I
Sports Monday Trivia
When was the last time a team
scored more than 50 points
* against the Wolverines, and
what team was it?
(For the answer,
turn to the bottom of page 2)
Inside:SportsMonda
'M'Sports Calendar 2
AP Top 25 Results 2
'M' Athelete of the Week 2
Q&A 3
Sheran My Thoughts 3
Football Coverage 4-5
Cross Country 6
Field Hockey 6
Griddes 7
4fir
Ws!
The Michinan Da~ily - Snorts Mondav
September30, 1991
nw r r 44T - -
No.
1
FSU
leaves
6 M'
Blue
Fluid Seminole offense
burns Wolverines, 51-31
by Phil Green
Daily Football Writer
Usually a 40-yard touchdown in-
tcrception return will be considered
a football game's big play. And
when the interception occurs on the
second play from scrimmage, every-
body remembers it vividly. Espe-
cially the winning coach.
However, following Florida
State's 51-31 victory over Michigan
Saturday, Seminole coach Bobby
Bowden had difficulty recalling
Terrell Buckley's interception off
Elvis Grbac's first pass.
It's no wonder Bowden was a
little confused about that "big
play." The battle for No. 1, as it had
been billed, had enough turning
points to make even the best novel-
ist jealous. The first half provided
an enire game's worth of excite-
ment, as the teams exploded for
seven touchdowns in drives that
didn't last much longer than the
blink of an eye, and J.D. Carlson
added a field goal that ricocheted
off the cross bar through the up-
rights.
"It was fun at first," Wolverine
tailback Ricky Powers said. "The
shoot-out felt good."
The Seminoles' second touch-
down, a four-yard shovel-pass off a
fake field goal, was set up by an ear-
lier reception by quarterback Casey
Weldon. He originally lateralled
the ball to reserve quarterback
Charlie Ward, who had lined up as a
wide receiver. After looking down-
field, Ward fired the ball back
across to Weldon for a 29-yard
screen.
Michigan displayed some fire-
power of its own in the opening
half. As in his two previous games,
split end Desmond Howard ignited
the charge, this time with two daz-
zling touchdown grabs of 13 and 42
yards.
The half ended with Grbac's sec-
ond interception of the afternoon,
by linebacker Howard Dinkins in
the endzone. The Wolverines' in-
ability to capitalize from inside the
five-yard line foreshadowed what
was to come after the intermission.
"It really hurt us," Michigan
coach Gary Moeller said. "We
shouldn't have let it get inter-
cepted; we probably should have
just thrown it away. But the re-
ceiver (Tony McGee), too, has to
keep that from happening."
In the second half, Florida State
took control. The Seminoles proved
worthy of their No. 1. ranking, capi-
talizing on almost every Wolverine
miscue.
"We took momentum, they took
it back, then we took it back and
never lost it," Bowden said.
See SEMINOLES, Page 5
Florida State fullback Edgar Bennett (22) wards off Michigan lineman Erick Anderson as he plows through the Wolverine defense.
Michigan gets death penalty for poor execution
"Hey, I want to talk to all of you," Florida
State defensive lineman James Chaney shouted
to the media standing behind the Seminole bench
waiting for the clock to run out. "I am the
starting noseguard, and guess what? I'm still
standing.
"I was not big enough Theodore
before the game, but I'm big Cox
enough now," he boasted.
Three feet away from him,
quarterback Casey Weldon
pulled a piece of embedded
sod from his helmet, held it
up to the cameras and said:
"This is going back to
Tallahassee."
True to the predictions,>
Michigan used its power to
apply numerous licks to the ll
Seminoles. Weldon ate the £ . -
turf all afternoon. Yet hit
after hit, he and his teammates kept popping back
up.
And while the Wolverines were busy nailing
people into the ground, the Seminoles worried
more about execution.
It seemed every time a Wolverine defender
was about to nail Weldon for a sack, he would
throw a screen to an area of the field devoid of
defenders. Amp Lee, for instance, would then
turn a short catch into a huge gain.
"The most alarming part was our fundamen-
tals," Michigan linebacker Erick Anderson said.
"We didn't tackle very well, and we gave up
some big plays."
The two biggest plays came on Florida
State's first drive of the game. On first down in
Michigan territory, the Seminoles ran
something coach Bobby Bowdon called the
'crocodile' play. Weldon dropped back to throw
and lateralled the ball across field to Charlie
Ward, who then threw back to Weldon. At the
same time, the entire offensive line positioned
itself in front of Weldon, enabling the
quarterback to run for 29 yards. That set up a
touchdown on a fake field goal.
"Trick plays," you think, "that's why they
scored." But the Wolverines know better. Trick
plays only work if you can execute properly.
"When your base stuff is working, then the
trick plays become even more effective,"
Moeller said.
