Sports Monday Trivia Who was the last major eaguer to hit 50 home runs in a season? Inside Sports Monday 'M' Sports Calendar Gill Again Women's Socer Griddes Football Coverage 1 Hockey 10 11 11 12 2-14 16 turn to the (For the answer, bottom of page 10) The Michigan Daily Monday, September 17, 1990 Page 9 Mo's debut: 'It hurts' Eric Lemont Nightmare finish to Mo's fairy tale SOUTH BEND - It shouldn't have ended this way. It couldn't have ended this way. Didn't the fairy- tale ending belong to first-year, first game coach Gary vloeller and his no-huddle offense? Moeller had put to rest with an exclamation point all those Bo-Mo, Mo-Bo " mumbo jumbo comparisons. Bo using the No-huddle? No way. Going for it on 4th and inches from the fifty? Please. P Moeller rallied his squad to overcome an opening fumble by tailback Jon Vaughn and the Notre Dame touchdown that resulted. He coyly sprinkled the run ith the pass. Basically, he coached a gutsy, innova- tive game that had the Wolverines dominating the Irish for most of the contest. But it wasn't enough. Usually, 100 yards by your starting tailback guar- antees victory. Vaughn ran for 201. What can you say? Eerily, you could see the nightmarish outcome un- folding. The missed field goal. The interception. And for the second time in two years Michigan had let a seemingly-safe lead slip slowly away against the ation's No. 1 team. When Michigan squandered a 30-14 lead with just over seven minutes left against Miami two years ago, the Wolverines already had a loss under the belt. Sat- urday night, though, anything was possible. Anything. Which makes th outcome very bitter to swallow. But, hey, isn't Michigan the best 0-1 team in the country? And all that matters anyway is the Big Ten title. Right? Wrong. You can try to find a silver lining to the dark cloud of Saturday night - but the team, the coaching staff and its fans probably don't want to hear it. Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz graciously gave Michigan "all the credit in the world." Thanks but no thanks. What they wanted was an end to what is now four years of futility against the Irish and, in workman-like fash- ion, they went about getting it. Down 14-3, Michigan began taking it to the Irish with a vengeance as the offensive line opened up canyon-like holes. Vaughn and Co. were having their way with Notre Dame's defense as they continuously reacquainted themselves with the Irish secondary. Split end Desmond Howard didn't even stop to say Hi. He just moonwalked by two Irish defenders off a screen pass and scampered into the end zone. After 21 unanswered points, Michigan had stormed to a 24-14 lead. "I looked up and it was 24-14," Moeller said. "I also saw that there was eight minutes left in the third quarter. Hell, I didn't feel comfortable at all. I knew Notre Dame's ability to come back. There was just too much time." Time enough for the some home-grown Irish luck to set in. In less than ten minutes, three separate events occurred that sealed Michigan's fate: 1) The miss. Up 24-14, Michigan had driven to the Notre Dame 19 before stalling. On 4th and two, Moeller wanted to take the sure points and sent in kicker J.D. Carlson. The usually accurate Carlson sailed the kick wide left. 2) The play. On the subsequent possession, with -3rd and 15 from their own 15, Notre Dame quarter- back Rich Mirer's pass bounces off the hands of the intended receiver, Raghib Ismail, and into those of Lake Dawson. For 41 yards. 3) The inercepion. First and 10 for Michigan at the Notre Dame 11. Grbac drops back and lofts a light toss into linebacker Michael Stonebreaker's hands. Bad call. Bad execution. Suddenly, the Wolverines were caught somewhere in the 6th dimension, enveloped in an unfathomable force. The team saw the consequences of the game, the season, and, for some, their Michigan careers, yet were thoroughly powerless against it. The Irish had come out on top again, 28-24. So where does Michigan go from here? The an- swer is more difficult to answer when you think of where they could have been going. Unlike last year, there was little local hype during the week of the game as an early jump on the race for the national championship. There wasn't much talk of Miami having already lost this year. No mention of the fact Blue falls as Irish QB leads late charge by Mike Gill mDaily Football Writer SOUTH BEND - When the Wolverines opened fall practice in August, new head coach Gary Moeller was asked why he and his assistant coaches were watching and hanging out at the Detroit Lions training camp so much. "Are you planning on using the run-and-shoot offense?" someone jokingly asked Moeller. Moeller laughed and said "no." Yeah, sure. The University of Michigan, known for the Reaganesque bang-the-ball-up-the- middle philosophy for over 20 years, would switch to something risque !IIU'and innovative. anMo didn't lie. When Michigan debuted their 1990 version Saturday night to a prime-time