The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 22,1990 - Page 13
-~-U. ~ -
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
suffers first home
losing streak since '67
by Mike Gill, David Hyman
and Ryan Schreiber
Daily Football Writers
Michigan's 24-23 loss to Iowa marked the second consecutive home
loss for first-year coach Gary Moeller. The last time the Wolverines lost
two in a row at Michigan Stadium in the same season was before the Bo
Schembechler era.
In 1967, Michigan dropped decisions to Michigan State (34-0) and
Indiana (27-20) under the reign of Bump Elliot. Incidentally, the loss to
the Hoosiers also marked the last time Michigan had lost a Homecoming
game. The last time Iowa beat Michigan in a Homecoming contest was
back in 1924 when the Hawkeyes won, 9-2.
"I'm stunned we lost," Michigan guard Dean Dingman said. "Two
weeks in a row? There's been nothing like it since I've been here."
Wolverine safety Tripp Welborne agreed. "I'm not used to coming in
here (to the press conference) two weeks in a row after losses," he said.
BOWL WATCH: Seven different post-season bowls were represented
in the Michigan press box yesterday. The Sugar, Cotton, Sun, Peach,
Citrus, Gator, and Blockbuster bowls were all watching Michigan's clash
with Iowa.
Earl Morrall, former Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins quarterback
and a team selector for the Blockbuster Bowl was impressed with the play
of the Hawkeyes, specifically quarterback Matt Rodgers.
"Today's game was a good one," Morrall said. "Iowa deserves a lot of
credit. They marched that 85 yards on the last drive and got what they
needed. I saw them play at Michigan State and they did the same thing.
They moved that ball when they had to. Matt Rodgers stood in there, even
though he took a beating. He hung in there and made a lot of
completions."
Morrall didn't count Michigan out from the bowl bid competition
either. "They're a good, solid team. They've lost three games by a total of
six points: They're a definite bowl possibility. They've got to win the
rest of their games, basically, but they're in there."
The inaugural Blockbuster Bowl will be played December 29 at Joe
Robbie Stadium in Miami. The game is sponsored by (guess) Blockbuster
Video. The game has already undergone a name change before the first
game. It was orginally called the Sunshine Bowl.
Tom Gay, the representative for the Gator Bowl, said "We'd love to
have a Big Ten team. They always draw well. The league is so strong,
you could see six teams going to post-season bowls." The Gator Bowl
has had four Big Ten teams play in its history, the last being Michigan
State in 1988.
EVENLY MATCHED: Six of the last 10 Michigan-Iowa contests
have been decided by three points or less. Iowa won in 1981 (9-7), 1985
(12-10), and 1990. The Wolverines came out on top in 1983 (16-13) and
1986 (20-17). The two teams tied in 1988 (17-17).
BLOCKED FOR A TOUCHDOWN: Dave Ritter's block of Jim
Hujsak's punt and subsequent seven yard run by Dwayne Ware marked the
first time a Michigan player has scored a touchdown on a block punt since
1985. In that game, Jeff Montgomery's kick was blocked by Dieter Heren
and Ed Hood ran the ball in for the score.
IOWA
Continued from page 9
we won the Big Ten Championship or the Rose Bowl...
I'm gonna give my kids Monday off. I've never done
that in my life."
For the second straight week, the Michigan defense
was unable to stop the opponent on its final drive. In a
scene all too familiar to the Wol-verines, Iowa, like
Michigan State, marched down the field in only 3:13 to
take a one point lead with only 1:09 to play.
The Hawkeyes' winning drive came after Michi-
gan's J.D. Carlson booted a 47-yard field goal to give
the Wolverines a 23-17 lead with 4:27 to play.
Hawkeye fullback Nick Kuljawa capped off the
nine-play, 85 yard winning drive with a one yard
plunge. Iowa quarterback Matt Rodgers completed five
of six passes, all underneath the Michigan prevent zone,
for 67 yards to move the Hawkeyes into Michigan terri-
tory.
"We watched a lot of film and we basically knew
they dropped some guys off a lot so if things weren't
open downfield, we'd just be patient and take the
dumps," Rodgers said. Rodgers finished the day com-
pleting 27 of 37 for 276 yards, 40 more yards than
Michigan's offense gained all day.
The Hawkeyes shut down Michigan in the second
half, limiting the Wolverines to three first downs and 66
yards. A major factor in Michigan's poor offensive pro-
duction was its ability to convert only four of 12 third
down attempts.
"We got stopped on third down conversions and I
think that hurt us more than anything," Michigan tail-
back Allen Jefferson said.
Wolverine coach Gary Moeller agreed. "We wanted
to run the ball and keep our defense off the field, but I
probably did get a little too conservative," he said. "Our
offense was not the offense it had been in the past. We
had a couple of critical plays... third down and short that
we did not make."
But the Wolverines never got the offense rolling,
gaining only 155 yards on the ground, as opposed to its
average of 278 yards per game.
The passing game never got on track either. Quarter-
back Elvis Grbac completed 10 of 17 passes for 81
yards as receivers Desmond Howard and Derrick
Alexander managed to only pull in two receptions each.
