Sunday, November 23, 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Elever 547 ichta Daily SUNDAY SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: ERIC SIEGEL and PHIL HERTZ "We're going as conference co- champions and don't you forget it."-Michigan Coach Bo Schem- bechler. -Daily-Jimn Diehl -Daily-Randy Edmonds Mandich rides wave of victory Curtis, the interceptor, and Huff, the envoy GOODBYE, COLUMBUS ictory, h weet ictor joel block - No upset . . ... for the Buckeyes ANN ARB3OR, MICH. (A), The Ohio State Buckeyes, sparked by the superlative quarterbacking of junior Rex Kern, almost upset the powerful Wolverines of Michigan, 24-12, in front of a record crowd yesterday at Michigan Stadium. Yes, fans, it's all true. The Champions of the West proved just that yesterday, as they showed the "Fat Boy", Woody Hayes that press clippings don't win football games. "It may sound funny, but we knew before we went out there that we were going to win," safety Tom Curtis said yesterday afternoon in the Michigan lockerroom. It was this confidence that dethroned the allegedly number one team in the nation. "Anyone can be ordinary, all you have to do is breath. But WF'RE NUMBER 1, WE'RE NUMBER 1," Wolverine half- back Bill Taylor said so aptly yesterday. THE MICIIIGAN locker room yesterday was right out of a Tex Maule novel. University President Robben Fleming greet- ed the 1I.ayers and then bear-hugged athletic director Don Can- ham. Coach Bo Schembechier professed, "It was a great win. Now all the sour sportswriters on the coast will have to look me in the eye." Schembechler was referring to all the pre-game talk about how the West coast wanted the Pacific Eight cham- pion to me ta "iruly representative team" from the Big Ten. Now the world knows the only "representative" squad from the Big Ten is the victorious eleven from Ann Arbor. THE STATISTICS for the game are deceiving. The f i r s t down totals were remarkable even. But the interesting item is that first-string quarterback completed 10 passes; six of them were to Buckeyes and four were to Wolverines. Likewise, second- stringer Ron Maciejowski completed three of ten passes to his own receivers and two to Michigan defensive backs. The plain truth i' that the Wolverines stopped the Ohio State running attack and when Kern and his back-up tried to pass they fell prey to the best defensive secondary in the world. I sat in the press box next to Roger Stanton, editor of the Football News. If you've read this week's edition, you'd know about his article how sad it is that Ohio State can't go to the Rose Bowl this year. Stanton unfortunately wrote it before yes- terday's trial of strength. During the game all of the Michigan partisans in the press box kidded Stanton about his erroneous editorializing. I must confess that this column is being written when this writer is in a state of drunkeness. I am drunk with the notion that Michigan is the greatest team in the country. I am drunk with the idea that USC will suffer the humiliation of the cen- tury next January 1st. JIM MANDICH told me in the locker room that Friday night the Michigan temn saw a Paul Newman flick called "The Prize.' Whoever scheduled that movie must have had the un- predictable prinonit ion that Michigan would earn the most- coveted trophy of the century.the ''unwinnable" win over the Buckeyes Henry 11:1 1evealed to ne the basis for the Wolverines' suc- cess: "We knew all week we could bean em. How can you com- pare any collge team tio a pro team Minnesota)?" The unanimous consensus of Hill, wolfman Tommie Darden, and defensive tackle Pete Newell who, by the way. played his best game was that Michigan's win was due in a large measure to its being an "emotional" game. MARTY McLAUGHLIN, President of Student Government Council an astute observer of both athletic and political spheres of the Michigan campus quoted yesterday "Sheriff Doug Harvey should larn a few things from the Michigan defensive line. " Schembechler, a former pupil of the "Fat Boy," taught his master a few rules of the game. The first lesson was not to count your national championships until they're real. "The first play shook me a little," Schembechler admitted, referring to Kern's 25-yard scramble run. S('HEMUECHLIEtR pointed out in the locker room that "In the second half our offense didn't do the job we had to do. However, our defense was terrific all day." And that's what