an Daily - Sunday, November 18, 1984 BUCKEYE GANG OFF TO PASADENA Tomczak, Byars ride rose tide ,w By KATIE BLACKWELL Special to the Daily COLUMBUS - The uprights of the goalposts have vanished, the remainder, sagging pitifully. The turf is lit- tered with hundreds of yards of toilet paper, hurled in celebration. The Buckeyes of Ohio State are headed to Pasadena and a run for the roses. THE WOLVERINES are on a flight back to Ann Arbor, their future uncertain. After a 21-6 heart-wrenching loss in Columbus, a bowl trip for the "victors valiant" seems distant at best. But regardless of the lopsided score, Michigan should remain proud. It put on an impressive performance stalling several long drives of a team that has scored over 40 points in five of its nine victories. CREDIT MUST be given to the Wolverine defense, led by seniors Tim Anderson and Mike Mallory with 12 tackles apiece, for stopping the powerhouse offense of the Buckeyes. Especially satisfying in this demonstration was the smothering of the outstanding tailback Keith Byars. "If he isn't the greatest back in the country, I don't know Bo Schembechler confers with Wolverine wide receiver Triando Markray during yesterday's game. Markray caught one Chris Zurbrugg pass for 12 yards. ''M'goes blue, roses for OSU (Continued from Page 1) Taking over at their 39-yard line, the Buckeyes engineered a touchdown scoring drive behind the running of Byars and his backup, John Woolridge. Buckeye quarterback Mike Tom- czak also completed two passes on the drive to flanker Mike Lanese for 27 yards. Byars scored on a one-yard plunge, and OSU was on top, 7-0 with 4:40 remaining in the quarter. MICHIGAN stormed right back, however, after Jamie Morris returned the ensuing kickoff to the 23-yard line. Chris Zurbrugg ran and passed for 59 yards as the Wolverines at- tained first-and-goal at the OSU five-yard line. But on second down from the eight, Zurbrugg rolled right and threw an in- terception in the end zone to Buckeye roverback Sonny Gor- don. Video replays showed that Gordon's feet were clearly out of bounds, but the Buckeyes got the ball at their 20 on the touchback. Zurbrugg's aerial was intended for tight end Eric Kattus. The teams then traded six consecutive punts, until with :17 left in the half, Lanese fielded a 46-yard Monte Robbins boot at OSU's 11 yard line. Fullback Bob Perryman planted a solid tackle forcing Lanese to fumble and Brad Cochran recovered at the nine. But the Wolverines were pushed backward, set- tling for Bergeron's 37-yard field goal as time expired. Michigan's offense came out breathing fire following in- termission and completely dominated the third quarter. Zur- brugg directed a 17-play, 90-yard march to open the half, but again Michigan was stopped, settling for Bergeron's 45-yard kick. IT WAS THIS drive that irked Schembechler to no end. Michigan had a second-and-four at the OSU 19, when Zur- brugg stepped away from the line because of the crowd noise. "The crowd was real loud and had been really loud at that end all day," said Zurbrugg, who completed 17 of 27 passes for 164 yards and the one interception. "The line couldn't hear me, so I asked the referee for time and he didn't give it to me. I went back to the line and on my next sound a lineman jumped." Michigan was assessed a five-yard, illegal procedure penalty which moved the team back and infuriated Schem- bechler. "The official on the road has got to protect the visit- ing quarterback, and he didn't protect mine," said the coach. "I told him (the official) it was going to happen before the game, and he didn't do a thing." Michigan had reduced the OSU lead to 7-6. MICHIGAN'S defense rose to the occasion forcing the Buckeyes to punt once again. But on the return, the Wolveri- nes were nailed for a clipping penalty and the offense assumed control at its one-yard line. Again the Wolverines blasted out against the Buckeye defense. Zurbrugg's passing and Gerald White's running brought Michigan all the way to the OSU 17 yard line. When the Buckeyes stiffened, Bergeron trotted