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." 'A Ue__ visas i For four ye let them i living Now you I them b In the words of Rolling" VV eu . Stone's editors and in Ll ...... V . .. "" w r I I