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Page 8 - The Michigan Daily-- Sunday, September 16, 1984
MICHIGAN FAN RETURNS TO ANN ARBOR
Millen fulfills lifelong dream
By PAULHELGREN
Before he became a Washington
Husky two years ago, before he even
threw a single pass in junior college,
Hugh Millen had his sights set on one
game - yesterday's Michigan-
Washington contest.
In only his second game as a starter,
Millen connected on 13-of-16 passes for
165 yards, including a 73-yard TD
strike, to lead the Huskies to a convin-
J4cing 20-11 victory over the second-
ranked Wolverines.
MILLEN lived for a short time in
Ann Arbor and was reared a fervent
Michigan football fan by his father, a
Michigan graduate. Though he moved
E -%from Ann Arbor to Seattle when he was
"two or three," Millen lived and died
with the fortunes of the Wolverines
through the years, secretly hoping that
someday he could return to Ann Arbor.
and play in Michigan Stadium. Yester-
day he got that chance and made the
"When I was down at Santa Rosa
' 4College (1981-82) I was thinking about
whether to come up to Washington or go
to San Diego State," Millen explained.
"I wrote everything down on paper and
one thing that kept coming up was Sep-
tember 15, 1984. I'd have a chance to
play against Michigan. When I was a
senior in high school I saw that date and
it never really left my mind.
"Growing up I was weaned on
Michigan football, so to speak," contin-
ued the 6-4, 212-pound junior.
"Michigan-Ohio State games, we used
Daily Photo by JEFF SCHRIER to sit around and get all psyched up for
Husky Walt Hunt (45) embraces teammate Rick Fenney (30) after Fenney's them for a week. I remember having
two-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. The touchdown was the first Michigan posters all over my wall."
of two for Washington in its victory over Michigan yesterday. YESTERDAY Millen had Wolverine
defenders in his hip pocket.
After an unimpressive 11-for-
23 passing debut in last Saturday's 26-0
waltz over Northwestern, Millen cooly
confronted Michigan and 103,072
Michigan Stadium fans. The defense
weakness and play ball control with his
aerials.t
Except for a third-quarter, 73-yard
bomb to his best friend, split end Mark
Pattison, Millen's longest pass was 12
yards.
'Growing up I was weaned on
Michigan football, so to speak... I
remember having Michigan
I
1
posters all ove
-H
r my wall.'
usky QB Hugh Millen
"We were very surprised," sai(
Greene, who caught his first pass of t
year, good for two yards. "When Mar
came back up field he told me he wa
really shocked. Usually Michigan i
always back deep and they play sounc
defense."
PATTISON SAID the success of th
play was in part due to sixth sense thai
has developed between himself and his
quarterback.
"He just knew where I was going tc
be," said Pattison, "We've spent hou
and hours together throwing in t
park. We're best friends; we dc
everything together."
Millen and Pattison's friendship
began when they were teammates at
Roosevelt High in Seattle. Ironically,
Pattison was the first-string quarter,
back and Millen was his backup. "I
taught him all he knows," Pattison said
with a grin.
WHEN MILLEN transferred t
Washington, Pattison's family "prac-
tically adopted" him according to Pat-
tison. The junior QB's real parents live
in West Germany, where his father has
been a computer programmer for the
past five years.
"I'm sure he'll probably call," Millen
said of his father, Hugh Millen Sr. "He
wrote me a letter after we beat them
(Michigan) last year and he wished
Michigan had beat us."
With his father such a loya
Wolverine backer, would Millen rather
have ran the helm of the Michigan of-
fense?
. "No," he said. "I just wanted to play
here. I didn't care which team I played
for."
that intercepted Miami's Bernie Kosar
six times last week allowed Millen to
hook up on 81 percent of his tosses,
without a single interception.
"I knew I wasn't going to come back
and throw six interceptions," Millen
said. "Our offense is built so we have
check-offs and if things are covered up
field I don't need to be forcing passes.
"I NOTICED some things in the films
too, after watching them. They
(Michigan defense) were vulnerable,
particularly in the short, underneath
drop-offs. It wasn't like we looked at the
films and said, 'Geez, there's no hope.'"
