Thursday, November 18, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Nine Thursday, November 18, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Nine Michigan gridders By ELLIOT LEGOW When the 1971 football sea- son kicked off last September Michigan knew it had a good team, a team picked in pre-sea- son polls as one of the nation's ten best, and chosen to win the Big Ten title. But no one knew how good the Wolverines really would be. Everyone was worried about re- placing key defensive players like Henry Hill, Marty Huff, and Jim Betts and strengthen- ing the offensive line. The defense, instead of slip- ping from last season's promi- nence reached a new peak and has led the nation in defending against the rush and preventing scoring. After some early season problems the line blocking has also again become topnotch. But the b i g g e s t roadblock daily sports NIGHT EDITOR: JIM EPSTEIN seen in the way of an unde-, feated season was the lack of suitable replacement for Don Moorhead at quarterback. With- out a skillful passer and ball- handler it was assumed the Wolverines could not hope to match last year's 9-1 perform- ance. When the season opened at* Northwestern in the Wolverines' earliest Big Ten opener on rec- ord Bo Schembechler chose sophomore Kevin Casey to lead the Michigan attack. Casey had some trouble generating a Mich- igan offensive attack early but the defense contained the Wild- cats and gave the offense the breaks needed to salvage a 21- 6 victory. Bo Rather scored two of the Wolverines' touchdowns-one on a surprise end - around p 1 a y which Schembechler hasn't used since and again by recovering a blocked field goal in the North- western end zone. After that treacherous start in E v a n s t o n the Wolverines came back home for three of the easiest games since the days of Fielding Yost's point-a-minute teams. Consecutive shutouts of Vir- ginia, UCLA, and Navy by 56- romp 0, 38-0, and 46-0 counts game the Michigan third and fourth stringers plenty of work and helped Michigan in the polls but didn't really provide the Wolverines with any good tests. A g a i n s t Virginia, Michigan utilized 18 different backs in- cluding all five quarterbacks, amassed total yardage of 562 y a r d s including 491 on the ground and recorded 33 first downs. The passing attack re- mained rather dormant but ob- viously wasn't of much concern in an eight touchdown victory. Ed Shuttelsworth made his initial home performance an impressive one by bulling for 107 yards in 16 carries to lead the Michigan offense. Bill Tay- lor and Harry Banks each scor- ed twice and Dana Coin contin- ued his long extra point string with eight good boots. through perfect ...While Bucks s tumble The UCLA game was more of the same-a strong defense ov- erwhelmed the Bruins, forced them into costly mistakes and gave the Michigan offense the ball in good scoring position. The Wolverines registered 17 quick first quarter points and the outcome was never in doubt as most of the Bruins' 216 yards in total yardage came in the closing minutes .of the game. And then another non - game against N a v y. This time the Wolverines' defense held the Middies to only 71 yards in total offense including 34 in rushing gains for a two week total of 73. While Michigan's rushers con- tinued to move at will the pass- ing inefficiency was beginning to cause worries. Schembechler experimented with Casey, Tom Slade, and Larry Cipa against the Midshipmen and Slade was the most impressive, hitting on four of seven passes and mov- ing the team well. So, with the Big Ten season opening up again at Michigan State in a battle where both coaches always like to spring a few surprises, Schembechler de- cided to switch to Slade after finally revealing that Casey had been injured all season. However, D u f f y Daugherty had a few surprises of his own for Michigan as his team opened the nationally-televised grudge match operating out of a wish- bone formation. Slade didn't fare much bet- ter than Casey with his passing, hitting only three of nine, but he executed the option success- fully and moved the Wolverines in for two key fourth quarter scores in ice the hard-fought 24-13 triumph. The Wishbone didn't really p e r t u r b the defensemen who expected "that the Spartans would try something new." The 188 total yards gained by MSU year... By JOEL GREER In the past, Ohio State has been known to run the "three yards and a cloud of dust" offense, but this season it's been more like "three