4 Michigan Hall of Fame Dinner Tomorrow, 7 p.m. Crisler Arena $30 per person SPORTS Michigan Hockey Blue-White Game Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Yost Ice Arena The Michigan Daily Thursday, October 1, 1987 Page 8 NEW COACH REVAMPS DEFENSE Wisconsin lives off big play By ANDY KATZ MADISON - Wisconsin's defensive unit has been scrutinized throughout the non-conference season, but Saturday's Big Ten opener at Michigan will pose the ultimate test. After losing 10 of 11 starters to graduation, new defensive coordinator Mike Daly was faced with implementing a whole new style of play to a whole new group of starters. Daly's "bend but don't break" philosophy, and his effort to hold opponents to fewer than 17 points, has been somewhat consistent, but there are still areas of concern. "OBVIOUSLY, we've given up seven, 13 and 31 points, and I don't know what our statistics are compared to everybody else," Daly said. "But the only thing we get concerned about is our scoring defense. Right now, we're by no means a great scoring defensive team. We're in the ballpark, but we're not at what we want to achieve." But at the same time, the Badgers have been able to force seven interceptions and five fumbles. "I think the fact that we create a lot of turnovers is a very positive thing," Daly said. "How we approach the game is that we don't worry about the ball movement because eventually something good is going to happen. You're going to make a big play and win. So far that has really held out." However, the most pressing question for the Badger braintrust has been how to stop the run? Although Wisconsin hasn't given up 200 yards rushing in one game, the ability of opponents to burst through the defensive line has caused concern, especially with Michigan's Jamie Morris (fifth in the nation with 132.3 yards rushing per game) on tap for Saturday. MICHIGAN, 2-1 on the season, has compiled 848 total yards on the ground and 483 in the air. The credit for this offensive output, however, has to be given to the Wolverine offensive line. Led by 6-7, 306-pound offensive tackle John Elliott, Michigan's offensive line is an intimidating sight and comes off the ball quickly. So how can the Badger defensive linemen and linebackers expect to stay on top of the ball? "We'll use a lot of players," Daly said. "We used eight defensive linemen in the course of last week's game when the game was still on the line. We know we have to get big people on the field at certain times against them. But we try to use our people in roles. Also, it depends a lot on what Michigan does. "But there are some advantages to being smaller, and we'll try to use our quickness to get around them and mount a pass rush. Right now, Michigan is averaging 15 passes and Nowka ... switches positions 65 runs, so obviously we are going to concern ourselves with the run during the course of the week," Daly added- He went on to say that the defensive changes made against Ball State were successful, especially the switch of Pete Nowka from safety to invert linebacker. However, Daly will have to make other changes because a sprained ankle sustained by linebacker Tim Knoeck in the first quarter of Saturday's game will force him to miss the game in Ann Arbor. (Katz is a sports writer Wisconsin's student paper, Daily Cardinal) for The TTHE SPORTING VIEWS The balanced schedule... ..doesn't balance out By RICHARD EISEN Whew! Did you hear that? You won't have to listen very hard to hear it again. Just listen. Whew! There it is again. That's the sound of someone who watched any part of last weekend's four-game series between the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays. Four emotionally draining, drama-packed games. And the best part of it all is that the two teams play three more times - guaranteed humdingers. And then, on the other hand, there is: Yawn! Did you hear that? You won't have to listen very hard to hear it again. Just listen. Yawn! There it is again. That's the sound of someone who opens their daily paper and reads the American League West standings. With one week left in the season, the Minnesota Twins have wrapped up their first division title since 1970, and what a deserving winner they are! They had the finesse and style to pull out a division title with an away record (29-48) that's as messy as Oscar Madison's bedroom. Here they are, ladies and gentlemen, the A.L. West Champions - the Minnesota Twins. Don't get me wrong, the division produced a little pennant chase excitement. The Twins did get a small scare from second-place Kansas City. The Royals are 79-79. Do you get my point? Is it clear? If it isn't, let me spell it out for you. Who would you rather see play baseball? The Tigers versus the Blue Jays or the Tigers versus Texas, Chicago or any other non-descript team the A.L. West can field? The A.L. East versus the A.L. East makes for great baseball. It's obvious to the fans. It's obvious to the players. But it's not obvious to the schedule makers. Get this. A.L. East teams play more games against A.L. West teams than it does against teams in its own division. Even though the East plays 13 games against its own teams and 12 games against the Western teams, it comes out that the East plays more against the West. The A.L. owners call it a balanced schedule. I call it boredom. Why have the Tigers, Blue Jays and Yankees played a few extra times against Seattle, instead of having played each other? The National League has an unbalanced, but reasonable schedule, having each team play. 18 games against its own divisional teams and 12 games against the Western teams. Eighteen games between the Mets and Cardinals. Eighteen blood-thirsty, high-strung games. Only a fool would want to see the Mets play the Padres a few more times. But, alas, we A.L. fans must live with the boring schedule. The A.L. schedule hasn't always been this way, however. The old schedule called for 16 intradivision games and 10 or 11 interdivision games. Can you imagine 16 Tigers-Blue Jays games? But that logical schedule was thrown out the window in the early 1980s when the A.L. West owners requested more games against the more popular Eastern teams. Even the A.L. West owners realized their own division's mediocrity! Figuring the West deserved it, the owners voted for a balanced schedule. But do they deserve it? Absolutely not. According toThe Detroit News, the Minnesota Twins, after taking all their mail requests, have 20,000 seats still available for each playoff game. Detroit, with its destiny still undecided, has had potential playoff tickets selling like hotcakes. Anybody want to see a Minnesota Twins playoff game? Obviously not. I'm not the only one who feels this way. Detroit manager Sparky Anderson has similar feelings on the matter. "I'd like to see the schedule return to the old days, playing 16 times against your own division," the Tiger skipper wrote in his weekly column in The News. "I want to visit the Eastern teams three times and the other division once, and then you'll really see the rivalries soar." For baseball's sake, listen to Sparky. We must have the schedule unbalanced again, but we've got to do it together. Write your favorite baseball team, your local congressperson, or Dear Abby if you must, but the schedule must be unbalanced. Because if it's not, it's still: "Hey the Tigers beat Seattle, 24-0, how did the Blue Jays do?" "Oh, they beat the White Sox, 33-0, for the 12th time this season. Gosh, when do the Tigers and Blue Jays play each other?" Yawn! GRIDDE PICKS "I pity the fool who don't turn in their Griddes picks," said Mr. T in a rare interview. 662-9660 "Hell, with a $10 gift certificate from Domino's pizza, I can stuff my E A IIN I face for free. But that's not the best part. No! The best part is that when I win, I can say I beat all you morons who say you know how to pick a college football game. "You can sure as hell bet that I'm turning in my picks to the Student Publications Building by midnight Friday - FOOL!" 1. Wisconsin at MICHIGAN (pick tot. pts) 2. Michigan State at Iowa 3. Nothwestern at Indiana 4. Ohio State at Illinois 5. Purdue at Minnesota 6. Boston College at Pitt. 7. Miami, Fla. at Fla. State 8. Florida at LSU 9. S. Carolina at Nebraska 10. Texas A&M at T e x a s Tech 11. Georgia at Mississippi 12. Colorado at Colorado St. 13. Colgate at Holy Cross 14. Washington at Oregon 15. Penn State at Temple 16. Navy at Virginia Tech 17. Auburn at North Carolina 18. UCLA at Stanford 19. San Diego St. at Wyoming 20. SLIPPERY ROCK a t Clarion CLASSIFIED ADSI Call 764-0557 . Flexible evening hours - $4 -$6/hour plus bonuses - Build your communication Z skills and resumeQ - 763-7420 T -611 Church St. - 3rd floor w" r, w-- - /.0 - LSA STUDENT GOVERNMENT MASS MEETING Thursday, Oct. 1, 6:00 p.m. Welker Room-Michigan Union i