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The Michigan Daily-Sports Monday
September 9, 1991
"Low-flying
'M' tops
Eagles,
35 -13
QB Grbac: 'We knew we
would win sooner or later'
by Theodore Cox
Daily Football Writer
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -
Was Michigan worried when Bos-
ton College jumped out to a 10-0
lead in Saturday's game at Alumni
Stadium?
Or maybe when Eagles' kicker
Sean Wright nailed a 22-yard field
goal to pull within one point with
14:07 left in the game?
"Not at all," Michigan quarter-
back Elvis Grbac said. "We knew we
would win sooner or later."
"I didn't panic," Michigan coach
Gary Moeller said. "I felt like we
just got to hang in there and play
our game and do it better. I was a
little displeased we weren't execut-
ing better."
Well, when you have the talent
of wide receiver Desmond Howard,
victories are a lot easier to obtain.
The junior scored four touchdowns
this weekend to open Michigan's
season with a 35-13 victory.
None was more important than a
93-yard kickoff return to open the
second half. Michigan was down by
three at intermission, after a half in
which Boston College capitalized
on several Wolverine errors - the
first being an offsides penalty.
The Wolverines thought they
had stopped Boston College's open-
ing drive with an interception by
Lance Dottin, but the play was
called back with an offsides penalty.
On the next play, Eagle wide re-
ceiver Keith Miller snuck behind
the Blue backfield to catch a touch-
down pass.
The crowd of 32,071 cheered
wildly, giving the Eagles plenty of
momentum as the two teams lined
up for the second half kickoff. But
Howard got great blocking, allow-
ing him to run untouched into the
end zone.
"We definitely needed that at
the time," Howard said. "If we
didn't take it all the way back, we
wanted good field position. We
needed something to uplift not only
our offense, but also our defense
too. We were putting a lot of pres-
sure on our defense by going three
plays and out."
The play gave the Wolverines
their first lead of the afternoon, but
it didn't solve Michigan's offensive
inefficiencies. Although tailback
Ricky Powers rushed for 176 yards
on 27 carries, the Wolverines had
difficulty scoring.
The best example was
Michigan's first drive of the game.
The Wolverines moved the ball
down to the Boston College 24-yard
line. Powers needed only one yard
for the first down, but he was
stopped three straight times, giving
the ball back to Boston College.
"They were trying a couple of
new defensive alignments," Grbac
said of the Eagles' defense. "I knew
if we kept plugging away, sooner or
later with the two backs we have we
could score."
Four minutes into the fourth
quarter, Michigan's massive offen-
sive line began to wear down the
Eagles, allowing Powers and frosh
Tyrone Wheatley to run the ball
down to the Boston College eight-
yard line.
It was there that Grbac found
Howard free in the end zone for his
third touchdown.
But Boston College was still
moving the ball on Michigan.
Quarterback Glenn Foley threw for
280 yards before he was done.
However, every time the Eagles got
close, the Michigan defense would
come up with a big play.
Leading the Wolverine attack
were linebackers Steve Morrison
and Erick Anderson. They held all-
America candidate Mark Chmura to
three catches in the second half.
"We came out with a great mix
of offense in the first half," Boston
College coach Tom Coughlin said.
"I had hoped to maintain that mix.
In the second half, when we had no
mix, we looked the worst. I would
like to have been able to run, but we
couldn't."
With more than a minute left in
the game, Howard made a finger tip
catch in the end zone to put the game
out of reach. He finished with 86
yards on seven catches.
Desmond Howard catches one of his four touchdowns in Michigan's 35-13 victory over Boston College Saturday.
Phil Green
Desmond provides Blue
with much-needed Magic
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The Michigan
Wolverines trailed Boston College, 10-7, at.
halftime and needed a little magic. As the second
half's opening kickoff settled into Desmond
"Magic" Howard's hands, the Wolverines could
sense their moment coming. An explosive 12
seconds and 93 yards later, Michigan led, 14-10.
"We knew we had the ball coming out (for
the half), and if we didn't take it all the way
back, we wanted to get good field position, take
it down and score," Howard explained
afterward. "We needed something to uplift not
only our offense, but our defense, too."
Howard's touchdown did more than just
uplift Michigan. His runback helped demoralize
the high-flying Eagles.
"That opening kickoff in the second half
really shot us," BC linebacker Tom McManus
said.
"That started things off and they just took
control," all-America candidate tight end Mark
Chmura added.
