The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - October 30, 1989 - Page 5
Rare Schembechler call
results in long run for Boles
"Misdirection"
by Adam Schrager
Daily Football Analyst
M
M
by Adam Schrager
g Daily Football Writer
Mike lMfldleton
nisses tackle
, . __1'
0
0
In the 1988 Ha
It's called "a misdirection play" by Michigan Morris peeled off
running back Tony Boles, Counter-Trey by the third quarter of I
Washington Redskins who run it more than any other Other than that, th
professional football team, and it's only been called any situation unti
three times ever by the Wolverine offense. "We're the typ
It is the play that resulted in Boles' 91-yard kind of play," sa
touchdown run in Michigan's 38-10 victory over "We're young an
Indiana Saturday. play, we're gene
After taking a jab step and having the fullback and got beat, plain an
the most of the offensive line move right, right Indiana's corn
offensive guard Dean Dingman and Boles flowed left receivers and its 1
into a hole nearly half a field wide. Boles ran through or inside by Mich
the hole, cut back against the grain past the "I was block
overpursuing Hoosier tacklers and in particular know what happe
cornerback Mike Middleton, before heading up the right Mark Hagan. "It
sidelines for the final 70 yards. fullback coming
"When you give a back of that calibre that kind of disguising what
crease, there'll be some bad pursuit angles," said free, it would hav
Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. "That guy (Boles) is With the resul
fast and he's capable of making the big play." yards per attempt
Michigan had run the play once before in the game will be run more f
with Allen Jefferson collecting 12 yards and a first "We saw in th
down, but before this game, the play had only been run we ran the misdi
once, according to Schembechler. Boles. "I think th
'M' defense focused on
shutting down Thompson
by Richard Eisen comes into the game against
Daily Football Writer r Michigan like gns of fire And
all of Fame Bowl, running back Jamie
a 77-yard run on this same play in the
Michigan's 28-24 win over Alabama.
he play wasn't found to be suitable for
i Saturday.
pe of defense that is susceptible to that
id Hoosier strong safety Dave Ane.
nd we're anxious and to that kind of
rally beaten. We overpursued and we
id simple."
erbacks were blocked by the Wolverine
inebackers were either pinned outside
igan's offensive line.
ed out of the play, so I really don't
ened," said Indiana outside linebacker
looked like an isolation play with the
straight at us, but they did a good job
the play really was. Once Boles got
e taken a miracle to catch him."
Its of the play being an average of 60
t, Boles is definitely hopeful the play
frequently.
e films that they overpursued a lot, so
rection play to throw them off," said
ey're the best plays we have."
O
X
0
0
C
::"'\ ,' L 'LMichigan tailback Tony Boles
X stepsright before heading into
hole on left created by pulling
guard Dean Dingman. After
getting through the hole, Boles
cuts right, eluding Mike
Middleton's tackle, and runs
down the right sideline to
complete the 91-yard gallop.
MIGUEL CRUZ/Daily
FOOTBALL NOTEB00K
W Everyone was keying on Indiana
tailback Anthony Thompson.
Indiana's offense keyed on him
and so did the media, which has been
hyping him for the Heisman
Trophy. .
But; unfortunately for
Thompson, the Michigan defense
keyed in on him, too. Thus, not
only did Thompson fail to break the
NCAA record for career rushing
touchdowns, but he also did not rush
for 100 yards for the first time this
season.
"That was a big challenge for
us," Michigan linebacker Alex
Marshall said about stopping
Thompson. "We didn't want him to
come out and break the NCAA
record on us.
"We wanted to show Thompson
*that it would be a real challenge for
him to accomplish the things he
wanted to accomplish."
Most of the Michigan players
were pretty jacked up to stop
Thompson. Maybe~ the Michigan
defenders just didn't want to be the
first Wolverine group to allow
Thompson to rush for more than
100 yards against Michigan.
Nearly every year, Thompson
now, for the past two years, it seems
that his Heisman Trophy drive has
come to a complete halt in Ann
Arbor.
"At times he did (seem
frustrated)," defensive lineman Mike
Teeter said. "But he didn't show it
that much. We wanted to shut him
down again. We had to shut him
down again."
Even Michigan coach Bo
Schembechler realized the potential
to fire up his players by talking up
Thompson.
"He kept on saying that he didn't
know if we could stop him," Teeter
said. "He was kidding around with
us. We kncw that we could."
After a decent first series of plays
in which he gained 32 yards on six
carries, Thompson began to run into
trouble rather than daylight. For the
rest of the game, Thompson gained
only 58 yards on 24 carries.
