Page 4-The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - September 14, 1992
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0
T
R
E
0
A
Rushing
Plaver Att
Vd. Ava La
asmwwg
Brooks
.Bettis
Mirer
Becton
Miller
13
15
7
7
1
69
82
54
44
-12
5.3
4.5
7.7
6.3
-12
20
18
14
14
-12
Totals 43 237 5.5 20
Passing
Player C-A Yds TD 1nt
"irer 14-26 161 0 0
Totals 14-26 161 0 0
Receiving
Player No Yds Lg TD
Dawson 6 89 21 0
'C. Johnson 3 22 11 0
Bettis 2 25 17 0
1. Smith 2 18 10 0
Miller 1 7 7 0
Totals 14 161 21 0
Punting
Player No Yds Avg La
Hentrich 3 139 46.3 50
Punt Returns
Player No Yds Avg Lg
Miller 1 5 5.0 5
Kickoff Returns
Player No Yds Avg La
Johnson 2 27 13.5 20
Burris 2 25 12.5 14
Becton 1 18 18.0 18
Tota1 5 70 14.0 20
Defense
Player Tac Ast Tot
Born in a small town
Mirer feels close to his rural Indiana home
by Albert Lin "Let me put it this way: every
Daily Football Writer Goshen is always on (the Notre Dame
GOSHEN, Ind. - This is small-town Saturday afternoons," Swartz said.
America at its best. Take the Indiana Toll Road pretty excited about Rick. I used to v
until Exit 101, and then head south 10 miles on the chain gang at the high school, so I
State Road 15, and you are there. him throw 80-yard passes flat-foote
Along the way you pass things you won't whole town is very enthused about him
see anywhere but rural Indiana. The big letters, Mirer's father, Ken, coached Gosh
on the building that houses the local fraternal for 10 years, winning the school's first
lodge, blazing, "GOSHEN MOOSE." A small tle in 1978. But he quit before Ric
billboard pointing in the direction of the Story- aboard, so there would be no conflic
telling Festival. An old-time movie theatre terest.
with a marquee advertising a place of worship. Mirer was clearly the best playei
This is the town Rick Mirer calls home. The team, though, and that forced the ne'
high school he led to a state title as a senior is Randy Robertson's hand.
right on S.R. 15. Friday nights, Foreman Field "You could tell right off the bat tha
is the only place to be if the Goshen High a cut above everyone else," said Rober
Redskins are at home, and this week much of Yet Mirer also knew what it meani
the town has turned out to see the 1-1 '92 team young player in a team situation. The ti
open its Northern Lakes Conference season his family bred certain values that he
against NorthWood. to, then and to this day.
Rick Mirer, Notre Dame quarterback, "I remember he refused to start as a
hasn't forgotten where he is from - despite all more, because the team had a policy
the accolades and attention that follow him. kid was a senior, he would start becaus
That is why he still returns to Goshen fre- earned the right," said Swartz, who has
quently. After all, South Bend is but a mere 40 the chain gang for 30 years. "So he re
minutes to the northwest. start - he would go in any time a
"I'm happy it's my home. I like going back played a lot, but he wasn't listed as a s
to it," Mirer said. "It's a good place to go to a sophomore because he thought the
get away from big city problems." should go for everyone."
But when Mirer comes back to relieve some "He never made it seem like he wa
of that stress, he faces other obstacles: You can than anybody else," Robertson added.
be sure everyone knows when he's in town. That attitude is a big part of his pres
"His biggest problem is he can't say no," cess. Irish coach Lou Holtz acknov
said Dick Swartz, a lifelong Goshen resident. Mirer's upbringing as a key in being
"I heard that on Thursday afternoon, he was handle perhaps the most pressure-fille
back visiting and someone saw him going into tion in college football.
the stadium. They asked him to stop for a pic- "The only changes I see in Rick are
ture, and of course he did, and the next thing better," he said. "I think a lot of the cre
you know there were 30 other people in line." to his parents. They give him tremendc
Goshen is clearly in love with its favorite port and have their priorities in line."
