a0 Page 12-Friday, November 19, 1982-The Michigan Daily Run for the roses already settled, Wolverines have QB advantage; Buckeye running game has depth While tomorrow's battle will not be for the Rose Bowl hid with Michigan haring already wrapped it up, it will be a clash between the top two teams in the league. It appears that the "Big Two, Little Eight" syndrome is still alire and well in the Big Ten. With that in mind, Daily Sports Editor Bob Wojnowski analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the Bucke yes and the Wolverines. OFFENSE QUARTERBACKS-Both Michigan's Steve Smith and Ohio State's Mike Tomczak suffered through some rocky early-season games but have come on strong in the second half of the campaign. Tomczak was benched during the Buckeyes' third straight defeat, a 6-0 loss to Wisconsin. Smith threw seven in- terceptions in his first four games but has been picked off just twice in the last six. He has upped his completion percentage to .526 and is second in Big Ten play with 12 touchdowns passing. Smith has also climbed into second in the conference in passing ef- ficiency right behind, you guessed it, Tomczak. The 6- 1, 184-pound sophomore has completed 55 of 96 passes for 1,018 yards and seven touchdowns in his last five games and has thrown just 11 interceptions all year. His biggest liability is his relative inexperience in big games, which proved to be the Wolverines' downfall last year when senior Art Schlichter led the Buckeyes to victory. Smith is the better runner, having rushed for 279 yards and eight touchdowns compared to Tomczak's 183 yards and four touch- downs. Edge--Michigan. RUNNING BACKS-Wolverine Lawrence Ricks has had a marvelousyear, but so has the Buckeyes' Tim Spencer. And Ohio State has a solid fullback in junior Vaughn Broadnax while Michigan has been forced to rotate a couple of freshmen; Dan Rice and Eddie Garrett. Ricks and Spencer are dead even; Ricks leads the Big Ten in rushing with a 130.6 yards-per- Offthe Record game average but Spencer has 1,247 yards overall to Ricks' 1,190. The Bucks have a solid backup tailback in senior Jimmy Gayle, who has rushed for 571 yards. Edge-Ohio State. OFFENSIVE LINE-Both teams have solid, if not overwhelming, offensive lines. The Bucks are paced by four-year starting guard Joe Lukens, who will probably be an All-American this year. Michigan's top two linemen are center Tom Dixon, one of the best in the conference, and junior guard Stefan Hum- phries. Ohio State has a little more size and a little more experience. Slight edge-Ohio State. RECEIVERS-Michigan has the spectacular An- thony Carter, Ohio State has the consistent Gary Williams. Carter holds a slew of team and Big Ten marks and is just one touchdown reception away from tying the NCAA record of 34. Meanwhile, Williams has caught at least one pass in an NCAA record 43 consecutive games. Junior speedster Cedric Anderson flanks Williams and leads the team with a phenomenal 28.5 yards-per-catch average on 18 receptions. Wolverine split end Vince Bean has the same number of receptions as Anderson but is not nearly as explosive. Both tight ends are solid. Buckeye John Frank has caught 23 passes for two touchdowns, Wolverine Craig Dunaway has 29 recep- tions and three touchdowns. Slight edge-Michigan. DEFENSE! DEFENSIVE LINE-Ohio.State has the big edge in experience as the Bucks start two seniors and a sophomore while the Wolverines start two sophomores and a senior. The Ohio State line is an- chored by four-year starter Jerome Foster, who is a two-time All-Big Ten selection and leads the teams with four sacks. Tackle Chris Riehm and middle guard Spencer Nelms round out the Buckeye front wall. The Michigan line of tackles Winfred Carraway and Kevin Brooks and nose guard Al Sincich has im- proved steadily. Slight edge-Ohio State. LINEBACKERS-Ohio State has one of the best linebacking tandems in the nation in the persons of seniors Glen Cobb and Marcus Marek. Marek is another four-year starter and is the Buckeyes' second all-time leading tackler, trailing only Tom Cousineau. Juniors Curt Curtis and Rowland Tatum are the Bucks' outside linebackers. The Michigan linebacking corps of Robert Thompson, Carlton Rose, Paul Girgash and Mike Boren relies more on emotion than raw talent. Slight edge-Ohio State. DEFENSIVE BACKS-The Wolverines have two players starting now who weren't at the beginning of the year; senior Marion Body, who took over the halfback spot when John Lott broke his