The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
September 10, 2012 - 3B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom September10, 2012 - 38
MICHIGAN
ATHLETICS
SCOREBOARD
LAST W EEK
F R IDAY (S E PT. 7)
Volleyball: Michigan 3, Wake Forest 0
Volleyball: Marquette 3, Michigan 1
Field hockey: Michigan 2, Albany 1 (OT)
Women's soccer: Michigan 3, Butler 0
SAT URDAY (SEPT. 8)
Volleyball:Michigan3, Easterninois 0
Volleyball: Michigan3, Northern inois1
Fildhockey:CoeticutES2,Michigan 1
Football: Michiga n3, Air Forc 25
SU NDAY (S EPT. 9)
Men's soccer: Michigan 4, Northeastern 1
Women's soccer. Michigan 1, Oakland 0
T H I S W E E K
F RIDAY (SEP T, 14)
Volleyball: Michigan vs. E. Michigan,11 a.m. (*)
Volleyball: Michiganvs.W. Kentucky,7:30p.m.(*)
Women's XC: Michigan at Spartan Invitational
(East Lansing), noon
Men's XC: Michigan at Spartan Invitational
(East-Lansing),12:30 p.m.
Men's soccer at Marquette (Milwaukee), 8:05
p.m.
Field hokey Michign vs. St. Louis,1 p.m.(*)
Football: Michigan vs. Mass.,3:30 p.m. (*)
Women's soccer: Michigan vs. Indiana, 7 p.m. (*)
Volleyball: Michigan vs. Duke, 7 p.m. (*)
Women's golf: Michigan at Mary Fossum Invita-
tional (East Lansing), TBA
S U NDAY (S E PT. 16)
Women's rowing: Michigan vs. MSU, ND and
EMU (Belleville, Mich.),10 a.m. (*)
Field hockey: Michigan vs. Fairfield, noon (*)
Men's soccer: Michigan vs. Notre Dame,2 p.m. (*)
Women's golf: Michigan at Mary Fossum (nvita-
tional (East Lansing), TBA
-(*) Allhome eventsareeligible toearn points for
the Athletic Department's H.A.I.L program.
Offense comes to life
By EVAN QUINN James Murphy, drawing a red
Daily Sports Writer card and along with it a game
ejection and penalty kick. Pereira
On Sunday, late in the first half, capitalized on the penalty kick to
senior midfielder Latif Alashe's make the score 2-0.
chip-shot goal over the head of After the red card collision, the
a hapless game became noticeably more
oppos- NEASTERN 1 aggressive, especially in front of
lng goalie MICHIGAN 4 the net. While they were a man
typified the down and two goals back, the
Michigan men's soccer team's Huskies did not sit down quietly.
performance - impressive and They continued to struggle gain-
full of style. ing possession, but did succeed in
The Wolverines (2-2) took to preventing a shutout late in the
the pitch at home against North- first half by burying a shot into
eastern (4-1), winning 4-1 and the top shelf from about 30 yards
dominating the stats sheet. out.
Michigan pressured the Hus- The interruption of Michigan's
kies early with incisive pass- command of the game was brief,
ing, creating space for their though. Less than a minute later,
midfielders to distribute the' ball Alashe's spectacular chip moved
and generate scoring opportuni- the score to 3-1, where it would
ties. These opportunities came stay for the remainder of the half.
early and often, but the Wolver- The second half was less event-
ines struggled at first to finish and ful, and the Wolverines seemed
most of these chances ended wide more content to hold possession
of the mark. near midfield than press forward
Michigan's lead in time of pos- as often as they did to start the
session finally translated to a game. Michigan coach Chaka
lead on the scoreboard midway Daley explained that this was by
through the first half when junior design.
midfielder Fabio Pereira deliv- "We wanted to keep the ball,"
ered a well-placed corner kick Daley said. "You're up 3-1, and the
into the box and, with a header, only way they can score is if they
senior defender Kofi Opare sent it have the ball. So if we have the
into the back of the net. ball more often that's the kind of
Shortly after, Northeastern's team we want to become as well."
goalkeeper aggressively chal- This pattern continued
lenged a cross by sticking his leg throughout the second half, and
out. Instead of the ball, the chal- limited the scoring opportunities
lenge struck freshman forward of both teams.
The final goal of the game and
the only one of the second half
came when the Huskies' defense
over committed to Pereira, allow-
ing a quick pass to Opare, who
then tallied his second goal of the
day.
As a defender, Opare doesn't
usually find himself in scoring
position. Last season he managed
two goals, a feat he tied in just
this one game.
"Fabio played me a great ball
in the first half," Opare said. "My
only job was just to header the
ball on frame, .which is pretty
easy after great service. (For the)
second goal I just happened to be
at the right spot at the right time.
Fabio committed. the defender
and I basically just tapped it in. So
I give a lot of credit to my team-
mates who helped me score those
goals."
