0 The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I October8, 2012
Michigan plus-four in the turnover battle, Jordan
Kovacs finally had reason to
in turnover margin, chuckle a bit after Michigan's
44-13 win over Purdue.
coasts to first Big A defense that had been
repeatedly called upon by its
Ten victory coach to wreak more havoc
on opposing offenses finally
By BEN ESTES answered the call. And a Michi-
Daily SportsEditor gan offense whose quarterback
had been struggling more than
WEST LAFAYETTE - After ever to protect the ball played
six weeks, five games and, until his cleanest game yet this sea-
Saturday, a horrid performance son.
It amounted to a plus-three
day for the Wolverines in turn-
over margin against the Boiler-
makers, a big factor in helping
Michigan to an easy win in its
Big Ten opener.
For the defense, it was espe-
cially sweet. The unit performed
exceedingly well last season in
the turnover column, but that
hadn't shown up so far this sea-
son - better late than never.
"Very encouraging," said
Michigan coach Brady Hoke.
"That's got to be a big part of
how you win. Again, talking
about playing on the road, that's
taking care of the ball offensive-
ly, which we did a pretty good
job ... for the most part."
The Wolverines entered Sat-
urday's tilt with a minus-seven
mark in turnover margin, a
polar opposite of the plus-seven
figure that they totaled for the
season a year ago. And Michi-
gan was coming off its worst
performance in that area in its
last game - the team turned the
ball over six times en route to a
minus-four day against Notre
Dame two weeks ago.
On Saturday, senior quarter-
back Denard Robinson avoided
the interception bug that had
plagued him all season, espe-
cially against the Fighting Irish.
Meanwhile, sophomore corner-
back Raymon Taylor's 63-yard
interception return for a touch-
down in the second quarter was
just the first of four turnovers
that the defense forced for the
evening.
The only mistake was Rob-
inson's fumble on an attempted
read-optionplay late in the first
half, meaning that, overall, the
Wolverines could smile about
what they had accomplished.
And Kovacs could laugh. His
laugh came after remarking that
he wished Taylor might've ran
out of bounds at the 20-yard line
or so instead of taking it all the
See TURNOVERS, Page 3B
'Road Warrior' defense
steps up again in rout
Michigan has more
interceptions than
passing touchdowns
allowed this fall
By STEPHEN J. NESBITT
Daily Sports Editor
WEST LAFAYETTE - The
nondescript black lettering is
only slightly visible against
the camouflage canvas of
the Michigan football team's
undershirt: Team 133, Road
Warrior.
Until their visit to Purdue on
Saturday, the Wolverines had
been anything but road war-
riors. Since Michigan coach
Brady Hoke arrived in Ann
Arbor, Michigan has posted an
unbeaten 11-0 record at home.
Away from Michigan Stadium,
though, the Wolverines were
3-4.
With the goal of winning the
Big Ten title on the line every
weekend and four road games
on the conference slate, some-
thing needed to change.
"If we lose Saturday, then we
might not go" to the Rose Bowl,
said fifth-year senior lineback-
er Kenny Demens. "It's do or
die, basically."
There are no days off. The
Michigan defense took matters
into its own hands in a 44-13
victory against Purdue, hold-
ing the Boilermaker offense to
just 213 total yards.
See DEFENSE, Page 3B
TODD NEEDLE/Daily
Senior quarterback Denard Robinson fakes a handoff to redshirt junior running back Fitzgerald Toussaint on Saturday.
Robinson gets Blue
- back to winning ways
Guptill scores hat trick in
Blue/White scrimmage
By MICHAEL LAURILA
Daily Sports Writer # A
By LUKE PASCH ended as redshirt junior running
Daily Sports Editor back Fitzgerald Toussaint fell
into the end zone from the one-
WEST LAFAYETTE - On yard line for the opening score.
Saturday afternoon, good Denard That would become the theme
Robinson reappeared. for the remainder of the contest,
Coming off of an abysmal five- as Michigan controlled the tempo
turnover performance at Notre throughout in a 44-13 victory.
Dame two weeks ago, the senior Robinson threw the ball far
quarterback and co-captain lass than he did against the Fight-
bounced back against Purdue, ing Irish, as about 75 percent
setting the tone early on Michi- of the Wolverines' total offense
gan's first drive of the game. came on the ground. He finished
After the Wolverine defense the game with 236 yards on the
forced a three-and-out, Robinson ground - his highest total of the
marched his team down the field season and second-highest of
on a methodical 17-play drive that his career - and although Tous-
lasted nearly nine minutes, and saint was contained for the most
part, he did add a pair of rushing
touchdowns.
But when Robinson did throw
the ball, he was solid. He finished
the contest 8-of-16 passing with
one touchdown to junior wide
receiver Devin Gardner, and he
didn't throw an single intercep-
tion for the first time since Nov.
26, 2011, against Ohio State.
"It was good for his confi-
dence," said Michigan coach
Brady Hoke. "You know, it was
probably good for all ofus, to some
degree. But I think when you look
at it at the end of the day, I think
he looked real comfortable."
See ROBINSON, Page 38
Sophomore forward Alex
Guptill tallied his first career
hat trick at a strange time - the
Michigan hockey team's annual
Blue/White intrasquad game.
The Blue team used Guptill's
three goals, along with another
score from junior forward Derek
DeBlois, en route to a 4-2 vic-
tory on Sunday afternoon at the
newly renovated Yost Ice Arena.
Though this was the first
time the Wolverines have skated
competitively as a team, they
managed to keep a relaxed feel-
ihg around the ice.
"Oh yeah, it was a big win def-
%ONs
ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
Sophomore Alex Guptill is coming off a monster freshman season.
initely," Guptill joked. "Bragging quence in the result of the game,
rights more importantly, but it there were visiting alumni play-
was pretty fun." ers - including some of the
Despite the lack of conse- See GUPTILL, Page 3B
BIG TEN, BIG TROUBLE
The non-conference slate wasn't kind to
Big Ten teams, and the first two weeks of
conference play haven't been much better.
Respect won't come easily. Page 2B
NKEM STRIKES AGAIN
Michigan's junior forward has taken
the conference schedule by storm. She
scored twice against Northwestern over
the weekend. Page 2B