2B - November 11, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com, f a ar i oeAe COLUMN Ifthere are answers, time to share them* The questions were mostly the same at Brady Hoke's postgame press confer- ence this week, but the buzz- word had changed. Last week, execution was to blame for Michigan's 29-6 loss to Michigan' State, for the J" negative 48 rushing yards. This week? ZACH Hoke just hasZHELFAND to do a better job coaching this football team. How does everyone know this? He said so himself. Seven times in less than 13 minutes. How do you explain all the negative rushing yards, he was asked? Last week, he responded, "We didn't execute as well as they did." This week, "Well, it's hard to explain, isn't it?" Hoke said. "I've got to do a better job coaching those guys." How do you keep Devin's spir- its up after seven sacks? "His spirits will be up because he's a competitor," Hoke said. "He's goingto be sore, and that's part of it. Again, I have to do a better job coaching." What kind of adjustments were you hoping to make? "There were a number of things that we have to do a better job coaching the kids on," Hoke said. What did you think of Mary Sue Coleman's speech, coach? "I have to doa better job coaching," Hoke said. OK, that last one was fake. But it poses an interesting question: in a famously insular profession, does a coach owe answers to anyone? First, let's be clear about a few things. One, this is an admirable, back, too. For 19-to 22-year-olds, that hurts. "Whoever questions our toughness, they can shove it," said redshirt junior quarterback Devin Gardner on Saturday. And good for him - question- ing a team's toughness is a cheap analysis, especially when it's abundantly clear that Michigan simply isn't as good as many of its opponents. Try to find a team that has won despite a bad offen- sive line. It just doesn't happen. But without any clear direc- tion from Michigan's leader - without acknowledgingthe flaws and how to fix them - the center falls apart. And the fans take it upon themselves to offer solutions. Now, Michigan has lost three of its last four because Hoke doesn't wear a headset. Or because the team isn't tough enough. In his first two seasons, Hoke answered these complaints on the field. This year, that hasn't happened. So does Hoke owe anything to the fan base? Maybe - it's unrealistic for anyone to expect results in Hoke's third year with a bare cupboard at offensive line. The self-deception goes both ways. But providing an honest - assessment of his team is prob- ably worth the trouble for Hoke. That's possible without throwing anyone under the bus. At his press conference, Hoke was finally asked where, specifi- cally, he had to do a better job coaching the team. "Just - everything," he said. Had that answer been broad- cast over the Michigan Stadium scoreboards, it's not hard to imagine it would've drawn cheers. And not the sincere kind. -Helfand can be reached at zhelfand@umich.edu or on Twitter @zhelfand 0 Michigan coach Brady Hoke has admirably taken the blame for Saturday's 17-13 loss to Nebraska, but the Michigan football team's problems go deeper than that. if frustrating, response from the leader of a football team. Hoke is asking to shoulder all the blame. His porous offensive line is still too young and hasn't progressed. The defense missed an assign- ment late, which allowed the final touchdown. Nebraska's players said they could predict Michigan's plays before the snap. Hoke wants responsibility for it all. And this isn't anything new. Typically, football coaches are about as forthcoming as a pile of bricks, especially after a game. On that spectrum, Hoke is like a brick somewhere right above the bottom of that pile. He'll prob- ably be more willing to share at his Monday press conference. But without any answers before the game, with no answers on the field and very few explanations afterward, the customers were not happy. After a stretch of near silence, Michi- gan Stadium finally came alive with a murmur Saturday. The murmur began to crescendo, and soon all corners of the stadium were cheering, and then they were standing for the first time all game. It was late in the first quarter, and Michigan had just gained its first first down of the game. The 112,204 in attendance - polite Midwestern folk - had turned sarcastic. The cheer, derisive. By now, the rest is familiar. Reality handed offensive coor- dinator Al Borges a bunch of lemons, and he continued to try to turn them into hot chocolate by running his backs into a wall of defenders. The interior line continued to look like what you'd expect from a freshman, a red- shirt freshman and a redshirt sophomore. The defense cracked on a late fourth down, and Nebraska won ugly, 17-13. Hoke heard the sarcastic cheering, and he later heard a smattering of boos. "Well, that's you know, that's the way things are," he said. But he