Friday, September 5, 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page One, Section Two Turf might stay grey cner, but where's sweet smell? By LEE KIRK Although the color combination isn't exactly what Michigan coach Bo Schem- bechler had in mind, a serene green rug of Tartan Turf now rests on the hal- lowed ground of Michigan Stadium. Schembechler had envisioned a "great" blue carpet with yellow lines, but found that the model didn't come in that color combination. Just as Henry Ford only made his cars in black, so unimaginative Monsanto makes Tartan Turf only in green with white trim. However, both Schembechler and Ath- letic Director Don Canham are extremely enthusiastic about the new synthetic grass. "The advantages of this installation are just too numerous to ignore," Canharn said. "The Manufacturers agreed to in- stall it at their original price. Increas- ing demand for Tartan Turf also made it imperative for us to act now." Canham feels that synthetic turfs like Tartan Turf and Astro Turf are the wave pf the future. By having it put down now instead of later, Michigan has not only gotten a lower price but has gained a advantage over opponents who are un- accustomed to the new surface. The standard football cleat, so often the culprit in leg injuries, is not very effective on synthetic grass. Many teams that have to use this type of surface are experimenting with rubber cleats a n d some large linemen prefer to use tennis shoes to obtain the most possible trac- strategy, tion. Michigan will be trying a soccer style shoe. Getting used to the unique footing af- forded on Tartan Turf is more; than a problem of finding the right shoe. Many coaches feel that it places an added burden on defensive backs, some of whom have found it difficult to make the quick cuts necessary to keep up with receivers. Maintenance costs with Tartan Turf are practically nil. Before it was installed, the Athletic Department had to spend $20,000 annually to re-sod and repair the stadium surface. There was also the problem of cutting the grass and repair- ing bare spots that developed with use. Now all that the grounds crew will need is a large vacuum cleaner to clean off the turf just like Mom cleans the rug at home. Canham feels that over the years the $250,000 cost of the turf will be more than recouped by the reduction in maintenance costs. The problems that arose in the early de- velopments of artificial grass have largely been solved. The texture has b e e n great- ly improved and the color has begun to look almost like the real thing. Monsanto officials received a real shock last season when the carpet they had put down for the University of Tennessee be- gan to turn black. Scientists who studied the problem at first feared that the turf had undergone some chemical change, but they found that black fibers added to make the color truer tended to rise up after .use and become more visible. This problem has since been solved. Perhaps the biggest advantage of syn- thetic turf is the dramatic reduction in injuries that accompany their use, Schembechler noted that "studies have shown that football injuries are really cut down with the use of this artificial surface. Other coaches who have played on this tye of surface are unanimous in their approval." The Intramural Department is also in- stalling Tartan Turf on one of the prac- tice fields on Ferry Field and the job should be completed in a couple of weeks. When finished, the field will be lit for night use by intramural and club teams. In the past, the soccer, rugby and la- crosse clubs have played many of their games on rocky and rutted Wines Field, while the Ferry Field area was used ex- clusively by varsity teams. Because of the high durability of Tar- tan Turf, Canham also hopes to make the football stadium available for club sport games and some general use, al- though the football team wil lhave prior- ity. Canham hopes to eventually h a v e artificial grass put down on other univer- sity playfields, although the cost is cur- rently somewhat prohibitive. Despite the apparent rise of the arti- ficial and the synthetic, though, in your heart you know that nothing will ever really replace grass. Daily -Eric Pei'geaux Heads meet on synthetic gruss Grid hopes rest By MORT NOVECK o)n new untested talent * * * The Mourning «,dy> barba Aft er Is Bo like Bump was.. . ... or will he take a chance? TMPOSSIBLE as it may seem, Michigan has a chance at a Rose Bowl berth. A new coach, loss of the offensive duo of Ron Johnson and Dennis Brown, and a much tougher schedule imply that the odds should be poor. But these problems are largely discounted. The one thing which could block a trip to Pasadena is a game against a nonconference opponent, Missouri. The Tigers coach, Dan Devine, hates the Big Ten. He thinks Big Ten foot- ball is overrated and he loves to prove it. He would like nothing better than to beat Michigan. Michigan, however, is in a sticky situation. After the Mis- souri game, the Wolverines encounter Purdue, Michigan State, and Minnesota back to back. This means four very strong, very keyed-up grid squads will be gunning for Michigan four games in a row. COACH BO SCHEMBECHLER. will have to make one very important decision-whether or not to go after the Tigers. The result of the Missouri conflict will be important in the way it affects the Michigan squad for the next three games. Schem- bechler can either lay off the nonconference team and prime for the three conference clashes, or he can push for a Missouri victory. The first choice is the easier path out. After all, Michigan never keys up for the game before the Big Ten schedule begins. They always call that