won it for Michigan. Repeatedly the Wolverine defense stopped the nationally- hernlded ruekex'e offense Hill sail "the rme nnn was to con- -Daily-Thomas R. Copi Billy Taylor (42): One of many heroes W olverines warm up fo (Continued from Page 1 play for the score. And although Otis piled up 144 yards for the day this was the last time he tread into the endzone. Then the Michigan offense went: to work. Don Moorhead mixed his plays well with the key being the rushes to the strong side of the Michigan line anchored by Cap- tain Jim Mandich and tackle Dan Dierdorf. The end result, a f t e r passes to Mandich and Oldham, was a Garvie Craw touchdown. Dierdorf explained the Wolver- ine strategy. "We planned to just run right at them. Evrybody else has panicked and come o u t' throwing, not playing their own Sgane." OSU managed another score the next time they had the ball, Kern being the key as he passed for 50 yards in the '74 yard drive. The score camne on a strike to Jan ' White coming across the field. The kick was good, unlike thet first score, but the Wolverines wre offside so the Bucks took the penalty and went for two. KernI dropped back to pass but all his people were covered and as he looked for an open man M i k e Keller brought him down to end the threat. From ii on S i twas all Blue. Glenn Doughty took the kick and returned the ball to the 31. Then Moorhead and Billy Taylor t o o k: over. Moorhead passed to Billy Harris and Mandich for nine" yards each while Taylor was punching the line for short gains. But Ohio was not to contain the soph tailback as he poured through the Buck ye line at the OSU 33 and broke four tackles before he was downed on the three yard line. Craw smashed into the line twice for the score. This time, though, the Bucks were not able to return the favor and had to punt after three plays. Pierson took the ball in on the Wolverine 33 and made his fabu- lous, weaving return. The last Michigan score came off the toe of Tim Killian in the formh of a 25 yard field goal, The second half was scoreless and the defense was the reason. The Bucks never came close to the Wolverine goal line in the h a1 fI until they drove to the Blue 21 late in the game.But just when it looked as if Ohio might make the game respectable, Tom Dar- din picked off the sixth Michigan interception of the day. Tom Cur- tis had the other two in addition to Pierson's three. r Roses, .. .the Fat Boy Punting Slimming downt. the evt. 'Iibcip&e Bill Cusumano_ Suck it up, Fat Boy All the pain and hurt that was built up over a year has ended. Thanksgiving has come early at Michigan and Stuffed Woody was the order of the day. True, the score was only 24-12 and true, Michigan lost numerous chances to rack up more points. But still, the Buckeyes humiliation is greater than anything that 50-14 could do. Michigan didn't have to go for two points to rub salt in wounds, all they did was belt Ohio State all the afternoon. Offensive guard Dick Caldarazzo put it best when he said, "We went out there and stuck them. We out toughed them. They haven't been hit like that all year." And Wayne Woodrow "Fat Boy" Mayes was forced to agree. "We just got outplayed and outpunched," was one of the few comments that the ir- rascible, insufferable coach would make after his supposedly Number One team was destroyed. "Fat Boy" immediately retreated into the lockerroom and wouldn't talk anymore after that, but no one really cared. It had been expected that he would show his typical attitude after the defeat and the real story was Michigan anyway. The story of yesterday is more than just Ohio State being knocked from its perch and Michigan clinching the Rose Bowl; the real story is a group of proud, inspired Wol-.. verine athletes who crammed a cocky Buckeye team into Tartan Turf. "We were ready to-play and we took it from them," exulted Wolfman Tom Darden, a native of Sandusky, Ohio. "Nothing in the world could be better than beating Ohio State." Quarter- back Don Moorhead echoed Darden's statements and typified the attitude of the squad when he said, "We were really high for the game and when you're playing like that you can do al- most anything." Moorhead actually was slightly wrong; the Wolverines did everything, not almost anything. The offense stuck to the ground the way Bo Schembechler wanted to and they punched out 24 points. But the real heroes were the members of the defensive platoon; An