IOWA CITY - On a team with a lot of receiving talent, it's tough for just one player to ever stand out. Especially if they're not wearing No. 1 nor are they a speedy punt returner slated to be the next Anthony Carter.

But Michigan wide receiver Jason Avant has established himself as the go-to guy in tough situations for quarterback John Navarre.

Especially on third down - when teams usually drop back into a zone defense - it is Avant who is able to find a hole for Navarre to throw to.

On three first-half occasions on Saturday, Avant took advantage of the zone defense being run and found openings for 20, 38 and 71 yards. On all three, he took a 10- to 15-yard route and turned it into something bigger. Avant also had an 11-yard reception in the half.

Navarre even tried to give Avant much more than the 175 yards receiving that he finished with, but the duo couldn't connect on slant, flag and fade routes when Iowa went into man coverage - presumably a switch from the zone coverage that Michigan was able to abuse so much during the game.

"They're coaches, that's their job," Navarre said of the Iowa coaching staff. "They're going to adjust to that. We have to be able to adjust to that, too. It's just a coaching battle back and forth. We have to be able to do the job there. They just did a good job of adjusting."

Playing the pyramid: Michigan's punt team saw a new look, when it debuted a triangular-shaped seven offensive lineman, three protector and one punter set. Freshman kicker Garrett Rivas served as the punter in the three second-half situations it was run. Rivas had pooch punted earlier in the second half.

The design of the punt was in response to Iowa's Ramon Ochoa and his second- quarter 43-yard return. The punt team also lost two of its regular special team starters in Jeremy Van Alstyne and Larry Stevens to injuries.

"That's part of that particular punting plan," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "We wanted to roll him, and they brought pressure off the edge he was rolling to. He was to punt it. He had two very good punts. The strength of that protection is that you should get great coverage. Early in the game, we gave up a long punt return because we didn't get the coverage down there."

The punting strategy paid off well the first two times Michigan did it, as it kept the ball away from Ochoa and placed the Hawkeyes inside their own 30-yard line.

But Rivas found problems on Michigan's first drive after Iowa tied the score at 20 late in the third quarter. Michigan drove to its own 27 and then stalled out, bringing out Rivas.

As Rivas rolled right, he might have delayed on kicking - Carr said he had to check game film on that - and Iowa's Chris Smith broke through the three protectors for a block to set up what would be the game-deciding field goal.