Page 14-Friday, January 5, 1979-The Michigan Daily
TO UGH DEFENSE NOT ENO UGH
Blue bowl record dismal
(Continued from Page 1). tie bit less ineffective on offense than .Michigan off the .hook. "When two Schembechler."We had plenty of time
But the offense... USC, until it mattered. That's when really great teams play, I don't think left in the game, three time outs left and
Actually, there is justification for Paul McDonald went into his speed-up anything comes easy," he said. Nothing a long yardage situation. I didn't want
y beverything. Michigan rushed for 134 tactics and Jordan put his foot into did and because of it, the game was far to give them the ball at midfield."
yards, but Southern Cal only allowed an another pressure kick. from exciting, even in defeat as was Robinson also thought it was the
average of 91 yards on the ground per And speaking of the kicking game, last year's loss to Washington. correct decision although the Trojans
game. The wolverines passed for 137 to that was the area that let Bo down the HOWEVER, the game was still unset- kept control of the ball until the clock
USC's 23. The reason for most. Gregg Willner's punts were 10 tied late in the final quarter when the wound down. "I think that's good
that-Southern Cal didn't need to pass, yards off his average and Bryan Wolverines had the ball and began to coaching. If we didn't get the first
they were successful on the ground. Virgil's kickoffs (albeit few and far drive. A touchdown and a two-point down, they get the ball at midfield."
AT LEAST IT appeared that way. between) looked like Rick Leach's, conversion would have given the Maize THE TROJANS did get the first down
Michigan outplayed the Trojans, but all passes. and Blue a come-from-behind 18-17 and denied Michigan any chance of
that means is the Wolverines were a lit- But then again, Robinson let triumph. eleventh-hour heroics. The Wolverines
But, with the drive stalled at third were saddled with their third loss in
and 8, Leach threw a bomb which fell three years. Only 'once before in the
THE HEBREW UNIVERITY dangerously incomplete among a pile of history of the Rose Bowl did a team ac-
®f EUSALE UWopposing players. Then Schembechler complish this dubious honor. The
OF JERUSALEM did a curious thing. He punted. There California Golden Bears of 1949-50-51
were only 2 minutes remaining in the dropped consecutive contests to North-
1978/79 PROGRAMS game, and Bo punted. What was the western, Ohio State and Michigan,
FOR AMERICAN STUDENTS reason for that? Everyone in the respectively.
stadium expected one more college try In the 1949 game, there was a play
ONE YEAR PROGRAM-for college sophomores and juniors, from Michigan to keep the drive alive. very similar to the Charles White cause
04 ~~~~~Courses taught in both Hebrew and English."Itogitwsagomve"adclbr.WdatAtM ak si
l REGULAR STUDIES-for college transfer students toward "I though it was a good move," said celebre. Wildcat Art Murakowski
B.A. and B.Sc. degrees. scored on a play that California fans
l GRADUATE STUDIES-Master's, Doctoral and Visiting TAKING THE still believe was a fumble before the NU
Graduate programs. back made it into the end zone. The
f_1 SUMMER COURSES-given in English. final score of the game was 20-14, and
w PLEASE CHECK DESIRED PROGRAM tefml/ocdw a
-.-------- - the disputed fumble/touchdown was
For Application and Information, write: Join thousands of the margin of victory.
Office of Academic Affairs, ' law school applicants And, as usual, the setback was by
I 1 East 69 St., New York, N.Y. 10021 " (212) 472-9813 nationwide in no more than a touchdown. Previously,
Name Amity's LSAT Schembechler, the only Michigan coach
Address Rviw Semin s to drop a bowl game, lost games by 7, 1,
- - - .v. ....... .... . . 8, 8, 7, and 7 points.
CDAL LL-FRE FOCR For the third straight year, Michigan
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON CAMPUS, SCHEDULE INFORMATION: finished the campaign at 10-2. The 1978
CONTACT JON BOOTH, INTERNATIONAL CENTER, 763-9310 800-243-4767 Ext.761 edition of the Wolverines landed the No.
5 spot in both wire service polls. It
marks the 10th year in a row (every
year Bo has coached in Ann Arbor) that
the Wolverines concluded a season in
the Top Ten, the only team in the nation
D able to say that.
E AS FAR AS the polls go, the writers
and coaches must think a lot of the
" Wolverines. For the second time in four
QUiCk, qUality E-6 processing years, the team that defeated Michigan
o in a bowl game earned the No. 1
of your 35mm slie fims. -ranking.
After disposing of Michigan in the
More for your money! Get your E-6 slide film processed in 6 hours. Bring 'em to our 1976 Orange Bowl, Oklahoma was voted
State St. store by 10 AM, pick 'em up by 4 PM THE SAME DAY! Quality processing, as the nation's best team. Southern
budget prices (20 exp. $2.95, 36 exp. $4.95, push processing $1.50) plastic slide mounts California obtained the UPI nod at the
and returned to you in an 8%" x 11" plastic Storage/Display Page. conclusion of the 1979 Rose Bowl
BRING 'EM IN TO although Alabama won honors by the
AP.
318 S. STATE STREET, 2755 PLYMOUTH RD. MALL Is USC the nation's best team? Bo
DAILY 9-6-761-2011 Daily 10-8, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 12-4, thinks so. Most of the country's coaches
761-8690 think so as do the countless number of
Trojan fans in Los Angeles. Las Vegas
even installed them as a 6 point favorite
if the Trojans were to meet Alabama in
a showdown for the title.