out for what ap- peared to be a 34-yard clip shot which would give the Wolverines the lead, 9-7. But Bergeron's attempts failed barely wide to the right. "He's not an excuse maker, he just missed it," said Schembechler. Michigan controlled the ball for 12:51 of the third stanza but could only squeeze out three points. THE FINAL period was all Buckeye. Twice Ohio State had excellent field position and both possessions ended with Byars' scores. "We broke down in the fourth quarter when we should have held them," said Wolverine linebacker Tim Anderson. "When you get the ball so many times inside the 40, something is going to crack. It's just too bad it was us," said Michigan defensive end Kevin Brooks. "It's a heartbreaker," said Brooks, who made five tackles on the day including a quarterback sack. "It's been a long season." It just saddens me that this is possibly my last game and that we're going out a loser," said Anderson, who along with Mike Mallory led Michigan with 12 tackles. "And against a team that we should have beat." one," said Ohio State nead coach Earle Bruce. "He most cer- tainly deserves the Heisman Trophy. He's the caliber of young man who deserves to get it. Byars is a 6-2, 233-pound bruiser from Dayton, Ohio. He has 1,661 yards on the year. Yet, against the mighty Wolverine defense, the junior managed a mere 93 yards on 28 carries. This marks only the second time all season that Byars was helt to under 100 yards. The remainder of his games ranged from 120 to 274 yards. BYARS NOT only leads the Buckeyes with his punishing ground game, he also tops the Big Ten with 600 more yards than Iowa's Ronnie Harmon. With his three receptions yester- day, Byars is second in receptions for Ohio State, having nabbed 37 passes for 453 yards. "To tell you the truth," said Michigan linebacker Ander- son, "I don't think he (Byars) was playing at full strength. We had seen him do tremendous things, looking at the films all week, and today he just didn't do them." Anderson also pointed out that the Michigan defense had been designed to curtail the explosiveness of the tailback. Though Byars pounded out all three Buckeye touchdowns, on jaunts of one and a couple of two-yarders, the big plays were absent, probably due to a gimpy ankle. "I TOLD the team that I wasn't going to let my ankle injury hurt my game. I'm just happy to be a part of the game," Byars said. But, regardless of his individual performance yesterday, Byars and crew are off to sunny California for the first time in five years. "To be truthful, I've been dreaming about it all my life," Byars said. "I want to go out there and be victorious." THIS IS Bruce's second Rose Bowl trip in his five-year reign as head Buckeye. Ohio State has prevailed in the hard- fought path to Pasadena. 1984 marked one of the tightest races the Big Ten has seen in years, with three teams bat- tling it out most of the way. In the post-game conference, a teary-eyed Bruce was visibly moved by his team's accomplishment. "We're going to the Rose Bowl fellows," he shouted, hugging quarterback Mike Tomczak. "We are going to the Rose Bowl!" BYARS, STILL in uniform, and Tomczak were quick to credit the Michigan effort on the day. "Michigan had'the ball for about 11 minutes in the third quarter and we were hurting," said the senior helmsman. "You need the ball to put it in the endzone." Tomczak will finally get to see his first - and last - Rose Bowl game this January 1. "THE LAST four years finally paid off. I said last week it was like we were floating in the ocean. Today, somebody finally threw us a life preserver and the tide is taking us to the California shore," Tomczak said. "What more can you ask, being captain of the football team, quarterback, beating Michigan and going to the Rose Bowl? It hasn't even hit me yet," said the three-year starter. "But whatever lies ahead we're ready for it." aiy r-otO oy DAN HI Ohio State star running back Keith Byars holds the spoils of victory as he leaves the field following yesterday's Buckeye win over Michigan. Byars' three