Tuesday, November.28, 1972

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Seven

Tuesday, November 28, 1972 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven


'M' us
By BILL ALTERMAN
Slowly and painfully they made their
way back into the visitors locker room.
Some cried, others just stared off into
the distance. Over in one corner the
coach quietly talked with reporters. For
the Wolverines 1972 was over.
No amount of officiating criticism,
nor of "if only" conjecturing was going
to change the outcome. A hundred years
from now the record books will still
show OHIO STATE 14, MICHIGAN 11.
Well dammit, I don't care. Saturday
I saw the Wolverines play their best
game in four years and they have
nothing to be ashamed of. They outran,
outpassed and generally outplayed the
team which prior to the start of the sea-
son was rated a heavy favorite to run
away with the conference title. If there's
any regret it's that Michigan won't have
the opportunity to prove they're No. 1
in the nation.
THREE MONTHS AGO nobody thought
much of this team. They had lost 12
starters includinig three all-Americans,
and on top of that injuries decimated
their defensive secondary. Then, just
prior to the start of the season Kevin
Casey,Bo's leading candidate forquar-
terback, suffered a twisted knee.
The 1972 team didn't have any big
name stars at the start of the year, no
Bill Taylor's, Glenn Doughty's or Mike

ter

shin

Taylor's. It didn't even have many sen
iors, They did have such untried sopho-
mores as Dennis Franklin, Gil Chap-
man, Dave Brown, Roy Burks and Chuck
Heater.
INDEED, THE SEASON started most
inconspicuously with a dreary 7-0 victory
over lowly Northwestern. After three
years of flying high many people felt
this was going to be a year of rebuilding
for the Wolverines. The experts felt their
impending clash against UCLA in the
Coliseum would prove it.
Well it didn't. Like they were to do
againist Ohio State, the Wolverines totally
tore apart the Bruins. They pushed them
all over Los Angeles as Michigan and
Schembechler were to gain some meas-
ure of revenge for two Rose Bowl losses.
THE WOLVERINES had their ups and
downs in the remaining games but they
always came up with the big play when
they needed it. Against Michigan State
(a game which for all intents and pur-
poses ended Duffy Daugherty's coaching
career) they got a 53 yard end around
from Chapman to clinch it. Illinois and
Minnesota fell easily but it took fourth
quarter touchdowns to stop Indiana.
Two weeks later Michigan played per-
haps their toughest encounter of the
year. The Purdue Boilermakers still had
a shot at the Big Ten crown and they

es thru
had the talent to pull off an upset. But
a tremendous interception by Randy
Logan, some clutch running, and Mike
Lantry, a Vietnam War veteran, knock-
ing through a pressure-packed 35 yard
field goal pulled it out.
With only three unbeaten teams left
in the nation, visions of mythical na-
tional championships danced in Ann Ar-
bor heads. And Saturday they played
like champs. A poised Franklin vive-
sected the Buckeyes' secondary. The de-
fense, except for two drives, completely
dominated the OSU offepse. In short, the
Wolverines won; they won everywhere
but on the scoreboard.
LOOKING BACK THIS WINTER, Mich-
igan players and supporters will have
much to be proud of. The Wolverinie
defense, and in particular the secondary,
were not expected to have a good year
in '72. But led by seniors Tom Kee and
all-American Logan, they completely
stifled opponent after opponent.
Their points allowed average of 5.2
led the nation and their young secondary
displayed an awesome ability to separate
the receiver from the ball. OSU's Greg
Hare could complete only one pass
against the Wolverines, and Michigan
State didn't complete any.
down

tears

WITH CASEY INJURED Schembech-
ler had no choice but to go with his
rookie black quarterback from, Massillon,
Ohio and Franklin came through in the
very first game with a perfect touch-
down toss to Bo Rather. As befits most
sophomore quarterbacks, Franklin show-
ed some indecision on the option and
frequently was dumped on dropback
passes. But the cool signal-caller never
lost his poise no matter how pressure-
packed the moment.
With time running out against Purdue,
and finding no receivers open, Franklin
picked his spot and dashed for 20 yards
to set up the winning field goal. And
last week against Ohio State he calmly
flipped for 13 of '23 for 160 yards. He
was, in a word, tremendous.
SO DESPITE the heartbreaking loss to
Ohio State, the Wolverines should have
no reason to regret 1972. Up until last
week they were one of only three un-
beaten teams in the country. And while
they didn't go all the way they proved
they could play exciting, and first rate
football. So what if the poll shows the
Buckeyes fourth and Michigan only
seventh. If I had to choose one school to
call my own after Saturday it would be
no contest-Michigan.
So farewell Bo and Company until
next year.
And thanks for '72...

Daily Photo by DENNY GAINER
Banks short-changed
MICHIGAN HALFBACK Harry Banks heads for the goalline in fourth quarter action Saturday in
Columbus. Banks claims he hit paydirt, but the officials ruled Ohio State linebacker Arnold Jones
(42) made the tackle inches from the end zone. On the third-and-one play, fulback Ed Shuttlesworth (31)
and right guard Tom Coyle (60) both blocked Buck eye defensive lineman Pete Cusiick (71), leaving
Jones free for the tackle. Dennis Franklin's quarte rback sneak on fourth down also failed.

