Hoke believes Hemingway catch was a TD

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Asked Monday whether he feels he was robbed when a potential touchdown catch by Junior Hemingway was ruled incomplete in the final seconds Saturday, Michigan football coach Brady Hoke said, "I never carry much money with me, anyway. Mrs. Hoke doesn't give me any." At least Hoke hasn't lost his sense of humor the 24-16 heartbreaker at Iowa. Even with a Hemingway touchdown there, the Wolverines still would have needed a two-point conversion to tie for a chance to win in overtime. "It's football," Hoke said of the call. "That stuff happens." Still, after watching the replay, Hoke thinks it should have been a touchdown. "I thought Junior made the catch," Hoke said. Inbounds? "Oh yeah." Did Hemingway "finish the process" of the catch, though? "That's where everything gets diluted," Hoke said. "What is that?" Bottom line, Hoke said, "I thought he caught the ball." Michigan has been in contact with the Big Ten office concerning the play, but as of early Monday afternoon, Hoke hadn't received an explanation for why the play was ruled incomplete. "Not completely," Hoke said during his weekly news conference. "I don't worry about it. We're going to submit what we think we need to submit and we've got to move forward." The Wolverines (7-2, 3-2 Big Ten Legends) must somehow bounce back from the disappointment to prepare for the next game Saturday at Illinois. "I think our kids are pretty daggone resilient," Hoke said. "Good or bad, we'll move through that and move past it pretty quick. Kids are a heck of a lot more resilient than we are. We've got to take that next step, and so do they." The Iowa loss moved Michigan, No. 24 in the BCS standings, a game out of first place in the Legends Division. Michigan State is 4-1; Michigan, Iowa and Nebraska are 3-2. The chances of winning the division, however, appear remote because the Wolverines would lose on head-to-head tiebreakers to Michigan State and Iowa after losses to both of those teams. Nevertheless, Hoke doesn't want his team to change any of its goals just yet. "I asked our guys yesterday, Did anybody think Northwestern would go into Lincoln (Neb.) and win?'" Hoke said. "Only one guy said, yeah, they picked it. "I don't think anybody in here can tell you what's going to happen a minute from now, let alone four weeks from now. There's a lot of football still to be played." Denard's numbers down Quarterback Denard Robinson has rushed for a combined total of 160 yards the past three weeks, against Michigan State, Purdue and Iowa. In Big Ten games, he's averaging 64 yards a game on the ground. Some observers believe Robinson doesn't have the same acceleration he did a year ago. Hoke said the drop-off can be attributed, in part, to "what people are giving us and allowing us to do." "He's still a major factor," Hoke said. The coaching staff came into the season wanting to limit the number of hits on Robinson to try to keep him healthy. In the Big Ten opener, the Wolverines unveiled a "Deuce" package in which Robinson lines up as a running back or receiver while Devin Gardner takes over at quarterback. The package has been used periodically in every conference game. "I think we're getting what we need to get out of it right now," Hoke said. "We'll see what else there is to it." Robinson's fingers went numb at one point during the Iowa game after he got hit with a helmet in his elbow. "The humorous bone, the funny bone," Hoke said with a grin. "Is that funny?" Coach admits mistake The Wolverines should have had one additional timeout during their final drive, which could have given them the option to call a running play. Hoke, however, admitted he wrongly used a timeout earlier before an Iowa punt. "I called timeout because I thought we had 12 guys on the field," Hoke said. "We didn't. I didn't count very well. As soon as I called it and counted, I said I hope we don't need that one late.' "I talked about the kids' effort. I had pretty good effort, but I didn't execute on that one very good for them." Starter to benchwarmer Despite leading the team in fumble recoveries and forced fumbles and being second in tackles, free safety Thomas Gordon lost his starting job last week to fifth-year senior Troy Woolfolk. Woolfolk moved from cornerback to strong safety to replace injured Jordan Kovacs two games ago. When Kovacs returned, Woolfolk took over for Gordon. Gordon played on special teams at Iowa, but not on defense.