Who was the coach to win Michigan-Mic game? turn to the The Michigan Daily - -I - last first-year the higan State (For the answer, bottom of page 10) InsideSports Monday AP Top 25 10 College Top 20 10 'M' Sports Calendar 10 Top Ten 10 Griddes 10 Q&A 11 Gill Again 11 Football Coverage 13 Field Hockey 15 Ice Hockey 16 Page 9 7 = , . x = Monday, October 15, 1990 S *Wolverines can only blame, themselves Good morning. And while you sit and read this, the Michigan Wolverines are no longer the No. 1 team in the country. And they don't deserve to be. Here is what this game comes down to: Desmond Howard drops a pass in the endzone which was marked "Victory or Defeat." The de- feat side came up, and the Wolver- ines lost, 28-27. * Then, all the Mike crying came con- cerning the ref- Gill eree. (A) There was interference. (B) He held the ball long enough. (C) Where is the local lynch mob? The truth of the whole matter *is that Desmond 'c Howard had rea- son to drop that A ball. He beat his man, and his man did what it takes to stop him. When you are illegally tripped, you have a "right" to not make a catch. The problem is that Michigan never played like a No. 1 team Sat- urday. Don't forget all the errors this seemingly flawless team strung to- gether just because some zebra made an obnoxious mistake. Start with Derrick Alexander. While Alexander caught the ball that allowed Michigan a chance to go for the win, he had an embarrassing per- formance. See Derrick run. See Der- rick open. See Derrick with his hands screaming for the ball. See Derrick drop the ball. While everyone is entitled to their mistakes, Alexander's perfor- See GILL AGAIN, Page 13 No-call means No. 1 no more by Eric Lemont Daily Football Writer Call it churning. Call it gut-wrenching. Described in any fashion, last Saturday provided Michigan with something few Wolverines could have imagined - a de- feat harder to swallow than an opening-game loss to Notre Dame a month ago. Several missed opportunities culminated in a 28-27 loss to Michigan State when Elvis Grbac's two-point conversion pass to Desmond Howard was called incom- plete on the game's last play. While Michigan fans waited for a reversed decision or a pass interference call, Michigan State fans sponta- neously littered the field in a mass of Green and White. "This is a big victory," Spartans' coach George Perles said. "We've had some big wins... like the Rose Bowl, but this is really a big one." Safety Tripp Welborne said he asked Howard in the locker room what happened on the deciding play. "He said 'Everything.' So whatever everything is, that's what happened," Welborne said. For Michigan, 'Everything' includes being knocked off as the top-ranked team in the country and finding it- self a step behind in the race for the Big Ten championship. "By far, this has to be the toughest loss I've been associated with since I've been at Michigan," Grbac said. "It really rips your guts out." Said Michigan coach Gary Moeller: "I'm very disap- pointed. I think we can play better than that, but we didn't. Give Michigan State credit, they held us out... every time we scored they answered the bell." A 14-14 game going into the fourth quarter exploded into a thriller as each team exchanged long touchdown drives. Down, 21-14, with five minutes and 50 seconds to play, Howard received John Langeloh's kick, screamed down the left sideline and cut back across an open field to tie the game. Before Michigan had a chance to celebrate, State drove 70 yards in two minutes to go up again, 28-21. Michigan pulled within one with six seconds left when Grbac found Derrick Alexander in the end zone. Even after the failed conversion, Grbac was able to launch one more pass into the end zone after the Wolverines recovered an onside kick. "I had my heart in my throat a dozen times today," Perles said. In reality, the Wolverines were fortunate to be in a situation at the end to win the game. A failed conversion on 4th and 1 from the Spartans' one yard line in the second quarter, a missed J.D. See SPARTANS, Page 13 Michigan tailback Jon Vaughn sheds Spartan tacklers for first-half yardage. His efforts were in vain, however, as the Wolverines' comeback attempt fell short after flanker Desmond Howard was unable to hold on to a two-point conversion pass. Howard: 'I felt as if I caught the ball' by Eric Lemont Daily Football Writer Michigan's last ditch, stop-gap effort to hold on to its No. 1 ranking fell through the arms of receiver Desmond Howard. Or did it? After the Wolverines had driven 71 yards in the final minute and 51 seconds to pull within one point of the Spartans, Michigan coach Gary Moeller decided to try for two points, the win and the opportunity to hold on to No. 1 for another week. Howard faked to the outside, cut in front of MSU cornerback Eddie Brown and fell to the ground. Howard said he was tripped, but, even with the contact, Howard managed to turn back to catch Elvis Grbac's toss as he was falling. When he hit the ground, the ball bounced off his shoulder pad. "He did the only thing a defensive back could do - try and grab me because it was do or die," Howard said. "The referee made the no-call and I can't question that. I felt as if I caught the ball. "I felt myself being tackled throughout the route. I was looking for him (the offi- cial) to raise his arms (to signal two points) but he didn't." No penalty flags were thrown and the Spartans held