Men's Soccer vs. Michigan St. Today, 4 p.m. Mitchell Field The Michigan Daily sthe great scheduling debate still unsolved SPORTS ( Wednesday, October 2, 1991 Volleyball vs. Ohio St. Friday, 7:30 p.m. Keen Arena Page 9 Men's soccer looks to upend Spartans by Theodore Cox Daily Football Writer This week's Michigan-Iowa game should end two big debates. ne, who has the better football am. Two, which scheduling strat- egy is better to enter the conference season with: playing weak competi- tion or top 20 competition. Iowa took the easy road this year. the Hawkeyes enter the game 3-0 with wins over assorted baked goods Hawaii, Iowa State, and Northern Illinois. "I couldn't be happier," Iowa Goach Hayden Fry said of his schedule. "We're 3-0, we're rela- tively healthy, we've gotten to play an awful lot of players. Anytime you get to play a lot of the troops, the morale is high. If we'd played someone tougher, we might not be undefeated right now." Fry's philosophy is this: he's had all month to prepare for the S olverines. On the other hand, Michigan has played top 10 teams Notre Dame and Florida State, plus Boston Col- lege on the road. "I think it is important that you have at least one big game in there," Michigan coach Gary Moeller said. "Notre Dame and Florida State back-to-back before playing Iowa might be overdoing it. But I still like to play good opponents." Fry had hoped the Wolverines would win this past weekend. A victory would have left them over- confident. Yet, one could argue Michigan's morale is down, and Iowa's confidence is high. "There is no pat answer," Moeller said on the matter. STARTING OVER: Michigan State has played so poorly, Spartan coach George Perles has to be glad it won't affect whether his team will go to the Rose Bowl or not. "This is the real advantage of be- ing in a conference," Perles said. "Everybody is 0-0. Everybody has all their non-conference games out of the way; everybody has done all their experimenting." It's safe to assume most of Per- les' experiments, have failed. The first "Fire George" signs appeared at Spartan Stadium Saturday. Jim Miller has replaced Bret Johnson at quarterback in an at- tempt to spark the Spartan's nonex- istent offense. BIG TEN HONORS: Indiana's Vaughn Dunbar is this week's Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Iowa's Leroy Smith took the Defensive Player of the Week award. Dunbar scored three touch- downs and ran for 265 yards in Sat- urday's 27-27 tie with Missouri. by Shawn DuFresne The start to the Michigan men's soccer club season thus far has been an improvement over last year's. However, the biggest indicator of how far the club has progressed will come today at 4 p.m. when they face archrival Michigan State at Mitchell Field. "Most of our losses have been close, whereas last year we lost by larger margins," co-captain Dick Hillary said. "Our offense has yet to produce substantially. It is only a matter of time until our offense gets in synch." The club hopes to be running on all cylinders offensively today against the Spartans. A victory im- proves the Wolverines record to 5- 4-1, and gives them state bragging rights. After a 3-1 victory over Central Michigan last week, the club has been preparing to face the Spartans, who lost their last game to top- ranked Indiana, 4-0. MSU's unique offense will pro- vide a challenge for Michigan. In- stead of deploying the typical lineup of four defenders, three mid- fielders and three forwards, the Spartan attack consists of five de- fenders, four midfielders and one forward. "They like to pack their defense, and then send different players up all the time to assist the forward," Hillary said. The club will try to adapt defen- sively to State's formation by mak- ing many switches during the game. Communication on the Michigan side will be crucial in order to avoid defensive breakdowns. Co-captain Tim Puckett, Kelly Kuehne, Brian Rosewarne, and goal- keeper Marc Kuiper will be called upon to lead the Michigan defense against the unorthodox Spartan of- fense. Offensively, forwards Doug Spamer and Reza Sadjadpour are hav- ing productive seasons and will try to put the ball in the net. KENNETH SMULLEH/Uaily Running back Rickey Powers and the rest of the Wolverines will invade Iowa City, providing the Hawkeyes with their toughest test yet -A 'VNothing can cover Mant Rennie n1- In case you were wondering what I thought... BEEBE FANS FLOCK TO CHADRON ST. In just another indication of the ridiculous emphasis placed on sports in our society, Buffalo Bills receiver Don Beebe is apparently influenc- ing the college decisions of Buffalo youth. Beebe was enrolled in several different schools, including Illinois, before he found his Utopia at Chadron State, a tiny NAIA school in South Dakota. The Bills drafted Beebe out of Chadron State in 1989, and he has gone on to be- come a cult hero in Buffalo. Apparently, his status has been confirmed by the high school seniors in the greater Buffalo area. Beebe recently said that he feels obligated to return to his alma mater to receive his degree because nearly a dozen people have enrolled at Chadron State. Think about that. Chadron State. In South Dakota. Now, I'm not one to insult South Dakota, or North Dakota for that matter, although who would know the difference? However,J am amazed that Buffalo youths would be so enam- ored with their athletic heroes that they would want to follow them to places like Chadron State. Just consider the distance between upstate New York and South Dakota. For me to make a trip like that, the school would have to have a lot to offer. What exactly was going through the minds of these students? "Well, the weather's great at UCLA, North- western's campus is really pretty, and Yale's got a great reputation. How will I ever decided? Gee, let's see where ol' Beebe went to school... "Hmm, well, all right. Chadron State it is!" What is even more ludicrous is that we're talking about Don Beebe. Fine, the