The Huskie offense was hardly an
immovable force - Washington run-
ning backs tallied only 111 yards on 47
carries - but Millen was able to take
advantage of Michigan's short-pass
Millen's long touchdown completion
made the score 17-3 and effectively let
the air out of Michigan's hopes for a
second-half comeback. Millen decided
to go long on the play after he noticed a
hole in the Wolverine secondary.
"IT WAS intended to be a hook route
on the left to (flanker Danny) Greene,"
Millen said. "When I came to the line of
scrimmage I noticed that their defen-
sive backs were rolling about eight, 10
yards off the ball. Mark runs a 4.53 in
the 40 so I knew that he was going to
blow by there."
Millen withstood a fierce Wolverine
rush and connected on the game-
breaking play. The ease with which
Washington scored surprised some of
the Huskies.
Michigan Football Statistics
SCORING
Washington .........................3 7 10 0-20
MICHIGAN .........................0 3 0 8-11
SCORING PLAYS
WASH-Jaeger 24-yard field goal
MICH-Bergeron 52-yard field goal
WASH-Fenney 2-yard run (Jaeger kick)
WASH-Pattison 73-yard pass from Millen (Jaeger
kick)
WASH-Pattison 73-yard pass from Millen (Jaeger
kick)
WASH-Jaeger 38-yard field goal
MICH-Bean 6-yard pass from Harbaugh (Garrett
run)
Rogers....................
White .....................
Harbaugh .................
1
1
1
9
6
4
Punts (No/Avg) ...
Penalties (No/Yds)
Time of Possession
3/52.0
3/25
28:15
7/39.4
5/37
31:45
Passing
WASHINGTON
Rushing
MICHIGAN
Att Yds
White.......18 73
Morris.............7 57
Harbaugh......... 10 13
Perryman.......... 4 13
Garrett............ 1 6
Rogers ............ 2 5
WASHINGTON
Robinson .......... 15 45
R. Jackson........ 14 34
Fenney............8 27
Hunt.....;.......... 4 11
DeFeo.............2 1
Millen ............. 4 -7
MICHIGAN
Att Comp
Harbaugh ........... 37 17
Int
3
Avg
4.1
8.1
1.3
3.3
6.0
2.5
3.0
2.4
3.4
2.8
0.5
-1.8
TD
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
Yds TD
183 1
165 1
Pattison ................
Hunt..................
R. Jones................
Fenney ....................
Wroten................
Greene .................
3
3
3
2
I
1
88
22
18
24
11
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TruB5/ieDoq Ius ev,
Loss embarrasses Bo .
... turnovers Dill Blue
WASHINGTON
Millen............... 16 13 0
Receiving
MICHIGAN
First Downs ...
Rushing (Att/Yds)
Net Passing Yards .
Passing (Att/Comp/
Int...........
Total Yards .......
Fumbles (No/Lost)
MICH
22
42/167
183
37/17/3
350
3/2
WASH
13
47/111
165
16/13/0
276
2/0
Bean ......................
Jokisch:...................
Morris.............
Kattus................
Nelson ..................
S. Johnson .................
No
5
2
2
2
2
1
Yds
60
38
25
14
11
16
TD
S0
0
0
0
0
Returns
MICHIGAN
Punts
No/Yds
Gant..................... 6/46
Morris................
WASHINGTON
Greene .................... 1/10
Hill .......................
Kickoffs
No/Yds
2/21
1/15
Wahington frus (rates Wo lye rn es
(Continued from Page 1)
"The long bomb took the starch out of
our defense," Schembechler said.
"That's ridiculous, just ridiculous."
Millen had an impressive day, com-
pleting 13 of his 16 passes for 165 yards.
Just last week, the junior could only
gain 103 yards in the air against North-
western.
"LAST WEEK'S game he was
looking to build confidence to come into
this game," said Huskie head coach
Don James of his new quarterback.
"Today he ran and threw well and
gained the confidence to become a good
quarterback."
