Page 12-Friday, September 14, 1979-The Michigan Daily FERGUSON PRIME THREAT - BStrong ND. By DAVE JOHNSON later, Notre Dame returns to Ann Ar- It's been 36 years in the waiting, but .bor, this time in an effort to avenge last the Irish are back. Thirty-six years. year's regionally-televised 28-14 defeat Three and one-half decades. in South Bend. Yep, it was way back in 1943 that Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish. Like Notre Dame last invaded Michigan the New York Yankees or Muhammad Stadium. And as my great-grandfather Ali - you either love 'em, or you hate recalls, the Fighting Irish took that one 'em. 35-12 en route to their first national Notre Dame. Where legends are ehampionship. made. Knute Rockne. The Gipp. Thirty-six years. Last season the Irish finished 9-3, Now, some six NCAA championships winning their second consecutive Cot- o e nsc ton Bowl 35-34 over Houston. The final polls ranked them sixth, one notch behind Rose Bowl loser Michigan. This year the "experts" again in- clude Notre Dame in the top ten; ninth, in fact, despite the graduation of quar- terback Joe Montana (Notre Dame's answer to Rick Leach), All-Americans Bob Golic (linebacker) and Dave Huf- fman (center), as well as fullback Jerome Heavens. Heavens finished his career as Notre Dame's all-time leading ground-gainer with 2,682 yards. Nonetheless, head coach Dan Devine, seemingly undaunted by the loss* of these athletes, is surprising more con- cerned about the fact that the, Wolverines already have a game under their belt while tomorrow's contest is Notre Dame's season opener. "I've said all along that it's a distinct disadvantage to go in and play a game against a team that has already won a game," said Devine. "I've said it when the opposite situation has existed as well." The Wolverines, of course, are keys revenge .L!J A lb S \ coming off last weekend's 49-7 romp over lowly Northwestern. The game af- forded Coach Bo Schembechler an op- portunity to settle on a quarterback replacement for Leach. Notre Dame, however, will not have that luxury. Rusty Lisch, slated to replace Montana, will be facing what Devine calls "one of the toughest defen- ses in the country" in his debut as star- ter this year. While the 6-4, 210-lb. Lisch, a fifth- year player, enters the game with less game experience than Michigan's B. J. Dickey, he has seen some action for the Irish in the past. Though he didn't play a down ii 1978, he has four starting assignments under his belt, three of them coming in Notre Dame's 1977 NCAA championship'season. Replacing Heavens at fullback will be freshman John Sweeney, forced into the starting assignment when sophomore Pete Buchanan. broke his ankle last week in a scrimmage. Buchanan, incidentally, was filling in for senior Dave Mitchell (Heavens' un- derstudy) who is out of action in- definitely with a knee injury. Fortunately for the Irish, Heisman Trophy candidate Vagas Ferguson returns to his familiar halfback position both physically sound and raring to go. The 6-1, 194-lb. senior gained a single season Irish rushing record of 1,192 yards last year, leaving him only 648 yards shy of Heavens' career rushing mark. Ferguson, a powerful runner, holds Notre Dame's top two single game rushing efforts of 255 and 219 yards, both attained last season. Aside from Ferguson's fleet- footedness, much of Notre Dame's of- fensive strength is up front where returning tackles Tim Foley and Rob Martinovich as well as right guard Tim Huffman - all in the 6-5, 265-lb. category, anchor the line. Explained Devine: "We like the fact that we have reasonable experience returning on our offensive line when you consider we'll probably start four seniors and a two-year letter-winning SALOMON 444 Ski Binding SPECIAL $439S reg. $6595 Ski Apparel/Equipment, Service Rentals Cross Country & Downhill OF H DRESS REH I- IGHT junior. We've got the kind of size and proven talent a coach likes to see up front." Very much aware of Michigan's quality defense, Devine added, "There's not much doubt in my mind that Michigan's defense will be one of our biggest tests of the season. Our execution offensively will have to be near perfect, because they'll capitalize on anything we do wrong. We found that out last fall." A pair of experienced placekickers, seniors Chuck Male and Joe Unis leaye . Notre Dame's kicking duties in good hands. Male connected on nine of 12 field-goal attempts after midseason, while Unis knocked through the win- ning pressure-packed extra point after time had expired in the 1979 Cotton Bowl. "Having two kickers the caliber of Joe and Chuck adds an extra dimension to our football team," said Devine. "Of- fensively they make us a scoring threat from almost anywhere inside the op- ponents' 40 while the depth of their kickoffs gives our defense an advan- tage in terms of field position." Defensively, Notre Dame is unexpec- tedly weak. Due to all the holes left by the graduation of . six regulars, they may as well be Swiss, let alone Irish. . Much of Notre Dame's defensive distress results directly from an abun- dance of pre-season injuries. Veteran tackle Jay Case has been sidelined by a lower back problem, while fellow linemen Mark Czaja and Scott Zettek aren't available for duty either. That. leaves a trio of sophomores - tackles Pat Kramer and Kevin Griffith and end; Joe Gramke - along with junior end John Hankerd, the only returning; regular lineman who figures to start. Sophomore Bob Crable will be: flanked by seniors Bobby Leopold and: Mike Whittington at linebacker. The secondary will include senior tri- captain Dave Waymer at cornerback, along with sophomore John Krimm. Junior Tom Gibbons is at free safety af- ter serving at cornerback in 1978, while sophomore Steve Cichy gets the nod at strong safety. In all, eight freshmen or sophomores figure to open for the Irish defensive unit. Much is being made of Notre Dame's schedule this season which includes games with nationally ranked Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State this month, plus games against top- ranked USC, Tennessee and Clemson i the second half of the season. "I know there are a lot of people talking about us being 0-2, 0-3, or what have you," said Devine. "But we wan to play the best teams in the nation, lik Michiganjecause that's the traditio at Notre Dame." In twelve previous meetings betweex( these two perennial powers, th4 Wolverines hold a 10-2 edge. If all goe4 true to form, Saturday's contest in An Arbor should be another Meesh-egun victory.., because that's the traditio at Michigan. Expos top Cubs in 9th, 4-3 By The Associated Press MONTREAL - Pinch-hitter Rusty Staub drilled in a pair of ninth-inning runs with a bad hop single that lifted Montreal to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs Thursday night, strengthening the Expos' first-place lead in the National League East. The Expos have now won six in a row. AFTER TONY Perez flied out leading off the ninth against Rick Reuschel, 17-10, Gary Carter cracked;a single to left field. Ellis Valentine also singled to left, sending Carter to thiFd while Valentine took second on the throw. The Cubs summoned reliever Bruce Sutter, and he issued an intentional walk to Larry Parrish, filling the bases. Rodney Scott grounded to shortstop, forcing Carter at the plate, but Staub, hitting for pitcher Bill Atkinson, 2, rapped a bouncer to first baseman Larry Biittner. Staub's grounder hit a seam in the infield, allowing the wik- ning run to score. 'Prez' honors 'Yaz' BOSTON - Carl Yastrzemski, tle Boston Red Sox slugger who. became the first American League player to get 3,000 hits. and 400 home runs in his career, will meet President Carter at the White House today. YASTRZEMSKI and Red S6x Manager Don Zimmer will be accom- panied by Rep. Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., (D-Mass.), speaker of the House of Representatives and longtime friend of the player. Yastrzemski accepted Car- ter's invitation yesterday. Yastrzemski, who collected his 3,000th hit Wednesday against the New York Yakes did not start in' last 1".1. '-V.. A S. '-V. 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