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Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Sunday, September 9, 1984
Defense KO's Kosar; Harbaugh shines
By KATIE BLACKWELL
There were no breaks but bad breaks for Miami's
ace arm, Bernie Kosar yesterday. Kosar's famed
passing talents were inexplicably missing and never
found as he allowed Michigan newcomer Jim Har-
baugh to steal the show.
Kosar came to Michigan sporting 629 passing yar-
ds on the year, a 64.8 success rate and more impor-
tantly, two convincing wins over very good teams -
Auburn and Florida. Luckily for Michigan, the 6-5
sophomore quarterback could not improve on those
statistics. Kosar struggled to gain 228 yards in the
air. His completion percentage plummeted to 42 per-
cent and he tossed six of his 38 passes to the boys in
blue.
FOR MIAMI fans, Kosar's display was dishear-
tening. For Kosar, it was quite distressing. "It was
the worst game I've ever had," said the dejected
young man. But regardless of his play yesterday,
Kosar, a serious Heisman trophy possibility, is still
the object of respect from his peers.
"He's good," stated Michigan tackle Mike Ham-.
merstein, who snagged a Kosar screen pass early in
the fourth quarter. "Everybody has an off day."
Wolverine linebacker Rodney Lyles concurred,
"Bernie's a gambler. I think he's got a lot of con-
fidence." Perhaps Kosar gambled a bit too much
with the Michigan pass defense. Lyles tied a
SCORING
MICHIGAN ..........................6 0 6 10-22
Miami ...............................0 0 7 7-14
SCORING PLAYS
MICH-Perryman 6-yard run (kick missed) White ........
MIAMI-E. Brown 32-yard pass from Kosar (Cox kick) Perryman ....
MICH-Perryman 3-yard run (run failed) Morris .......
MICH-Perryman 1-yard run (Bergeron kick) iarbaugh ....
MIAMI-Shakespeare 44-yard pass from Kosar (Cox Logue ........
kick)
MICH-Bergeron 27-yard field goal
MICH MIAMI Highsmith ....
First downs ....... 20 23 D. Oliver ....
Rushing (att/Yds) . 62/179 32/167 Williams .....
Net Passing Yards. 163 228 Kosar ........
Michigan record with his three interceptions on the
day. Even he was caught off-guard with Kosar's inef-
ficient passing.
"THE LAST two (interceptions) I was very sur-
prised," he said. "He just threw the last two to me and
I just had to concentrate on catching them. Those
were two nicely thrown balls."
If Kosar got the bad breaks, then the Wolverines'
junior quarterback got the good ones. Harbaugh
completed his first pass of 1984 - an 11-yarder to split
end Vince Bean and seemed only to gain poise and
confidence as the game progressed. He dished out 163
yards in the air connecting on 11 of his 21 pass attem-
pts. Granted, Harbaugh threw two interceptions, but
again got the breaks as Miami could not capitalize on
the gifts.
Bo Schembechler praised his new leader following
the game. "I think what you saw out there was a
youngster that's going to be a great quarterback.
How'd you like to start your career against Kosar and
Miami?" he said, obviously pleased. "My only
criticism is that he hurried some of his throws. I
thought he handled himself quite well."
HARBAUGH, though was not entirely pleased
about his debut. "It (the victory) was a great team
effort," he explained. "Personally, I made a lot of
mistakes out there and they'll show up at the game
films. I really don't think I played all that well."
Hurricanes blown away
Over and over again, Harbaugh gave credit for the
win to his teammates and coaches, especially the of-
fensive line that gave him ample time to pass, and
Michigan's strong defense that kept getting him the
ball, via eight Hurricane turnovers. Yet, Harbaugh's
play drew sighs of relief from skeptical and worried
Michigan fans.
Most noteworthy is Harbaugh's ability to take-some
hard hits. He's not afraid to fight for yardage or
throw a block. Early in the fourth quarter, Harbaugh
was intercepted by Miami's defensive end Julio Lor-
tes, who returned it 19 yards where he ran into the 6-3,
202-pound frame of the Wolverine quarterback and
hit the turf.
With Harbaugh taking over there was concern over
the loss of Steve Smith's outstanding speed in
Michigan's option play. Although the option was run
just a few times yesterday, without great success,
Harbaugh showed potential as a scrambler. He
carried the ball eight times, once for a gain of twelve
yards.
Though Harbaugh was not thrilled with his after-
noon outing, his performance has won the respect of
many fans and members of the media. It's not easy to
replace the likes of an all-around talent such as Steve
Smith. But Harbaugh did it and he did it in style. He
faced a national champion quarterback and came
away the winner.
RETURNS
4
4
4
RUSHING
MIAMI
Kosar ..................... 38/16/6
228 2
MICHIGAN
Att Yds Avg TD
27
17
8
8
2
89
79
24
-7
-6
126
29
21
-9
3.3
4.6
3.0
-0.8
-0.3
7.9
4.1
5.3
-1.8
0
3
0
0
0
RECEIVING
MICHIGAN
Bean ......................