hasn't helped his case, either. Consider the circum- stances: those fans with the sarcastic cheering- and later with a smattering of boos - they pay an average of $230 per ticket, according to Forbes. Those same fans later go on message boards proposing to fire the coach, the offensive coordinator, the offen- sive coordinator's secretary and, hell, that secretary's great aunt Sally, for good measure. This is college football. What's sanity? Those things trickle back to the team, hurt recruiting and begin to create a toxic atmo- sphere. These things matter. Rich Rodriguez's fatal flaw was that he couldn't unite Michigan's alumni and fan base, right? When a high-profile ESPN column (rather foolishly) calls Michigan's quarterback and freshman running back soft and its left tackle lazy, that trickles 0 Soccer loses Big Bear Trophy By MINH DOAN Daily Sports Writer In a rivalry game, physical- ity is a given and fouls aren't an uncommon occurrence either. But of all the things the Michi- gan men's soccer team expected to happen in a rivalry game, playing a man down was prob- ably not one of them. With Michigan State's lead- ing scorer, forward Tim Kreutz, streaking down the MICHIGAN 0 field on MSU 2 a break- away in the 60th minute, Michi- gan sophomore defender Jack Brown came from behind, slide tackled to get the ball and took down Kreutz in the process. Brown was handed a red card, forcing the Wolverines to play a man down. After the red card, the Wol- verines "clicked off," according to senior goalie Adam Grinwis, as they went down 1-0 before conceding another goal one minute later en route to a 2-0 loss. Not only did the Wolverines (3-3 Big Ten, 8-6-3 overall) lose the Big Bear Trophy, given to the winner of the annual rivalry game, but they also missed a chance at securing an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. No one could have predicted the outcome of the game after Michigan dominated the first half in a convincing fashion. The Wolverines had 10 shots on goal while not allowing the 18th- ranked Spartans (3-2-1, 10-4-3) to rattle off even one shot. "We came out flying because we knew what was stake," Grin- wis said. "Not only was it a local derby, but also had huge NCAA and Big Ten Tournament impli- cations." Not being able to finish their chances has been Michigan's Achilles' heel all season, and it was evident in the first half. "When you go away to play against an instate rival, clearly dominate a half and have noth- ing to show for it, it's very frus- trating," Grinwis said. In the 18th minute, redshirt sophomore midfielder Colin McAtee had the ball inside the 0 six-yard box. After weaving around to look for a clear shot, he found an opportunity and took a crack at the ball. His low shot from the right side went across the goal mouth and to the left side of the net, just missing the target. Michigan had its best chance in the 23rd minute when senior midfielder Fabio Pereira received the ball on the left flank and dribbled down the touch- line. As a Michigan State defend- er came to take away the ball, Pereira weaved his way past the defender before cutting inside to the six-yard box. Zach Ben- nett, the Spartans' goalkeeper, came out to cut off the angle and Pereira tried to chip it over Ben- nett's head. Bennett got a hand on the ball and barely stopped the ball from going into the goal. After the halftime break, it was clear something said in the Spartan locker room ignited them, as they came out and pep- pered Grinwis with six quick shots. Meanwhile, the Wolver- ines could only muster one in the first 15 minutes. "We couldn't come out play- ing the same we were playing, and credit to Michigan State who really put us on the back foot," Grinwis said. The red card given in the second half drastically changed the game and tilted the posses- sion battle toward the Spartans as the Wolverines sat back to defend. Only a minute after the red card, a cross sent in by Michigan State midfielder Sean Conerty found the head of midfielder Kyle Rutz, who unleashed a header 15 yards from the goal into the back of the net. Less than three minutes after the first goal, a Michigan foul inside the box led to a penalty kick for the Spartans. Michigan State midfielder Fatai Alashe stepped up to take the kick and placed it into the left corner of the goal,just away from the hand of Grinwis. It ended any hope for a Wolverine comeback and put Michigan's NCAA Tournament hopes on hold for another week. "We need a solid turnout in the Big Ten Tournament next week to make the NCAA Tour- nament now," Grinwis said. "I think we need to go into the tournament definitely needing to win the first game, and most likely winning the semifinal game." Note: Michigan fresh- man defender Lars Eckenrode received his fifth yellow card of the season and is suspended from the Wolverines' Big Ten Tournament opener against Indiana due to accumulation. 0',