisted of the big-name teams
hosting smaller schools on the
continental United States. The
games in Hawaii are known as the
Championship Round.
The win over Towson marked
the middle of the Wolverines'
pre-Hawaii schedule. Michigan
routed Ferris State 59-33 in its
first game of the season and nar-
rowly escaped an upset threat
from Western Illinois, 59-55, on
Thursday.
"You've been with (the team)
for five weeks," Beilein said. "But
you're discovering how they're
going to react on a national stage."
Memphis (1-0) will present
the Wolverines with their big-
gest challenge of the season. The
Tigers are a fast, athletic offen-
sive juggernaut that scored 97
points in its season-opening win
over Belmont. Memphis shot 59
percent in the game, which ranks
first in Division-I.
The Tigers' roster features
three sophomores who were
highly touted recruits a year ago.
Guard Will Barton led the team
in scoring last year and poured
in 23 points in his first game. The
others - Joe Jackson and Tarik
Black - were the second and
third-leading scorers from last
season.
"I see a really long, athletic
team that is going to try to speed
us up," Beilein said. "They're
going to try to have us play at a
pace that we're out of control. We
don't mind being sped up as long
as we're in control of the tempo.
What we can't do is, they speed
us up and then we get wild."
In its first three games, Michi-
gan has shown flashes of bril-
liance, but inconsistency has
plagued the team. Hot-and-cold
shooting, poor post play and a
sometimes stagnant offense have
kept the games closer than they
should have been. The week will
also provide a test for freshman
point guard Trey Burke, who will
be facing the first high-class com-
petition of his career. He has been
effective so far, showing the abili-
ty to create in transition and shoot
the 3-pointer reliably. But facing
the longer, faster teams will pres-
ent a look he hasn't seen yet.
"This will be such a great expe-
rience for Trey to just continue
to mature as one of the young-
est point guards in the country,"
Beilein said of his starting point
guard who has scored 10 points
per game and is shooting 43 per-
cent on 3-pointers.
As a team on the rise that is
looking to enter the elite of college
basketball, Michigan will use this
week to see how it stacks up to the
best national competition. Still,
the tournament means very little
in terms of the Wolverines' bigger
goals for the season.
"I don't think we will take
the results of these tournaments
too much either way because it's
November," Beilein said. "It's
so different than football where
games like this early in the season
will determine where you are in
the BCS.
"For us, it's good and it can
be very positive but if we played
incredibly the whole weekend,
it wouldn't mean anything as far
as our chances in February and
March if we don't improve."
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