Sunday, December 12,-1976
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Sunday, December 12, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAiLY Page Three
On
'The Road to Pasadena
By RICK BONINO
"The Road to Pasadena," Bo Schembechler, ed. Ann
Arbor: Wolverine Productions, Inc., 1976. 11 games and count-
less hours of preparation.
Well, Bo finally did it. Long renowned in gridderary circles for
assembling excellent material with relatively weak endings, the
crafty Ohioan has finally delivered a tale which builds in suspense
to a definitive, satisfying climax.
Frankly, the work's staggering pre-publication publicity left
us a bit leery. Hailed as the probable national best-seller before
a single word hit paper, this act had a lot to live up to.
But for Schembechler, life took on new meaning. Having under-
gone open heart surgery over the summer, Bo battled back to a
full recovery and a more relaxed, productive attitude in time for
the beginning of publication.
SCHEMBECHLER could afford to relax. The early portions of
his narrative, concerning teams like Navy and Wake Forest, pre-
sented little challenge to one with Schembechler's story-telling
skills.
This left Bo free to add some new plot twists in a more wide-
open genre. For example, Bo used quarterback Rick Leach,
maturing as a sophomore, as a vehicle to refute his early anti-
aerial philosophy. Schembechler even spiced the story with a few
screen passes.
Bo also began to work on the development of some of his
new characters, such as sophomore runners Harlan Huckleby and
Russell Davis. Huckleby scooted for 131 yards in the Wisconsin
opener and 157 more against Stanford. Davis added flair with an
85-yard touchdown run aganist the Cardinals.
Some experienced Bo-watchers noticed the old master slipping
a bit on one of his favorite themes, defense. Schembechler initially
seemed uncomfortable mixing his old ideas with the new, as
Wisconsin tallied 20 second half points and Navy 14 first half
points around Stanford and Wake Forest whitewashes.
See THE TALE, Page 15
SOUTHERN CAL (1
25 MISSOURI
53 at OREGON
31 at PURDUE
55 IOWA
23 at WASHINGTON ST.
55 OREGON ST.
20 CALIFORNIA
48 at STANFORD
20 WASHINGTON
24 UCLA
17 NnbTRE DAME
0-1)
46
0
13
0
14
0
6
24
3
14
40.
51
70
31
42
38
35
45
14
38
19
MICHIGAN (10-1)
WISCONSIN
STANFORD
NAVY
WAKE FOREST
MICHIGAN STATE
at NORTHWESTERN
at INDIANA
MINNESOTA
at PURDUE
ILLINOIS
at* (1NTCl TATV
27
0
14
0
10
7
0
0
16
7
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