Nelson ....................
White.....................
S. Johnson .................
No.
4
3
3
1
Yds
81
44
22
16
TD
0
0
0
0
MICHIGAN
Punts Kickoffs
No/Yd No/Yd
Gant ................ 1/14
Morris ...............1/23
S. Johnson ........... .. 1/20
D. Mallory.........
Lyles ................
Cochran...........
Mike Hammerstein
Int
No/Yd
1/12
3/20
1/2
1/16
MIAMI
16
7
4
5
0
0
0
0
MIAMI
Passing (Att/
Comp/int) ....
Total Yards .......
Fumbles (No/Lost)
Punts (No/Avg) ...
Penalties (No/Yds)
Time of Possession
21/11/2
342
0/0
7/43.4
5/35
35:52
38/16/6
395
2/2
3/43.3
4/22
24:08
PASSING
MICHIGAN
Att/Comp/
H.t
Harbaugh................. 21/11/2
Shakespeare..............
lighsmith .................
E. Brown ..................
W. Smith.................
Oliver..................
Williams ................
6
4
2
2
1
111
19
52
33
9
4
0
1
0
0
0
MIAMI
Perriman ............3/21
Kintigh ..............
Penny ...............
Fullington..........
Cortes .............
1/14
1/11
1/16
1/19
Yds TD
163 0
Wolverines sail past
Hurricanes
Daily Photo by DAN HABIB
Wolverine QB Jim Harbaugh looks for a receiver during his team's 22-14 win
over top ranked Miami.
Quick on theDraw
Byv Mike McGr11i
(Continued from page 1)
passing day, well below his success
ratio of 64.8 percent entering the
game. Kosar also had 'one of the
Hurricanes' two fumbles for an
unheard of eight turnovers.
"You can't win football games after
turning the ball over as many times as
we did," said first-year Miami coach
Jimmy Johnson. "I have no excuses for
this loss. We simply did not play well
enough to win."
Nonetheless Miami had an oppor-
tunity to avoid defeat in the final quar-
ter. On a fourth-and-10 play with a little
more than six minutes to play, Kosar
rolled left to avoid the rush and hit wide
receiver Stanley Shakespeare for a 44-
yard TD, cutting the Michigan lead to
19-14.
THE PLAY annoyed Schembechler,
who thought his defense had Kosar in a
hole. He was able to joke about it later,
though.
"Yeah, I didn't like that at all,"
Schembechler said playfully after the
game. "They shouldn't score on that.
He (Kosar) shouldn't do that. That's not
right."
After a Michigan drive stalled on its
own 44, Miami got the ball back on its
nine-yard-line with 3:37 to play. On the
first play from scrimmage Lyles step-
ped in front of a Kosar pass at the 22,
and returned it to the 11. Bob Bergeron
turned the miscue into three points and
a 22-14 lead after the Michigan offense
failed to push the ball across the goal
line.
MIAMI GOT the ball back with just
over a minute to play, its only hope a
quick touchdown and two-point conver-
sion for the tie. But the omnipresent
Lyles shattered that scenario with his
final interception on the Miami 41.
Michigan quarterback Jim Harbaugh
kneeled down on the final three plays
of the game and the Miami juggernaut
had at last been crumbled. The year-
long joy ride had ended.
But Michigan's own fortunes could be
on the rise. Harbaugh's debut put to
rest doubts about his ability at the
helm. The junior connected on 11-of-21
passes for 163 yards, including a 45-
yarder to senior split end Vince Bean.
Harbaugh was picked off twice, a
paltry total compared to Kosar's six.
Still he was dissatisfied.
"I REALLY don't think I played all
that well," said Harbaugh. "I think I
was rushing my passes a little."
Schembechler agreed but promised
his field-leader would be "all right ... I
can almost guarantee he'll be better
next week."
Perryman
... three trips to end zone
The Michigan running attack demon-
strated its depth as neither of last
year's starters - Rick Rogers and Ed-
die Garrett - touched the ball. Bob
Perryman, who replaced a lame-kneed
Garrett at fullback, scored three times
on runs of six, three and one yards. He
and tailback Gerald White combined
for 168 yards. More importantly,
neither coughed up the ball.
BUT THE REAL story of the day was
the Wolverine defense. Schembechler
heaped praise on defensive coordinator
Gary Moeller for devising a strategy to
stop Kosar and Miami..
"I think that Moeller did a great job,"
Schembechler said of his assistant. "He
put that defense together. I thought he
was nuts. He knew what he was doing
and it paid off."
Miami's Johnson agreed that his
team had problems with Michigan's
defensive formations. "They did some
things in this game that we did not see
in last year's film," he said.
