Page 4 -The Michigan Daily-Sports Monday- November 11, 1991

MICHIGAN

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Rushing
Plaver Att

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Powers trio sends Blue off and rushing

R. Powe rs 10
J. Johnson 11
Wheatley 9
McThomas 6
Crbac 2
Howard 1
Wpshington 4
Collins 1
Buff 1

81
69
141
38
-12
18
19
3
3

8.1
6.2
15
6.3
-6.0
18
4.8
3.0
3.0

36
15
74
18
0
18
6
3
3

Let ette 2 10 5.0 8
Totals 47 370 7.8 74
Defense
Player Tac Ast Tot
Peoples 1 1 2
Holdren 4 2 6
Wallace 1 0 1
Burch 1 0 1
Ware 5 1 6
Williams 2 0 2
Brown 1 1 2
Dottin 1 0 1
Buff 2 0 2
D. Johnson 3 2 5
Ritter 3 1 4
Blankenship 1 0 1
Anderson 5 2 7
Maloney 1 0 1
Townsend 3 0 3
Walker 4 1 5
Steuk 0 1 1
Dudlar 4 0 4
Marshall 0 1 1
Stanley 2 2 4
Simpson 2 0 2
Rekowski 3 0 3
Hgnderson 2 2 4
Dpvis 5 0 5
Aghakhan 3 0 3
Dyson 2 2 4
Evans 2 2 4
Foster 1 0 1
Receiving
Player No Yds Lg TD
Howard 4 102 64 1
IahDyne 3 75 46 0
J..Johnson 1 19 19 0
Ellison 1 9 9 0
L Johnson 1 15 15 0
Malveaux 1 6 6 0
R. Powers 1 33 33 0
Totals 12 259 64 1
Passing
Player C-A Yds TD Int
Grbac 9-16 229 1 0
SoIlom 2-2 24 0 0
Collins 1-5 6 0 0

by Matt Rennie
Daily Football Writer
At last Monday's weekly press
luncheon, Michigan coach Gary
Moeller complained that although
the Wolverine offense had been suc-
cessful all season, he wanted to see
more out of the running game.
"I want to see us have a 300-yard
day rushing," Moeller stressed. "I
want somebody to break a long run
for us. It's something we have to
have. I tell our kids every play has
the potential of going all the way."
While most people felt Moeller
had little to complain about, the
Wolverine running backs took his
comments to heart. Saturday,
Michigan's formidable trio of tail-
backs granted both of Moeller's
wishes with its most productive
game of the season.
Desmond Howard initiated the
Michigan attack by scoring on the
first and only play of the Wolver-
ines' opening drive on a pass from
quarterback Elvis Grbac. The play
forced Wildcat coach Francis Peay
to reconsider his defensive scheme.
That Howard only scored one
touchdown for the first time this
season is more of a tribute to the
Wolverine running game than to the
Wildcat defense.
"The last couple of games,
they've played a defense which tries
to stop the run first," starting tail-
back Ricky Powers said. "I think
they tried to do that here, but after
that start, they changed their game-
plan."
Powers got things started by
opening the Wolverines' second
drive with a 36-yard dash off right
tackle to the Northwestern two-
yard line. The next play, he gave
Michigan a 14-0 lead.
"Ricky Powers really; impressed
me," Peay said. "He has an awful
lot of leg drive and strength to go
with the speed."
Powers shared the credit for his
performance with his teammates.

,

Michigan fullback Greg McThomas breaks.free from Northwestern nose guard Mike Shares in Saturday's game. The Wolverines clawed the
Wildcats, 59-14, as McThomas and the rest of the Michigan running backs combined to rush for 382 yards in 47 attempts.

"We started fast and Elvis was
making the right checks," Powers
said. "I just went in there and saw
some big holes."
The holes were there for all of
Michigan's runners, who amassed
36$ yards for their highest total of
the season. After his second touch-
down, Powers passed the baton to
Jesse Johnson, who responded with
his own touchdown runs of 13 and
nine yards.

Rookie Tyrone Wheatley ran the
leg following Johnson's brief but
effective stint. Wheatley, arguably
the best third-string tailback in the
country, displayed the promise that
made him one of the nation's top
high school recruits a year ago. He
carried for 67 yards on his first
eight carries, including a 29-yard
touchdown dance that would have
made Fred Astaire proud.
Wheatley then capped his best

day with a 74-yard dash for another
touchdown. The run was the longest
of Wheatley's young career and gave
him his first 100-yard rushing day.
"Freshmen can't be freshmen all
year long," Wheatley said. "It feels
good because I've been seeking a 100-
yard game all year.."
Wheatley was especially proud
of the versatility he displayed in his
nine carries.
"The other players started call-

ing me Around-the-outside Ty-
rone,"' he said, "so in some ways the
dipsy-doodle move was more grati-
fying; I'm not known for that."
Peay came away from the game
impressed with the Wolverines'
strength and depth at tailback.
"We did not stop the running
game effectively. We let them jump
on us," Peay said. "They're out-
standing. They're the best trio I've
seen."


Totals

12-23 259 1

Scoring Summar
1stQuarter: Howard 64-yd pass fr
Grbac, Carlson kick, 13:22, 7-0 Michig
Powers 2-yd run, Carlson kick, 11:22,
-0 Michigan.
Powers 6-yd run, Carlson kick, 10:07,
o Michigan,
Carlson 50-yd field goal, 0:16, 24-7
Michigan.
2nd Quarter:
Johnson 13-yd run, Carlson kick, 13:5
31-7 Michigan.
Johnson 9-yd run, Carlson kick, 9:02,
7 Michigan.
Wheatley 29-yd run, Carlson kick, 1;:3
45-7 Michigan.
3rd, Quarter:
Powers 1-yd run, Carlson kick, 5:21,c
Michigan.
4th Quarter:
Wheatley 74-yd run, Carlson kick, 7:1
59-14 Michigan.

