E TIE MICHIGAN DAILYEs U.±I 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. Down, Down, Down. . . Men's 100% Wool Flannel DRESS PANTS $8.95 Ivy and Regular styles - Assorted colors SAM'S STORE 122 East Washington I 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 1 II ' 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. NOW ON SALE AT ALL CAMPUS BOOK STORES for the SHARPEST GREETING CARDS in town a 1t I always try FOLLETT'S State St. at North U. DAMPENED FAN ... wet but loyal 2I -N RELAX AND ENJOY I SUNDAY EVE! I SI n SOCIAL CHAIRMEN: DIrVI IID V"iID i-IllL SUL IPPER CLUB 6 P.M. 0 II I I