"We were reading their offensive
line pretty well," lineman Brent
White said. "And on top of that, we
heard that they were coming back
and saying stuff like 'this is pay
back time for Michigan.' That's just
hype. We were so pumped up for
this game."
by Richard Eisen and Adam Schrager
Daily Football Writers
Three Michigan running backs fought back from injuries to play in
Saturday's 38-10 victory over Indiana. Tony Boles, Leroy Hoard, and Jarrod
Bunch all were hurt during practice or the game, but played in the
Wolverine triumph.
Boles suffered a pinched nerve in his neck, Hoard had a root canal, and
Bunch had a bad knee. Hoard didn't practice much of the week and thus
didn't play until the end of the contest, while Bunch's playing time was
the first he saw since the first week of the season.
"You saw the number of quality backs that they have," said Indiana
linebacker Mark Hagan. "When guys like Jarrod Bunch and Leroy Hoard are
subbing at the end of the game, you'd better be in good shape."
-Boles' 91-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the second
longest in Wolverine history. Butch Woolfolk had a 92-yard saunter
against Wisconsin in 1979.
-Thompson, the nation's leading scorer, has never gained over 100 yards
against the Wolverines, averaging only 70 yards per game in his four years
at Indiana. But even with the Wolverines also holding him 47 yards shy of
his season average, all the Hoosier players weren't impressed.
"I thought personnel-wise, Minnesota was better defensively than
Michigan," said Indiana tight end Terry Saunders. "They're not
overwhelming in the slightest bit."
The Wolverines are ranked No. 1 in the conference against the run.
-Indiana kicker Scott Bonnell's 55-yard field goal to make the score 7-3
in the first quarter was a school-record. The previous record was held by
Peter Stoyanovich, who nailed a 53-yarder at Michigan Stadium last year.
The Stadium record is 57 yards by Michigan State's Morten Andersen.
- Fullback Jarrod Bunch saw his first action since the Notre Dame game
and seemed a bit rusty, gaining only 8 yards on 5 carries.
"He's light years away from what he was," Schembechler said.
DAVID LUBLINER/Daily
Indiana's Anthony Thompson, who tied the record for rushing
touchdowns at 59, is hauled down by Wolverine defensive tackle T.J.
0Osm an.
'. ..
;}
Illinois 32, Wisconsin 9
CHAMPAIGN - Illinois
quarterback Jeff George connected for
three touchdown passes against the
Badgers to keep the Illini (6-1
overall, 4-0 in the Big Ten) tied with
Michigan atop the conference. Two
of the passes hit Howard Griffith,
who scored three times in the game.
Griffith's 45-yard touchdown recep-
tion in the first quarter was one of
three scores in the first 53 seconds of
the game.
Fred Owens returned the opening
*kickoff 96 yards for a Wisconsin (2-
5, 1-3) touchdown. The extra point
attempt was blocked and Quinton
Parker returned the ball 100 yards for
a two-point defensive conversion.
Two plays later, George hit Griffith
for the long touchdown.
Iowa 35, Northwestern, 22
EVANSTON - Iowa (4-3, 2-2)
tackle Jim Johnson sacked Wildcat
quarterback Tim O'Brien four times
and the defense totalled seven sacks
to help hand Northwestern (0-7, 0-4)
another loss.
Hawkeye passer Matt Rodgers hit
Richard Bass for two touchdowns,
completing 20 of 24 passes for 246
yards. Mike Saunders added two
rushing touchdowns for Iowa.
Ohio State 41, Minnesota 37
MINNEAPOLIS - Quarterback
Greg Frey notched three second-half
touchdowns to help Ohio State (5-2,
3-1) stage a comeback after being
behind 31-0. Frey went 2 for 8 in
the first half, totalling 35 yards and
three turnovers. However, in the
second half the Buckeye signal caller
went 18-for-23 for 317 yards, three
touchdown passes, three two-point
conversion passes, and one
touchdown run. Minnesota dropped
to 4-3 and 2-2.
quarterback Eric Hunter scrambled
and passed for 21 points.
The Boilermakers (1-6, 0-4) had
the ball for one final scoring
attempt, but the comeback fell short.
-Compiled from AP reports
J..
S tadrgs
Mi.i~ihIgan 4 0 0
:.:: l s .......4:::::::::: ":::::.
Oho St, 3 1 0
Minnesota 2 2 0
Indiana.....2 2....0
Ioa2 2 0
Michigan St 2 2~ 0
\Visconsin 1 3 0
P.rdue 0 4
North westen I0 4....