inspired group of 11 men continually pounded and hounded Rex Kern and his vaunted offensive team- mates. The super secondary stole six passes, missing a Big Ten record by one, and Cecil Pryor recovered a fumble. In addition, the heralded Larry Zelina rolled up a fantastic minus five yards rushing while the Wolverine tacklers kept smashing every Buckeye assault. Henry Hill demonstrated to Jim Stillwagon just who Is the best middle guard in the conference as he made 13 tackles. Pete Newell, Marty Huff, Mike Keller and Pryor also join in the fun as they harried Kern continually, finally drove him out of the game and then proceeded to work over substitute Ron Maciejowski. And then there were the pass defenders. They were, to say the least, veritably inimitable. Tom Curtis, Barry Pierson, Brian Healy and Tom Darden put on an exhibition of pass coverage that was sensational. Curtis grabbed two errant tosses, Pierson three and Darden one. Curtis returned one interception 26 yards and set an NCAA record for career yardage in interception re- turns. But all the details are just mundane matter. It was the feeling of the Wolverines and the attitude that was con- veyed to the 103,588 fants that mattered. Michigan was a team with a mission, a club that wouldn't be denied, "We were on fire all day," said an overjoyed Schembechler in the dressing room. "We were ready to play this one. We were so emotional we would've won no matter what. I don't care what happened on the field, if we had been three touch- downs down we still would've won." The rookie coach's attitude was typical of his team. The Wolverines just would not be denied. All week long they ap- proached the game with but a single purpose, winning, and they reached their goal. Now the Rose Bowl lies ahead but no one really cares at the moment. The only sentiment voiced by the Michigan team is that of Schembechler's, that of going as champions. "That's the way we wanted to go," said Bo. "I guess we saved them the trouble of the vote." FINAL STATISTICS FIRST DOWNS 21 Rushing 13 Passing 8 Penalty 0 TOTAL NUMBER RUSHES 66 NET YARDS - Rushing 266 Passing 108 FORWARD PASSES ATT. 20 Completed 10 Intercepted by 6 Yards intercept. retd. 83 TOTAL PLAYS (Rushes and Passes) 86 PUNTS, Number 3 Average distance 41.6 KICKOFFS, returned by 3 YARDS KICKS RETD. 146 Punts 60 Kickoffs 86 FUMBLES, Number 0 Ball lost by 0 PENALTIES, Number 5 Yards penalized 36.5 OHIO 20 12 7 51 222. 155 28 10 1 20 79 3 27.0 5 1 31 44 87 2 1 5 Sensibaugh No, Yds. Avg. 3 81 27 DEFENSIVE STATISTICS MICHIGAN Solo Assist Fumb. Hill Newell Hu1ff Keller Pryor Darden Curtis Pierson M. Taylor Moore Healy fuisch Candarazzo Grambau McCoy Coin Werner Harris Francis 8 5 6 4 8 2 6 3 6 1 5 0 6 2 4 1 3 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 ! Tackles for Loss Total 13 10 10 9 5 8 5 5 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 Curtis returned his first inter-OF ception 26 yards to set a new NCAA career record for yards gained on returns of snared enemy Taylor aerials with 431. Moorhead In the fourth quarter Michigan Craw forced Ohio into submission as G tye they stopped them twice on two despeiate fourth downs while in- tercepting two of their passes and Moorhead recovering a fumble. Mol~ Even the Fat Boy knew what happened. "We got out played and Gabler outpunched," said the Buckeye Oldham mentor after the game as he Mandich rushed back into the lockerroom Harris and away from reporters' acid questions'. And that is what beating Ohio Werner State is all about. FENSIVE STATISTICS MICHIGAN Rushing Tries Gains 23 84 17 68 1 56 4 20 5) 39 ais 66 267 Loss 0 1 0 0 0 1 Net 84 67 56 20) 39 266 Newell Pryor Darden Keller Pierson Curtis Darden No. 1 NO. .3 2 1 Passes intercepted Tot Yds. 13 9 5 3 Yds. 37 26 15 No. I 7 1 Passing Att. Comp. 20 10 Pass Receiving Int. Yds. 1 108 Passes Broken Up No. Yds. 1 7 2 14 6 781 1 9 i 'totals 10 108 Darden Pierson IHealy M. TJaylor 01110 STATE Solo Assist F utb. To'tal Big Ten Standings e F"INAL BIG TEN STANDINGS Punting No 3 01110 STATE Rushing Tries Ga 28 145 12 7 5 5 ki 3 22 I 3 Otis Kern Hayden Maciejow Campana G;illian . Yd ains I 45 3 5 '2 4 Stillwagon ds. Avg. Debevc 5 41,7 Adams Roman Schmidlin Loss Net a Tatum "1 144 Sensibaugh 16 53 Whitfield 0 5 Urbanik 8 14 Laika 0 4 Provost 0I 31 Strickland 7 7 4 6 5 4 :3 3 1 .y 0 1 0 0 10 9 9 8 6 6 s 5 5 4 I 3 Nn lnnppr cln Fat Rnv'!q enmmptttc nn the hact tpum t