on for the victory, 28-27. The no-call left Michigan players and coaching staff asking two questions: Did Howard have possession, and was there pass interference? Said referee John Nealon: "As far as I could detect from where I was sitting, it looked to me like he never really had pos- session of the thing. He hits the ground and it's coming out. So what we are saying is that he didn't have possession. "The covering official just didn't see it as an interference-type situation." However, any explanation would not suffice for a distraught Moeller. "You don't need any comments from me," Moeller said. "You see it every week. If there's a tough call, they (the officials) think just don't throw it (a penalty flag). Don't throw it." Just as controversial as the officials' in- decisiveness was Moeller's decision to go for broke. A tie would have left Michigan in better position for their third straight Big Ten title, something the coach has stressed as the team's primary goal. "It's a hard decision," Moeller said. "In our opinion we had a good play. We've been working on that play for six or eight weeks. "I pulled the kids over and told them the ramifications and quite honestly they wanted to do what I wanted to do." Said Michigan State coach George Per- les: "If you go for the two and you make it, that's the best call. If you go for the tie and you win the conference, that's the best call. It's nothing you can criticize, but there's definitely two choices there." 2 1 A HOPEFUL HUGHES Blue icers sweep Redskins Former cager Mark Hughe S struggles to make the Pistons by Theodore Cox Daily Basketball Writer Mark Hughes stood in the corners of the Windsor gym. He patiently waited for Isiah Thomas to get his. picture taken, then Bill Laimbeer. He watched all the veterans go, until finally, 45 minutes later, it was his turn. He eventually got his picturep taken, but he still waits to make the7 NBA. Hughes learned early that playing time equals hard work. When Hughes, a Muskegon4 native, came to Michigan in 1986, he played behind stars Roy Tarpley and Richard Rellford. A year later, < Tarpley moved on to the NBA, leaving a void at center. Hughes, only 6-foot-8, won the spot and averaged six rebounds and six points a game. But by 1989, the talented Loy Vaught and Terry Mills required more playing time. After starting for two years, Hughes was forced to come off the bench again his senior year. He didn't complain. He became by Jeni Durst Daily Hockey Writer OXFORD, Ohio - Things couldn't have been much worse last weekend - for the opposing team, that is. The Michigan hockey team made its annual visit to Oxford, Ohio, a memorable one and answered the questions surrounding its youth by thrashing Miami of Ohio, 11-1 and 9-3, in its CCHA opening series. The Wolverines outscored the Redskins, 20 to 4, over the two weekend games. In both games, the Redskins couldn't combat the intensity that Michigan displayed; they couldn't penetrate Michigan's defense; and they couldn't muster any shots on goal. Miami was plagued by penalties and unable to tally their lone goal of Friday evening until five minutes and five seconds into the third period. "We're not as bad as we played," Miami coach George Gwozdecky said. "Our players weren't ready to play; the freshman made a lot of in- experienced mistakes. I was very dis- appointed with our upperclassman - I thought at this point they did zero. I certainly don't want that (the team's play) ever to happen to a Redskin hockey team again." Most of Miami's mistakes came in the form of penalties. The Redskins recorded 10 in both games and were unable to stop Michigan from capitalizing on the power play opportunities. Eleven of Michigan's 20 goals came with a man advantage. "I think in the first part of the game, penalties played a big factor," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "Our power play gave us the lead. As the game went on, we gained confidence. We've got a lot of guys who can score goals and they were making those chances count." The Redskins posted one signifi- cant surge in the series during the initial minutes of the second game. 13ut, after getting off two quick goals, their outburst was snuffed by a Michigan offensive attack.> The high point of this attack, and turning point of the game, came at 18:02 of the first period. Miami had a rare scoring opportunity after penalties against Michigan's Mark See ICERS, Page 16 Improved spikers still can't find win by David Schechter Daily Sports Writer better than we did," she said. "We "I think that we improvedI be- Records were set this weekend in Varsity Arena. But not by Michigan. Iowa bruised the Wolverines Friday in three straight games (15- 13, 15-11, 15-4), while Hawkeye Barb Willis became Iowa's all-time leading blocker. Willis sent four blocks in Michigan's direction, send- definitely should have. I don't know what happened and why we didn't. Just a mental lapse or something." Although she played well, Sturm said she can do better. "I'm still not 100 percent pleased," she said. "There's a lot of things I still need to work on." Erica Badran-Grycan, who sat tween the two games," - Lorenzen said. "We worked a lot on doing what the coaches say, and I think we're beginning to act on that. It's just a case of acknowledging what they say and not processing it." The players carried that message into Sunday's game and used it to their advantage, bringing them to