2000 FBL vs. Bowling Green -- postgame notes

Seven Make First Career Starts
Michigan had seven players make their first career starts in the Bowling Green game. Three of the seven were on offense -- John Navarre (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS), Ronald Bellamy (New Orleans, La./Archbishop Shaw HS) and B.J. Askew (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain HS) -- and four on defense -- Grant Bowman (Blacklick, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales HS), Alain Kashama (Montreal, Quebec/Vieux Montreal HS), Julius Curry (Detroit, Mich./Bishop Gallagher HS) and Charles Drake (Los Angeles Calif./Westchester HS).

Navarre Nuggets
In addition to making his first career start, redshirt freshman John Navarre's opening day highlights included:

First career pass -- 22 yards to Anthony Thomas (Winnfield, La./Winnfield HS)
First career touchdown pass, 41 yards, to David Terrell (Richmond, Va./Huguenot HS)
Four touchdown passes in a game is a record for a quarterback making his debut
Navarre's four touchdown passes ties the school single-game record, held by 10 others. The last Wolverine to accomplish this feat was Tom Brady in the 2000 Orange Bowl.
In his debut, Navarre went 15-of-19 for a .789 completion percentage.

Terrell Tidbits
Junior wide receiver David Terrell's 10th career touchdown reception came on a 41-yard pass from John Navarre ... Terrell had six receptions for 91 yards.

Fargas Returns
Sophomore running back Justin Fargas (Encino, Calif./Notre Dame HS) returned for the first time since breaking his leg on November 14, 1998, against Wisconsin. Fargas returned the opening kickoff for 11 yards and rushed for 70 yards on eight carries in his return.

The Big A
Anthony Thomas scored his 38th career touchdown on a 28-yard run with 12:41 left in the fourth quarter. Thomas rushed 23 times for 108 yards, marking the 14th time he has rushed for over 100 yards. Thomas moved into fifth place for all-time career rushing yards with 2,485 yards, moving ahead of Tim Biakabutuka, Billy Taylor and George Bell, all tied with 2,810 yards. Thomas earned 129 combined rushing/receiving yards today, giving him 3,407 career rushing/receiving yards, moving him into fifth place on Michigan's all-time list ahead of Anthony Carter, who had 3,289.

Going the Distance
B.J. Askew had three catches for 87 yards, including a game-high 58-yarder, in his debut at fullback. Last season, as a true freshman tailback, Askew had three receptions for four total yards.

Bellamy's Welcome to the Big House
Ronald Bellamy's first career reception was a 19-yard touchdown reception from John Navarre with 11:23 left in second quarter. Bellamy, who played in nine games as a true freshman on offense and defense, made his 2000 debut with three catches 53 yards. He added his second touchdown catch of the second quarter to help Michigan to its 21-0 halftime lead. Bellamy's longest career reception 23 yards at 9:20 of the second quarter, good for a Wolverine first down. Bellamy had five punt returns for 42 yards (he had a total of 19 punt return yards as a freshman in 1999).

Foote Leads Defense
Junior linebacker Larry Foote (Detroit, Mich./Pershing HS) led the Wolverine defense with six solo tackles, three of which were for loss (14 yards), including a quarterback sack. Michigan had two other sacks on the afternoon, which were the first career sacks for rush linebacker Shantee Orr (Detroit, Mich./Denby HS) and junior/sophomore nose tackle John Wood (Cincinnati, Ohio/Millford Academy).

Freshman Hits 100-Yard Mark
Freshman tailback Chris Perry made his college football debut by rushing for 103 yards on 10 carries, including a 42-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Perry is the first freshman to rush for 100 yards in his career/home debut since Walter Cross (Fort Washington, Md./Oxon Hill HS) rushed 10 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns vs. Syracuse on Sept. 12, 1998. (Cross did not see action in the 1998 season opener at Notre Dame.)

500 Big Ones
Michigan's offense gained 554 total yards against Bowling Green, marking the first time Michigan has gained more than 500 total yards since it racked up 524 yards of total offense at Hawaii on Nov. 28, 1998.

Winning Ways
With its win over first-time opponent Bowling Green, Michigan stayed perfect against Mid-American Conference opponents, with a 13-0 record ... Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr earned his 50th victory in today's game. Carr's career record is 50-13 ... Michigan has won 100 season-opening games.

Bowling Green Consistency
Kurt Gerling has now caught a pass in 23 straight games, the ninth longest active streak in the country. However, Gerling broke his collarbone late in the game and is expected to miss four weeks ... Bowling Green's punter, Ricky Schneider, made his first career start and had nine punts for 360 (40.0 average) ... Bowling Green kicker Mike Knapp missed his first collegiate field goal attempt ... Bowling Green's Andre Pinchem made his first career reception on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Andy Sahm.