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Seventy-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
VOL. LXXVIII, No. 1
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1967
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By JOHN SUTKUS
SEARCHING backglance always brings out the philoso-
pher in football coaches.
Take Tony Mason, Wolverine offensive line coach, for
example. When asked about the 1966 Michigan football team,
he paused for a moment, took a puff on his cigar and said,
"It's something like driving down the road in your automo-
bile. If you go off the shoulder of an improved road, you're
all right. But if you go off and there is a ditch, you can get
hurt.
"We made some mistakes at the wrong times. Some in-
juries hurt us. It was a good team, but ..."
The Wolverines found too many ditches.
The offensive squad performed well enough to rank
third officially in the Big Ten behind Michigan State and
Purdue, behind whom the Wolverines finished in the final
league standings.
The defensive crew tied for second behind MSU in the
Big Ten's official defensive rankings.
How can such an apparently balanced squad end up 4-3
in the Big Ten tied with Illinois for third place, and 6-4
overall?
A BREAK, A mistake here and there were crucial. There are
no pat mathematical formulae to explain the rise of a
football team and the ebb and flow of its spirit.
Little things returned to haunt the Wolverines. In a 22-21
loss to Purdue, the Boilermakers finished ahead by a hair
on the scoreboard, though not in any other department.
Offensively the Wolverines outgained them by 200 yards and
defensively they held All-America Bob Griese to seven passes
for 63 yards.
But on the field the Boilermakers got and took the
breaks. With a first down on Purdue's two, Michigan fumbled
away momentum and a sure touchdown. Rick Sygar flagged
down a Griese punt in his own end zone just in time to be
greeted by a wave of Purdue tacklers for a safety.
Moments before the end of the game, Frank Burke did
the nearly impossible, blocking a Stan Kemp punt, recover-
ing it on the two-yard line and churning in for the touch-
down. Griese cooly kicked the winning point for Michigan's
fourth straight loss to Purdue.
Again the little things hurt in a lightning 28-21 loss to
Illinois. In the snow and mush of Michigan Stadium, the Wol-
verines timing was a little off, the blocking was a little
sloppy.
But they held a 21-20 lead and were driving for another
touchdown when Bruce Sullivan picked off a pass and ran
it back for a 98-yard score, breaking a Big Ten record and
ruining Michigan's shot at the 1967 Rose Bowl.
MASON EXPRESSED the mood best when he said, "What
are we supposed to do? It was Vitmer's first interception
in league play."
A victorv in either eame would have moved Michigan
Detwiler leads the way as Ward looks for daylight.
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