yards and where's the doctor." The Buckeyes have run into an unbelievable string of in- juries that began with veteran John Hicks' knee injury prior to the season opener and contin- ued until center Tom DeLeone had knee surgery last Sunday. Regulars also lost to the team over the course of the season have been defensive back John Hughes, offensive guard Larry Graf, fullback John Bledsoe, de- fensive tackle Shad Williams, tight end Merv Teague, and middle guard Kevin Fletcher. Also out for the year are Fletcher's replacement Glen Mason, Hughes' replacement Lou Cameron, and Teague's re- placement Marki Straka. The early injuries were only an indication of things to come as coach Woody Hayes faced his biggest depth problem in years. With only six regulars return- ing from his 1970 Big Ten championship team, Hayes' op- ening day squad which was to host. Iowa looked about as green as the new AstroTurf they were to play upon. The injury parade continued as defensive captain Harry Howard suffered a knee injury which was to keep him out of the opener. The Ohio State offense was expected to sputter in the early going as only center Tom De- Leone returned. But Hayes, as usual exhibited a strong run- ning game to the tune of 402 yards as the Buckeyes crunched V Iowa 52-21. Senior quarterback Don Lamka switched from de- fense.to complete five of seven passes for 60 yards while rush- ing for another 100. Bledsoe continued the out- standing- Buckeye fullback tra- dition as he burrowed through ,. the Iowa defense for 151 yards and two touchdowns. The C o 1 o r a d o Buffa- loes brought along the Big Eight hex two weeks later in an at- tempt to end the Buckeyes long Ohio Stadium winning streak which dated back to 1967. The Buckeyes ran into a tough Buffalo defense and an abundance of errors as Colo- rado did the job. 20-14. Buffalo si-nal-callsr Ken Johnson scampered six yards for the first score and Cliff Branch returned a punt 68 yards for another as Colorado left the field with a 13-0 half- time lead. After both squads traded touchdowns early in the fourth quarter, Lamka hit Rick Mid- dleton with a 12-yard scoring strike and the Buckeyes were within six. Only 2:11 remained and Hayes called for the on- side kick. Fred Schram kicked off and the Buckeyes recovered but, according to the officials, the ball failed to go the re- quired ten yards. "Films show the ball definite- ly was on the fifty," Hayes ar- gued later that week. "I didn't think it was going to make it, but suddenly it took a little hop over the line." Lamka's passing statistics were impressive (20-33 for 225 yards) but three of his drives faltered inside the Colorado ten. The 19-game at home winning streak had disappeared and it looked as if inexperience and the injury problem finally caught up with the Buckeyes. But Ohio State bounced back against a strong California team and thrashed the Golden Bears 35-3. Lamka recovered from a mid-week injury to march the Buckeyes to paydirt the first two times they had the ball. Morris Bradshaw scored from 12 yards out and Lamka kept on the option to score from the four. Three fourth quarter Buckeye touchdowns turned the game into a rout. The Buckeyes travelled to Il- linois the following week to re- sume its Big Ten schedule leav- ing fullback John Bledsoe be- hind with a knee injury. But Randy Keith admirably filled in by scoring twice in the Buckeyes' 24-10 win. Ohio State grabbed a quick 14-0 lead after two Illinois miscues. De- fensive tackle George Hasenohrl recovered an Illini fumble on the OSU 38 and the Buckeyes moved down for the score. Half- back Rich Galbos jaunted 46 yards in two tries and Morris Bradshaw added 15 on a single carry to set up Keith's touch- down plunge from the one. Two minutes later a Terry Masar punt was blocked by Ohio State's Kevin Fletcher and Mike Scannell recovered on the Illinois two. Keith scored on the next play. Hayes depended on his ground game exclusively in the first half as Lamka failed to put the ball in the air even once. The Buckeyes won the next two games easily, winning 27-7 at Indiana and 31-6 at home against Wisconsin. But injuries continued to mount as Bledsie's thigh bruise put him out for the remainder of the season. Also lost for the season dur- ing that two-week period were Graf, Williams, Teague and Fletcher. The Buckeyes altered their grind-it-out style in the Wis- consin game as Bradshaw ex- ploded for two 88-yard runs- one from scrimmage and the other on a kickoff return. Elmer Lippert also electrified the Ohio partisans with a 48-yard gal- lop. The Buckeyes barely got by Minnesota the following Satur.