arm, and junior Evan Cooper, who replaced the departed Brad Cochran. Nevertheless, strong safety Keith Bostic is a potential All-American and has anchored the Wolverines' secondary all season long. Senior Jerry Burgei is the other starter in the Michigan defensive backfield. Juniors Garcia Lane, Shaun Gayle and Doug Hill and sophomore Kelvin Bell comprise a relatively youthful Buckeye secondary. Don't let Michigan's last-place position in Big Ten passing defense fool you. Much of the yardage has come with the game no longer in doubt, and the Wolverines lead the conference in fewest yards allowed per attempt. Slight edge-Michigan. KICKING AND SPECIAL TEAMS-Michigan is as solid as it has ever been in the kicking department. Place-kicker Ali Haji Sheikh has hit on 12 of 15 field goal tries and has hit 72 consecutive extra points in Big Ten play. Punter Don Bracken averages only 39.3 yards a kick, but his boots have been returned for a mere 11 total yards on the season. The Buckeye place-kicker is freshman Rich Spangler, who has hit on just six of 15 field goal tries. Junior Karl Edwards handles the punting chores and averages 39.3 yards a kick. The Wolverines' kick coverage is amongst the best in the nation. Big edge-Michigan. Wire By BARB BARKER Barb's Craig Dunaway heads for the goal line after making o this season. The senior tight end has three touchdowns Straight from the source's mouth By RON POLLAC Daily Photo by JEFF SCHRIE ne of his 29 receptions on the year. By BOB WOJNO WSKI! The memories o ain... .. . ts still The Game. THE IMAGE, imbedded in the mind for all eternity, resurfaces every year at about this time. Mike Lantry kneeling on the turf of Ohio Stadium while the crowd dances around him. Delirious. Lantry still prone, unmoving. The scoreboard reads 12-10, Buckeyes. Lantry stands, looks around, holds his hands to his helmet. The fans continue to celebrate.. . Oh, those hated Buckeyes. But oh what a rivalry. Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler calls it the greatest in college football. Anywhere. Anytime. It harkens back, of course, to the era of Woody Hayes. To the twilight hours of Woody's career and the early hours of Bo's. It is a rivalry that is vested in what is at once a mutual hate and a mutual respect between two states, two schools, two sets of fans. It is fueled by the proximity of the states and the intense pride in the schools. And some pretty emotional football helps... "And here come the Buckeyes ... and they're tearing down the coveted k 'M' Club banner! Oh those Buckeyes will meet a dastardly fate for that one! But the 'M' men will prevail! They're getting the banner back up. And here come the Wolverines!" It was 1973 and the late Wolverine broadcaster Bob Ufer was at his best. It was a classic moment in the rivalry for the Bucks had crossed the imaginaryline of respect-and in the Wolverines' own lair yet. Lantry would miss two long field goals in the closing minutes and the game would end in a 10-10 tie. The Big Ten Athletic Directors would vote to send Ohio State to the Rose Bowl. Bo would weep in front of the press ... For all the marbles It is a rivalry fueled by the knowledge that for 12 of Bo's 14 years at Michigan, the Rose Bowl bid has been decided on the basis of this one game. There is quarterback Rick Leach fading back to pass deep in his own territory late in a tie game. And there is Ray Griffin picking the ball off and returning it to the three-yard line. Pete Johnson scores on the next play and the Buckeyes win, 21-14 ... There is Bryan Virgil back to punt. The snap is good but suddenly the ball is bouncing crazily the other way. Todd Bell grabs it and runs it in for the score. Ohio State wins, 18-15... There is fullback Harry Banks stopped not once, not twice, but three times on the Ohio State goal line. On fourth down quarterback Dennis Franklin is stacked up for no gain. Twice the Wolverines threaten at the Buckeye goal line. Twice they are turned away with nothing. Ohio State hangs on, 14-11.. . There is Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter rolling right and pran- cing into the Wolverine end zone with less than two minutes left. The Buckeyes celebrate. The Wolverines contemplate a 14-9 loss ... It is those memories hnd that pain that Michigan and its fans will bring into tomorrow's battle against Ohio State. It is those feelings and similar feelings by Buckeye fans which will make this' year's essentially meaningless game anything