['Wednesday, November 4, 1970, THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven . ...e s y N o e m e 4, 1 7 H I C I A A L on this and that A peculiar Hoot kind of hell _ ericsiege Redbird ac FORMER MICHIGAN COACH Bennie Oosterbaan, who coach- 0 ed the Wolverines to a 9-0 record and a national champion- In n earyVu ship in 1948, laughed when asked if the pressure increased that year as the team moved towards an undefeated season. "Coaching is a pressure job to begin with," said Oosterbaan, NEW YORK ) - Bob G who now handles public relations for thie, athletic department the hard throwing St. Louis wono yhndles pubirelation fre athleinals' right-hander thoug "and everything is relative from there have lost his effectiveness a "But after each victory that year, there was added pres- slow start last season, was sure. You could feel the pressure increase as the season the Cy Young award winne went on." terday as the National Le it The pressure on Oosterbaan that year was particularly top pitcher. acute. It was his first year as head coach, and he inherited Gibson, who finished w i a team from Fritz Crisler that went '10-0, including a 49-0 joined Sandy Koufax arid Rose Bowl victory over Southern Cal, and was ranked sec- McLainastheonlypitch ond In the country in one major poll and first in another. win the award more than "There was pressure to preserve Michigan's reputation and since its inception in 1956. also to maintain the victory string," Oosterbaan recalled re- Getting 23 of the 24 first icently That string, which started in 1946, went to 24 games be- votes and the other fors fore the Wolverines lost to Army, 21-7, in the fourth game of place, Gibson won in a la the '49 season. over Gaylord Perry of San The current Michigan victory string isn't quite that long cisco, who got the other to of the 24-man Committeeo If you count all games, it amounts to a string of seven games. Baseball Writers Associati In Big Ten play, the Wolverines have won nine in a row. America. Still, as one of a handful of major unbeaten college Gibson, winning the awar teams in the country, the pressure is every bit as great, And a fourth place team - a ra in 1948, the Wolverines played their "Big Game" in the was the only pitcher named fourth game of the season. That was against Northwestern, 24 ballots-two writers fron who finished right behind Michigan in the Big Ten and was 118 points. Perry finished wi ranked seventh nationally4 and the Wolverines won it in a and Ferguson Jenkins of th walk, 28-0. cago Cubs was third with 1 This year, The Game comes at the very end of the season, In all, 10 pitchers re ;hand that's one of the things that makes the pressure so strong, mention with reliever Dave not only on Michigan, but on Ohio State, too. of Pittsburgh tied for fourt Everybody - sportswriters, fans and commentators - are Cincinnati's Jim Merritt talking about the game. Everybody, that is, except Michigan and eight points, a rare honor bullpen ace to finish so high Ohio State. Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, for his part, keeps Gary Nolan of Cincinnat insisting that he's not going to start looking to- that game until five, Tom Seaver of the New November 15. Mets four, reliever Wayne G And down in Columbus, Woody Hayes hasn't been heard er of Cincinnati three, Carl uttering the word "Michigan" since last November. Appar- ton of Montreal two and ently, he learned a lesson last year, when all his talk about Walker of Pittsburgh one. the best team not going to the Rose Bowl became a not-so- Because of the tie for th funny joke when the best team won, anyway. American League award b The tight-lippedness of the coaches hasn't stopped any- Mcain ante was institute one from making comparisons, though. Every time Michigan year with three men select has beaten a team OSU has played, someone has asked Sch- one ballot. F i r s t place cc embechler to compare the performances. f i v e points, second threeI "Comparative statistics don't mean a thing," Schembechler and third one point. The A said a while back. "Games are decided on the field, not on pa- can League winner will ben per." But with the Buckeyes playing two previous Wolverine later this week. opponents in the next two games and the Wolverines coming up Gibson, who will be 35 M wo 0games for the against an Illinois that gave Ohio State a scare for three quar- wnstraight20 season, although ters, the questions will continue to be asked. hadbeen somentalk that h Inthe meantime, teams that were supposed to lay over and lost something off his blazin play dead have been putting some momentary scares into both ball when he managed onl Michigan and OSU. Teams that are out of the running for any victories the first 1% mon sort of conference or national honors know they can grab the the season. spotlight if they upset one of the powerhouses. But then he rattled off 1 "If (Illinois Coach Jim) Valek could lick us Saturday, it secutive triumphs before s would be a tremendous feather in his cap," Oosterbaan safd, ing his fourth and fifth i *'and there might just be a re-evaluation of his status as coach." tories in a row. ts m It is believed Valek, who