Granted, Millen had a great day
statistically, but he got a couple of huge
breaks in the middle of the third quar-
ter that secured his team's victory.
Micihigan's new punter, Monte Rob-
bins, nailed the last of his three punts
seemingly to the Washington one-yard
line, but the officials decided to mark it
at the twenty, giving the Huskies some
much-needed turf. On Washington's
second play, Millen pitched the ball
away, but Wolverine linebacker Rod-
ney Lyles missed the recovery and the
Huskies maintained possession.
Though they could not capitalize on that
gift, Michigan's Tony Gant gave them
another one with a fumble of a Thane
Cleland punt. Fenney recovered for
Washington on the Michigan 49 yard
line.
TEN PLAYS later, the Huskies cap-
ped their scoring barrage of the day
with a 38-yard field goal that made it an
embarrassing 20-3 ballgame.
To Michigan's credit, Harbaugh led
the dejected offense to a final scoring
drive in the closing minutes of the
game.. Harbaugh connected on seven
passes in the 12-play drive, including
the second and goal touchdown shot to
Vince Bean. Eddie Garrett, back from
a knee injury that kept him out of the
Miami contest, hopped over the goal line
for the two-point conversion with two
seconds remaining.
Though the lopsided score indicates
otherwise, the Michigan defense had a
pretty fair day. Charged by Mike
Mallory's 13 tackles, the Wolverines
stymied a potentially explosive Huskie
ground game. Robinson and Ron
"Cookie" Jackson, two career 1,000
yard rushers managed only 34 and 45
yards respectively. The total gain for
Washington rushers was a measely 111
yards.
MICHIGAN, on the other hand
racked up 167 yards on the ground,
averaging almost four yards per carry.
Freshman Jamie Morris had an ex-
citing day, running for 57 yards on just
seven carries. Gerald White carried
the bulk of the rushing attempts for 77
yards in 18 tries.
Regardless of the numbers, Schem-
bechler could find no worth in his
team's performance.
"We'll have a wonderful week of
practice," he said sarcastically. "That
was not typical Michigan football. That
was an embarrassment to Michigan
football."
"I thought we were ready to play,"
said a dejected Harbaugh who finished
the day 17 for 37 and 183 yards in the air.
"I have to work harder in practice this
Blue Banter,
week."
Harbaugh and teammates will have
no choice on that question. Schem-
bechler is not about to let the
Wolverines get away with this type of
performance again, especially next
week against Wisconsin. At the post-
game press conference he was asked if
it could happen again. "That's an im-
possibility," he stated emphatically.
"Come on, if that happens, you'll find
me at right tackle." And he surely
meant it as he stormed out of the inter-
view room.
* Michigan hasn't won its first two games of the season since
1978 when it won four before getting toppled by Michigan
State.
* Washington coach Don James. when asked where he
thought his team will be ranked after beating the number-
three Wolverines. "I don't care. I hope it's n)ot very high."
" Having' a father who is a Michigan alumnus made Husky
quarterback Hugh Millen quite a fan of the Wolverines in his
younger days. "I was such a big Michigan fan," he said,
"that I wrote to The Michigan Daily, sent money and said
'Hey, can I subscribe to The Michigan Daily because I'm
such a big fan, and can you send me some pictures?' So they
sent Harlan Huckleby pictures and Rick Leach."
* Bo Schembechler, commenting after the game about the
booing the team received at halftime: "They (the fans) pay
to get in. I don't give a damn about the boos,"
* And Schembechler on why he didn't throw the ball on
Michigan's last possession of the first half: "Because I'm not
a dumb ass like 100,000 other people. I'm not going to throw
into the wind in that situation."
Washington split end Mark Pattison was not impressed by
the sight of 103,E fans at yesterday's game. "I've played in
some big stadiums, the Rose Bowl, LSU's and our's," he said.
"And that crowd today was pretty silent. There s med to be
a lot of fair-weather fans out there"
" Yesterday's loss was the first in 12 games for the
Wolverines in Michigan Stadium.,
" "I have a feeling that we're going to play better teams in
our conference than Washington," said Schembechler after
the game. "And that feeling worries me a lot,"
* Michigan hadn't allowed a rushing touchdown in 10quar-
ters before Rick Fenney barrelled over from the two in the
second stanza,
* Yesterday's crowd of 103,072 was the smallest since the
opening game of the 1980 season versus Northwestern.