but. Michigan has the Big Ten crown and the Rose Bowl bid already locked up. Ohio State can win by 10 touchdowns tomorrow and Michigan would still head west. More than the title at stake But as most fans know and as the respective coaches stress, this has grown into much more than a battle for the title. One gets the impression that these two teams would be gearing up for each other even if both were winless.There has been so much pain, and conversely so much joy, felt by both sides over the years that even the thought of defeat becomes un- bearable. The thought of experiencing again what Lantry and his team- mates felt after the kick sailed wide ... So you see, those i who say that tomorrow's battle is just another game F . -f*1-..- .---,,.t*.....I T~.....-*f e..1.. ;.~r..- .K 0 An Ohioan's perspective .. . . .pre-game antics THERE'S BEEN an unusual smidgen of apathy this week on campus concerning tomorrow's matchuo in Columbus. Now that Michigan has already clinched the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl bid, idle talk figures that the Ohio State game is meaningless-a mere anti-climatic warm-up for the sunny New Year's day bout in Pasadena. Bo Schembechler recognizes that school of thought for what it is-nonsense. "There's no question who the two best teams in the league are," he says. "It all boils down to Michigan and Ohio State again . . . This is still the greatest rivalry in college football." Bo ought to know. He's a buckeye-state boy himself. You got to do some time in Ohio to truly appreciate Michigan, er, rather the Michigan-Ohio State game. I grew up in a small Ohio city which, due to its unique location four miles from the Michigan state border, is pretty evenly populated by Wolverines and Buckeye fans. Because my parents both went to school in Ann Arbor, my allegiances were pretty much ingrained by the time I was old enough to say hail to the victors. A scarlet-and-gray clad dog The first tell-tale sign that the annual rivalry is beginning to heat uD is in early September when our neighbor Mr. Newt Johnson casually parades by our house with his dog, Nick Johnson. There is nothing unusual in this by itself, but by this time of the year the poor beagle is carefully stuffed into a scarlet- and-gray doggie sweater. By early November, friendly partisan jests develop into high-pitched bat- tle cries lead by two internal medicine specialists. Dr. John Gibbs, an Ohio State graduate, and Dr. Gordon Mather, his Michigan counterpart, began making friendly wagers on this gridiron con- flict about 12 years ago. After a couple of years, the rivalry becaem pretty expensive, and they opted for another route. "We decided with money there just wasn't enough involvement," ex- plained Gibbs. "We started to bet things that took a little more initiative. For example, one of the first bets said that the loser would have to paint all the barrier posts in the hospital parking lot the color of the other team . . . they stayed scarlet and gray until spring." Bizarre bets Ways in which the loser has had to bow to the winner include: leading the victor on muleback in a two-mile march through morning rush-hour traffic, rolling a Buckeye by nose up the hospital driveway and displaying the op- posing team's flag on everything from a suburban front yard to a hospital roof. Until last summer, F assumed the rivalry was limited to the football season. Traveling deep into the bowels of the Buckeye state, however, I discovered it to be a year-long contest. I spent three months working for a newspaper in Cleveland, and for the first time in my life I discovered what it's like to be in the minority. As if it wasn't bad enough that my editor was a Spartan fan, everyone else on the staff had either graduated from Ohio State, wanted to graduate from Ohio State or had a second cousin who went there. One particular likeable, but misguided, man comes immediately to mind. I can't remember if Ray Hart attended Ohio State, but he was without a doubt the biggest Buckeye band fan I ever met. During my entire week of work, Hart, dressed in scarlet and gray, sat at his desk muttering something like "best damned band in the land." On my last day at the newspaper, I found three things at my desk: a tape recorder, a scarlet-and-gray wrapped package and a note, which instructed me to turn on the recorder and look at my video display terminal. As "hail hail Ohio State" marched from the recorder, a script Ohio lashed in tune. In- side the wrapped