Also among the Wolverines'
top performers on the day was
Pereira with a goal and two
assists. The man-up scenario that
Michigan found themselves in
worked especially in the favor of
Pereira who, along with the other
midfielders, enjoyed plenty of
space to maneuver and distribute
the ball.
"I think that even if they didn't
go a man down we would still
have a good score at the end of the
day because we came out strong
and we had probably the best
performance of the year so far,"
Pereira said.
ROBINSON
From Page 1B
year senior safety Jordan Kovacs,
referring to the scheme built to
stop the triple-option. "That's
okay with me."
Down by six points, Air Force
took the ball at their own 20-yard
line with 2:45 remaining needing
a touchdown and an extra point
to lead. on fourth down, redshirt
sophomore linebacker Jake Ryan
burst through the line to deflect
the passing attempt to ice the
game.
Robinson shouldered the
offensive burden for Michigan
largely due to the ineffectiveness
of the running game. Redshirt
junior Fitzgerald Toussaint sput-
tered in his return from suspen-
sion, rushing for just seven yards
on eight carries.
"The non-Denard running
game - I guess that's what we're
gonna call it from now on - it
wasn't productive enough," said
Michigan coach Brady Hoke. "I
don't think (Toussaint) ever had
a chance to getstarted. We didn't
block well enough."
As a result,.Robinson account-
ed for an unusually large portion
of the Michigan offense. His 426
total yards (218 on the ground
and 208 passing) were 99 percent
of the Wolverines' total offense,
not including kneel-downs. And
Robinson became the only player
in NCAA history to have three
separate games with at least 200
rushing and passing yards.
"What Denard did was good,"
said redshirt junior tackle Tay-
lor Lewan. "(But) we have to do
a better job of reestablishing the
line of scrimmage. It's going to
be tough for this team to be suc-
cessful if we can't do that as an
offensive line.
"Seven yards from the run-
ningback is awful."
,This season is likely the last
in Michigan's spread era, but
Saturday showed that Robinson
remains the star. When thebacks
struggled or the defense failed
to solve Air Force's mystifying
triple-option attack, it was Rob-
inson who countered.
After the Falcons' methodi-
cal opening drive stalled due to
a missed field goal, Robinson
struck with his opening touch-
down to open up a 7-0 lead. After
a Robinson tipped-ball intercep-
tion led to an Air Force touch-
down, he opened the half with
another long run for a score,
extending the lead to 21-10.
Air Force hung close for
much of the game, in great part
because Michigan's defense had
few answers for the Air Force
ground game, and then were
fooled through the rare passing
attempt. Air Force gained 417
total yards on the game, 290 on
the ground.
But the offense always kept
the game just out of reach. Inter-
ception notwithstanding, Robin-
son was unusually efficient with
his arm. Freshman tight end
Devin Funchess had a breakout
game, and Robinson found him
in the open field often. Funchess
caught a second-quarter touch-
down and finished with 106 total
yards on four receptions, all for
more than 20 yards each.
Robinson was 14 for 25 pass-
ing with two touchdowns,
including a pretty play-action
pass to junior receiver Devin
Gardner for an easy score in the
third quarter to pull ahead 28-17.
Gardner finished with five catch-
es for 63 yards..
The defense won the game
late, with a pair of big stops, but
Robinson, as usual, was the star.
That wasn't so in the opener,
when Robinson was bottled up
both by offensive coordinator Al
Borges (by design) and by him-
self (poor reads) against Ala-
bama. Yet if Robinson's inactivity
in the opener was an outlier, then
Saturday's game against Air
Force was the reversion to the
mean.
During the week, Borges
pronised that the game plan
would remain mostlyunchanged.
For some opponents, he said, the
defensive scheme will favor run-
ning Robinson. Others call for
more touches from the backfield
and more attempts through the
air. Still, he cautioned that the
amount of touches Robinson
enjoyed last season simply isn't
sustainable.
There was Robinson, though,
dashing, passing and powering
the Michigan offense almost
exclusively. He finished with 20
rushing attempts.
"I mean, if the running back's
running the ball 27 times, I
wouldn't mind," Robinson said.
"If I'm running the ball 27 times
I wouldn't mind. If we're throw-
ing the ball 27 times, it don't mat-
ter. Whatever it takes to win,
that's what we're going to do."
Back to the second play of the
game, the 79-yard touchdown,
Robinson kept to the right and
froze the outside linebacker,
unblocked by design, before
bursting through the hole. He
dashed left, off a second-level
block from fifth-year senior cen-
ter Elliott Mealer, side-stepped a
safety, and he was gone.
By the time Robinson reached
Air Force's 40-yard line, fifth-
year senior guard Patrick
Omameh thrust his hand in the
air.
With the ball in Robinson's
hands in the open field, there
was no other outcome but this:
he would score.