touchdown runs earned Ohio State a trip to the Rose bowl, where they will play USC on New Years' Day. SCORES Notre Dame 44, Penn State 7 Oklahoma St. 16, Iowa St. 10 Virginia 24, North Carolina 24 Florida 25, Kentucky 17 Maryland 41, Clemson 23 Navy 38, South Carolina 21 Boston College 24, Syracuse 16 Yale 30, Harvard 27 BYU 24, Utah 14 Temple 19, West Virginia 17 Alabama 29, Cincinnati 7 Washington 38, Washington St. 29 Mississippi St. 16, LSU 14 Tennessee 41, Mississippi 17 Kansas 35, Missouri 21 SMU 31, Texas Tech 0 UCLA 29, Southern Cal 10 Oklahoma 17, Nebraska 7 Texas 44, TCU 23 Arkansas 28, Texas A&M 01 Baylor 46, Rice 40 Stanford 27, California 10 Lafayette 28, Lehigh 7 Virginia Tech 23, vanderbilt 3 Florida State 37, Tennessee Chattanooga 0 Azusa Pacific 37, Sonoma St. 20 Ouachita 24, E. Texas St. 14 LIBELS 21, Lantern 0 Big Ten Standings Conference Overall W Ohio State ................ 7 Iowa ..................... 6 Illinois ................... 6 Purdue ................... 6 Wisconsin ................ 5 MICHIGAN .............. 5 Michigan State ........... 5 Minnesota ................ 2 Northwestern..........2 Indiana ..............0 LT 2 0 2 1 3 0 3 0 3 1 4 0 4 0 7 0 7 0 9 0 W 9 7 7 7 7 6 6 3 2 0 L 2 3 4 4 3 5 5 8 9 11 T 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Raising H el By PAUL HELGREN Bo's worst Wolverine year .. . ..are Duffy Jikugherty days here? COLUMBUS I T'S OVER. The season we would all like to forget ended in defeat at Ohio Stadium yesterday. But as much as we'd like to, we can't ignore the true meaning of Bo's worst season as a Wolverine. Yes, Michigan went down fighting, holding superback Keith Byars to under 100 yards (bye- bye Heisman, Keith), and playing the favored Buckeyes tough until late in the game. But the bottom line is 6-5 and in all likelihood, no post-season appearance. Six-and-five. I lamented about that possibility after the Michigan State loss. But I never believed it would happen. That's because I - and a lot of other Michigan football fans - was too blindly loyal to see the signs of the Wolverines' decline. But the time has come to wake up and smell the coffee. Admittedly, it's hard to put the season in per- spective right now. Sitting in the middle of the Ohio State student section and suffering through to happen eventually. All great football schools hit down-cycles. Michigan has gone through a few in its illustrious history. They are usually short in duration and often occur at the end of a great coach's career. And at age 55, Schembechler may be facing this phenomenon. Call it the Duffy Daugherty Syndrome. Daugherty was the great Spartan coach who once led his team to a national championship, but coached mostly mediocre teams in his last few years. The same thing happened to Michigan's Bump Elliott (22-18 in his last four years). It happened to Bennie Ooosterbaan (7-9-2 in his final two years). It happens to a lot of great coaches. And unless I miss my guess, the Duffy Daugherty Syndrome is striking again. Check the record. In the past four years, Michigan has won one Big Ten Championship. In the five seasons before that it wnn frnir Trie follows years of success. Because certain strategies lead to success, a coach may be tem- pted to unswervingly remain loyal to them. This season Bo continually used conservative run- and defense-oriented tactics that worked well in the past when he had dominating offensive lines and runningbacks, but were insufficient for the 1984 squad. That's not to say that the players are to be blamed. They were gutty and fought hard all season, despite critical injuries. But even without the injuries, the talent on the field was not such that it could give Schembechler the luxury of relying on a line-'em-up-and-let-'em-go plhilosophy. A third factor that explains Michigan's decline is what I call cyclical regional competition. Earlier this season, somebody pointed out that through the years Michigan and Michigan State rarely have great programs simultaneously. It makessense.B nth shonol hasiclivr ..rni..1 .;, 2 0:::Ng 1 I