Saturday's-games
Purdue at Michigan '
Michigan SL at Indtana
Ohio St, at North westcrn
Illinois at Iowa
Wisconsin at MNllnesota
INDIANA
continued from page 1
the House carpet Saturday.
Michigan tailback Tony Boles
started the Michigan scoring with
the first of his three rushing
touchdowns. On a third and one
from the six yard line, Boles ran
left, broke safety Joe Zeigler's
tackle, and scampered into the end
zone.
"We were expecting to have a
big blow out, we just didn't know
which game," Boles said. "We're
proving to everyone that we have
offensive abilities."
After a monstrous 55-yard field
goal by Indiana's Scott Bonnell,
Boles continued to prove to
everyone that Michigan's offense
has definitely improved. From the
first play of the Wolverines' third
drive, Boles took the ball from
quarterback Michael Taylor and
broke left through a huge hole.
"It was a misdirection play and I
saw the biggest offensive hole,"
Boles said. "When you see that,
your eyes light up and you think
goal line all the way."~
While Boles couldn't believe the
size of the hole opened by his
lineman, some others weren't all
that impressed.
"Our defense could have handled
them, but we didn't play very
well," Indiana tight end Terry
Saunders said.
Boles, who rushed for 156 yards
on the day, broke through the hole,
ran to the right sideline and left
everyone in his dust for a 91-yard
touchdown run.
"(Tony's) got great quickness
and is a damn fine back," Indiana
coach Bill Mallory said. "I have a
lot of respect for him."
Boles completed his hat trick on
the next series when he simply out
ran the Hoosiers to the left sideline
and booked into the end zone for a
23-yard touchdown dash. Michigan
added a 38-yard J.D. Carlson field
goal just before the half for a 24-3
halftime lead.
The Wolverines took to the air
coming out of the locker room as
Taylor completed second-half
touchdown passes to splitends Greg
McMurtry and Derrick Alexander.
"(With McMurtry) all you have
to do is give him the opportunity
to catch the ball," Taylor said. "It
was not a great throw, but I got it
in a poeition where Greg could
catch the ball. It was a great catch."
In between the passes and Boles'
touchdown scampers, Michigan
tailback Allen Jefferson shined as
well. Jefferson ran through the
Indiana defense as if it were made of
paper, gaining 96 yards on tie
ground.
SCHRAGER
continued from page 1
"The Wolverines adhere to the
ideology that there is no I in team
and not one player is responsible for
Thompson's laborious struggle. In
like form, Boles is not one to take
sole credit for his 150-yard plus
afternoon, but credits his offensive
line and the play calling.
"Michigan head coach Bo
Schembechler, showing cagy, sage-
like play calling comparable to his
predecessor Fielding H. Yost, sent in
the infamous misdirection play that
had only been called once before
today's game. Through hours of
patience and diligence, Schembechler
devised a play to take advantage of
the Hoosier baby-faced, over-eager
defense.
"And isn't it fitting, that ten
years ago yesterday, the Wolverines
beat the Hoosiers with another big
play that Michigan faithful around
the country will forever call 'The
Catch.' Superstar receiver Anthony
Carter corraled a John Wrangler pass
on the last play of the game like
Herman Melville's Captain Ahab
speared Moby Dick in the year 19
hundred and 79.
"After 27 tedious, strenuous
carries, Thompson finally got his
record-tying touchdown, but it
wasn't nearly enough. The Heisman
Trophy and the victory slowly
slipped away from Thompson as he
would only compile 90 yards and
average three yards per carry in the
Hoosiers' first conference loss.
"With reporters everywhere in a
quandry over who will win the
illustrious award, Thompson had an
opportunity to make an impact on
national television. Unfortunately,
the senior from Terre Haute, who
has speed, power, and all the tools to
be a great player, failed in his quest
for icon status.
"On the proverbial flipside,
Boles, who was second in the
conference in rushing last year, had a
phenomenal performance after being
an early-season enigma. Boles, who
had rushed for over 100 yards only
once before this season, emerged
from the background to steal the
show from Thompson.
"Andy Warhol once said that
everyone is famous for 15 minutes.
Well, the redshirt junior from
Westland, Michigan only took 15
seconds to travel the 91 yards.
"And he surpassed all odds by
tallying three scores on a day where
Thompson was supposed to have the
touchdowns heard 'round the nation.
"Imagine that. It's ironic indeed."
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