G ive Bo Schembechler all the credit in the world. He felt his Wolverines
played a pathetic football game and he said it. He felt his players were
flat and poorly motivated and he said it. He felt this latest Wolverine per-
formance was an embarrassment to the entire Michigan program and he
said it.
There was very little that Bo did not say as he detailed the humiliation that
was welling up on his insides following yesterday's, 20-11 Wolverine beating.
"I'm very concerned about the interior, the exterior and the 'backterior',"
said Schembechler when asked to assess the play of his interior offensive
linemen. "I've seen us play worse," said the dean of Big Ten coaches, "but
I can't remember when."
Schembechler's absolute disgust with Washington's upset triumph is un-
doubtedly a reflection of the nature of the game itself. Bo watched the
Wolverines commit five turnovers in a game that he thought his team could
take.
"This game was an embarrassment to Michigan .football, that's why I
don't know how good Washington is," admitted Schembechler.
For as horrendous as Michigan played-and in spite of the five giveaways,
the Wolverines could have won the game and in fact dominated almost all of-
fensive categories.
Michigan's domination statistically was something that Bo was confident
of beforehand and that Husky coach Don James was concerned about. "Of-
fensively, we didn't have an ounce of confidence coming into.this game,"
said a calm James. an hour after the
game. James lost his star quarterback
from a year ago,. Steve Pelluer to, the
Dallas Cowboys and new signal caller
Hugh Millen was shaky in Washington's
26-0 win over Northwestern last week.
Said James: "We had it in the back of
our minds as we prepared for the game
that a blow out was a possibility. Michigan
always fields a good team and especially -
coming off a great win over Miami, we had
to be concerned."
It was Schembechler's team, however,
that barely eluded being blown out.
Millen, a redshirt junior, completed 13 of
his 16 aerials for 165 yards, including the
73-yard third-quarter touchdown bomb
that "took the starch out of our defense," as Schembechier
Schembechler phrased it.
Most disheartening for Schembechler, though, were the five turnovers. If
there has been one offensive must Schembechler has stood for during his
coaching career, it is ball control.
"You can never expect five take-aways against a team like Michigan,"
said James.
This ironic reversal from a week ago, when Michigan's defense stunned
Miami by creating eight turnovers in the thrilling 22-14 Wolverine upset, is
the reason Bo's charges came up empty against the Huskies.
Turnover numero uno was a Gerald White fumble at the.Husky 40-yard
line on the eleventh play of a second-quarter Wolverine drive. White's
miscue was not damaging as Washington punted after one series of downs.
Turnover number two, however, was somewhat of a killer. With 4:05 left
in the first half Jim Harbaugh threw an interception over the middle that
was returned nine yards.to the Michigan 25-yard line. Exactly three minutes
later, Washington ran it in for the score and a 10-3 halftime lead.
Even after Millen burned Michigan for the 73-yard touchdown there was
still 11:16 to go in the third-quarter.
Disaster struck on the next series of events. With Michigan stalled on their
next possession, Monte Robbins let go with a 51-yard punt that appeared to
be downed by Bob Perryman at the Washington one-yard line. Instead, the
officials took the ball out to the twenty, ruling a touchback.
Suddenly, on second and six, Millen pitched the ball well behind tailback
Jacques Robinson and Michigan had the opportunity to make a pivotal tur-
nover. But the ball squirted away from Rodney Lyles and Robinson was able
to come back and fall on the ball at the 17-yard line.
Still, Michigan was alive, forcing the Huskies to punt on the following
down. Wolverine safety Tony Gant, who has returned punts exceptionally
well in the first two games, caught the ball at his 38-yard line and returned it
11 yards before fumbling at the Husky sideline. Millen proceeded to guide
Washington on a 4:11 possession resulting in a field goal. With the score 20-3.
4
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Wi
Big Ten Standings
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