Page 8-Wednesday, November 7, 1979-The Michigan Daily
PURDUE PERFORMING BELOW 1978 STANDARDS
Injury-torn
Boilermakers eye Blue
By DAVE KITCHELL
Special to the Daily
This article, written by Dave Kitchell, a sports-
writer for the Purdue Exponent, is the Boiler-
maker's half of a story exchange with , DAILY
sports writer Billy Neff which previews Saturday's
Michigan-Purdue clash.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue's
football team is really bruised and battered.
In fact, coach Jim Young said last Saturday
his team is the most banged up he's ever
coached.
Injuries to several key players have ham-
pered the Boilermakers' performance during
the 1979 season-almost as much' as incon-
sistency has.
THE INJURIES have come quickly, and to
just about every area of the team. Most
recently, Purdue saw starting flanker Mike
Harris sidelined with a broken jaw against
Iowa Saturday. Later in the day, linebacker
Kevin Motts, Purdue's all-time leading
tackler, went to the sidelines with a bruised
knee.
Strong safety Tim Sennes has been out for
two weeks with a bad knee and is listed as
questionable for Saturday's game with
Michigan.
On offense, the Boilers have not practiced
with their top four backs the last two weeks.
action, which forced fourth-string tailback
Ben McCall to carry most of the load in the
backfield. McCall, runner-up for the Big
Ten's Player of the Week honor, gained 96
yards on the ground and 95 more on pass
receptions to lead Purdue to a 20-14 win over
the Hawkeyes.
In addition to Harris, wide receivers Ray
Smith and Bart Burrell have both played very
little the last two weeks.
.About the only area of the team where a
starter is healthy is at quarterback. Quarter-
back Mark Herrmann, the Big Ten's all-time
total offense king, will be set to go against
Michigan. Herrmann could not be reached for
comment this week but the junior from Car-
mel, Ind., has not been happy with his game
all year.
IN A RECENT interview, Herrmann said
he wasn't pleased with his performance as
well as the team's. "Basically, I haven't been
just standing back there and throwing the ball
to hit the receivers. I've got to start doing
that," he said.
In the same breath Herrmann said "I can't
put my finger on it. We're not the same team
we were last year." ,
Herrmann was hurt early in last year's
Michigan game, when Curtis Greer sidelined
him when he struck Herrmann early in the'
first quarter.
However, this year Purdue has armored
Herrmann with a ''flak jacket."
THE JACKET, which weights two and one-
half pounds, is a $286 investment for Purdue,
but it's probably worth more than that.
Overall, Purdue's performance this season
has been marred by inconsistent play on
defense and the kicking game. Last year,
Purdue only gave up 107 points for the entire
season. After just five games this year, the
"Junk Defense" had already yielded 111 poin-
ts to the opposition.
The kicking game has been a nightmare for
Purdue, much the same as it has been for
Michigan. The Boilers are now using their
third punter this year. Senior Terry Kingseed
is out for the year after suffering a knee in-
jury against Illinois.. In the placekicking
department, John Seibel has yet to make a
field goal this year, having missed on his five
attempts. Seibel has also missed-three extra
points, including one against Iowa.
Young, in his brief coaching career at Pur-
due has beaten every Big Ten team except
Michigan and Minnesota. But Saturday, the
Wolverines will be trying to stop Purdue's 11-
game home winning streak.
. ,
MARK HERRMANN, Purdue's -
strong-armed quarterback, is
throwing in his third season as a
Boilermaker. By the end of, last
season, Herrmann was ranked four-
th in Big Ten career passing yar- '
dage with 4,357 yards in just 23 ,
collegiate contests. Considered by '
many to have matured as a quarter-
back last fall, he placed secind in the:4
Big Ten in passing after winning ,,,,
both the passing and total offense,'
titles as a freshman in 1977.,
Coach Jim Young
Fullback John Macon and Mike Augustyniak
did not practice with the team last week.
Macon didn't play against Iowa at all and
Augustyniak played on just a few downs.