game a giveaway. If the team happens to be better than a lackadaisical Michigan squad, the Maize and Blue chalk up a notch in the loss column and forget about it. If they win, everyone says how lousy the nonconference team was. Bo can follow this path if he wants. If Michigan does not key up for the game, however, it is almost certain they will lose, maybe very badly. This will mean they will definitely be coming up against Purdue off a loss; and no matter what any coach says, it isn't good to have to battle back. Besides that, beating Missouri would give the team national recognition. There is a lot of incentive for Coaph Schembechler to go after the Tigers. A MICHIGAN VICTORY over Missouri would be a strong boost psychologically for the Wolverines. They would go into the Purdue contest knowing they can beat the best. It would also show Michigan's opponents that the Wolverines must be reckon- ed with and are no easy pushover. Unfortunately, any victory over Missouri will not, come easily. The team is rough and strong, They will go down fighting hard and will hurt the opposing team. Michigan must be able to withstand the punishment of Missouri, and still be able take on Purdue, Michigan State, and Minnesota. Tthese teams can be just as punishing as Missouri. It is quite possible that injuries during the Missouri battle could cost them future games. The price of the victory could be quite high. On the other hand, it is possible that a triumph against Missouri could give Michigan enough of a psychological boost to make them forget minor injuries and be just as strong for the other teams- When the team finds out it actually is strong enough to beat anyone it wants, it may start seeing Roses. If a trip to Pasadena looks like a definite possibility, it is amazing how much stronger a team becomes. Last year, Michigan ran off victories against Duke, Navy, Michigan State, and Indiana. They realized they might be better than they thought, and they really took off. The next four teams were really humiliated. If the Wolverines can get this confidence again this year, they could pull a repeat performance. A Mis- souri victory would go a long way towards giving them that confidence. THUS SCHEMBECHLER IS LEFT with a very sticky problem. If he sits back and accepts the loss from Missouri, he hurts his chances for national recognition as well as starting the team off thv wrong foot for the conference schedule. On the other hand, the chances that Michigan will be healthy for While many of the Wolverine gridders speeding around in the center of Michigan's largest car- pet will be the same ones t h a t played on grass last year, the man standing on the sidelines getting the ulcers will be different. Since the new man is also the h e a d coach some other changes will be evident. The m o s t important of these changes is t h a t the Wolverine style of football will be different. Admitting that the offense will miss halfback Ron Johnson, the new coach, Bo Schembechler, in- tends to balance up the running attack. "Everybody in our back- field will run the ball,," he states. In addition to balancing the at- tack from a personnel standpoint, Schembechler intends to u s e a more varied offense than was uti- lized last year. As he describes it, "I suppose you could call it a mul- tiple formation offense." "Rather than running from dou- ble width all the time like they did last year we'll have a spread; formation with an end split out and a wingback in the slot, we will also shift our backs into different positions, and we even have the old regular T formation with both, ends tight. In addition, we will al- so run from double width the way, they did." One of the backfield shifts he' is planning is changing the flank- erback into a wingback. He feels that this will force the defense to play a -more balanced game and wil give the Michigan runners a better chance.; Another change Schembechler, introduced to the Wolverine of-t fense is the increased use of the quarterback option. He believes, What's Inside The new coaches p.. 2 Michigan's opponents p. 3 National outlook. p. 3 The Devil's Disciple p. 4 I.M., Club Sports .. p. 5 daily sports ight editors: bechler has confidence that his Pat Atkins and Eric Siegel players can come through, they are thus far untested in combat. Afore Spors on Page 11, Section 1 Craw, though a regular, was used primarily as a blocker for Johnson and scored only one touchdown last season. Moorhead this to be very important, stating, he d o e s encounter., however, saw only limited duty as Brown's "Option football to me is the key should be on offense rather than backup and Doughty, receiver in to success in offense in colleges. on defense. Seven of the eleven high school and as a freshman, I think that is what makes college - has never run with the ball from football great, the fact that quar- defensive starters will be return- behind the line of scrimage. If terbacks are running these option ing regulars. The five men on the this offense proves impotent it pass and runs. We like our quar- line will all be combat proven vet- ,will be hard to win football games. terback to run." erans. Ends Phil Seymour and Ce- If these players come through Changes have also been made cil Pryor, tackle Dan Parks, and Michigan could become a strong' defensively. Last year's four man line has been changed to a five middle guard Henry Hill were all team. If they don't, all the coach's man line. Though according to regulars last season. T h e other i offense is designed to compen- the coach "on many occasions and tackle will be Dick McCoy or Pete sate for the loss of the squad's1 sometimes even whole games we Newell who are