was fired two weeks ago but quickly re- Winning 20 for the fifth t instated after his players threatened to strike, will be canned at his 11-year major leaguec the end of the season. _. There are a lot of little ways that the pressures of beingW undefeated show up, too. W olverines "As an undefeated and a championship season becomes A more in line, you become increasingly more careful In every aspect of your operation," Oosterbaan said. "Your attention u to detail in scouting reports and films becomes more care- ful, and you start to stay up later in staff meetings. Michigan's tenacious r u s "When you're approaching the kind of season Bo is ap- defense rose two notches to proaching, you want to make damn sure you don't make any place in this week's national mistakes." on the basis of a strong , Saturday, for the first time in two years, Schembechler against Wisconsin last Sat tried to keep the press from talking to the players after a vic- The Wolverines, who ar tory, although he finally let them in. And when asked what hap- ranked, the top ten in s pened in a game that saw the offense fumble the ball three age of only 92.9 yards per ga times, he snapped, "We won 29-15, that's what happened." the ground. Later, he said he was pleased with his team's perform- Leading the stalwart defen ance, and praised the play of the opponents. linebacker Marty Huff, wi Given the pressures of an undefeated season, though, with solo tackles and 27 assists the questions and comparisons, with everyone gunning for tackle Pete Newell, with 43 you, and with the big game coming at the very end, an and 17 assists. occasional flash of irascibility should not be judged too was slow in getting starte harshly. year, dropped to thirteen The pressures add up to a peculiar kind of hell, although it rushing offense, down two is a hell that the other eight coaches in the conference would from last week. Tailback give almost anything to be in. Taylor leads all Blue rushers Last year, it should be noted, the pressure wasn't nearly as 626 yards in 142 attempts,t bad. The Wolverines were 5-2 instead of 7-0 at this time, and leaves him just short of a na no one was really convinced of how good, they were until they ranking. One player who is nati trounced Iowa 51-6. ranked, however, is punter That was the week before the Ohio State game, and by Staroba, number 12 witha then, it was time to start thinking about OSU, anyway. yard per kick average. SHERROD TOPS nets Cy Young; Flood to Nats e given award nanimous vote ibson, w ith the Cardinals, Gibson start- Card- ed 34 games, completed 23, had ht to three shutouts, worked 294 inn- after a ings, yielded 262 hits, 111 runs, Phillies get three players; $110,000 pact reported named r yes- ague'sE ith a "t. thusr Denny ers to -oncei t-place; walked 88 and struck out 274, nine short of Tom Seaver',§ NL record. Gibson's earned run average was 3.12. Gibson, 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, who holds or has tied at least three major league records and three National League marks, was a basketball star at Creighton University and played with the Harlem Glo etrottersybefore mv- . : . A I :::;: ' i - ' . { £ t second ing into the Cardinals' farm sys- ........ ndslide tem in 1957 in his native Omaha Fran- Neb.BobGison p vote - -_.-_-.- of the on t ofGROUND POWER ABOUNDS d with xity - on all otaled vith 51 ie Chi- i By ELLIOT LEGOW since one of the three likely will Baby Blu 6. There were only about 600 fans be starting next season in place touchdow ceived on hand to watch and it was only of graduating senior Don Moor- The ru Giusti' a freshman game, but last Satur- head. Tom Slade, Greg Koss and m o r e it h with day's 41-22 football victory over Kevin Casey all saw plenty of ac- than the with Michigan State could be one of tion last Saturday, splitting the riers corr for a Michigan's more important foot- job about evenly. rushing c , ball victories this season. None of the three had a great gained th ti had It is only under game condi- day through the air-only Slade' Harry York tions that the coaches can care- hit on more than one pass-but all er from rang- fully evaluate the quality of their pleased Coach Tirell Burton with yards in Mor- talent and this is the first time their leadership abilities, and each two long ' Luke they have seen the class of '74 in led the Wolverines to at least one However, action. touchdown. and thus e 1969 The most important aspects of Burton hopes to give Casey a the game etween the day were the performances of little more playing time in this quarter. a new the three frosh quarterbackstand Friday's 1:00 game against Notre Fullbac d this t h e outstanding running attack Dame, but again plans to let all Ed Shutt ed on mounted by the Wolverines. three quarterbacks play. Casey hit ounted The showing of t h e quarter- on only one of three passes against espectivE points backs is of special importance the Spartans but did 1 e a d the scored fE Ameri- State, pr named' Friday, b for their onday, De te third Deput there scoree u 1ehad appointm ig fast debut. "D y two as well a iths of lots of wo also cited Ving. 0 con- r uffer- He was losses,