TAILBACK WALLY JONES saw limited
Free Refreshments
y S K I ,*k~ve
.0 Ski Moviesenaie
" Cabaret of Fashion
& Exhibition Skiing
" Balloon Slide Show.
Balloon Tether Rides
November 9t,1t ,11th
Friday, loam to 10pm
Saturday, 10am to 9pm
Sunday, 12pm to 6pm
Tight race is brewing
for Sugar Bowl berth
3150 Carpenter Rd. e 971-4310
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
MBA PROGRAM
An Admissions Representative from
Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration
will be on campus
Wednesday, November 14 ,1979
to meet with students interested in
the two-year MBA Program
Contact the
Career Planning and Placement Center
for more details and to sign up for
an information session.
harvard Business School is committed to
the principle of equal educational opportunity
and evaluates candidates without regard to
race, sex, creed, national origin or handicap.
By DREW SHARP
The day of reckoning has arrived in
the Southeastern Conference. At stake
- the championship and the right to
play in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans'
Superdome New Year's Day.
Who will play in the Mardi Gras city,
you ask? Among the contenders are
defending UPI national champion
Alabama, which is presently the top-
ranked team in both polls; the Georgia
Bulldogs, who are also sporting an un-
blemished -conference record of 4-0
despite losing four non-conference
games; the Louisiana State Tigers,
Mississippi State and Auburn.
HOWEVER, AUBURN is prohibited
from participating in any post-season
bowls because of NCAA probation.
Their situation is identical to that of
Michigan State in 1978, a year, you'll
recall, in which it shared the Big Ten
title with Michigan.
As for remaining games, Saturday's
battle between Alabama and LSU may
decide the conference crown. Georgia
must take on the Florida Gators and
also finish its season with Auburn the
week following Auburn's contest with
the Crimson Tide.
If the season concludes with a tie for
the championship, the SEC has a tie-
breaking system called the "last ap-
pearance" rule. The rule states that if
there's a tie between two schools and
those teams have not faced each other
during the course of the season, the
team that last went to the specific bowl
game could not go to that bowl this
year.
THIS RULE could be put to test this
year because Alabama and Georgia do
not play each other this season. If
Alabama and Georgia remain tied at
season's finish, Georgia would
represent the conference at the Sugar
Bowl. In the past, the last appearance
rule was the primary tie-breaking
method in the Big Ten but now it is
second priority to head-to-head com-
petition.
The SEC has reason to be proud of the
caliber of football played this year with
the presence of top-ranked powerhouse,
Alabama.
"We're very happy of the fact that not
only do we have the defending national
champion, but also the number one
rated team this year in Alabama," said
SEC official Scoop Huggins.
This season, Alabama has indeed
been powerful. The Crimson Tide is
ranked sixth nationally in total offense,
second in rushing offense, second in
total scoring, third in total defense,
seventh in rushing defense, fourth in
pass defense and first in scoring defen-
se allowing a mere five points a game..
On offense, the Tide is paced by toe
running of quarterback Steadman
Shealy and tailback Major Oglivie.
Coach Bear Bryant once again has the
Tide rolling at full steam and the
current could carry them to a rendez-
vous in New Orleans.
The Georgia Bulldogs, with fine quar-
terback play from Buck Belue, will
have more to say about that rendezvous
in New Orleans if they win their final
two games. But considering Georgia's
four non-conference losses, there would
seem to be no justice for their ap-
pearance..
Pair honored
A pair of Michigan athletes received
honors- yesterday as Players-of-the-
Week in their respective sports.
Michigan sophomore tailback Butch
Woolfolk has been selected Big Ten
Player of the Week on offense by The
Associated Press, it was announced
yesterday.
THE 6-2, 195-pounder gained 190 yar-
ds in 19 carries and scored three touch-
downs Saturday including one of 92
yards to break the Michigan record of
86 yards from scrimmage set by the
legendary Tom Harmon against
California in 1940.
