4
When was the last time
Michigan won two straight
games to open the season?
(For the answer,
turn to the bottom of page 2)
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Af.
The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday September 16,1991
M'
magic ends
Irish lucky streak
Matt Rennie
Michigan execution
hexes luck of the Irish
As the final seconds ticked off the clock at Michigan Stadium Saturday,
the Michigan players knew the wait was finally over. Their time had ar-
rived. They had beaten Notre Dame.
How many nights had they stayed awake thinking about seven-turnover
games? Or missed field goals? Or consecutive kickoff returns for touch-
downs? Or passes deflected off the hands of one Irish receiver into those of
another?
How long had it been? Put it this way: no one on the current Wolverine
roster had ever stood on the winning side of this annual battle. Some had
9 agonized through each of Michigan's four straight losses.
The last time the Wolverines won this game was in 1986. Think about
that. 1986. Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States then. And
some people still had respect for him.
How long had it been? A long, long time.
Yet, for the Wolverines to achieve what had become their impossible
dream, they had to wait just a little bit longer. They were not going to put
this game away early. It was not going to be won in a flash. Vindication for
four years of suffering was going to take a full 60 minutes of concentra-
tion.
Sure, the time would come for big plays, and when it did, Michigan was
* ready. But before those big plays could happen, the Wolverines had to ig-
nore the situation around them and execute the basics. And wait.
No one realized this more than Wolverine quarterback Elvis Grbac. Last
year, Grbac threw a key interception with the Wolverines knocking on the
door of the Irish end zone. He wanted too much too soon.
Saturday, Grbac exhibited a veteran's poise, standing tall in the pocket
and hitting secondary receivers. He played flawless football, completing
20 of 22 passes with no interceptions.
Of course, the one completion everybody remembers is the 25-yard
touchdown strike to Desmond Howard on fourth down. However, Grbac
set the stage for those heroics with a slow, methodical offensive approach,
picking apart the Irish defense with the deadly precision of an assassin.
"One of my main goals for this game was to keep my patience," Grbac
said. "I didn't want to try to do too much. We were just looking for first
downs."
And that's exactly what Grbac did. He was not rifling 35-yard bombs
all game. He didn't need to. When it was third-and-six, he'd find an open re-
ceiver seven yards away, and Michigan would have another first down.
Though it wasn't fancy, the chains kept moving. And so did the clock.
In fact, the Wolverines possessed the ball for an amazing two-thirds of
the game. Heading into the contest, Michigan coach Gary Moeller empha-
sized the need for ball control. Traditionally, controlling the ball and at-
tempting 22 passes in the same game are mutually exclusive categories.
Moeller disagrees.
"There's a lot of ways to control the ball," Moeller said. "You can't
run all the time, and there are safe ways to throw the football."
Grbac seemed to find them all. He kept the Irish guessing by hitting
eight different receivers. This helped open up the field for tailback Ricky
Powers, who rambled for 164 yards.
Again, Powers never did anything incredibly spectacular (his longest
run was only 16 yards), but he wasn't concerned about breaking the big play
See RENNIE, Page 5
Wolverines
'perfect' in
24-14 victory
by Jeff Sheran
Daily Football Writer
Make no mistake; Michigan top-
pled Notre Dame Saturday, 24-14.
That's just what the Wolverines
did - make no mistake. After hav-
ing lost four consecutive games to
the Fighting Irish on a few strategi-
cally placed errors, Michigan fig-
ured it would play mistake-free
football. It worked.
Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz,
infamous for capitalizing on Michi-
gan's and the rest of the nation's
mistakes, could only praise the
Wolverines after the game.
"Michigan played about as per-
fect a game as they can play," he
said. "We had to come in and play a
perfect game and we didn't."
However, the Irish threatened
their fifth straight victory anyway,
closing Michigan's fourth-quarter
lead to 17-14.But Elvis Grbac hit
flanker Desmond Howard for an
electrifying 25-yard touchdown
strike on fourth-and-one for the fi-
nal margin of victory.
The pass was the longest of the
day for Grbac, who completed 20 of
22 attempts for 195 yards, one
touchdown and no interceptions.
"After I threw that touchdown
pass I was almost crying," Grbac
said. "We wanted to play our best
game and that's what we did today."
Grbac's pinpoint passing, com-
bined with Ricky Powers' 164
See NOTRE DAME, Page 4
Junior split end Desmond "Magic" Howard was untouchable all day against Notre Dame, especially here, as he
took a first half reverse handoff for a 29-yard touchdown. .
Howard magically snags fourth down pass
by Matt Rennie
Daily Football Writer
It seems like every Michigan-Notre Dame
game comes down to plays like this. With nine
minutes left in the game, Michigan had the ball
on the Notre Dame 25-yard line. Fourth down,
one yard to go.