- day 14-12 as the offense sput- tered miserably. It was the de- fense that saved them as Go- pher quarterback Craig Curry was stopped inches short of the goal line on a two-point con- version attempt with only sec- onds remaining. But the offense remained sour the next weekend and Duffy Daugherty's S p a r t a n s were ready. Michigan State turned two Ohio State mistakes into touch- downs and handed the Buckeyes their first Big Ten loss, 17-10. With Ohio State leading 7-3 Brad Van Pelt intercepted ,a Lamka pass to set up Eric Al- len's first of two Spartan touch- downs. Allen scored this one on a one-yard plunge. Late in the third quarter de- fensive end Doug Halliday re- covered a Bradshaw fumble at the Buckeye 11 to set the stage for Allen's second touchdown. This time Allen scored from the five to provide the Spartans with a 17-10 lead. The Buckeye offense floun- dered in the final quarter and Woody lost his first conference game since Michigan did the trick in 1969. Somehow losing became a habit as the Buckeyes were up- set again last week by North- western, 14-10. The loss of- ficially eliminated the Buckeyes from the conference race and left them with an unimpressive 6-3 record going into this Satur- day's game with Michigan. included only 59 on the ground as the Michigan defenders suc- cessfully contained the Spartan flea, Eric Allen. A f t e r that Michigan came home again for another patsy, Illinois, and despite some first p e r i o d mistakes overwhelmed the Illini 35-6. 1 Al wins HOUSTON (A) - Muhammad Ali dropped an exhausted Buster Mathis twice in the last two rounds to score an unanimous decision in their heavyweight fight last night. Relying pri- marily on his jab in the early rounds, Ali controlled the fight from its inception. The next weekend in Minne- sota Michigan met a new threat -the forward pass. The Goph- ers' Craig Curry 'pierced the Wolverine defense for 193 pass- ing yards but managed only one score on a 73 yard bomb to flankeraGeorgeaHonza. That secondaquarteruscore tied the game at 7-7 but Michigan ral- lied for a 35-7 win. T a ylo r ground out 168 yards in 33 gal- lops against the grounded Goph- ers and surpassed Ron John- son's Michigan career rushing mark. But, the passing attack again fell flat. Slade and Larry Cipa combined for only two comple- tions in ten attempts, but what can be better than a 35-7 con- ference win anyway? Maybe a 61-7 pasting of In- diana or a 63-7 devastation of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Neither of those games produced much ex- citement and even the scores, Michigan's highest in 23 years seemed insignificant after earli- er 56-0 wins. The yards came easy against both of the I's as Michigan net- ted 489 of them against Indiana and 559 against Iowa. Each game included only three com- pleted passes but why pass when you have backs like Taylor who ripped off 172 yards in 11 car- ries against Indiana, Ed Shut- tlesworth who averaged seven per romp while netting 112 against Iowa, and reserve Alan Walker who totaled 185 in the two games. After that pair of b o r i n g romps, Michigan fans were ra- ther unprepared for the gruel- ing nail-bitter against Purdue For the student body: A Genuine < Authentic " Navy PEA COATS $25 Sizes 34 to 50 CHECKMATE the next week. No 500 yards of offensive totals, or 50 yard de- fensive performances highlight- ed that game and most of the second string never even got into the game. But Slade finally, proved he could pass and Schembechler found a way for Michigan to move without an effective Tay- lor leading the way. Purdue even managed to score two touchdowns and 17 points against the Wolverines and the game wasn't decided until Dana Coin kicked a 25 yard field goal with 45 seconds left to save the Wolverine's unbeaten s e a s o n with a 20-17 win. If Michigan is now to ac- complish its f i r s t undefeated season in 23 years, it will take a win over the Wolverines' old friends from C olumbus of course, there's also a score to settle with the Buckeyes after last year's 20-9 thumping in Columbus. Never in history has Michigan won 11 games in one season mainly because they have never played 11 games in one season, but this year's team has shown that it is definitely one of the strongest in Michigan's 1o n g history of football greatness. Even if they can't pass. 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