Roses

are

red

as

Buckeyes

Blue

t 4t I~e''r~ec ' _____ ________
SWoody on . .
but Bo's the best
john papanek
O THE DISMAY of one Joe Falls, there still is someone in the
house who does not think that Wayne Woodrow Hayes is
God's gift to College football. Me.
Now I don't profess to know more about football than Joe
Falls, and I can't claim to know a great deal about Woody Hayes.
But if anyone had asked me to point out the best football coach
in Ohio Stadium Saturday, I would have pointed at Bo Schem-
bechler.
He's a better coach, and he coached a better team. I
know it, and I have a sneakinig suspicion that a good chunk of
of the 87,000 crazy people in the stands knew it too. Un-
fortunately, losing to Ohio State may have cost Bo the Coach
of the Year award. I'll vote for him if anyone asks me to.
Schembechler is a master at coaching football. Last year he
took a lot of flak for his conservatism. Sportswriters covering
Michigan football games were bored by the constant ground
attack. Never mind the fact that the Wolverines had backs like
Billy Taylor, Glenn Doughty, Fritz Seyferth and Ed Shuttlesworth.
A football team is supposed to throw a lot of passes. That's what
keeps the fans excited. And long touchdown passes or even inter-
ceptions are more interesting to write about than a bunch of
four-yard bursts.
But Bo kept saying that he would pass when he had to. But
when he had to he didn't-or couldn't. The truth is he had no
quarterback.
But now he does, and Saturday Dennis Franklin was
brilliant. Before his last-minute flurry of desperation passes,
he was 10 for 17. Even in the last drive, he moved Michigan
39 yards on three completions to Bo Rather.
Only one thing spoiled the day-Michigan's failure to score
from close to the goal line. ,
Once again Bo will be faced with critics who will say that he
should have gone for the field goal on fourth down from the one-
yard line late in the fourth quarter. Sure, even Mike Lantry
would have made it, but the score would have been tied at 14, and
the Buckeyes would get the ball with nine minutes left.
Besides, going for the tie that early would have been risking
even greater abuse from the already abusive Ohio State crowd.
But getting that touchdown-oh, it would have been so satisfying
to hear that place finally shut up. When you're on the one-yard
line and you're Michigan, you score a touchdown. And if you got
stopped once before in the first half, that's all the more reason
why no one, short of the Purple People Eaters of the Minnesota
Vikings, can stop you again.
As Bo said after the game, "We never even considered a
field goal. When you're on the one-yard line you should get
a touchdown."
But the one unalterable fact remains that there was abso-
lutely nothing Michigan could do to get into the end zone. Maybe
Shuttlesworth should have gotten a shot, but if his ankle was
injured why take a chance?
So are we looking for someone to blame for Michigan not
scoring or someone to credit for not allowing Michigan to score?
I conclude that it was the Buckeye defense, plain and simple,
that did the job.
"No drug could have gotten a team higher than we were
today," Hayes spewed after the game. "Our defense, well we
have been hurt terribly, but that goal line stand in the first half
was the greatest . . . until the one in the second half. That first
goal line stand was the turning point in the game."
Schembechler, heartsick as he was about not winning the
game, also gave due credit to the Buckeye defense.
"Ohio State's defense is sticky . . . it bends but it doesn't
break. But we moved on them, we proved that. I just wish there
was some way we could have gotten into the end zone one more
time. I am just sick that we didn't."
The irony of it all is that the conservative Schembechler
lost the game because he was not conservative enough. He
gambled by letting Franklin open up and throw more than
any game this season. He gambled by going for two after
Michigan's touchdown. But he gambled on all those fourth
down plays and lost.
But he lost the game in score only. I wanted to sit down and
talk with him today, but-and you won't believe this-he won't be
free until Thursday morning.
Bo spent yesterday morning wrapping up the current season,
and the afternoon visiting some local recruit prospects. Today
he goes recruiting in Ypsilanti and tomorrow he'll spend the day
recruiting in Sandusky, Ohio.