audience at Notre Dame Stadium, there was no inkling of the Silver Stretch. But while Moeller didn't borrow any pages from Wayne Fontes and the as **\ ~ Lions' playbook, he did borrow one frr"from the Cincinnati Bengals: using their no-huddle offense. The result: 443 yards total offense and an average gain of 6.3 yards per play. Call it a success. Yet before delving too far into 'J statistics, such as the 201 yards gained by newly found star Jon OSE JUAREZ/DatY Vaughn or the 190 yards new quar- Michigan tailback John Vaughn breaks free for yardage in the third quarter of Saturday night's game versus Notre Dame. Despite terback Elvis Grbac threw for, or the Vaughn's 201 yards in rushing, the Wolverines suffered a disappointing 28-24 loss. fine performance new wide receiver Desmond "Magic" Howard gave (133 See FOOTBALL, page 13 $v DREAIN Potential Wolverines attend baseball walk-on tryouts , III"F, by Matt Rennie Daily Sports Writer Long ago, the Michigan athletic department built Fisher Stadium, and Saturday, they came. They came in droves, first-year students and upperclassmen alike, hoping to find the field of their dreams on State Street. They came armed with bats and mitts and high aspirations, long- ing for the chance to do something to catch a coach's eye. So it was when Michigan coach Bill Free- han held open tryouts for his Wolverine squad for the second consecutive year. The tryouts were open to any University student, although nearly all of the 56 candidates had played base- ball in high school. The audition process was scheduled to be a two-day event, but inclement weather cancelled Friday's segment. Despite the abbreviated schedule, Freehan felt his staff had a sufficient amount of time to make a judgement of the players. "No one is going to improve dramatically in a day," the Wolverine skipper said. The coaching staff concentrated on the ath- leticism of the potential Wolverines. The the- ory behind this approach is that the coaches can teach players what they lack in refined skills. "We'll be looking for raw talent today," Freehan told the group before the start of the day's events. "We'll be looking for speed. We'll be looking for a strong arm." . The Michigan baseball team is on NCAA probation for rules violations which occurred during former coach Bud Middaugh's tenure. Consequently, the team had no scholarships to offer incoming students. This gave added sig- nificance to the tryouts, although most of this year's walk-ons have already been decided. Although the tryouts will have been in vain for all but one or two of the prospects, the afternoon was memorable for a group of young catchers. While his assistants took charge of the other positions, Freehan worked with these individuals himself, and each of them came away impressed. "It seemed like he wanted to be a friendly coach," first-year LSA student Jasen Liv- ingston said. "By the time we were done, he knew each of our names." * LSA sophomore Brad Rosenberg thought Freehan helped ease the tension of the high- pressure situation. "I was glad we got to work with Freehan," Rosenberg said. "He helped take your mind off things." Two other potential Wolverine backstops, Art Penn and Ken Bishop, felt privileged to be receiving instruction from the former Detroit Tiger. "I really learned a lot even if I don't make the team," Penn said. "Think about, this guy's a Hall of Famer." ANTHONY M. CROLUDa4y Michigan's Katie Vignevic works the ball around a Northwestern defender Saturday afternoon at Tartan Turf. The Wolverines dropped the match to the Wildcats, 3-2. Northwestern stickers bombard 'M' defense Rugby squads shine against Cincinnati by Jeni Durst But the Bateam pulled out a big victor Daily Sports Writer by James Burgess Daily Sports Writer Northwestern began a new era under coach Marisa Didio, but continued their domination of Michigan Saturday. The Wildcats upped their hold on the Wolverines to 14-0 lifetime, beating them soundly on the Tartan Turf, 3-1. Northwestern's record was boosted to 4-1-1, while Michigan's slipped to 3-2. The team from Evanston badgered Michigan's defense all day. Northwestern posted 17 shots in the circle and a dizzying 18 penalty corners, two of which were converted by junior midfielder Colleen Senich. Despite such massive totals, coach Didio, formerly of the University of New Hampshire, was far from impressed by her new team's performance. "I wasn't happy with them (the penalty corners) at all," she said. "Although we did score off of two of them, we had more opportunities to score off of rehonds - that's the area riprht now we're a little hit weak y. Among the dark clouds that loomed above Ann Arbor Saturday, a few bright spots shone for the Michigan men's rugby club. The squad tied and captured its first win in three years Led by a strong effort by veteran Achal Kapoor, the squad trounced the Cincinnati B's 41-12. In the C-team match, a type of intrasquad unm non:net te T:Tn:v- yoftr nit :,rna.