Michigan went on to win, 35-13. Without
Howard's heroics, the Wolverines very easily
could have lost. The team did not play as well as
expected: BC's offense moved the ball against
the Michigan defense with relative ease; the
Eagle defensive front held its own against
Michigan's vaunted offensive line; and when BC
didn't stop Michigan, the Wolverines were
stopping themselves with costly penalties and
turnovers.
So when the Wolverines needed a lift,
Howard was there. After the Eagles had closed
to 14-13 and had regained the momentum, it was
Howard catching the pass in the back of the end
zone to put the game away.
"Desmond is an excellent football player,"
Michigan coach Gary Moeller said. "We've got
to count on him a lot. He has to get open and
we've got to get the ball to him."
Besides becoming the first Wolverine to
return more than one kick for a touchdown in his
career, the redshirt junior caught seven passes for
86 yards, while tying a Michigan record with
three touchdown receptions in one game.
Howard's last two scores came with fellow
See GREEN, Page 5
Lance's
family
by Theodore Cox
Daily Football Writer
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -
"My celebrity," Lance Dottin's
mother said about her son.
The Michigan defensive back
might not be known around the
country, but Saturday he had the
largest cheering section at Alumni
Stadium. His family members had
to rent a school bus to bring all his
supporters over from Cambridge,
Mass. It was the closest Dottin has
played to home in four years.
"I could hear them out there,"
Dottin said after Michigan beat
Boston College, 35-13. "They were
calling me throughout the whole
game. I didn't want to turn around
since I was trying to concentrate,
but I kept hearing '22' and 'Lance."'
Dottin certainly delighted the
70-plus fans who came out to see
him. On the Eagles' first drive, he
intercepted a pass and then broke
two tackles before being brought
down 50 yards later. But because
Michigan was offsides, the play was
negated.
However, Dottin was not to be
deprived of his moment. With a
minute left, he picked off another
Glenn Foley pass, this time running
it in for a touchdown.
44 - - --.-A'IT ~ -te a
Dottin clan turns oul
in droves to watch'
its favorite son
affair
"My grandfather is always
!.going to be with me," Dottin said.
"He was here in family, he was here
in spirit. Emotionally, it really hurt
me. It was in the summertime, and I
was trying to pick up the pieces of
my broken heart for my grandfather,
but he's here with me today. I know
he's watching."
His family brought a poster
photo of Dottin, and placed his
grandfather's picture in the corner.
Former Michigan basketball star
Rumeal Robinson's family also
rode the bus from its home in
Cambridge. Robinson had other
commitments, but his mother, who
is also Dottin's godmother,
attended Saturday's game. Although
Robinson was adopted into the
family, Robinson and Dottin
consider themselves as cousins.
"I was over (Robinson's house)
every weekend," Dottin said.
"Every day we played basketball
together. We ran track out in the
street; we played football."
For one individual, Dottin's
return was not all roses. High
school teammate Jay Clark, a
defensive back for Boston College,
saw his longtime friend seal the
game with Michigan's fifth score.
"The first thing on my mind is
by Andy De Korte
Daily Sports Writer
Spending a brilliant late summer
weekend on a golf course is a dream
shared by many a lifetime hacker as
well as competitive golfers. In suc-
cessfully defending the Lady
Wolverine Invitational title, the
Michigan women's golf team took
the dream one step further.
Carding a 992, Michigan (338-
329-325) ended Sunday with an im-
pressive 15-shot victory over its
closest competitor Bowling Green
(327-348-332) to keep the crown.
Last year's individual medalist
was Michigan's Becky Hayes. This
year, a Wolverine almost took the
crown again. Wendy Bigler tied for
first with Ferris State's Amy
Summers, and Purdue's Carrie Ko-
toshirodo at 241. However, light-
ning did not strike twice for Michi-
gan, and Bigler lost the one-hole
playoff to Summers.
After 36 holes on Saturday,
Michigan was closely followed by
Purdue and Bowling Green, four and
eight strokes off the pace, respec-
tively.
Although they were in the lead,
Wolverine coach Sue LeClair was
not completely satisfied.
"I was a little disappointed, I
kind of expected to shoot a little
better," LeClair said, "I think they
were trying too hard, especially dur-
ing the morning round, but after I
saw the other scores I was feeling a
little better."
On Sunday, Bigler and Erica Zon-
der, who finished fourth with 243,
led the Wolverines' charge over
their 5,972-yard course. Both
recorded tournament-low 77s to
provide the 15-shot cushion, keying
the tournament-low round of 325.
LeClair felt that the home ter-
rain probably helped Michigan.
"We're used to the hilly course and
See GOLF, Page 5
'M women golfers
win Wolverine Invite
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