Football
vs. Wake Forest
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Michigan Stadium

_SPORTS
Tuesday, September 20, 1988

Field Hockey
vs. Kent State
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Tartan Turf
Page 9

The Michigan Daily

Big loss to Miami latest
in string of 'M' failures

The Schef's Specialty
BY ADAM SCHEFTER
I know. Saturday's game is still giving you
nightmares when you go to sleep. You are having
trouble paying attention in your classes. You can't
get it off your mind. 30-14 with 9:30 left in the
game. The Detroit Lions wouldn't even lose in that
situation.
Doesn't it just eat away at your maize and blue
heart? Doesn't it hurt?
Oh, you're still reeling about the first game also?
You can't forget Reggie Ho, the 5-foot-5, 135-pound
place kicker that beat Bo's beastie boys?
Yeah, that hurt too. Probably the two most
disappointing back-to-back losses in the history of
Michigan football, definitely during Bo's tenure.
IMAGINE. If you take five points, and
distribute them between the Miami and Notre Dame
games, you would have a team ranked No. 1 in the
country, instead of a team barely ranked. Five points.
No. 1. These are painful days for Wolverine faithful.
It's even worse than that though. Stop a second
and take a moment to think about the last time either
the basketball or football team has won a big game.
If you are a first-year student or a sophomore, don't
even bother trying to come up with an answer. It was
before your time. Yes, it has been painful.
Still thinking? Does March 8, 1986 ring a bell?
Surely you remember Michigan trouncing the
irascible Bob Knight and his Indiana Hoosiers 80-52
to win the Big Ten Championship. But the team lost
in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Iowa
State that season.
The next season gave us a loss to North Carolina
'in the tournament.
1988 WAS even more painful, as once again the
Wolverines fell to the Tar Heels. A win would have
pitted Michigan against Arizona for a Final Four

berth. Two losses to Purdue for first place in the
conference weighed heavily on the heart as well.
There must have been a big win by the football
team more recent than that. This is Michigan.
Yup, November 22, 1986. That was the day the
football team went into Columbus and beat Ohio
State 26-24 for a trip to the Rose Bowl. But the team
lost to Arizona State in Pasadena.
They also went on to lose against Notre Dame,
Michigan State, Indiana, and Ohio State all in the
same season. Please spare me the talk of the Hall of
Fame Bowl being a big win. Any bowl game played
in Tampa by a team that has four blemishes on its
record can't be all that important.
THE DIEHARDS have been hit hard. Maybe
Michigan fans are spoiled. Columbia is 0-42 over the
past four seasons and Michigan has won some. But
not the big one, and that's what's so frustrating.
Big wins call for big parties to celebrate. Big wins
call for sitting around for hours with friends and
talking about the game. Big wins call for a special
place in your memory.
Big losses get none of this. That makes these past
two years all the more frustrating. There haven't been
any victory celebrations. There haven't been any long
talks remembering special plays. The memories are
few. And inside, there is an empty feeling.
But keep the hope. The year is still young. Bill
Frieder has collected an awesome display of talent.
This could be the year that he silences his critics and
takes his team to Seattle for the Final Four.
BO SCHEMBECHLER does have a good team
despite its bruising 0-2 record. Schembechler expects
nothing less than to come out smelling like roses.
A Final Four spot? A confrontation with UCLA?
Maybe all the energy you have invested in
Michigan will actually pay off. Maybe you will be
compensated for all the heartache you have had to
endure.
Regardless, these are only supposed to be games.
Nothing to get too worked up over, right?

Bo quips about Big
Ten, Michigan woes

BY PETE STEINERT
Intrastate rivals Michigan and
Michigan State share a common
problem - they need a win.
Both teams - picked to
challenge for the Big Ten
championship - stand 0-2. It
marks the first time ever that the
two schools have gone the first two
weeks of the season without a
victory.
"At least one school's fans can't
be making fun of the other's,"
Michigan coach Bo Schembechler
quipped Monday at his weekly press
conference. "They have to both
keep their mouths shut."
THE WOLVERINES will go
after their first win Saturday at
Michigan Stadium when they play
Wake Forest (2-1) of the Atlantic
Coast Conference. The Spartans
face a greater risk of going 0-3,
having to play national power
Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla.
Notre Dame handed Michigan
State its latest loss Saturday, 20-3,
a game Schembechler thought the
Spartans would win.
"Any team that's 0-2 has
problems," Schembechler said. "I
don't care if we played the New
York Giants and the Washington
Redskins back to back."
Michigan last opened a season 0-
2 in 1959.
After close losses to Notre Dame
and Miami (Fla.), Schembechler
cited 1980 as the last time the
Wolverines suffered two straight
heart breakers. That year Michigan
dropped games to Notre Dame and

South Carolina by a total of five
points.
WINNING has been a difficult
task for teams throughout the Big
Ten in 1988. They have a combined
7-15 record in non-conference
action. Only Indiana (2-0) remains
undefeated.
"I think most writers and
broadcasters have expressed their
opinions," Schembechler said. "I
don't think I ought to add anything
to it. The record speaks for itself.
Now when Wisconsin upsets
Miami this week..."
Blue Banter
BSchembechler continued to
criticize Saturday's officiating. He
noted a ruled incomplete pass to the
Wolverines' Greg McMurtry along
the Miami sideline in the fourth
quarter. "Both of the officials on
that side were (from the) Big Ten,"
Schembechler said. "But a southern
non-official (that is, Hurricane
coach Jimmy Johnson) made the
call."
-Schembechler thinks it may be
too much of a burden for Mike
Gillette to handle the team's
punting and kicking. "There's very
few players that I've seen do that,"
Schembechler said. "I thought
(Gillette) was the guy who could do
it." Gillette missed field-goal
attempts of 46 and 34 yards
Saturday.
-Quarterback Michael Taylor
earned Offensive Champion of the
Week honors for his fine effort
against the Hurricanes Saturday.

Jeff Brown catches a touchdown pass late in the second quarter (top). The elation
shown by Tony Boles and felt by Michigan fans was not to last. Wolverine fans sit
stunned (bottom) after Miami's dramatic comeback denied Michigan the big win.

PASS
IT
AROUND!I

The U-M Students of Objectivism Presents
Peter Schwartz
Individualism vs. Collectivism
The Right and Wrong
Solutions to Apartheid
Tuesday, September 20, 1988 8:00pm
Angell Hall Auditorium B
no charge
For more information call 663-6142
Co-sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute.


GO

BLUE!

-Q

CHRISTIAN OPEN HOUSE

Michigan Daily
SPORTS
763-0376

Who works
as late as
.. . 2 . m a

Lo oking for Fun and
Fellowship?
Be at the Pendleton Roc
(9nr1 flnnr M1rk1fnl Tn ni

omI

m