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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

October 7, 2013 - 3B

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GAME
STATISTICS

Sloppy fourth set dooms Michigan

Teamstats
First Downs
RshS/ards
Passing lards
Offensive Plays
Total Offense
Kick rturns/yds
Punt returns/yds
Comp/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
Fumbes/Lost
Palis/Yards
Timeof Possession

Michigan Minnesota
17 16
35/113 41/136
235 145
52 62
348 281
2/52 5/93
2/13 11
13/17/0 14/21/1
3/51.7 3/38.3
1-0 2-1
2-10 6-35
26:12 33:48

PASSING
Gardner
Totals
RUSHING
Player
Toussant
Gardner
TEAM
Toas

M I C H I G A N
C-A' Yds TD Int
13-17 235 1' 0
13-23 235 1 0

, By ZACH SHAW The Wolverines were treated
Daily Sports Writer not only to crowds of 1,320 and
1,780 fans respectively, but spe-
Leaves continued to fall, tents cial appearances by the drum-
were folded up and leftover food line, pep band and dance teams
was stowed away. The sun was as well.
setting "It was really great to play at
on the N'WESTERN 1 home," said junior setter Lexi
first day MICHIGAN 3 Dannemiller. "We feel very com-
of home- fortable here. We had a bit of a
coming ILLINOIS 3 startling start to Big Ten play
weekend, MICHIGAN 2 on the road, so it was very nice
but the to come home. Having the home
women of Cliff Keen Arena were crowd behind us really boosts
just getting started. our confidence."
In a weekend headlined by Added Michigan coach Mark
homecomings all over campus, Rosen: "It's always fun to play
the No. 14 Michigan volleyball at home. I thought this weekend
team (1-3 Big Ten, 11-4 overall) the fans were especially loyal.
had its own variation of the time- They came in both nights and
honored tradition. But there created a great atmosphere for
were no alumni gatherings, bar- our match."
becues or touch football games The maize-clad crowd helped
to be found, just a team's desire Michigan overcome its slow start
for its first Big Ten victory. Friday in a win over Northwest-
After dropping their first two ern in four sets. After dropping
Big Ten matches on the road to the first set, 25-23, the Wolver-
No.12 Ohio State and No.5 Penn ines kept improving, taking the
State last week, the Wolverines next three by scores of 25-19,
were eager to return home. Hav- 25-19 and 25-13. Senior -outside
ing won nine straight games in hitter Lexi Erwin led the way
Ann Arbor dating back to Oct. 20 with 19 kills, while Dannemiller
of last year, Michigan ultimately chipped in with 44 assists and a
split the weekend against North- career-high nine kills.
western (1-3, 9-7) and Illinois "Early on, you could tell our
(2-2, 6-8) in back-to-back night team had some nerves,", Rosen
games. said. "We hadn't gotten that

Big Ten win yet and were com-
ing off of two losses. But by the
end of the match, we had a nice
rhythm and were really flowing
and playing really well."
The following night began in
very similar fashion as Michigan
once again dropped its first set,
this time to Illinois. As they did
Friday, the Wolverines bounced
back in increasingly dominant
fashion, winning the next two
sets, 25-15 and 25-10. The third
set, headlined by a 13-1 start,
warranted a standing ovation by
the fans as the Michigan players
emphatically slammed the floor
with their fists, piled on top of
each other with glee and waved
their arms at the crowd, asking
for more. Anticipation of a sec-
ond consecutive Big Ten victory
was in the air.
But the elation quickly faded
in the fourth set. The Fighting
Illini stormed out to an early
10-5 lead to begin the fourth
set, forcing Michigan to call
two early timeouts. The time-
outs brought back the energy,
particularly by the senior duo of
Erwin and middle blocker Jenni-
fer Cross, but frustration began
to set in as every ball bounced
the wrong way. Despite hav-
ing dominated the previous two
sets, the Wolverines found them-