By JOHN PAPANEK
Under an angry sky beizhing d i
rain, sleet and snow, intimate
little Ohio Stadium sat nestled en
the banks of the Olentangy River.
with all the serenity of an earth- 01
quake.
Inside the cauldron filled with N
football - crazed fanatics, 0 h i o NIGHT EDI
State's Buckeyes held a 14-11 leadG ROS
over the Michigan Wolverines,
while the clock ticked the last
seconds of life out of Bo Schen- THEaW3L-rilE
bechler's wunderkind, on a 35-yard field
Lantry. They got in
There were some 13 seconds re- territory on each of
maining in the game as Dennis possessions, but the
Franklin, finishing up the finest an illegal procedure
game he has yet to play as a the second got foul
Michigan quarterback, despera tely back Clint Haslerigs
tried to move the. Wolverines with- each time headed fo
in field goal range for a three- But midway throu
pointer that would tie the game quarter, frosh phe
and send Michigan to the :973 Griffin got untracki
Rose Bowl as the Big Ten's chaM- 'loose for runs of 10
pion. to move Ohio State
Michigan four. Thre
It was fourth down and 10 on the Harold "Champ" F
OSU 41-yard line. There was no use his 20th touchdown o
kidding a n y b o d y. Schembechler the Buckeyes led 7-3.
knew that his kicker, erratic Mike Michigan got the
Lantry who earlier had missed a left in the half and n
44-yarder by 15 yards, would never one-yard line on rut
be able to boot one 58 yards. of seven and nine ya
SO FRANKLIN went back once 3-yal second do
more, looking for one last open manF
to throw the bomb to. No one was ON FIRST DO
open. Franklin was sacked by pitched to Chuck H
Buckeye George Hasenohrl, and nailed by Doug Plan
suddenly all the goals and dreams one. On second down
of an undefeated season, a trip to went wide and was o
two straight Rose Bowls, and a Plank, but he slippe
national championship vanished. turf. On third down
Schembechler was sick, and he Thornbladh (Shuttles

Iy
rts
TOR:
SITER

OSU five-yard line. Shuttlesworth
plunged to paydirt from the one.
That made the score 14-9, and
Schembechler decided to set up a
possible tie by going for a two-
point conversion. Franklin rolled
right and zipped a strike to Hasl-
rig on a button hook, two yards into
the end zone with Buckeyes on
either side of him. He squeezed
the ball and cut the margin to
14-11.
WITH 13 MINUTES left, Randy
Logan intercepted a Hare pass on

.
S scored first,
goal by Mike

nto Ohio State the Buckeye 29, and for the second
their first two straight week, it looked as though
first died on Michigan would pull it out.
penalty, and It took five plays to get down
ed when wing- to the five-yard line. On first down,
slipped twice- Harry Banks took an option pitch
r big gains. around right end for one yard. On
gh the second; second down, Banks went at right
eenom, Archie guard, and he swears (and game
ed and broke films back him up) that he crossed
and 18 yarls the goal line. But officials placed
down to the the ball on the one. On third down
ee plays later Banks tried again, but was stopped.
Henson scored Another fourth down. Many peo-
f the year and ple assumed Bo would take the
field goal for a tie. But no, he want-
ball with 4:27 ed a touchdown because he wanted
marched to the to beat the Buckeyes. Franklin ran
ns by Haslerig a quarterback sneak and did not
ards and a big make it.
n pass from Now it is history. In a few years,
al. no one will; remember. the cir um-
stances, just the score. That's all
WN, Franklin that counts.
eater who was
k for a loss of
. Heater again I

Daily Photo by DELNNY G~AINER
BUCKEYE FULLBACK Harold Henson bangs off right guard into
the end zone, giving Ohio State its first touchdown and the lead it
never relinquished. Henson's touchdown, his twentieth of the year,
came on a one-yard plunge with 4:27 left in the second quarter.
Michigan defenders Dave Brown (6) and Tom Kee (37) couldn't fill
in fast enough to stop the score. In the battle of the goal-line stands,
it was Ohio State 2, Michigan 0.




~EI

ne-on-one with
ed on the wet
, fullback Bab
sworth sat out'

said so. He watched his Wolverines k most ofthe game witn an injured
play their most convincing game of ankle) tried the middle and was
the season-the way he said they'd stacked up by the Buckeye line.
have to play to win. The Wolverines On fourth down, Franklin fumbled
gained 344 yards to the Buckeyes the snap from center and bedlam
192. They passed for 160 yards hit Ohio Stadium.
while OSU passed for only 17. The Buckeyes struck immediate-
Michigan got 21 first downs to ly as the second half opened. Quar-
Ohio State's 10. The Wolverines ran terback Greg Hare scrambled for
83 offensive plays; the Buckeyes 35 yards, and on the next play
ran only 44. Griffin broke loose and sprinted
30 yards for a touchdown.
BUT OHIO STATE had 14 points The Wolverines drove 58 yards.
and Michigan had 11. It sounds on their next possession, taking
like just another statistic, but sad- four plays to score from the


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I
i

ly nothing else counts but the
score.
"This is the best Michigan team
I ever coached," Bo told reporters
after the game. "We never domi-
nated a team so much and then
lost the game. I am sick about our
not getting into the end zone morer
often.
"We should have won this game'
because we have come so far, so
far. Nobody figured we would ever
come down to the final game with
a shot for the title.

1.7, 11Es

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I

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NFL
Miami 31, St. LouisN0
College Basketball
Ohio State 92, Wisconsin (Mil.) 81
Jacksonville 103, William and Mary9
Tennessee 84, Western Kentucky 80
Oklahoma 92, Indiana St. 84
Kansas St. 79, San Diego St. 67
Western Kentucky 131,
Old Dominion 106
NE Louisiana 91, SE Louisiana 72

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
STUDENTS Wishing To Go To EUROPE
Summer 1973
New Office for Studying Abroad
in Ann Arbor, Contact
CENTER FOR FOREIGN STUDY

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662-5575; 662-5576

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