f The Michigan Daily I michigandailycom I November19, 2012
PASSIN..G THIE TORCHI

Michigan 42, Iowa 17

Gardner shines,
Robinson ignites
offense at QB, WR
and RB in victory
By ZACH HELFAND
Daily SportsEditor
The Michigan football world
turned again on Saturday. It was
an end and a beginning, the clos-

ing of a spellbinding chapter of
Michigan football and an emphat-
ic statement for the future.
Denard Robinson is gone,
another casualty of the unrelent-
ing spinning of the college football
world. The senior will play again,
but never again in Michigan Sta-
dium.
The past and the future con-
verged in Michigan's 42-17
thrashing of Iowa. Robinson and
junior quarterback Devin Gardner
shared the spotlight.

"This is his team," said Michi-
gan coach Brady Hoke, referring
to Robinson. "Him and Kovacs
and all the seniors have a big piece
of it, but Devin said it the other
day. He has been the face of Michi-
gan football."
One thousand, one hundred
and sixty-nine days after he intro-
duced himself to the Big House
crowd with a broken-play touch-
down against Western Michigan,
Robinson played his last game
at Michigan Stadium. The final

game was just as exotic and elec-
trifying as the first, two irregular
bookends to a dazzling career at
quarterback.
"It's kind of hard to swallow
right now because it's coming to
an end," Robinson said. "It's hard
to put into words what this means
to me."
Robinson had missed the previ-
ous two weekswith an elbow inju-
ry, but he got the start on senior
day. It just wasn't at quarterback.
Robinson took several snaps at

quarterback, but he started at
running back and played most of
the game there. He didn't throw a
pass, but he gained 98 yards on 13
carries and caught two passes for
24 yards. ,
Senior day, though, belonged to
Gardner. The quarterback-turned-
receiver-turned-quarterback had
his most impressive performance
yet. He scored six total touch-
downs --three throughthe air and
three on the ground. He threw for
314 yards on 18-for-23 passing and_

ran for another 37. Behind Gard-
ner's arm and Robinson's legs,
Michigan scored on each posses-
sion for the first three quarters.
"(Gardner) had six touch-
downs? Did he really?" Hoke
asked after the game. Then he con-
ceded thatcGardner'sperformance
"was pretty good."
The Wolverines had little trou-
ble with the reeling Hawkeyes,
who had lost four straight games
entering Saturday's contest. But
Set TORCA, Page 3B

WOMEN'S SOCCER
Penn State claws past
Blue in penalty kicks

By ALEJANDRO ZUNIGA
Daily Sports Writer
When the Michigan women's
soccer team faced No. 5 Penn
State on Sunday night for a spot
in the
NCAA MICHIGAN 1
Tourna- PENN STATE 1
ment's
Elite Eight, it expected to accept
either a victory or a season-end-
ing defeat.
Instead, the record books will

indicate that the Wolverines
(8-3-2 Big Ten, 16-5-3 overall)
tied the first-seeded Nittany
Lions, 1-1. But Michigan dropped
the ensuing penalty kick shoot-
out, 3-2, and was eliminated
from the NCAA Tournament.
Fifth-year senior goalkeeper
Haley Kopmeyer saved the first.
two penalty kicks to help the
Wolverines jump to an early 2-0
lead in the shootout, but fresh-
man Lulu Haidar, junior Shelina
Zadorsky and redshirt junior

Holly Hein couldn't capitalize
on Michigan's last three shots.
The Nittany Lions (11-1-1, 19-3-2)
found theback of the net on their
final three opportunities, and
goalkeeper Erin McNutty guar-
anteed the Nittany Lions'aaspbt
in the Elite Eight with a diving
save of Hein's shot in the fifth
and final round of penaltykicks.
- Meanwhile, Michigan will
return to Ann Arbor to remi-
nisce on a season that - while
See PENALTY KICKS, Page 3B

ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Fifth-year senior wide receiver Roy Roundtree celebrates with fans in the student section after Michigan's victory.
Roundtree, Gallon re*-
emerge as deep threats

By STEPHEN J. NESBITT
Daily Sports Editor
A jubilant Roy ttoundtree
bounced back to the Michigan
sideline after hauling in a 37-yard
touchdown pass from Devin
Gardner to put the Wolverines
ahead of Iowa for good in the sec-
ond quarter Saturday atMichigan
Stadium.
Playing in his final game at the
Big House, Roundtree had just
caught his second touchdown
of the season, and his first since
Week 3. He rushed toward his
teammates to celebrate on the
sideline, then stopped short.

He spotted Paul Schmidt, the
team's head trainer, and gave him
a wide smile.
"Visualize," Roundtree told
Schmidt.
Visualize. It was a concept
Schmidt preached to Roundtree
all season, accordingto Michigan
radio analyst Doug Karsh, who
relayed the story on the broad-
cast. The snap, the route, the
catch. Visualize.
It was a proper send-off for
Roundtree, a fifth-year senior
whose peak at Michigan came
when he was a sophomore, pull-
ing in 72 catches for 935 yards and
seven touchdowns. In the two

years since then, he has just four
scores on 44 catches, never com-
ing close to his second-year totals.
And sometime before the
Michigan football team broke fall
camp three months ago, Gardner
supplanted Roundtree.
Roundtree, wearing Desmond
Howard's No. 21 legend jersey,
was expected to flourish at flank-
er this fall despite a disappointing
2011 season.
But Gardner made the tran-
sition from quarterback - his
natural position - to receiver and
suddenly, remarkably, became
Michigan's No. 1 receiver, emerg-
See ROUNDTREE, Page 3B

Gardner has banner day in
Robinson's return to field
By BEN ESTES
Daily Sports Editor
All eyes were trained on
Denard Robinson as he made his
triumphant return to the Michi-
gan Stadium turf in his final
appearance before the Wolver-
ine faithful.
But when he trotted out to the
tailback spot at the beginning of
Saturday's game against Iowa,
stopping a few yards short of his
customary place behind center,
the focus turned back to junior
Devin Gardner. ERINKIRKLAND/Oaily
It's been Gardner who has Junior quarterback Devin Gardner has posted three of Michigan's four best
replaced Robinson since the passing totals of the season in his first three career starts.
senior injured a nerve in his move from receiver back to With the man he replaced
right elbow against Nebraska quarterback while playing bet- now beside him in the back-
three weeks ago, making the ter than could have been hoped. See GARDNER, Page 3B


GOODBYE, BIG HOUSE
U The Michigan football team's seniors
went 14-0 at Michigan Stadium in their
last two season. Saturday was an emotion-
al, yet appropriate, departure. Page 2B

GET OUT THE BROOMS
The Michigan hockey team was over-
matched and swept by Notre Dame in a
two-game weekend series, scoring just
two goals. Page 2B

,