"We weren't just going to sit back and try to
stop trick plays," Anderson said. "They may
hurt you on a trick play, but a trick play isn't
going to win the game."
Florida State didn't need to run the trick
plays. When Lee can break outside, cut back past
Anderson, and outrun defenders for a 44-yard
touchdown, why get fancy?
"I don't understand how we let Lee run
around the end like that," Moeller said.
"You've got to keep him bottled up."
Admittedly, the Seminoles had much more
speed than Michigan. But that shouldn't prevent
the Wolverines from containing receivers and
running backs, who racked up 460 yards.
And the yardage came easy. Just look at how
much time the Seminoles' scoring drives took:
2:29, 1:01, :53, 2:12, 1:45, and finally 4:29. The
only reason the last drive took over four
minutes was that Florida State was killing the
clock. See COX, Page 8
Michigan split end Desmond Howard watches an Elvis Grbac pass sail
over his head in the Wolverine endzone.
Honeymoon's over;
Gophers spike 'M'
by Josh Dubow
Daily Hockey WriterA
,-% z-
by Ken Davidoff
Daily Sports Writer
Since the dawn of time, histori-
cal tragic figures like Napoleon,
Gerry Cooney, and the Reverend Jim
Bakker have proven that it's often
best to quit while you're ahead.
The Michigan women's volley-
ball team felt this way after being
swept by Minnesota yesterday, 15-7,
15-13 and 15-3, to fall to 1-1 for the
weekend. The Wolverines (1-1 in the
Big Ten, 9-3 overall) swept Iowa
15-7, 15-8 and 15-1 Friday night.
"The kids are taking it pretty
tough," Wolverine coach Peggy
Bradley-Doppes said. "I was disap-
pointed with the overall execution
today. We need to be focused every
game."
Bradley-Doppes knew her play-
ers would need an impressive offen-
sive effort against the Golden Go-
phers; they couldn't come through
against the intimidating Minnesota
defense. They compiled 32 kills to
Minnesota's 52, and the Gophers' 47
Whatever you do, always keep your head
r
The silver lining from the cloud
that loomed over Minneapolis was
the Wolverines' solid effort against
Iowa. Fiona Davidson's 10 kills and
Tarnisha Thompson's 31 assists
paved the way for an easy victory.
"We played with reckless aban-
don," Bradley-Doppes said. "We
were tentative for the first 10 min-
utes, but then we started with good
transitional play. We played our
style of volleyball."
Michigan's .524 hitting percent-
age vs. the Hawkeyes set a team
record for both overall and confer-
ence play. It was the seventh-best
single-game performance ever in a
Big Ten match.
In comparison to last year's per-
formance, the Wolverines have ex-
celled. They didn't win their first
Big Ten match until November,
winning two Big Ten contests the
entire season. Yet Bradley-Doppes
said she and her players were not
satisfied with the weekend's out-
UP.
Anton Fiodorov's hockey coach told him
this when he played in the Soviet Union.
Though he now plays in the United States,
Fiodorov still heeds it, both on and off the
ice.
Fiodorov is a 19-year-old first-year student
from St. Petersburg and a member of the
Michigan hockey team.
Since June, Fiodorov has faced and
overcome adversity. His knowledge of the
English language has grown from "four or
five words" to an ability to understand most
of his classes and have conversations with
anyone he encounters.
Back in February, Fiodorov's Soviet squad
- the USSR Junior Red Army team, based in,
as he calls his hometown, Leningrad - came
to play against Ann Arbor's Pioneer and
Huron high schools as part of an American
tour. Each Soviet player was placed in the
home of an American counterpart; Fiodorov
stayed the week with the Wilkins family.
Tom Wilkins, a senior hockey captain at
Pioneer, became friends with Fiodorov
instantly.
brin(
taler
to America
the first one on our list."
It was not difficult for Berenson to
n Fio d r lro v convince Fiodorov to come to Michigan.
"I was very excited to get the chance to
gh ocke vstudy here," Fiodorov said. "American
education is the best education, and Michigan
1 / is a very prestigious school. When Coach
TS tO Berenson said, 'You can play and study here,'
that was important to me, because I am a
student. Now I have one problem, and that is
English."
Fiodorov overcame his language
difficulties while spending the summer with
the Wilkins family. He studied English for
eight hours a day. But before he could come to
Michigan, Fiodorov had to take either the SAT
or ACT, or receive a waiver from the NCAA
exempting him from the tests. However,
Berenson knew there would be no difficulties
in receiving the waiver.
"If the test isn't offered where the student
is, it is not fair to make him take it," Berenson
said. "It was a pretty clear-cut decision."
But once Fiodorov arrived at Michigan, he
realized that there was a major difference
3\ ~between the emphasis on academics here and in
the Soviet Union.
When I wa's on junior team, our coaches
did not care about study," Fiodorov said.
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