The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2017 THE WOLVERINE 15 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2012: Michigan opened up Big Ten play inside Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium with a resounding 44-13 win over the Boilermakers Oct. 6. Brady Hoke's squad built a 28-3 lead and was never seriously challenged in start- ing its league campaign. The Wolverines put the game away early in the second quarter, with both the offense and defense scoring in the opening 18 minutes. Tailback Fitzgerald Toussaint cashed in touchdowns on a pair of one-yard plunges in the first quarter, before defensive back Raymon Taylor raced back 63 yards with an interception return TD early in the second. At 21-0, Purdue fans settled back to enjoy the concessions and the sunny skies in West Lafayette, while the Wolverines were enjoying everything. The Boilermakers found U-M quarterback Denard Rob- inson particularly elusive. He ran the ball 24 times for 235 yards, averaging nearly a first down (9.8 yards) per try. Rob- inson added 105 yards and one touchdown through the air. Purdue countered with 56 yards on the ground as a team and experienced a long day for three different quarterbacks that combined for a pair of interceptions, including Taylor's pick-six. Following a rocky road in the non-conference schedule, in- cluding losses to Alabama and Notre Dame, the Wolverines were ready to bounce back. Toussaint wound up with only 19 rushing yards, while Robinson set him up for the scores. Hoke noted Michigan did a good job of taking what the Boilermakers gave, after the tailback burned them a year earlier. "They weren't going to let him rush for 170 yards, because that's really what got them in trouble a year ago," Hoke said. Instead, they let Robinson run wild, and others finished the job. 10 YEARS AGO, 2007: The Wolverines rolled to 5-0 in the Big Ten with a 34-10 home win over Minnesota Oct. 27. Michigan actually trailed for most of the first half, before freshman backup quarterback Ryan Mallett and his team- mates got it going against the Golden Gophers. Mallett, subbing for injured senior quarterback Chad Henne, completed 11 of 20 passes for 233 yards with one touchdown. The freshman got plenty of help by a pair of 100-yard rushers, Brandon Minor pounding out 157 yards and a score on 21 carries and Carlos Brown bolting for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 13 tries. The home crowd of 109,432 might not have seen all that coming after Minnesota took a 10-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter. Gophers strong safety Dominique Barber scooped up a fumble and rumbled 46 yards for the touchdown to put the Wolverines in a hole. Michigan stormed back, scoring 34 straight points to over- whelm a team that came into The Big House hoping for a big upset. Instead, the Wolverines overcame the absence of Henne and injured tailback Mike Hart, its defense digging in and the offense eventually getting going. "We knew Chad wasn't in, Hart wasn't there and we had Mallett in there," nose tackle Terrence Taylor said. "He messed up a couple of times. He put the ball on the ground, and the running backs put the ball on the ground. "We didn't want to start yelling at them or anything like that. When we got up by three, that was enough. That was enough points to win. We went out there and said, if they don't score, they don't win. That was our mentality." 25 YEARS AGO, 1992: Michigan crushed Michigan State at home, 35-10, moving to 4-0-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten Oct. 10. The Spartans invaded Michigan Stadium hoping to deliver U-M's first loss, but instead absorbed a thrashing by a team headed for an undefeated season. Michigan scored the first four times, piling up a 28-0 first- half lead. The Wolverines rushed for 307 yards to MSU's 103, with tailback Tyrone Wheatley carrying the football 28 times for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Elvis Grbac threw for 111 yards and let it be known after a game that got a bit antagonistic — like Mich- igan-Michigan State contests tend to do — that he desired an emphatic victory at home. "I wanted to come back here and just destroy this team," Grbac said. "I just wanted to rip them apart." Michigan defensive lineman Chris Hutchinson came away with stitches in his chin after getting his facemask broken in the contest. He still set the defensive tone for the game, sacking MSU quarterback Jim Miller in each of the first two series. "Michigan and Michigan State really don't like each other," Hutchinson acknowledged. "I wouldn't go so far as to say hate, but it's a strong dislike for each other." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY U-M overcame the injury losses of quarterback Chad Henne and running back Mike Hart in a 2007 win over Minnesota, thanks to 132 yards and two touchdowns from Carlos Brown (No. 23). PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN