E
TIE MICHIGAN DAILYEs
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flue
Sa tu rday:
reitling, Rain, Injuries
Hit
mow- M -I- lisp""
, x_ .
-Daily Photos by David Arnold and Peter Anderson
THESE FACES IN THE CROWD ON A RAINY DAY-All contributed to a sad afternoon yesterday as Illinois downed Michigan at
the Stadium, 21-8. From left to right, (1) Rich Kreltling, Illinois end, caused most of the damage by catching three touchdown passes;
(2) Coach Bennie Oosterbaan suffered his fourth Big Ten- defeat and is headed for Michigan's worst season since 1936; (3) Wolverine
players like Walt Johnson (sitting) and Fred Julian (standing), shared their coach's feelings; (4) heroic efforts from Bob Ptacek (No.
49), shown scoring his team's only touchdown of the day, were all in vain, including his 124 yards rushing yardage; (5) even rain-
happy youngsters had to dash to cover, like the boy under the apple crate; (6) the crowd, small to begin with, stayed only for the first
half; and (7) slippery footballs in the second half put an end to Michigan's passing attack-as shown by usually sure-handed Gary
Prahst, dropping one of Ptacek's tosses.
-----
Illinois End Scores Three Touchdowns
PORT-WHYS
S... 6 .elljne
2
days left till
S.G.C.
(Continued from Page 1)
________________s_____were tops-and here thanks to
to the left-while Ptacek went to Kreitling -- was in passing, by
the right. 187-127 yards.
Captain Jack Delveaux recovered Perhaps the real indication of
Michigan dominance wstefc
the wild ball on the 23-yd. line, the e ran tce as
and Michigan was never able to many, 80-40, plays from scrim-
move again.' mage as the Illini.
It was another case where However, aside from Ptacek's
Oosterbaan's team won the game fine play-the senior quarterback
of statistics, but forgot to outscore and tailback gained 124 yards in
the opponent. The final count . 27 attempts-the Michigan offense
showed Michigan over Illinois wasnt' impressive.
20-9, in first downs; and 145-119 Generally, the blocking wasn't
in rushing yardage. good. There were a number of"
The only area where the Illini instances when the Michigan run-
ners were able to get past the
line of scrimmage, but then didn't
receive the necessary downfield
L1E!i blocking.
Electiohs
SAl
suffered a blow early in the first
quarter when halfback Darrell
Harper, the leading rusher on the
team, received a groin injury. Un-
able to play the rest of the game,
his condition apparently isn't
serious enough to sideline him for
next week.
Injury Hurts
Another injury that hurt the
team was the loss of tackle Don
Deskins, who was hit in the ribs.
Reid Bushong also suffered a hip
injury late in the game that isn't
considered serious.
The Michigan defense, aside
from long passes, was quite good.
"We were able to contain the Ill1-
nois ground game quite well,"
Oosterbaan stated.
"But I have to give Illinois credit
on the pass plays," he continued.
"We had worked on that scoring
play all week, and knew they
would use it, and they still pulled
it off well."
Linemen Shine
Many of the Michigan linemen
shined on defense. The most out-
standing was tackle George Genyk,
who often was able to knife
through and break up the Illini
offensive formation.
However, the second-string line
wasn't able to contain the Illini
as well, and the fact that Michi-
gan was tiring was apparent late
in the third quarter. Only at this
time was Illinois able to put on
any sustained ground attack.
Reserves Play
A number of reserves got into
the game in the fourth quarter,
after the Michigan coaching staff
had apparently given up the
chances of victory. A total of 32
players were used, with the back-
field chores being turned over to
senior signal-caller John Spidel.
Conspicuous by their appearance
were guard Tom Jobson and full-
back Jim Byers, both recovered
from serious injuries. Jobson has
been nursing a knee ailment since'
the Navy game, while Byers' knee
injury in pre-season practice had
labeled him "through" for the
season.
The game was marked by an
unusual number of penalties. Illi-
nois was called back 104 yards,
while Michigan suffered 43 yards
against it. There were a number
of personal foul calls, and the
play was quite ragged and rough.
Weather Troubles Team
Perhaps the inclement weather
can be blamed for much of the
trouble. A steady rain started just
before the end of the first half,
and continued throughout the
game, making the fieldua huge mud
puddle by game's end.
Ball-handling became difficult,
and might account for some of the
mistakes made by the Michigan
offense.
The loss now drops Michigan to
eighth place in the Conference
with a 1-3-1 record. fllinois, stand-
ing 3-2, is in a tie forthird. The
Michigan season record of 2-4-1
is destined to be the worst in 16
years.
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Screen Pass Fails
Once, when Michigan needed 18
yards for a first down in the first
period Ptacek threw a screen pass
to Reid Bushong on the right side.
It looked like a play good for
perhaps 30 yards, but all four of
the "M" men running interference
missed their blocks, and the sopho-
more halfback was dropped after
a short gain.
The Wolverine running ,game
, m I
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'
Game Statistics
-11
FIRST DOWNS
Rushing
Passing
Penalty
TOTAL NO. OF RUSHES
NET YDS.-RUSHING
Passing
PASSES ATTEMPTED
Completed
Intercepted by
YDS. INTS. RETURNED
M
20
12
5
3
63
145
127
17
6
1
4
1
9
4
3
1
31
119
187
9
4
1
6
TOTAL PLA'TS
(Rushes and Passes)
PUNTS (number)
Avg. Distance
KICKOFFS returned by
YDS. KICKS RETURNED
Punts
Kickoffs
FUMBLES, number
Bai lost by
PENALTIES, number
Yards penalized
80
5
40
4
84
7
77
3
1
4
43
40
5
44
2
69
12
57
1
1
10
104
NOTES IN DEFEAT:
Dampened Handful Stay to Finish
I
By MIKE GILLMAN
There may have been a little
over 59,000 fans on hand to see
the opening kickoff of yesterday's
game with Illinois, but the ma-
jority of those who saw the rain-
soaked second half did so via tele-
vision.
* * *
The weatherman, had predicted
scattered showers, but to those
who were in Michigan Stadium
it seemed as if they were all
scattered over Ann Arbor. The
smallest attendance here since last
year's 56,616 crowd for the Indi-
ana game was blamed on threaten-
ing weather and the fact that it
was given local TV coverage.
Johnny Easterbrook, who has
has been the butt of many of his
teammates jokes to the effect that
he couldn't "stay in the pocket"
because he couldn't see over the
heads of his blockers, hit Rich
Kreitling for all three scores.
But the little (he's 155 pounds)
Illinois quarterback convinced
Michigan rooters that his being
in the lineup is no joke. And we
might have two more years of not
laughing, because he's only a
sophomore.
The "best pep rally in years"
apparently did more for the spirit
of the cheerleaders than the fans,
for although they were faced with
empty seats throughout the second
half, they put on their noisiest
performance of the year.
A team that's losing and a rainy
day isn't the best combination to
produce a rabid crowd. So a dam-
pened audience that was obvi-
ously disappointed with Michigan
let the Wolverines and the Illini
play the last quarter in compara-
tive privacy. More than half filed
out at halftime.
a rai~n * ***''"
This was unfortunate, at least
from the viewpoint of Kreitling,I
who transferred to Illinois from
Tulane. For, in a post-game inter-
view he remarked, in what may be
the year's understatement, "This
was my best game."
A CLEAR day turned into torrents of rain. A doubtful season turned
into the worst in recent Michigan football annals. It was obviously
a bad day all around for Michigan grid coach Bennie Oosterbaan and
his charges. The sky continued to darken as Illinois' fine end Rich
Kreitling hauled in three touchdown passes to lead his team to a 21-8
victory. The rains came, and the game ended, but the deluge couldn't
wash away the fact: Michigan is destined to the worst football year
since 1936.
Back in '36, when coach Harry Mipke received his walking papers,
Michigan had a 1-7 record. Since then there was only one losing season,
4-5 in 1951, but even then Oosterbaan had a .500 record in the Big Ten.
Now the Wolverines stand at 2-4-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the Conference.
They face two more teams, Indiana and Ohio State: and they don't
figure to beat either.
By the end of the game it was a very dark and rainy day. Of the
56,778 fans that attended the fiasco, not more than 20,000 remained.
They cheered-for some reason they cheered louder than Michigan
fans have cheered in many years. Maybe Friday's pep rally did some
good. It didn't help the team, but perhaps it isn't the team that needs
this kind of help. Of course, there is room for improvement. A lot of
students proved to be fair-weather fans in more than one sense
yesterday, but those that did stay cheered even louder. Maybe it
wasn't a bad day in every sense.
Worst Defense Ever .. .
T HREE TOUCHDOWNS on three passes. It is obvious that the lesson
can't be learned, since pass defense continues to be the thorn in
Michigan's side. The line was good-complimented by Coach Ray Eliot
for containing the Illini ground game. But Illinois didn't need a ground
game with Kreitling playing "second-safety" in the Michigan defensive
backfield.
Obviously Michiigan is a kind team. Maybe it wanted to assure the
fine Illinois flanker of breaking the Big Ten pass catching record, He
is certainly on his way. Speakilng of records, he did his part by putting
the finishing touches on Michigan's worst defense in history. Only
10 points were needed, but he furnished the bulk of the 21 that served
to wipe away the 1892 standard of 172 points scored against Michigan
in a season.
The 1958 edition-perhaps the slowest and certainly the weakest
on defense in Michigan history-has allowed 183 points to seven
opponents. And there are two more to come. Oh, well, there's an old
saying that if you are going to break a record, break it well,
Best Individual Performance...
WHILE KREITLING was running wild, one of the Michigan men
was turning in the most outstanding individual performance of
the season. Quarterback Bob Ptacek, who has given his all every game
this year despite numerous injuries, again left the field entirely ex-
hausted-and equally disappointed. He gained 124 yards, scored the
one Michigan touchdown, and dominated the Michigan attack on the
two long drives that the Wolverines executed.
But he didn't win the game. The breaks were against Michigan, as
the saying goes. One Illinois touchdown was set up when Brad Myers
dropped a low center on a punt play. Another Michigan scoring drive
stopped when the signals weren't straight and the center went wild.
Still another scoring drive-perhaps the queerest seen in Michigan
Stadium ever-ended with the first half gun.
All of these "breaks," the things that always spell the difference
between victory and defeat, were the direct result of poise or lack of it.
Opportunities Slip Away ...,
THAT final first half drive, when Michigan marched to the Illinois
10-yd. line by virtue of penalties, even after the clock had run out
was indeed queer. It had the markings of a turning point in the game.
Michigan had the psychological advantage, and Illinois was melting.
But the Wolverines didn't maintain the upper hand even then, an
illegal motion penalty balanced an offside penalty of Illinois, and the
half was over-without Michigan scoring the touchdown that woulI
have put it ahead.
Its the same old story. The 1958 Wolverines haven't been able to
take advantage of the opportunities offered them to score-and by
now they should know that SCORING is the key to the game.
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for the
SHARPEST
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... wet but loyal
2I
-N
RELAX AND ENJOY
I
SUNDAY EVE!
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SI n
SOCIAL CHAIRMEN:
DIrVI IID V"iID
i-IllL SUL IPPER CLUB 6 P.M.
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