Paul Fricker, freshman goalie on the
6-0 Wolverine hockey team, was named
WCHA player-of-the-week after he held
powerful Minnesota to a total of four
goals last weekend.
II
sLAMMI N
IT
By DAN PERRIN HOME
Wangler takes charge ...
...a passing'fancy
JT MAY BE HARD to believe, but the option attack is no longer king at
Michigan. That's right, the rollout and keep or pitch has slipped into the
number two spot behind - you'll never guess - the pass.
Am I really serious? Am I trying to tell you a Bo Schembechler-coached
team is passing more than it's running?
Well, no, not exactly. But what has happened is that the Wolverine offen-
se has put the ball in the air a heckuva lot this year, more often than any
other Schembechler squad ever has.
While the Blue gridders are averaging 155.8 yards passing per game
compared with 275.9 yards per game rushing, they have, believe it or not,
passed for more yardage than their opponents this season.
Surprising, but true. Michigan has totalled 1,402 yards in the air, while
limiting their foes to 1,359 yards passing.
Why has the always ground-oriented Michigan football team all of a
sudden gone pass-crazy? Simple: John Wangler.
Under the guidance and direction of Wangler, the Blue offense has been
reborn, so to speak, and opened up wide. Wangler is a pure passer, the type
of quarterback not expected to lead a team like Michigan. But it is Wangler's
unequalled throwing skills combined with a top-notch fleet of receivers that
hap~taken Michigan to new heights.
With Wangler at the helm; Michigan swamped Wisconsin last weektor
its first romp since the season-opening game against Northwestern. The
week before, it was Wangler who connected on a 45-yard toss with freshnia'
Anthony Carter for the game winning touchdown as time ran out against In-
diana.
And against Notre Dame early in the year, it was Wangler who was in-
serted into the game with precious few minutes remaining and who almost
pulled out a victory for the Wolverines.
Putting things into perspective, Wangler has done a super job under
strenuous circumstances.
Junior B. J. Dickey, not Wangler, was awarded the starting quarterback
job at the beginning of the year. Schembechler went with Dickey despite his
less-than-refined passing ability. It's true Dickey runs the option more
proficiently than Wangler. Granted, that's very likely the logic Schem-
bechler used in selecting his number one signal caller.
Wangler's first break came the night before the game at California.
Dickey came down with the flu and Wangler was called on to lead the Blue
offense the next day against the Golden Bears. And what a job he did!
The Wolverines fell behind early in the game and left the field at inter-
mission trailing 10-0. But behind Wangler, Michigan rallied for two second
half scores and pulled out a 14-10 victory.
Nevertheless, it was back to the bench for the junior (in eligibility) from
Royal Oak. Dickey started the next
three games while Wangler was
limited in playing time. It wasn't un-
^ til Dickey injured his shoulder at
Illinois that Wangler received
another chance to start.
Wangler, a prep all-stater.in both'
football and basketball at Royal Oak
Shrine, wasted little time in proving
his worth, leading the Wolverines to
a pair of victories in his last two
starts. His stats are certainly im-
pressive, to say the least.
Against Indiana, Wangler com-
pleted 10 of 14 passes, good for one
touchdown. He nearly equalled that
mark a week later against Wiscon-
sin, going 10 for 13 with one touch-
down pass.
Most impressive is his 75 per cent
completion rate (30 of 40 for 503 yar-
ds) in the Big Ten, tops in the con-
ference.
What's so ironic about the whole
situation is that Wangler had
thoughts of transferring late in his
sophomore year. He felt he had the
talent to start and if he hadn't come
out of spring practice as number two
ars,you vequarterback two years ago, he
might not be here today.
into yourWangler explained what kept him
nto your gnm
1 at Michigan. "I just like playing at~
Michigan. I didn't want to end up
room . never getting a shot. This is the
highest caliber of football in the
nation. If you can play here, you can
play anywhere."
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For four ye
let them i
living
Now you I
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In the words of Rolling"
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