0
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om
an.
14
21-
i4,
, 38-
4,
52-7
17,

GREEN
Continued from page 1
this Michigan team was here to
play."
The quick scoring outburst pro-
vided the exact results the Wolver-
ines were looking for.
"It's kind of demoralizing,"
Wildcat halfback Dennis Lundy
said. "It's tough enough to score as
it is and especially when they're (so
far ahead)."
"There are two ways a football
game can go," Northwestern coach
Francis Peay said. "Number one, one
team can jump out and run away
from the other. Or number two,
they can scratch and claw at each
other the whole game. We let them
jump on us."
The Wildcats had heard about
and seen films of the heralded
Wolverine attack and Heisman can-
didate Howard. However, they had
never seen them live and in person.
Howard's 64-yard scamper sent
them for a quick reality check.
Howard totaled more than 200
yards in the game. And although
Northwestern managed to keep him

out of the end zone for the rest of
the afternoon, its concentrated ef-
forts to contain him freed up the
remainder of the Wolverine offense.
On each of the Wolverines' next
two possessions, they quickly
moved inside Northwestern's 10-
yard line. Usually, the defense packs
itself into the center of the field in
preparation for a run up the middle.
But against Michigan, the fade in the
corner is always a dangerous possi-
bility. And, following Howard's
early explosion, the Wildcats
geared their defense to prevent any-
more of his fireworks. While
Northwestern kept its eyes on
Howard, Michigan kept the ball
with tailback Ricky Powers, who
twice cruised in for easy scores.
"When Desmond broke the first
one, they were like, Geez, how are
we going to stop this guy now?"'
Grbac said. "They just kept on dou-
ble teaming him, and Ricky just
started running all over the place.
They didn't know what to do -
stop the pass, stop the run? Once a
defense does that, they lose confi-
dence and that's what happened."
And Michigan coasted the rest of

the way. Three minutes after
Howard's initial burst, the Wolver-
ines led, 21-0.
Northwestern did what it
wanted - they kept Howard from
scoring. But in doing so the Wild-
cats left themselves open to be ex-
ploited by the rest of Michigan's
offense.
i
STANDINGS
Conf. Overall
WL WLT
Michigan 60 810
Iowa 5 1 8 1 0
Indiana 4 2 5 3 1
Ohio State 4 2 7 2 0
Illinois 4 2 63 0
Purdue 2 4 3 6 0
Northwestern 2 4 3 6 0
Michigan State 2 4 2 7 0
Minnesota 1 5 2 7 0
Wisconsin 0 6 3 6 0
NEXT WEEK
Michigan at Illinois
Iowa at Northwestern
Michigan State at Purdue
Indiana at Ohio State
Wisconsin at Minnesota

WILDCATS
Continued from page 1
you have two touchdowns after
three (offensive) plays, that's a
fairly decent pace."
While Michigan's explosive
start left 'Northwestern bewil-
dered, it was almost routine for the
Wolverines, who have scored a
touchdown in the first five
minutes of each of their last three
games.
"I think that would surprise
any team," Powers said. "It
surprised me also, but when
everyone's doing their job for us,
that can happen."
Everyone was doing their job
all afternoon for the Wolverines,
who racked up 627 yards in total
offense, including 368 on the
ground. Rookie Tyrone Wheatley
led all rushers with a career-high
141 yards on nine carries and two
touchdowns.
Both of Wheatley's touch-
downs came in spectacular fashion.
On the first, he came to a complete
stop and started again to evade one
defender, stutter-stepping around
another before diving across the

goal line. He later closed the
scoring with a 74-yard scamper
down the right sideline, during
which he displayed his track speed
by bursting past the Northwestern
defensive backfield.
On the other side of the ball, the
Michigan defense kept Wildcat
quarterback Len Williams from
unleashing his big-play potential.
The versatile Williams completed
16 of 28 passes for 164 yards ant
rushed for 32 yards on 14 carries.
While Williams threw for both
Wildcat touchdowns, he was
unable to establish himself when
the game was still close.
"They defended Williams
better than anyone else has," Peay
said. "I think their defense did a
consistent job. (Michigan defensive
coordinator) Lloyd Carr should be
complimented."
While Peay maintained that his
team had a legitimate chance of
winning coming into the game, he
conceded that the lopsided results
offered little evidence of this.
"We played a football team
that executes well with a capital
E," he said. ".They executed us; we
helped execute ourselves.

1 01


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The band showed hints of brilliance during the pre-game show when it
introduced their interlocking UM formation. Then, the band offered a hint
of foreshadowing by playing "Kiss Him Goodbye" before the game even
started. This could be viewed as slightly arrogant, but hey, this was
Northwestern. It was a safe bet.
The band built upon the pre-game success to give its most enjoyable
halftime show of the season. Playing a salute to the 60s, the band opened up
by playing "Respect" and "Heard it through the Grapevine." While Mar-
vin Gaye's hit does not exactly lend itself to a marching group, the forma-
tion did the trick with several concentric circles, the center one composed
of all tuba players. Very smooth.
The show brought the fans out of their seats when the band members set
down their instruments and danced to James Brown's "I Feel Good." The
show closed with the band blasting "Unchained Melody" to the press box
sideline.
- Matt Rennie
Publishing Opportunities
rGa!be Research Inc. has immediate openings for students & graduates to do
arch and writing for our reference books and other information-based
ducts.
Qualified candidates must have-
college coursework in liberal arts

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