guy's a solid VAAup rei receiver, but I don't care if he's God's gift to football, I would not go to an NAIA school in South Dakota because of him. OLYMPIC FOLLIES Whether one is an Isiah Thomas fan or not, the entire Olympic basketball team situation is absurd. Let's start with Michael Jordan, whose team responsibilities apparently include, in ad- dition to carrying the scoring load, selecting the team roster. Jordan reportedly did not want Thomas on the team because of Thomas' refusal to pass him the ball in an all-star game that was played in sometime around 1911. I wish I could give you more details about the game, but like everyone except Jordan, I have long since forgotten about the game and the alleged "freeze-out." Check local listings for an upcoming NBC salute to Jordan's memory. However, Thomas should not be exempt from blame in the whole affair. Thomas goes to the press with statements like, "I'm going to take the high road on this matter, but I'm not happy about it." What exactly does that mean? If he's going to take the "high road," that implies that he isn't going to comment, which obviously wasn't the case. Make up your mind, Zeke. Then there's Magic Johnson, who remained silent while the whole controversy was going on, then two days after the roster was an- nounced, issues a statement that Isiah should be on the team. It was no secret that Isiah wasn't going to be on the team, as evidenced by Pistons GM Jack McCloskey's resignation from- the selection committee which was dated two weeks before the official roster announcement. Where was r le' bigg9ut Magic during all this time? He obviously knew what was going on, so waiting until after the announcement was a case of too little, too late. Would Isiah Thomas' real friends please stand up? SPARTAN FOLLIES I want to respect Michigan State. I really do. However, the folks over in East Lansing refuse to let me. Let's start with the Spartan public relations department. When the season began, these wiz- ards figured running back Tico Duckett and wide receiver Courtney Hawkins would be Heisman Trophy candidates. Then again, they also figured the Spartans would beat Central Michigan. Anyway, in order to promote Duckett and Hawkins, these P.R. geniuses (an oxymoron, if there ever was one) began the DUCKETT DOCKETT and the COURTney REPORT, which were fax machine releases detailing the statis- tics of both players. These shameless efforts seem rather comical when one considers that Duckett has yet to rush for 100 yards in a game and that Hawkins has one touchdown in three games. Meanwhile, Michigan State coach George Perles called his choice of starting quarterback Bret Johnson a "gut feeling." Perles having a gut feeling is like Dumbo having an ear ache. Good ol' Georgie must be thinking that his gut feeling was just gas, now that his team is off to an 0-3 start. This is just after State lost their second game in three years to that national jug- gernaut Rutgers. Perles is probably searching for a school to replace the mighty Scarlet Knights on future Spartan schedules. Maybe he could schedule Chadron State. Vaughn off and running, Former Wolverine Jon Vaughn returned a kickoff for a 99 yard touchdown in a losing effort for the Patriots Sunday. j-awk by Theodore Cox Daily Football Writer eyes another Blue upset Twenty years from now, some- where in Iowa, Hawkeye quarter- back Matt Rodgers will be sitting in a bar sipping beer, and someone will ask him: "Do you remember 'The Drive'?" It is something Michigan fans won't easily forget, either. Iowa trailed the Wolverines a year ago, 23-17, with 4:37 left in the game. Starting at the Hawkeye 15-yard line, Rodgers completed five of six passes, connecting on plays of four, 16,19, 16, and 13 yards. With 1:09 on the clock, fullback Paul Kujawa plunged over the goalline, silencing the 105,517 in at- tendance at Michigan Stadium. Final score: Iowa 24, Michigan 23. "That was the best feeling I've ever had since I've been a little kid," Rodgers said. "We just did it all right. Everything just went right then. "It's crazy because you're sitting in the huddle and you know you're going to do it. It's a crazy feeling. It's like the pinnacle of confidence. Everyone feels it and everyone is Olooking into each other's eyes know- Rodgers directs Iowa against Michigan in Big Ten showdown Rodgers couldn't get the job done. "We hit the brick wall at Ohio State," Rodgers said. "That really hurt us. I mean Michigan went through the same thing. You play as well as you can and you lose. It re- ally let the air out of our sails at the end of the season." Last year's experiences are just part of why Rodgers is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Moeller puts Rodgers on the same level as the last two quar- terbacks his team has faced, Notre Dame's Rick Mirer and Florida State's Casey Weldon. "Rodgers is a fine quarterback," Moeller said. "Rodgers is in the same class as Mirer and Weldon. Those three are fine quarterbacks. "This kid's a fifth-year senior. He has the advantage of playing at home. He has a good offensive line, which is one of the best things a quarterback wants. He is one of our major concerns when you look at it from a defensive standpoint." This is Rodgers' third year at the helm of the Hawkeyes. He passed for over 2,000 yards his first two seasons, and this year he is well on his way to reaching that mark again. NUN : :: : vjv j" N .;. .;j j. N::%. .:" . .1v .,v .a. J ,.. . :x:..:. :"' ?'.''':' {Y.'.N.... : i :;; ::; 1:1:!A fyy{:":"t :IA,.! ,.. .y":'l "":" r""rR 1N . , an ~t,.;?.%1?tI;kyS°" S . '::: %% %%1. r.:CO'""I "hJ TRY' : 'P0:%:y L"...41.. V... ;:"{'''j:::;:Y{ {. .'{r : :.y4 : ":": ,1J: :::1v: : ,'{,'"%':'"Yyy 1~N' +:~i'j:":"">o.":":1' A :: N .j .v "{;.; " 1 ". {"y:'kn1 j"'" '""%%''{"1' .j { .".:{vr".+ j"1{vj ;N".:{,1 '"" 2y PRO.1O NC E aN y,:.. :l5r:" 4.3A$C'.X4A~.. A'A j.1 ?".41{'%y ~%; ; .::s44 .j :.yA . '~:.;. 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