The Michigan Daily-Friday, November 11, 1977-Page 11 BLUE DREADS ENCORE Will Purdue be By BOB WARD The Spoilermakers - a threatening " name. It is one that has been tagged on the Purdue Boilermakers for past up- sets over Notre Dame and Michigan, to name a couple. The men from West Lafayette have already missed two upset opportunities this year. Could the Wolverines be their victim this Satur- day? The first half of the season has been like a rollercoaster ride for Purdue. They opened with Michigan State and lost, 19-14, before~coming back to troun- ce Ohio University. Next came Notre Dame, and the Irish managed to pull out a last-ditch 31-24 decision. Spolerfl back the nex week to tomorrow's game. a, the Black and Gold tmro' ae onsecutive defeats by Purdue's head coach Jim Young, an linois. assistant at Michigan from '69-'73, had uld have drowned the been concerned about his offense ear- orale, but they didn't. her in the year. "We had an inexperi- beat Iowa, Northwest- enced line (and) ... did not have con- in, and now find them- sistent kicking, he said yesterday in a 5-4 record going into telephone interview. lki ers Blue skaters favored over MSU, bt coaches make no predictions BA BOB MIL LER over and play dead. But the concern for the offense was due to a starting line-up that had under- classmen outnumbering upperclass- men. This worry was relieved with the impressive entrance of freshman quar- terback sensation, Mark Herrmann. Was Young surprised? "With any freshman starting early in the season, you have to be surprised," he said. "The only other freshman I've known to start out so well was Rick Leach." Herrmann has moved into second place on the Big Ten's all-time single- season passing list by totaling 2,215 yards passing. He has completed 56 per cent of his passes and has notched 17 touchdown completions. But Herrmann has been sporadically plagued with in- terceptions (4 at Notre Dame and 5 at Ohio State) to bring his count to 21. Herrmann's favorite receiver is sen- ior Reggie Arnold, gaining 745 yards on 39 pass receptions. Arnold has scored eight touchdowns and he averages 19.1 yards per catch. The running game is led by -senior John Skibinski, who has gained 587 yar- ds and scored three touchdowns. But the relatively low overall rushing tally (1,276 yards) is not reflective of a weak line, according to Young. "We're just passing more," he explained. igain? A novelty has been added by Young. - the shotgun. That's where the quar- terback takes the snap from a few yar- - ds back, instead of directly on the ine . to give the passer more time in the' pocket. Apparently Young believes it's, a must. "We use the shotgun because most teams expect us to pass," he said. Not much has been made of the Pur-6 due defense, but they've been working - equally hard. "When you play good de- fense, you play it with all eleven peo.- , pie," Young analyzes. "Defensive staz tistics really don't tell the whole story' h sometimes." Senior Fred Arrington and sopho more Kevin Motts, two linebackers, lead the squad with 79 and 70 solo tackles, respectively. They are tied at,- 138 tackles apiece. Keena Turner (RE) was last week's defensive secondary sensation when he , picked off a Badger pass at his own 35T yard line and romped 65 yards for a Purdue touchdown., Leading the Boilermaker kicking game is Scott Sovereen, a native of Midland, Michigan. Although he booted four field goals against Wake Forest and kicked a 45-yarder in last week's- game, Young still isn't pleased, "Our; kicking game is still not consistent." Before the season started, the WCHA coaches made their predictions as to the outcome of the 1977- 78 season's title race. The result: Michigan first, Michigan State last. With that in mind it would appear the Wolverines, fresh off an unprecedented sweep at Notre Dame, are in for some easy pickin's starting tonight at 7:30 at Yost. But don't you believe it. ALREADY MICHIGAN coach Dan Farrell and his counterpart at State, Amo Bessone, have uttered the cliches about disregarding records and getting ready for some old fashioned fun. However, it would be to Michigan State's advan- tage to keep their 2-2 league mark in mind. The Spartans split at North Dakota and returned to East Lansing where they divided a pair of games with Minnesota. They have surprised a lot of people with their early season success and aren't ready to roll "We're going down there (to Ann Arbor) with a lot of spirit. We're going to need a lot of spirit," Bessone said. STATE'S 2-2 'RECORD (2-4 overall) is good enough for a tie with Wisconsin and North Dakota for fifth place behind the Wolverines, Colorado College, Denver and the Gophers, who all own 3-1 league marks. The Spartans will be looking forsome scoring punch out of Darryl DiPace who leads the team with five goals and one assist. He is tied with freshman Leo Lynett at six points for the team lead in scoring. But the Spartans will be severely crippled if defenseman Pat Betterly doesn't suit up for the series. "Pat has back spasms," Bessone explained, "there's a little doubt if he'll go down tomorrow. I hope he'll be ready. We need his experience." ONCE AGAIN, a familiar MSU face (or mask) will be Dave Versical, perhaps the Spartans' best goalie. During the 4-3 overtime win over Minnesota, Ver- sical became Michigan State's premier "stop leader" with a career total of 2,453 saves. Even with the likes of Versical, DiPace and Lynett, Michigan State lacks depth and that could become a factor in an emotional game. MORE THAN HALF of Bessone's squad are un- derclassmen including 10 freshmen. However, they account for more than half of State's goals and assists through the first six games this year. Other Spartans to keep an eye on are Russ Welch, Ted Huesing and Paul Klasinki, all of whom will have to have a big year if Michigan State hopes to improve from last year's ninth-place finish. Recruit reports payoff By The Associated Press . ANN ARBOR - Johnny Johnson, a freshman basketball player here at Michigan, said yesterday that a North Carolina State assistanit coach gave him $200 "for expenses" when Johnson visited the school while being recruited. Asked who the coach was, Johnson said, "I don't know his name." Johnson was answering routine questions about recruiting pressures d'uring the Wolverines' annual pre- spason basketball press day. "Did you ever have any illegal in- d ceritents from recruiters?" he was apked, "Yes, at North Carolina State, they gave me $200," he said. "It was when I was getting ready to leave." He said the coach he claims gave him money, told him, "This is for expenses." Asked if that meant for plane fare and other travel expenses, Johnson said, "No. That was already taken care of." Coach Norm Sloan of North Caro- lina State wasn't immediately avail- able for comment. Michigan's re- cruiting, Johnson said, "was unbe- lievably straight." Johnson chose Michigan because of "academics, good coaching and also publicity. It is a Big Ten school and is on TV a lot. It's got good coaching, and has a good team." GRID. PICKS Rumor has it that the sales of those clip-things that are used to attach ones mittens to ones coat have skyrocketed. Supposedly because people are realiz- ing that they are excellent things with which to attach ones Gridde Picks. Get those Gridde Picks in by mid- night tonight (one does not have to turn in their clip-things) for a chance to win a small, two-item Pizza Bob's pizza. .._.__ 0 Mel Practuse Pro-med Student n. , "F , V, '~ >. 4 f fl{ -~ , ~ , x 6 :P o- - - A ~- r v v m -. _ A 0 _ m c 1 'I s, a "MA 'V -I A . 4; w4 It M44 IM- 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. MICHIGAN at Purdue Minnesota at Illinois Indiana at Ohio State Iowa at Wisconsin Northwestern at Michigan State Harvard at Yale Southern Cal at Washington Notre Dame at Clemson Grambhling at Norfolk State Auburn at Georgia Arkansas at Texas A&M Mississippi'St. at LSU Oklahoma State at Missouri Georgia Tech at Navy New Mexico at Arizona Colorado at Oklahoma Kansas at Nebraska Kentucky at Florida South Carolina at Wake Forest DAILY LIBELS at St. Ignace 00*00 000 00 N ~e ;.: .. A 4"