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) 'M' Sports Calendar AP Top 25 Griddes 'M' Athlete of the Week Q&A Sheran My Thoughts Football Coverage Volleyball 2 2 2 2 3 3 45 8 Y 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: .