Michigan scored on two touchdown runs in the first
half, a four yarder by Vaughn and a seven yarder by Jef-
ferson. Iowa had a golden opportunity to tie the score
after Vaughn fumbled on the Michigan 13 yard line.
The Hawkeyes had 1:31 to tie the score, however, Iowa
failed to call timeout and the half ended when Michigan
stopped tailback Marvin Lamkin at the one yard line.
Michigan's lone score in the second half came when
Dave Ritter blocked a Jim Hujsak punt and Dwayne
Ware ran the ball seven yards for a 20-10 lead. But an
unsuccessful two-point conversion turned out to be the
difference in the outcome.
The Wolverines tried to surprise the Hawkeyes, but
Iowa stopped the attempt. Moeller took blame for the
call and said the team tried to increase the margin to 12
points so Iowa would need two touchdowns, rather than
a touchdown (with conversion) and a field goal to tie to
score if Michigan kicked the extra point.
;:. ;.
Wolverine fullback Jarrod Bunch (32) gets dragged down from behind after gaining a first
down in the second half. Michigan only earned three first downs in the second half.
Vaughn left the game in the second half after aggrevating an ankle injury sustained in
practice earlier last week.
Vaughn's per game rushing average fell to 154.5 yards, but he still leads the nation in
rushing yards per game.
OPPONENT
ATT
YRDS AVG.
TfD
LONG
V i l U1\ . 1\ i A 1 L 1 \"U Af 1 L i,/V1\V
Notre Dame
UCLA
Maryland
Wisconsin
Michigan St.
Iowa
22
32
22
15
26
18
201
288
89
94
162
93
9.1
9.0
4.0
6.3
6.2
4.8
0
3
2
1
0
1
24
63
26
35
42
13
Totals
135
927
6.9
7
63
Plate brothers reunite over weekend
by Mike Gill
Daily Football Writer
It was Homecoming weekend at Michigan
in more ways than one.
Michigan's Todd Plate faced off against
his brother Scott Plate in a battle for family
bragging rights.
Both wore number six on the back of their
But it was Scott who wound up wearing the
smile when the game concluded.
"My brother never is one to brag and he'$
beaten us a couple of times," Scott said. "But
this does make the off-season a lot easier.
Scott was on the field when Michigan
attempted a two-point conversion which had a
major effect on the outcome.
"It was a messed up play," he said.
jerseys. And both wore
ended up recording two
yellow pants. Both
tackles on the day.
SPatriotism on Russia Day
Call me McCarthyesque, but I start getting a little worried when the
Michigan Marching Band announced that Saturday's performance
would be a salute to Russia..
Instead, the performance came across as unabashedly American.
It's hard to work up a nice choreography for Homecoming when
the band's expected to let anyone who can still put an instrument to
their mouths take center stage. It also causes the band's average
weight to jump at least 30 pounds.
After spelling out U-S-A during a Russian Composers Melody,
which included the "1812 Overture," the alumni hit the field. The
alumni and current band then played "St. Louis Blues,"
"Temptation," and "The Hawaiian War Chant." These are traditional
Michigan Marching Band tunes and were good to hear.
The big ham himself, Michigan Band Director Emeritus, Dr. William
D. Revelli, began to lead the crowd and band in the singing and
playing "God Bless America."
It is a song written by a Russian immigrant - the great, but sadly,
late, Irving Berlin.
Anytime you hear "God Bless America," you can't fault a band's
performance. And the fact that it was played on Salute to Russia Day
didn't make me feel bad either.
Call it what you want, but Saturday's performance was All- Michigan
and All-American.
A post-script: Why does the pep band that parades around the
stadium after the half wear florescent green caps? It makes no sense.
Are they trying to be cool? The color is abominable. I'm no fashion
expert, but when you mix this neon green with maize and blue, it
looks horrible. whoever coined this great "cap" idea should have
what's underneath it checked.
-MIKE GILL
Did you miss
10"'d1011, a V w ll
SCHREIBER
Continued from page 9
tempt, only to find out that he was
wrong.
"If they kick, it's 20-10 and we
only need 10 points," Fry said. "If
they convert, now they're up by 11
and we've got to score twice. I'd
have done the same thing."
Nice try, Hayden, but a solo kick
puts Michigan up by 11, not 10.
And that logic says the kick was the
right thing to do.
With his version, Iowa quarter-
back Matt Rodgers tried to explain
the move.
"They were just going for the
sure tie," Rodgers said, "or, I mean,
they didn't want to mess around
with, I don't know. I'm not
Michigan, I don't care. We won."
Oh.
None of the Michigan players
explained why the teamdidn't just
kick. Offensive lineman Dean Ding-
man could only shrug and say that
"they just stopped us."
Still, the fact of the matter re-
mains that Michigan should never
have tried that two-point conversion.
One point puts the game far enough
out of reach for Moel1er to know
that Iowa can do no more than tie
with a two-pointer of their own cou-
pled with a field goal.
Instead, the game became a
nightmare revisited and a second
consecutive Michigan defeat.
--i
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