both experienced. star runner but it can't score: will operate from a four man line, McCoy, however, was injured this touchdown's without somebody to depending on whether its apass-week in practice and may be lost. carry the ball across the goal line. ner for the job. Schembechler thinks Moorhead can run. "WhenI he turns up field he's a good runner and he's got good speed." Other prospects for quarterback are Jim Betts and Bill Berutti.j How well this revamped back- field will do is the key to the team's success. While Schem-j 20 27 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 1969 Schedule SEPTEMBER VANDERBILT at Ann Arbor WASHINGTON at Ann Arbor OCTOBER MISSOURI at Ann Arbor PURDUE at Ann Arbor Michigan State at East Lansing Minnesota at Minneapolis NOVEMBER WISCONSIN at Ann Arbor Illinois at Champaign Iowa at Iowa City OHIO STATE at Ann Arbor (Ail Home Games at 1:30 EST) ler is impressed by some of the ! teams.' He is particularly concern- ed because "I figure seven of the ten teams we play have bona fide outstanding quarterbacks and its real hard to defense against a good college quarterback." Ha also feels that Michigan has a harder schedule than some ofa ing or running team.j A new position known as wolf-I back is also being- instituted. As Schembechler describes it, "Wolf if the type of guy who goes to the wide side of the field or the strength of the formation." Essen- tially the wolf is a free man who can be shifted where ever henis needed to counteract the offense. HOPEFULLY the wolf will be able to help prevent the big play or the long gain by the opposing offense. Schembechler believes. that "today you can't count on defensively completely dominating an offensive team. "They're go- ing to move the ball but sometime you've got to put the knife in there anid hit them for a loss and force them into a punt." Linebacking is a 1 s o solid. Ed Moore was a regular as a sopho- more last year while Marty Huff was voted top sophomore. Heading up the defensive back- field will be Tom Curtis, consid- ered one of Michigan's top pros- pects for national honors this year. His fellow halfback Brian Healy was a regular last year and safety Barry Pierson is also ex- perienced. WOLFMAN WILL be a tough position to play according to Sch- embechler but he thinks sopho-" more Tom Darden, whom he de- scribes as a fine football player, will be able to fill the slot. Depth should not be a problem on defense. There are several The kicking situation in in flux the other Big Ten teams. Indiana at the moment. Both placekicker does not have to play either Ohio Tim Killian and punter M a r k State or Michigan.' Ohio State Werner are returnees from 1a s t also got a break in that it plays year but Schembechler wants to Wisconsin, Illinois and Northwes-j try Dana Coin, who it is said is a tern, the weakest teams in the' good place kicker, and F r a n k conference. Titus who has a strong leg. He Injuries, especially in the of- also wants to look at Paul Staroba fensive line, could be trouble- as a punter. Schembechler w a s some. As Schembechler says, not pleased with the kicking dur- "There's no doubt that if you ing spring practice but he attri- lose a key player you're going to butes this to a lack of practice be hurt, but except on the line, rather than a lack of skill. we've got pretty good depth. In considering Michigan's op- Otherwise we figure we have a position for this year Schembech- little more depth defensively." t w, te < .,a , ": N;w v ^dsr i ; The balanced offense should eliminate the situation where the loss of one player cripples t h e entire attack but an injury could hurt nev rtheless. The Wolver- ines- were healthy when they started practice, Dierdorf, Baum- gartner and Starova all recover- ing from last years injuries, but the drills have taken thefi toll. In addition to McCoy, three oth- ers - Pryor, Killian and B ill Taylor - have suffered injuries. It is expected, however, that all will be ready for the opening game. Though he won't know until the season starts, Schembechler is optimistic about his squad. While he doesn't have the great individ- ual talent that the team had last year he thinks he has several fine players who should be able to make his new balanced offense work. In order to carry out his de- promising sophomores who will be fensive plans Schembechler needs l able to help as well other exper- a defense in depth, with quick- fenced players. Among them are ness and persuit. He hopes he has defensive back Bruce Elliot, line- the necessary personnel. backer Mike Taylor, and defensive Any personnel problems which' ends Mike Keller and Butch Car- penter. Offensively depth may be a problem, especially on the interior line from tackle to tackle. The biggest question mark is at center where Tim Killian is trying to make the switch from linebacker. He has never played the position before but Schembechler feels that with experience he can make the switch. The rest of the line is exper- ienced but not deep. Bob Baum- gartner, Dick Caldarazzo and Frank T i t a s are experienced guards. Dan Dierdorf and Jack Harpring are strong tackles, but h problems may result if any of these players are injured. Pass reception is a strong point on the squad. Leading the receiv- ers is tight end Jim Mandich, who is given an excellent chance to become an All-American. At split end are Bill Harris and Jerry Imsland while Paul Staroba is a highly rated wingback. The biggest losses from gradua- tion were suffered by the offen- sive backfield. Schembechler ac- knowledges that he doesn't have the great talent at tailback like Ron Johnson on his squad but hopes that his balanced offense - can fill the gap. m .