Team Stats
Points s
Fst Downs
Rush/Yds
Passing Yards
Offensive Plays
returns/ Yds
Puntreturns/Yds
Comp/Att/Int
Puts/Avg
Fumbles/ost
Penalties/Yards
Time of Poss
T I C
PASSING
Player C-A
RUSHING
Rbnson, D. 20 21
Toussaint 8 7
TEAM 3 -11
Totals 31 214
AF
25
71/290
127
90
2/64
D/D
l0/19/0
2/53.5
2/S
5/35
35:22
H I G A N
Yds TD
MICH
31
31/214
208
56
'422
4/89
1/1
14/25/1
3/38.0
S/0
5/4S
24:38
7
11
14
0.9
-3.7
6.9
5
79
0
0
FUNCHESS
From Page 1B
the highest point."
The freshman tight end caught
the first four passes of his career
on Saturday, and immediately
became considered both a reli-
able target and a big-play threat
for Robinson. Each of Funchess's
receptions were good for more
than 20 yards, and he finished
with 106 total.
The last Michigan tight end to
receive more than 100 yards in a
game was Jerame Tuman, who
caught five passes from Brian
Griese for 126 yards in the 1997
season opener against Colorado.
"I went out there, did my job
like I was supposed to, like I was
coached in practice to," Funch-
ess said. "I learned from Brandon
Moore, Mike Kwiatkowski, how
to get off some kinds of cover-
ages, and other things like that. It
helped me inthe game today."
Funchess saw increased
playing time on Saturday due
RYAN
From Page 1B
football, basketball and baseball
from 1925-28, and he received
All-American recognition five
times - three times for foot-
ball, twice for basketball. When
Oosterbaan graduated in1928, his
in large part to an MCL inju-
ry starting tight end Brandon
Moore sustained in last week's
matchup against Alabama. The
ligament isn't torn, though - just
stretched, as head coach Brady
Hoke put it - so Moore should be
ready for action soon.
Behind Moore, the tight end
position is relatively thin on
Michigan's roster. Fifth-year
senior and former walk-on Mike
Kwiatkowski, who was offered
a scholarship this fall, is slated
behind Moore on the depth chart.
And behind Kwiatkowski is the
freshmen duo of Funchess and
A.J. Williams.
Though Kwiatkowski is listed
ahead of Funchess on the depth
chart, it was clear on Saturday
that Funchess's athletic abilities
allowed him to see more game
action than his more experienced
teammate.
So far, Hoke likes what he
sees out of the Farmington Hills,
Mich. native.
"(Funchess is) a tall guy," Hoke
said. "He's rangy. He can run. The
number was taken out of circula-
tion while he remained at Mich-
gian as an assistant coach for the
men'sbasketball and football pro-
grams. After a nine-year stint as
head basketball coach, he became
head football coach in 1948.
Though Michigan still has
three other numbers to dole out
this year - former President Ger-
thing I like about him - he's not
afraid to block. He matches up
on strong safeties, matches up on
linebackers. It's kind of what you
look for - a guy like that."
Funchess mentioned after the
game that he recalls slipping up
on some of his blocking assign-
ments, and that part of his game
is a work in progress. But on Sat-
urday, the value he provided as a
new receiver for Robinson was
very clear.
By the end of the game, Rob-
inson's top two receivers were
Funchess and former quarter-
back Devin Gardner, who explic-
itly said after the game that he
still considers himself a quarter-
back first.
Those are slim pickings for
Robinson, who appreciates
Funchess's emergence.
"He's one of the guys who
always made plays in practice,
and we knew through our fall
camp we were going to use him,"
Robinson said. "His number was
calledbecause people went down.
He played a heck of a game."
ald Ford (48), Ron Kramer (87)
and the Wistert brothers (11) -
but Hoke felt the first was an easy
choice.
"From a character standpoint
and a standpoint of how he goes
about his business everyday,
there wasn't a better (pick) than
to have Jake represent Bennie,"
Hoke said.
RECEIVING
Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD
Gardner 5 63 12.6 20 1
Funchess 4 106 26.5 30 1
Jackson 2 17 5.5 8.5 0
Robinson,J. 1 10 44 10 0
Ry~~ 4 4 1
Rundre 1 5 2 0
Totals 14 208 18.2 30 2
PUNTING
Player No. Yds Avg Lg '
Hagerup 2 90 450 53
WiAe 1 24 240 24
Totals 3 114 38.0 53
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg L.g TO
Norfleet 3 77 25.7 36 0
PUNT RETURNS
Player No, Yds Avg Lg TD
Totals 1 1 1 1 0
TACKLES
Kovacs 8 1 9
Gordon, T. 6 1 7
mens 6 1 7
Campbell 3 2 5
Washington 0 5 S
Clark 2 2 4
Roh 1 3 4
Ross w ie 1 3 4
Avery 2 0 2
Gordon, C. 2 0 2
Black 1 1 2
Pipkins 0 2 2
Taylor 0 2' 2
Wilson 1 0 1
Jenkins-Stone 1 0 1
Robinson, M. 1 0 1
Ojemudia 1 0 1
Heitzman 0 1 1
Totals 57 38 95
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