"Specifically they disguised their
defensive coverages very well. At times
they would show blitz and then not
come. They also blitzed without tipping
it off."
HURRICANE wide receiver Eddie
Brown, who had two receptions and one
touchdown, said the Wolverine defense
was quicker than either Auburn's or
Florida's. "They really get to the
ball quick," said Brown 'of Michigan.
"They're real headhunters. They get to
the-ball quick.".
The fleetest of foot may have beeni
Lyles. A linebacker, Lyles acted as a.
nickel back in passing situations. It was
a defensive gamble that returned han-
dsome dividends. Lyles had half of the
Michigan interceptions. Doug Mallory,
Brad Cochran and Mike Hammerstein
had the others.
Uncharacteristically, Michigan did
have problems with the run.
WHILE KOSAR suffered through
what he called his "worst game ever,'"
fullback Alonzo Highsmith ripped off
huge chunks of yardage in both halves.
Highsmith ended up with 126 yards and
a 7.9 average per carry." Some of those
runs ripping through there were
scary," commeted Schembechler.
But not nearly as scary as the way
Michigan shut down the Miami offense.
Until yesterday Kosar and Miami had
come to be thought of as an invincible
terror. But now the squall that was the
Miami Hurricanes has, at least for the
present, been reduced to the reserved
calm of defeat.
And that new rumbling on the horizon
you hear could very well be a storm
brewing in Ann Arbor.
Stopping National Champs . .
... Good start for 'D'
N ine months and six days had passed since it had last been on the field,
but the Michigan defense was as powerful as it usually is against the
defending national champions yesterday.
Miami, , ,with its potent passing attack led by southern Florida's newest
glamor boy, Bernie Kosar, presented an especially difficult assignment for
the Wolverine defenders. But just as it had in its last outing against Auburn
in the Sugar Bowl, Michigan came up with a formidable game plan and
played with the tenacity it needed to stop one of the country's most powerful
offenses.
The Wolverines gave up considerable chunks of yardage both in the air
and on the ground. But in typical Michigan fashion, the defense came up with
the big plays that limited the Hurricanes' scoring output to two touchdowns.
More big plays, in fact, than anyone could have expected - six intercep-
tions, two fumble recoveries and a stop of Miami on fourth-and-four at the
17 early in the final quarter.
"I thought we'd get some interceptions,
but not this many," said coach Bo Schem-
bechler. The six pickoffs tied the all-time
Michigan record and was triple the
amount that Kosar had thrown in the first
two games this season.
Defensive coordinator Gary Moeller
devised a scheme to try to confuse Kosar
by giving him coverage he had never
before seen. Moeller had linebacker Rod-
ney Lyles playing a rover position which
allowed him to drop back into the pass
coverage, where he gathered in three
Kosar aerials.
"The interceptions weren't that tough. I
don't know if they thought they could get it
over me or what," said Lyles, a native of
Miami whose high school coach now heads
up the Hurricane offensive line. "I think
with the coverage we used we were more Lyles
of a challenge to Bernie."
The different look was all a part of Moeller's plan. "We had some
changeups for them," he said. "We were able to get him with a few blitzes
early to move them back. Then we tried to fake blitzes in the second half."
A new look is nothing new, though, for Michigan's defense. Moeller
devised the wisebone-stopping formations that held Auburn in check in
January.
"They did some things in this game that we did not see in last year's
films," said Miami coach Jimmy Johnson, who suffered his first defeat as a
Hurricane. "Specifically, they disguised their defensive coverages very
well."'
Nothing new to Kosar
The only person that didn't feel that Michigan's defensive strategy was
devasting was the victim, Kosar. "(The coverages were) nothing different
than what I've seen the last year-and-a-half," he said dejectedly after the
game.
Indeed yesterday's turnovers may have been the result of a long-overdue
bad day by Kosar. Whatever the cause though, the Wolverines need to avoid
giving up the bombs in order to remain successful.
Both of the Hurricanes' scores came on long passes. The first was a 32-
yard toss to a wide open Eddie Brown and the other a 44-yard prayer to
Stanley Shakespeare on fourth and 10. Michigan defensive backs have a
reputation of playing well off the receivers at all times in order to avoid the
big play and in the future, they may not find the ball floating into their arms
with such frequency.
"One thing I know about defensing Kosar is for the cornerbacks to go deep
into the corners when the quarterback is flushed (forced out of the pocket),"
said Schembechler. "He was flushed on the two touchdown passes. In those
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Daily Photo by DAN HABIB
Miami's Alvin Ward tries his hand at a chokehold on Michigan's Joe Gray (92). In his eagerness to assert his point, Ward
loses his helmet.
Big Ten
Standings
Blue Banter
" The three interceptions yesterday by Rodney Lyles and
following the fourth-ouarter roughing-the-kicker call this
t"..,. r.....,.. ,,.,
.__..
Ii