By Steve SilverThe Daily Northwestern
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – NU’s defense suffered another loss Saturday as senior cornerback Marquice Cole missed Saturday’s game due to a hamstring injury.
Cole injured his hamstring during practice on Thursday. After warming up before Saturday’s game, Cole decided he was not able to play at full speed.
As NU’s No. 1 cornerback, Cole has recorded 36 tackles and two interceptions.
“Marquice is Marquice,” sophomore safety Brendan Smith said. “He is a very good player and it always hurts not having him in there.”
NU’s defense held Michigan’s passing game to just 116 yards on 20 throws as freshman Sherrick McManis replaced Cole in his first start at cornerback.
McManis finished with four tackles and forced one fumble in Saturday’s 17-3 loss. He also returned three kicks for a total of 73 yards.
“I am really ecstatic with the way Sherrick McManis played today, ” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “I don’t know if he had a ball caught on him all day. I don’t know how many were thrown at him, but to have a true freshman out there and to play the way that he is playing right now, not only as a corner but on special teams. The future is very bright for him.”
Simpson shows up
Junior linebacker Eddie Simpson made his first career start Saturday for injured captain Nick Roach – and he made his presence felt.
Simpson finished second on the team with eight total tackles and one fumble recovery.
When Roach broke his leg in NU’s 41-38 loss against Michigan State last week, he left a void in the defense that Fitzgerald struggled to fill all week.
Fitzgerald tried four different linebackers in Roach’s position and Simpson won the job over junior Chris Malleo and sophomores Mike Dinard and Malcolm Arrington.
“Knowing Eddie, I know he is a great athlete and a great football player,” junior inside linebacker Adam Kadela said. “I think he stepped up pretty well.”
Simpson was sidelined for the last three games with a neck injury and whether he would play at Michigan was questionable all week.
Roach, who underwent surgery last Sunday, did make the trip to Ann Arbor. He was on the sidelines in crutches for most of the game.
With three starters missing in action, NU’s defense held the highest ranked team its have faced this season to just 17 points – the lowest amount Michigan’s offense has posted all season. The Wolverines averaged 29.8 points per game prior to Saturday’s game.
“Oh my goodness,” sophomore running back Tyrell Sutton said. “Seventeen points – you can’t ask for anything better … Against the No. 2 ranked team in the country and to have a supposed 34 point spread against us. They were phenomenal. They gave us a lot of opportunities for us to go out there and score. All the credit goes to the defense. Hats off to them. Now the offense needs to step up.”
On the opposite side the ball, junior right guard Adam Crum made his first start in place of junior lineman Austin Matthews, who has missed the past two games with a hip injury.
Crum joined an offensive line that has been forced to shift positions nearly every week to compensate for injured players.
But Crums’ first start was against the nation’s fifth best defense.
Michigan sacked Bach