package, was a 1965 band yearbook. I'll never know where Hart managed to find a a gray ribbon. Last weekend, after Michigan's 52-21 rout of Purdue, I returned the favor. I hope you enjoyed the roses guys, because you won't be seeing any in Pasadena. Michigan's MVP . . . ... the envelope please R EGARDLESS OF the outcome of tomorrow's bitter blood-bath against Ohio State, Michigan has already clinched a Rose Bowl bid and made its Pasadena reservations. With this in mind, it's time to decide who the Wolverines' Most Valuable Player has been in their run for the roses. The votes have been cast (all one of them-that being mine) and tabulated. Here are the results: Ninth runner-up: Tailback Kerry Smith. This is purely a sentimental choice given that the junior plays primarily when the Wolverines have a four-touchdown lead or more. Thus, the only difference he makes in a game is to help determine whether or not Michigan beats the point spread. But how can you not vote for him? Every time he touches the ball he streaks past the line of scrimmage for huge chunks of yardage. He is averaging 8.2 yards per each of his 45 carries. If there were a Heisman Trophy for back-ups, Kerry Smith would get my vote. Eight runner-up: Outside linebacker Robert Thompson. If you think I'm going to get this man angry by not including him you're crazy. When he grimaces, he is meeeeeean looking. He is a big-play performer, having made 12 tackles for losses and recovered two fumbles. He has already made 57 tackles this season-up from a year ago when he was involved in 42-seven of them for losses. He often blitzes, which is Why he makes so many plays behind the line of scrimmage. When he gets picked up on the blitz, though, it looks like he is dancing with his man. Whatever happened to the good old days when a linebacker hit, bit or spit at anybody who had the gall to get in his way? Seventh runner-up: Inside linebacker Paul Girgash. At 6-1, Girgash is no looming giant in physical stature on the playing field. His productivity on the field, however, has reached titanic proportions. Constantly around the ball, he ranks second on the team in tackles with 132. His 394 career tackles places him second on the Wolverines' all-time chart. Sixth runner-up: The entire starting contingent along the offensive line. Michigan is averaging 265.9 yards a game rushing, and that just doesn't happen unless the boys up front are blasting some huge holes in their op- ponent's defensive line. Who would have ever believed that this unit would become a team strength after seeing it pummeled at will by the Notre Dame defense earlier in the season? Fifth runner-up: "Ali, Ali, Ali." Ali Haji-Sheikh has been a godsend to all Michigan fans who were subjected to the miserable showings of previous Michigan kickers. The excitement has been taken out of the kicking game with Haji-Sheikh splitting the uprights at will. So far this season; Haji-Sheikh has successfully booted 12 field goals, a Michigan season record, out of his 15 attempts. He is perfect on his 3'7 extra point conversions. Fourth runner-up: Strong safety Keith Bostic. Bostic is far and away the big play man of the Wolverine secondary. He leads the team in interceptions, with five, and fumble recoveries, with th'ree. He has returned his five inter- ceptions 119 yards, including one for a 54-yard touchdown. Bostic has made 67 tackles this season, fourth best on the squad. Third runner-up: Inside linebacker Mike Boren. The Michigan defensive scheme is set up so that inside linebackers make a bevy of tackles, and Boren fills the role extremely well. He leads the team in tackles with 145, and is best described as an intense performer driven to get in on every play were, it possible. Second runner-up: Quarterback Steve Smith. The junior signal-caller has improved immensely over last year. He has completed 52.6 percent of his passes, including 14 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. He got off to a rocky start this season and was booed by the home-crowd fans early on. But as the season has progressed, he has cut down on his interceptions drastically. Nonetheless, it is hard to rate him any higher than second run- ner-up when one realizes that flanker Anthony Carter has repeatedly turned sure incompletions into sensational catches. And speaking of Carter. First runner-up: Flanker Anthony Carter. There isn't a superlative known to man that hasn't already been used to describe Carter's four-year career ra I 11 ,