selves playing sloppy volleyball,
committing 10 errors en route to
a 25-20 loss.
"I think we could've been
more consistent," Dannemiller
said of the fourth set. "We had
moments where we played really
well, but we had a lot of moments
where we played really awful.
We need to focus on trying not
to let other teams get on runs or
streaks and just being balanced
all the time."
The fourth set ultimately
proved to be the difference-
maker. The set loss not only
killed all momentum the Wol-
verines had attained, but turned
an opportunity to clinch into a
tiresome comeback effort.
"We got into a good rhythm
in the third set and dominated,"
Rosen said. "But the score resets
to 0-0, and I felt like we came out
a little flat in the fourth set. We
didn't take care of the ball as well
as we could have at the begin-
ning, and suddenly we have to
play the entire set from behind.
We finished strong and made it
close at the end, but that's very
taxingto our team."
With the match suddenly
even, the final tiebreaker, which
Rosen likened to rolling dice due
to its unpredictability, repre-
sented the back-and-forth play

the teams had shown all night.
After seven ties and three lead
changes, a spike by senior out-
side hitter Molly Toon fell just
out of bounds, clinching the
15-13 set win and 3-2 match Vic-
tory for Illinois.
"The fifth set's very short and
very intense," Rosen said. "It can
go either way. A 15-13 game can
be decided by a bad call here or a
missed play there, so you want to
avoid that situation if-you can. If
we had taken care of business in
the fourth'set, we would've done
that."
Playing in the nation's tough-
est conference, things don't get
much easier for Michigan. The
Wolverines have just five days to
regroup before taking on No. 10
Nebraska at home. While the loss
to an unranked opponent stings;
Rosen remained unfazed about
his team's efforts.
"One of the things we talked
about in the locker room is that
the growth from last weekend
to this weekend is tremendous,"
Rosen said. "Now we need to
keep it going. Every week we
need to go into practice and
training with the idea of getting
better for the next week. That's
our mission. If we can get better
every week like this, we're going
to be pretty darn good later on."

Att Yds
7 17
1 -5
35 113

Avg
2.3
2.4
-5
3.2

Lgs
14
14
-5
14

RECEIVING
Player No. Yds Avg Lg
Funchess 7 151 21.6 46
Chesson 3 33 11 22
Gallon 2 39 19.5 30
Dileo 1 12 12.0 1
Totals 13 235 18.1 46
PUNTING
Player No. Yds Avg
Wle 3 155 5. 7
Totals 3 155 51.7
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg
Nor let 2 2 2.
PUNT RETURNS
Plyr No. Yds Avg Lg
Total 2 13 6.5 9

Ls
22
30
6

TD
1
0
4
TD
1
0
0
0
1
Lg8
5
55

TACKLES
Player
Morgan
Tatlo
Wilson
Beyer
Avery
Gordon,G.
Henry
Countess
Ojemudia
Washington
Black
Pipkins
Norfleet
Heitzman
Houma
Stribling
Totals
PASSING
Player
Whitmer
Totals
RUSHING
Player A
iiams, M.
Cobb
Gillum
MJonga
Totals
RECEIVING
Player
Williams, M.
Cobb
Kirkwood
Wllams R.
Totals

Solo
6
4
4
3
4
3
3
3
3
2
1
1
t
0
0
7
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
46

Asst
4
5
t
2
0
1
1
0
0
1
2
2
t
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
24


Lg TD
29 0
Lg TD
9 0
Tot
10
5
4
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
70

LINE
From Page 1B
center, replacing redshirt sopho-
more Jack Miller. The Wolver-
ines also used anunbalancedline
for the first time, with Lewan
and fifth-year senior right tackle
Michael Schofield on the same
side of the line.
The moves worked. And (just
about) good to its (alleged) word,
the line finally showed signs of
life against the Golden Gophers.
This time, Michigan owned
the line of scrimmage. Gardner
had enough time in the pocket,
and he finished with the first
interception-free game of his
career. The rushing numbers,
Michigan coach Brady Hoke
admits, were unremarkable: the
Wolverines rushed for 113 yards
on 35 carries, an average of just
3.2 yards per carry.
But that average dipped as
Michigan milked the clock at
the end. And, importantly, the