The stage was set. Strength vs. strength.
Michigan's heralded running attack against Notre
Dame's big play defense, which had stopped the
Wolverines on a fourth-and-one earlier in the
game. It was the epitome of all the great football
clich6s: a real knock-down, drag 'em out, runnin'
it up the gut, battle in the trenches.
There was only one problem with that sce-
nario. The Wolverines threw the ball. In fact, not
only did they throw it, they threw it deep, really
deep, as in end zone deep. Actually, almost too
deep.
But when the ball finally came down, it fell
into the outstretched hands of diving Wolverine
receiver Desmond "Magic" Howard, giving
Michigan its final 24-14 margin of victory.
Wolverine coach Gary Moeller's play selec-
tion caught nearly everyone, including the Notre
Dame defense, by surprise.
"I really didn't think they would throw it,"
Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said. "But by the
same token, we couldn't have been in a better cov-
erage for it. The kid made a great throw, and it
was a great catch."
Even in the Michigan huddle, the Wolverines
weren't expecting such a call to come in from the
sideline.
"My first reaction was, 'That's a gutsy call,"'
Michigan quarterback Elvis Grbac said. "I think
anybody would be surprised in that situation."
Grbac allowed the suspense to build by call-
ing a timeout before the play in order to avoid a
delay-of-game penalty. However, Moeller did
not change his call during the timeout.
"I got stopped too many times on short
yardage," Moeller said. "It takes a guy like Elvis
to throw it and a guy like Desmond to make it
See CATCH, Page 4
One tough
decision
Hot spikers take two of
three at Rice Showcase
by Ken Davidoff
Daily Sports Writer
The phone ringing at all hours
of the night. Complimentary T-
shirts and various other
accoutrements. Assurances of "not
to worry" about financial
difficulties, that "we'll take care
of you."
Unfortunately, these images
spring to mind when the term
"athletic recruiting" is brought up
in conversation.
However, all is not evil in the
jungle known as recruiting. Many
competitive college sports get by
without indulging in any known
unethical practices. Nevertheless,
it can still be a wearing process for
both the recruits and the recruiters.
The Michigan women's
volleyball team received accolades
this past spring for its solid
incoming class. Four frosh have
arrived on the scene, including two
from California. And just like any
other exceptional high school
athletes, they went through a
Even in non-revenue sports,
recruiting is a business
January. Approximately six other
schools also got in touch with
Crowe.
She would not call her
experience an entirely enjoyable
one. "It was hectic," Crowe said.
"Some coaches were persistent and
were always around. Some became
quite upset when you turned them
down."
Like many recruits, Crowe
considered more than the
volleyball court when making her
decision. "Peggy introduces you to
specialized people in your field
(Crowe is in the School of
Engineering)," Crowe explained.
"She lets you see what you're
getting yourself into. Some
schools just kept on telling you
why you should go there. Peggy
wasn't all mouth; she showed you
why."
Much like Crowe, middle-
outside hitter Robyn Read of
Hoopeston, Ill., was not
completely enthusiastic about the
recruiting process. A recipient of
by Adam Miller
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan volleyball team
(5-2) continues to impress in pre-
conference play. This weekend, the
Wolverines almost matched last
season's victory total of six with a
2-1 showing at the Rice-Baden
Volleyball Showcase. Friday
evening, Michigan lost to DePaul,
the eventual tournament champion,
but came back Saturday to beat Utah
and host Rice.
Michigan coach Peggy Bradley-
Doppes had expressed concern about
the match with DePaul before the
tournament, labeling the Blue
Demons a "gutsy team." Of special
concern for Michigan was senior
outside hitter Dawn Gura, DePaul's
all-time kill leader with 1,381 go-
ing in.
Gura was a force in the match
with 11 kills. But it was her team-
mate, Susanne Fogerty, who proved
to be the real problem for the Maize
and Blue. Fogerty smashed a whop-
ping 25 kills, and dished out 6 as-
Wolverines would also make their
mark on the All-Tournament field,
as performances like these were
good enough to place both
Thompson and Horrigan on the All-
Tournament team.
Michigan atoned for the first
night's loss Saturday morning by
using slightly over an hour to dump
Utah, 15-9, 15-12, 15-13. The Utes
managed only 33 kills in the match,
while the Wolverines put away 49,
with Horrigan accounting for 17.
Sophomore outside hitter JoAnna
Collias also came up big for the
Maize and Blue with eight kills, and
junior middle blocker Chris White
led the team with 10 digs.
Thompson once again was the mas-
ter of the set, with 30 out of
Michigan's 37 assists.
Michigan wrapped up its stay in
Houston with a match against Rice.
The Owls feature a unique style of
play, a concentrated outside attack,
which the Wolverines had prepared
for all week. The preparation paid
_ >r: .