" ON THE SUBJECT, Robinson offered
his thoughts as to why he was going to
vote his team No. 1: "We beat Stanford,
winners of the Bluebonnet Bowl, we
beat Alabama, winners of the Sugar
Bowl, we beat Notre Dame, winners of
the Cotton Bowl, we beat UCLA who
tied in the Fiesta Bowl and we beat the
co-champions of the Big Ten, Michigan
State and Michigan."
With credentials like that, Robinson
cannot be denied, USC had indeed
played the toughest schedule and come
through with incredible success.
Robinson was also asked who he was
going to vote for number two? "Avis,
I guess."
Robinson could afford to joke. He has
never lost a bawl game, taking two
Rose Bowls a Bluebonnet Bowl
title, now racking up a national cham-
pionship as well as two conference
championships.
Tangled
Up In
I b ~rti' eri' Lngc/hurdi lu
That last game ...
heaven only knows
ANOTHER MICHIGAN football season ends and there you are Bo,
left sucking the mop in a big dyay.
That must be a whale of a snake biting on you Bo. You tried running
it out, throwing it out, smothering it, just about everything, but face it Bo,
you are getting bit good.
What else could it be Bo? Not including the final game of each season
your record at Michigan is a phenomenal 96-6-2. That's wild.
But if you think those numbers are mind boggling munch on this trio: 0-
9-1. That's your record for the last game of each season. Don't you ever do
anything halfway?
This is screwy, Bo. Nobody can win with such consistency all season long
but never win the final game.
In the press room after the Rose Bowl you were pretty cool. You an-
swered questions, joked a bit, and played the part of gracious loser and
general good sport to a tee. But it must be eating you up inside.
After most of your wins you have a week to bask in the light of victory.
And after beating Ohio State you get to savor it for four or five weeks. But
each time you lose that season's finale you eat it for eight months. January,
February, March.... Take my word for it, eight months. Every year those
months must seem longer and longer. Kind of like waking up to third and
twenty-five from your own eight. Every morning. For eight months.
Real grass, phantom touchdowns, goofy field goal, and California girls
are all possible answers to explain those nine losses and one tie. But I believe
it goes deeper than that.
Is it possible that your teams have never had as much talent as those you
face to end the season? No way. Just this week your team proved it was as
talented as Southern Cal. And you'll have a tough time convincing me that
last year's squad wasn't as talented as Washington's.
Is it possible that you always get outcoached? No way: John Robinson
didn't outcoach you this year. Woody Hayes didn't outcoach you to win 12-10,
or to tie 10-10. Your defenses rarely seemed better coached than in the final
contest.
There are two other possibilities under consideration. But before looking
at them take a look at your quarterback. Undoubtedly you have been closer
to Rick Leach than any other single player you have coached. Leach has
done some amazing things. He's more durable than Silly Putty, he holds
more records than a disc jockey, look, out there, in the Michigan back field..
Wait. There is one record Leach holds that can never be broken: starting
quarterback in four bowl game losses. To his credit, very few quarterbacks,
if any, will ever see four bowl game starts, much less lose them all. Is it one
snake for the two of you? Or does he have his own?
After that phantom game Leach faced the press with the same cool ef-
ficiency I imagine he showed in the huddle. He hasn't got your ability to
charm and generally intimidate the press, yet. Like a machine Leach ex-
plained that he has learned there is more to life than football, even Rose
Bowls. He told us he would survive.
No doubt Leach gave it his best effort. And for that he knew he could be
proud of his performance. But it's starting to sound like baseball's All Star
game.
Every year the American League boasts about how this year they're
gonna win. They're sick and tired of getting beaten and this year will be dif-
ferent. And at the end of the game they're always saying we'll get 'em next
year.
It coulda been a helluva lot worse, right? 17-10, phantom touchdown, we
gained more yards than they did, huh? Can't get much closer than that. That
is what you sounded like last Monday, but I refuse to believe that is how you
feel.
If you had shown the press your true feelings there might still be a repor-
ter or two on the press room floor. And Charles White, who said he scored
and then naturally released the ball, might still be goofy from the chair you
would have tossed in his general direction.
Ten years of frustration. Of brilliance, yet frustration. After the game a
reporter asked you if you think you're jinxed. You said no. That leaves one
alternative: Turtleneck City. Choke. Gag.
Bo, either you're unlucky or you make your own unluck. You say you're
not jinxed. I say you don't choke: You have won too many big games to be a
choke artist. Every year I've been here you have won at least one big game:
Missouri 31-7, Ohio State 22-0, Texas A&M 41-3, Notre Dame 28-14. But that
last game of the season...
It's not talent, it's not coaching, it's not frazzled nerves or tight colars.
Somewhere up in the stars, Bo, somebody is really sticking you with the
mop. Maybe you could hire Uri Geller as assistant coach.
Have you ever thought about
joining a Greek Fraternity?
FREITERM ITY
is forming a new chapter at the "U"
0
ACACIR is seeking men who are determined to succeed, men of
character who can aid in founding a new chapter of this great na-
tional fraternity.
Take advantage of the unique opportunity
by charter membership.
offered
For
more
information
stop
in and
talk to national reps. Monday, Jan. 8
or Tuesday, Jan. 9, 7:00 p.m.