Page 10-Sunday, September 20, 1981-The Michigpn Daily


Irish run out of luck

. . .AND IN THIS
CORNER .. .
Mark Mihanovic

(Continued from Page 1)
med well also, as senior Stan Edwards
rushed for 52 yards on ten carries while
junior Larry Ricks ran for 44 yards and
a touchdown on 11 carries.
Another efefective rusher was Smith,
who carried the ball eight times for 64
yards in additon to directing his first
victory as Wolverine quarterback.
Smith's passing statistics do not seem
impressive (four for 15, 2 intercep-
tions), but the sophomore played well
when he had to.
"THE BIGGEST reason peole wer-e
questioning me is because I didn't
throw- the ball well," Smith .related.
"It's just a matter of me getting my
confidence." Smith looked confident,
indeed, when he lofted the second quar-
ter pass to Carter over the Irish defen-
ders for the Grand Blanc native's first
touchdown toss in a Michigan uniform.
The offensive fireworks were only half
the story, however, as the Michigan
defense regrouped after the Wisconsin
debacle to stonewall the higir powered
Irish offense. A defensive star has
begun to emerge in the person of
sophomore linebacker Mick Boren.
Boren, selected as ABC-TV's Star-of-
the-Game for Michigan, played the
middle linebacking spot with reckless
abandon leading the team with ten
tackles. Boren sports Ron Simpkins' old.
number (40) and replaced Andy Can-
navino at middle linebacker, so Boren
is following in the fine tradition of
Michigan linebackers.
THE WOLVERINE defense held the
Irish to only 213 total yards and kept
both Notre Dame quarterbacks, Tim
Koegel and Blair Kiel,' off balance all
day. Michigan's senior defensive cap-
tain, Robert Thompson, spent alot of
time in the Irish backfield harrassing
the Notre Dame quarterbacks and led
the team with two tackles for losses.
Defensive coordinator Bill McCar-
tney had to be pleased with the perfor-
mance as, he commented, "Wemissed
22 tackles against Wisconsin which was
the most' ever by a Bo Schembechler
coached team. We were mentally inten-
se this week as opposed to the Wiscon-
sin week," the defensive wizard noted.
"We were playing with such intensity
thta we could have stopped anything
that they threw against us."
The Michigan defense was prepared
as a first quarter fake field goal attem-
pt at the Wolverine 15 was thwartedat
the 4-yard line. All-American candidate
Phil Carter was held to only 32 yards
rushing, but one Irish performer did
thread the defense--Tony Hunter. The
all-American' wingback caught five
passes for 72 yards, but many of the
catches were part of a desparate Irish
offense. The Michigan defense kept the
Irish out of Wolverine territory, a
situation unfamiliar to coach Faust,

AP Phoi
NOTRE DAME'S John Krimm grimaces as he misses a tackle on University of Michigan's Butch Woolfolk (24) during
first quarter action yesterday. Woolfolk gained 13 yards on the play.

who suffered his first loss as Notre
Dame's coach.
"MICHIGAN JUST played great
football," Faust commented. "We can't
let our defense be on the field that long
without expecting them -to bend or
break. I'mnotused to losing like that,
but I guess it's going to happen."
The last time Faust lost a football
game was in 1978 and the last time he
was out of a game in the fourth quarter
was 1973. Faust is just not used to ex-
plaining osses.
"If.you learn somehting' from a loss,
then it's O.K.," the Irish coach con-
tinued. "When you don't move the foot-
ball, something's wrong. The field
position hurt us. They got some good
bounces on punts."
SOPHOMORE PUNTER Don
Bracken would have to agree with that
statement as the Michigan punter's
bounces were clearly "Wolverine"
caroms. Bracken punted seven times
for a 43.4 average including boots of 60
and 57 yards in the second quarter. The
other segment of the kicking game was

not as productive, however, as Ali Haji-
Sheikh missed a 31-yard field goal at-
tempt and had trouble on one of the ex-
tra-points. In fact, the only bad element
of the victory was the extra point tries.

The Wolverines were only one for four
in extra points or two-point conver-
sions, but fortunately for Michigan, the
Irish never came close enough.

Number one sweepstakes .. .
great individuals the key
T t HIS IS A TEAM of great individuals. But we don't have a great
team yet."
Those words of wisdom, courtesy of Michigan tailback Butch Woolfolk af-
ter the Wolverines soundly whipped Notre Dame this week's entry in the
"Let's find a Number One team" sweepstakes, go a long way towards an-
swering the obvious question: How can a football squad be dominated by
unheralded Wisconsin one Saturday and come back to dominate the top-
ranked Irish the next?
When just a few of the "great individuals" perform poorly on a given day,
.it can be disastrous for a unit, no mater how much talent remains. The men-
tal mistakes of one offensive lineman can break down the coordination and
timing of the entire forward wall. One man loses confidence in the man in the
trenches beside him, tries to cover up, and ends up blowing his own assign-
ments.
The same theory applies to the interactions between defensive linemen,
between quarterbacks and receivers, between running backs, between
linebackers, and between defensive backs. It's the "only as strong as your
weakest link" notion. When the weakest link is very weak, the team that
does not possess the experience or camaraderie or desire to overcome that
disadvantage loses to Wisconsin.
On the other hand, when an outfit features great individuals and those
athletes play very well, it can be awesome, the type of team that blows out a
highly-respected Notre Dame ballclub, 25-7. That is what happened yester-
day in Michigan Stadium. A lot of great individuals played great games, and
Gerry Faust's boys from South Bend were no match.
W Qolfolk approaching greatness
Perhaps the number one individual of all thus far for the Wolverines has
been Woolfolk. One of the very isolated bright spots in Michigan's defeat at
Madison (119 yards on 14 carries and an 89-yard touchdown), the senior
tailback shot through gaping holes in the Irish defense for 139 yards on 23
carries.
In the past, Woolfolk has lacked the consistent intensity that distinguishes
a great back from all the merely good ones. It was no secret that he and
coach Bo Schembechler were not about to join any mutual admiration clubs,
and the New Jersey native never solifified himself as the Wolverines' first-
team tailback.
Yet,.using his world-class sprinter's speed, he was still able to amass 2,402
yards in his first three seasons here, more than standouts such as Ed Shut-
tlesworth, Tom Harmon, and Stanley Edwards. After two outings in '81, he
has also passed Ron Johnson, Russell Davis, and Harlan Huckleby to move
to fourth place on the all-time rushers' list.
More importantly, though, Woolfolk is right now establishing himself as,
one of the nation's top backs, a man quick and strong enough to run over a
linebacker now and then and fast enough to outdistance the field when he
breaks one. And watching Woolfolk, you get the feeling that he may break
on hen speaking of outstanding Michigan individuals, it is of course im-
possible to overlook Anthony Carter. After being dropped for a 12-yard loss
on an ill-fated reverse-pass, Carter beat the Notre Dame secondary deep by
three yards, caught Steve Smith's.well-thrown pass, and glided into the end
zone for a 7-0 Wolverine lead.
Then in the third period, Carter wowed the crowd and national television
audience when he caught a Smith pass near the right sideline on the Notre
Dame five, stepped back, picked a direction, and waltzed to paydirt to make
it 13-0.
There were several other outstanding individual performances, as well:
Edwards churned out 52 markers on only 10 carries; punter Don Bracken hit
seven punts for a 43.1 yard average; linebacker Mike Boren made eight
unassisted tackles, many of them bone-jarring; Robert Thompson caught
two Irish runners behind the line of scrimmage for 16 yards in losses; and up
and down the offensive and defensive lines, man-for-man, Michigan was
superior.
Smith gaining control
And Steve Smith, the sophomore with mega-potential, started to demon-
strate some of it. The passing stats are still pretty awful-four completions
in 15 attempts for 103 yardswith two interceptions. But his TD tosses to Car-
ter were perfect, he rushed for 64 yards on eight carries-and did what he
had to, controlling the offense.
Woolfolk had a very simple explanation for the improvement. "Bo was hell
this week," he said. "I hope he doesn't hear me. He was'a real killer, and it
paid off today. The holes were there, a lot bigger than last week."
One of the men responsible for that, tackle Ed Muransky, emerged from
the dressing room a proud football player, revelling in victory over Notre
Dame after two two-point losses.
"We really beat them the last two times; they just scored more points than
us," Muransky suggested. "We knew how lucky they are, so we knew we had
to blow 'em out, run up the middle on them."
Now with the matter of revenge out of the way, Michigan can get back to
reestablishing its Big Ten, and possibly national, supremacy. Yesterday the
Wolverines were the best team in college football. When they transform
from a "team of great individuals" to "a great team;" they might be scary.

I

I

i

Being No. 1 ain't no fun

MICH
First downs............... 19
Rushing (att/yds).......... 59/304
Passing (comp/att/int).... 4/15/2
Passing yds................ 103
Fumbles (no/lost) ..........1/0
Punts (no/avg)............7/43.1
SCORING

ND
12
38/70
11/26/2
143
1/0
9/39.3
12 6
0 7

K. Smith................. 2
Rogers ............... 1
Mercer................... 1
Carter................... 1
NOTRE DAME
ATT
Bell ......................A11
Carter ..................... 9
Moriarty ...................4
Hunter .................... 7
Sweeney..... +..........+
Kiel .......................I1
Koegel .................... 5
PASSING
MICHIGAN

7
6
2
-12
YDS
43
32
15
11
1
-9
-23

3.5
6.0
2.0
-12.0
AVG
3.9
3.6
3.8
1.6
1.0
-9.0-
-4.6

MICHIGAN ............... 0
NOTRE DAME ............ 0
SCORING PLAYS

7
0


MICH- Carter 71 pass from Smith. (Haji-Sheik kick)
MICH- Carter15 pass from Smith. (Haji-Sheik pass
failed)
MICH- Ricks Irun. (Carter run failed)
MICH- Smith 6 run. (Smith pass failed)
ND- Masztak 8 pass from Koegel. (Oliver kick)
RUSHING
MICHIGAN
ATT YDS AVG
Woolfoik .................. 23 139 6.0
S. Smith ................... 8 64 8.0
Edwards.................10 52 5.2
Ricks .... 11 40 3.6
Ingram ................... 2 6 3.0.

ATT COMP INT YDS

S. Smith ...................15 4 2 103
NOTRE DAME
ATT COMP INT YDS

Hunter .................... 1
Koegel .................... 22
Kiel....................... 2
Condeni ................... 1

0
10
0
1

I
0

0
139
0
4

i

........................

FAUST'S FIRST LOSS SINCE 1978:
ND coach takes

By BUDDY MOOREHOUSE
Gerry Faust was probably thinking
back to September, 1978 yesterday.
That was the last time a team coached
by Faust, Notre Dame's rookie head
coach, had been on the losing end of a
final score.
It was in the second game of the 1978
season that cross-town rival Princeton
High School edged Faust's Cincinnati
Moeller team, 13-12. After that loss,
Moeller reeled off 33 straight victories
under the always enthusiastic Faust.
Add to that last week's 27-9 Fighting
Irish win over LSU, and it was a 34-
game winning streak that Michigan en-
ded for Faust.
"IT'S TOUGH to lose like that," ad-
mitted Faust. "But I guess it's going to
happen." It certainly didn't happen
very often at Moeller. In hisA18 seasons
as the head coach there, Faust com-
piled a 174-17-2 record-a phenomenal
.907 winning percentage. Five of his last
six Moeller teams have won Class AAA
,Ohio state championships.
So with such a history of winning, it

had to be somewhat disconcerting for
the Irish coach to have one of his teams
lose. But as he choked back the emotion
after the game, Faust told the crush of
media which had assembled in the
Notre Dame locker room, "If you learn

if deeat i
something from a loss, then it's OK. But
if you don't learn something, then that's
bad."
Before the game, Faust was going up
to every player on the Irish squad,
giving his charges words of en-
couragement as they went through
their calesthenics. And even after the
game, the coach was in a positive
mood. "I just told them that I'm very
proud of them," he said.
FAUST BROUGHT with him to Notre
Dame a wide-open brand of offense, but
several times yesterday that
philosophy seemed to backfire on him.
With the game deadlocked at 0-0 in the
first quarter, the Irish drove to the
Michigan four-yard line, where they
were forded to try for a field goal. But
holder Dave Condeni instead picked ip
the ball and passed to Tony Hunter, who
was stopped at the line of scrimmage.
When asked if he later second-guessed
himself for the fake attempt, Faust
said, "If it had worked, no one would be
second-guessing it. But since it didn't
work, it was obviously the wrong play

n strid
to call. I really thought it would work."
Another move that was considered
questionable by many was Faust's
decision to alternate between Blair Kiel
and Tim Koegel at quarter-
back-changing them every two series
of downs. "I'll probably get 50 letters
this week, telling me I should start this
quarterback or that one," said Faust,
trying to manage a smile.
More than anything, Notre Dame's
new coach tried to remain philosophical
after the loss. "Sometimes in life, these
things happen," said Faust.

i

i

Faust
... 1-1 with Irish

Blue gridders happy once again

By DREW SHARP
It seemed appropriate following Michigan's 25-7 triumph
over Notre Dame that the Wolverine's marching band roared
into a rousing rendition of Kool and the Gang's
"Celebration."' The Wolverines had plenty to celebrate
about.
In contrast to last week's moaning and swearing in the
lockerroom in Madison, the Blue gridders were anything but
blue. "Hail to the Victors" and butt slaps replaced the
desolate feelings of the previous week. Michigan not only won
back some national respect, but also-and perhaps most im-
portantly-personal pride.
"I KNEW THAT we would come back from that poor per-
formance of last week," said Wolverine coach Bo Schem-

dominated the line of scrimmage. He (Irish All-American
linebacker Bob Crable) was the main guy for them. We tat-
tooed him a couple of times. (Guard Kurt) Becker was cut-
ting him off and we were running left. We weren't going to let
them dominate us."
OTHERS WERE slightly more subdued than Muransky in
their assessment of yesterday's win, but they were
nonetheless pumped by the results.
"We definitely have the potential to still wind up as the
Number One team in the country," said running back Butch
Woolfolk whose 139 yards led all rushers.
"We were definitely a hungrier team against Notre
Dame," said receiver Anthony Carter who added two more
notches to his already record touchdown reception total of 21.

,. ] ... .. AhI