#12 Michigan 31 Miami (OH) 13 - September 1, 2001 - Ann Arbor, Mich.
Chris Bray's Record (4-1)
ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Ticker) -- Michigan's defense is ahead of
the offense early in the season.
The 12th-ranked Wolverines overcame an inconsistent offense by
scoring 21 points off three interceptions and posted a 31-13
victory over Miami of Ohio in their 100th home opener.
"We wanted to show people what we're made off," said linebacker
Carl Diggs, who had one of the three interceptions. "We gave up
some big plays. We have to improve on that. There's a lot of
young guys on the defense who want to show that the team can
count on us."
John Navarre tossed a one-yard touchdown pass to Bennie Joppru
on fourth down with 24 seconds remaining in the second quarter
to give the Wolverines (1-0) a 17-6 halftime lead.
But Michigan had trouble putting away the RedHawks, going
three-and-out on its first three possessions of the second half.
"The most disappointing thing today was how we left the defense
out there too much in the third quarter," Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr said. "I was disappointed with certain things but not
disappointed with the team or the win."
Miami (0-1) was its own worst enemy. It had a 40-yard
touchdown reception by running back Luke Clemens in the third
quarter called back due to an holding penalty.
Later in period, the RedHawks had another chance to close within
four, driving to the Michigan 13, but red-shirt freshman Ben
Roethlisberger was intercepted in the end zone by Jeremy
LeSueur.
"I thought we played hard, had a lot of heart," Miami coach
Terry Hoeppner said. "Our character showed itself today. We
can't make the mistakes we made on both sides of the ball and in
the kicking game if we want to be a good team. I lost track of
the number of mistakes we made. Our defense rose to the occasion
but at times we played like a young team on offense, which we
are."
The Wolverines finally got their offense untracked and wore down
the RedHawks, putting together two long drives in the fourth
quarter to pull away.
Calvin Bell's 12-yard TD run with 10:49 remaining capped an
80-yard, 12-play drive before Walter Cross' one-yard TD plunge
put the finishing touches on a 15-play, 75-yard drive that
consumed more than six minutes.
"The defense was playing great, so we had to pick up our end of
it," Navarre said. "We can get better. We've got to improve."
Miami backup Ryan Hawk tossed a meaningless 16-yard touchdown
pass to Chauncey Henry in the final minute.
Taking over for Drew Henson, who signed a contract with the New
York Yankees, Navarre completed 19-of-32 for 205 yards.
"I didn't have any expectations coming in," Navarre said. "I
just wanted to make my reads and get the ball close to the
receivers. You can't worry about the yardage."
"His pocket presence is better this year," Carr said of his
quarterback. "I thought he looked great in the pocket."
Michigan jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter on B.J.
Askew's one-yard TD run and Hayden Epstein's 22-yard field goal.
Miami closed to 10-6 on Roethlisberger's 21-yard TD pass to
Eddie Tillitz five minutes into the second period.
Roethlisberger, who missed the last two years because of
injuries, completed 19-of-35 passes for 193 yards and three
interceptions.
"It's a great feeling just to play again, regardless of who it
was against," he said. "If I could, I'd take the interceptions
back in a heartbeat. Everything happened much faster (than I
thought) but as coach said you can't simulate that in practice."
Askew paced Michigan on the ground with 94 yards on 20 carries.
"This was good enough for today," Askew said, "but not got
enough for next week (at Washington)."
NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
MIAMI OHIO 0 6 0 7 13
MICHIGAN (10) 10 7 0 14 31 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QTR: MICH - TD, BJ ASKEW 1 YD RUN (HAYDEN EPSTEIN KICK), 5:40
MICH - FG, HAYDEN EPSTEIN 22 YD, 13:17
2ND QTR: MOHI - TD, EDDIE TILLITZ 21 YD PASS FROM BEN
ROETHLISBERGER (PAT FAILED), 4:58
MICH - TD, BENNIE JOPPRU 1 YD PASS FROM JOHN NAVARRE
(HAYDEN EPSTEIN KICK), 14:36
3RD QTR: NONE
4TH QTR: MICH - TD, CALVIN BELL 12 YD RUN (HAYDEN EPSTEIN KICK),
4:11
MICH - TD, WALTER CROSS 1 YD RUN (HAYDEN EPSTEIN KICK),
11:16
MOHI - TD, CHAUNCEY HENRY 16 YD PASS FROM BEN
ROETHLISBERGER (JARED PARSEGHIAN KICK), 14:52
Miami Ohio Michigan
First downs 18 22
Rushed-yards 29-127 47-189
Passing yards 223 214
Sacked-yards lost 3-10 1-7
Return yards 28 36
Passes 22-44-3 20-34-0
Punts 7-37.1 6-35.5
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 6-35 2-20
Time of possession 27:16 32:44
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Miami Ohio-Clemens 14-63, R Hawk 4-23, C Murray Jr
2-23, Roethlisberge 9-18. Michigan-Askew 20-94, C Bell 2-36, C
Perry 11-32, Underwood 5-19, Cross 6-15, Navarre 3-minus 7.
PASSING: Miami Ohio-Roethlisberge 18-35-3-193, R Hawk 4-9-0-30.
Michigan-Navarre 19-32-0-205, Gonzales 1-1-0-9, Brinton 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Miami Ohio-J Branch 4-66, Tillitz 4-50, Henry 4-42,
Clemens 4-23, R Hawk 3-15, C Murray Jr 2-21, Kirkpatrick 1-6.
Michigan-C Bell 5-26, Walker 3-44, Seymour 3-36, R Bellamy
2-34, Askew 2-29, Edwards 2-22, C Perry 1-12, Dubuc 1-10,
Joppru 1-1.
Att: 109,676
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