line limited the negative plays
that plagued Michigan's offense
against Akron and UConn. Until
Michigan was running out the
clock at the end of the game,
Minnesota had just three tackles
for loss. Akron and UConn each
finished with eight.
"We wanted to run the ball,
and we wanted to send that mes-
sage," Hoke said. "I really believe
the threat was there consistently
throughout the game that we
were going to run the football."
That threat had been missing,
and it had turned the offense
one-dimensional. On Satur-
day, though, Michigan's first 10
offensive plays were runs. Gard-
ner didn't throw the ball until
midway through the second
quarter.
Hoke said the offensive line
was "very happy" with that
game plan. Hoke seemed pleased
too. After Michigan's first touch-
down run, on their first offen-
sive drive, Hoke found Bryant,
whose first six plays ended with


a touchdown,
"Nice job," Hoke told him
with a smile and a high five.
Michigan averaged just less
than six yards per carry on that
drive. Fifth-year senior run-
ning back Fitzgerald Toussaint
scored on an eight-yard rush. He
was hardlytouched.
That would become a theme
on Michigan's three other rush-
ing touchdowns. The line exe-
cuted nearly flawlessly on all of
them.
In the third quarter, freshman
running back Derrick Green
scored on a two-yard run to the
left side of the line. Bryant pulled
and neutralized his man. Kalis
pancaked his. Lewan dominat-
ed the end and Glasgow cut a
defender. Green wasn't touched
until he reached the goal line,
but even there, redshirt sopho-
more fullback Joe Kerridge pro-
vided a lead block.
"We're going to play Michi-
gan football," Lewan said. "Re-
establish the line of scrimmage,

power run game, inside zone,
downhill, fullback, running
back."
Later in the third quarter,
Toussaint scored again on a
12-yard rush to the left side. He
was destined for the end zone
before he even received the
handoff. The unbalanced set left
Minnesota out-manned.
By the time he took the ball
from Gardner, Schofield and red-
shirt freshman guard Kyle Kalis
had doubled the tackle, and Kalis
peeled off to the linebacker.
Lewan, playing on the right side
in the unbalanced look, kicked
the end out to the sideline.
Freshman tight end Jake Butt
motioned and sealed the corner-
back. Kerridge took on the line-
backer. By the time Bryant had
finished pulling, he had no one
to block. Again, Toussaint just
had to brush off an arm tackle to
glide to the touchdown.
Lewan said he is encouraged
by the turnaround, but he still
sees room for improvement.

Bryant, despite jitters, was a
road grader inside. ("He's a big,
big man," said the 6-foot-8, 315-
pound Lewan. "He's a very big.-
man.") But, Bryant was also beat
on a swim move for a sack.
Glasgow, Lewan said, actually
grades out better asa center than
a guard. With Glasgow coordi-
nating the blocking schemes, the
Wolverines owned the inside for
the first time all year. But Lewan
said the line should've gotten -
Toussaint to 100 yards. He fin-
ished with 71.
It certainly wasn't a perfect
showing. But when Michigan
needed to take the pressure off
a struggling Gardner, the line
answered.
"It felt like it felt prior to the
previous two weeks," Gardner
said. "We were a pretty good
offense and we were rolling
pretty good. Like I said, we were
wayward these past two weeks
but we got back to the basics, and
feel like our offense is ready to
roll again."

M I N N E S 0 T A

C-A Yds
14-21 145
14-21 -145

TD Int
1 1


Att Yds
18 66
8 33
7 22
2 9
5 6
1 0
41 146

Avg
3.7
8.0
7.0
3
Avg
10.8
3.0
14.0
10.0
10.4

L9
18
9
13
Lg
16
18
14
14

TD
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TD
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1

No.
5
2
1
1
14

Yds
54
6
14
145

PNTING
Playcr
Mortenl
Totals
KICKOFF RETURNS .
Player
Jones -
Olsonl
Toal

No. Yds Avg
3 115 38.3 43
3 115 38.3 43
No. Yds Avg Lg
2 . 63 31.5 45

Playe Solo Asst Tot
Wilson 4 4 8
Thompson 3 4 7
Hill 3 1 4
Balaza 3 0 3
legemn 2 1 3
Murray 2 0 2
Matilus 2 0 2
Johnson 1 1 2
Veen 0 2 2
Myic~k 1 0 1
Campybell 1 0 1
Travis 1 .0 1
Ralis 1 0 1
Ttl 37 18 55
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JUG
From Page 1B
shirt freshman Aehu Chesson,
fifth-year senior Jeremy Gallon
and sophomore Devin Funch-
ess catching passes for an aver-
age of 13 yards over the 10-play
drive to give Michigan the lead
entering the locker room.
With his arm sufficiently
warmed up, Gardner capped
the Wolverines' final posses-
sion of the half with a 24-yard
touchdown pass to Funchess,
thanks in part to solid field posi-
tion, starting the drive at Min-
nesota's 38-yard line. Gardner
finished 13-of-17 for 235 yards
and one touchdown each pass-
ing and on the ground.
Michigan - with its recent
turnover woes - benefited from
one to start the game. During
the opening drive, senior defen-
sive end Jibreel. Black forced
a fumble, recovered by sopho-
more linebacker James Ross III,
on Minnesota's third play of the
game. Starting on the Golden
Gophers' 35-yard line, the Wol-
verines scored their first touch-
down on a series of runs split
between tailbacks freshman
Derrick Green and fifth-year
senior Fitzgerald Toussaint.
Minnesota also ran the ball
for the majority of its next drive,
rushing for 52 yards on 10 car-
ries. The Golden Gophers con-
verted on all five of their third
downs, including a seven-yard
pass for a touchdown that Blake
Countess narrowly missed tip-
ping away.
The second half finally saw
the marriage between the Wol-
verines' run and pass game.
Consecutive runs from Tous-
saint started the drive, and a
22 and 21-yard pass to Chesson
and Funchess, respectively, set
Michigan up on the 2-yard line.
From there, Green bulldozed
his way into the end zone.
With the Wolverines com-

fortably in a rhythm, they con-
tinued to utilize the ground
game, and Toussaint ran for his
second touchdown of the game
with 11 seconds left in the third
quarter, all while the defense
held the Golden Gophers to just
two field goals in the second
half.
Despite the shared workload
between the running backs, it
still wasn't enough for Hoke.
Minnesota dominated time of
possession in the first half -
almost 19 minutes, compared to
Michigan's 11 - and Hoke said
that impeded Green's ability to
get even more carries.
"We wanted to run the ball,
and we wanted to send that
message. I thought we did a
pretty good job of it," Hoke
said. "We didn't have as much
yardage probably as we'd like
to have from that aspect, but
I really believe the threat was
there consistently throughout
the game."
Gardner also continued to
rely on Funchess, who had
relocated from his normal spot
at tight end to wide receiver.
Funchess caught seven passes
for 151 yards over the course of
the afternoon and scored once.
And above all, Gardner's
Superman complex, his try-to-
do-it-all attitude, didn't come
crashing down around the Wol-
verines.
This time, Gardner felt com-
fortable that he never gave up
control.
"If it calls for me to throw
it to Devin Funchess 17 times
in a game or to Jeremy Gallon
17 times or for me to throw 17
passes in total ... whatever we
need during that day, on that
given day, we're going to do it,"
Gardner said.
"But today I was able to man-
age the game and be pretty effi-
cient with ... the things we've
been good at in the past and
kind of slipped on the last two
weeks."

FIVE
From Page 1B
formances in the trenches to
date. The move has paid off
on several fronts: with Bry-
ant, Michigan gets a physical
presence on the interior, which
had failed to control the line of
scrimmage.
It also allows redshirtsopho-
more Graham Glasgow to move
to center. Fifth-year senior left
tackle Taylor Lewan said that
Glasgow, who played at left
guard for the first four games of
the season, actually grades out
better at center. He excels with
the added responsibilities at the
position. The struggling interior
line looked much improved with
the reshuffled lineup.
Bryant had suffered through
injuries for much of his Michi-
gan career. Against Minnesota,
Lewan said, he showed some
nerves in the first start of his
career, and he allowed Michi-
gan's only sack when he was
beaten on a swim move. But the
interior neutralized nose tackle
Ra'Shede Hageman, one of the
best defensive linemen in the
conference.
The addition of Bryant and
offensive coordinator Al Borg-
es's use of the unbalanced look
helped Michigan finally estab-
lish a ground game. In the unbal-
anced set, Lewan and fifth-year
senior right tackle Michael Scho-
field play on the same side of the
line. Several times on Saturday,
that created a situation where
Michigan had more blockers on
the play side of the field than
defenders.
On fifth-year senior Fitzger-
ald Toussaint's 12-yard touch-
down run in the third quarter,
Michigan had both tackles, a
guard and a pulling guard, a
tight end and a full back to clear
the way. Toussaint was hardly,
touched.
Plays like that had been rare

before Saturday.
3. The defense must improve
against rushing quarterbacks.
As far as the mobile quarter-
backs Michigan will see this
year, Minnesota quarterback
Mitch Leidner ranks somewhere
below Nebraska's Taylor Marti-
nez, Northwestern's Kain Colter
and Ohio State's Braxton Miller.
He's dangerous, but not exactly a
game-changing runner.
Still, Michigan struggled to
corral Leidner on the scramble.
He finished with 66 yards on
18 carries. Those aren't great
numbers, but many of his yards
extended drives and converted
third downs.
In the first half, Minnesota
gashed Michigan with a'16-play,
75-yard drive that lasted nearly
10 minutes. On that drive, and
the drive after it, Minnesota
converted on seven consecutive
third downs. Leidner had three
of them on the ground alone.
The inability to corral Leidner
was partially a result of an
adjustment in pass coverage.
Earlier in the season, Michigan
allowed an abundance of passes
between the linebackers and the
safeties. During the week, play-
ers said that could be corrected
with deeper drops from the line-
backers. But that gave Leidner
more space to run.
Michigan coach Brady Hoke
said tackling was also an issue.
"I don't know if it's that con-
cerning," Hoke said. "When you
look at it, there's some issues
when you don't tackle well,
when you're reaching instead of
running through. I was watch-
ing it, and we didn't run through
enough."
It didn't hurt Michigan sig-
nificantly against Minnesota.
But three of Michigan's tough-
est opponents all feature mobile
quarterbacks. Before then, the
Wolverines will have to make
some corrections.

4. Matt Wile and the punting
game have shown improvement.
Punting is rarely noticed
until something goes wrong. For
junior punter Matt Wile, some-
thing was going wrong.
Earlier in the year, Wile was
inconsistent. Against Akron
especially, Wile's punts put
Michigan's defense against the
wall.
Saturday, though, Wile punt-
ed three times for an average
of 51.7 yards. One punt rolled
all the way inside the one-yard
line and helped the Wolverines
win the-field-position battle that
ended with a touchdown before
halftime.
5. Bold Prediction: Blake Count-
ess will equal Charles Woodson's
mark of eight interceptions in a
season.
Interceptions is- a fickle stat.
Redshirt sophomore cornerback
Blake Countess had none his
freshman year. This season, he .
already has four. That puts him
in a tie for first in the nation, and
he's all alone in first in return
yards with 149.
The Michigan record for
interceptions is 10, set by Tom
Curtis in 1968. Countess is on
pace to eclipse that record in
13 games, but that's probably
unlikely. A more reachable mile-
stone is Woodson's eight inter-
ceptions in 1997, the year he won
the Heisman Trophy.
Here's why: Countess plays
often at the nickel, where he can
roam and ball hawk. He also isn't
a pure lockdown corner who will
prevent passes to his side of the
field.
Countess is already having a
historically significant season.
He's just 33 return yards off the
Michigan record, also set by
Curtis.
And he's already eighth on the
all-time return yard list for his
career.