son. Mirer is the only member of that 1988 "I think all in all (Goshen's) a lot
state titlist playing Division 1-A football, so people," Mirer said. "I think there's as
there is definitely only one team - and espe- family atmosphere as you can have th
cially one player - to support. lot of good people, a lot of togethernes
McDonald
Young
Flanigan
'cGill
Bercich
Peterson
Carter
lane
Burris
Covington
Holden
Ratigan
Saddler
Taylor
Taliaferro
Lalli
0 4 4
0
2
1
1
3
2
4
7
2
1
0
1
1
0
0
4
5
5
5
7
3
8
8
7
6
1
3
1
1
1
In good hands
Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer completed 14 of 26 passes for 161 yards in Saturday's 17-
17 tie against Michigan. Mirer, a senior, passed up the chance to enter the NFL Draft last
spring after he completed his junior year in exchange for the opportunity to lead the Irish to a
national title and possibly win the Heisman Trophy. Mirer was projected as a top-ten pick.
This year, he has a chance to be the top selection in the 1993 draft.
4
Scoring Summary
Notre Dame
First Quarter:
Brooks 20-yd run (Hentrich
kick), 5:22
Notre Dame 7, Michigan 0
Fourth Quarter:
Bettis 2-yd run (Hentrich kick),
17n1:23
Michigan 17, Notre Dame 14
Hentrich 32-yd FG, 5:28
Michigan 17, Notre Dame 17
Michigan
Second Quarter:
Wheatley 27-yd pass from
Grbac (Elezovic kick), 0:57
Michigan 7, Notre Dame 7
Third Quarter:
Elezovic 28-yd FG, 6:17
Michigan 10, Notre Dame 7
Fourth Quarter:
Alexander 30-yd pass from
Grbac (Elezovic kick), 14:54
Michigan 17, Notre Dame 7
IRISH
Continued from page 1
Michigan free safety Corwin Brown
stepped into the hole and hit Bettis,
forcing the ball loose. Linebacker
Steve Morrison caught the ball in the
air and. returned it to Michigan's 49.
"Both teams hit very hard and
there were a lot of great individual
efforts, and typical of an early-sea-
son game there were some mis-
takes," Holtz said. "We lost three
fumbles, which were critical, they
threw a couple (three) of intercep-
tions, which were critical."
After Morrison's recovery,
Michigan moved the ball to Notre
Dame's 30 as the third quarter
ended. On the first play of the
fourth, Grbac faked to Wheatley and
lofted a pass to the left corner of the
end zone, where Derrick Alexander
cradled the ball for the touchdown,
giving the Wolverines a 17-7 lead.
Notre Dame responded quickly
from that 10-point deficit. The Irish
took the kickoff and marched down
to Michigan's 26. However, the
drive appeared to have stalled there,
and the Irish were faced with a
fourth and 10 from the 26. Holtz
opted to go for the first down in lieu
of attempting a field goal. Earlier in
the second half, Nate Holdren
blocked a Craig Hentrich field goal
attempt.
The Notre Dame line gave Mirer
time to throw, and he found Lake
Dawson open at the 15 for the first
down.
"We've gotta get pressure on him
on fourth down," Moeller said. "We
had to get a pass rush. You just can't
let the guy go back and sit."
Four plays later, a Jerome Bettis'
touchdown run brought Notre Dame
within three. The Irish had a chance
to take the lead later in the fourth
after intercepting Grbac at the
Michigan 20. However, Notre Dame
could not take advantage of the field
position and settled for a 28-yard
field goal.
While the Michigan defense
stopped this Irish possession on
three plays, it did not do that once in
the first half. The Irish rolled up 232
total yards and 16 first downs in the
first half before being limited to 166
yards and nine first downs in the
second.
"We played a lot better in the
second half, but we knew we would
coming in," Moeller said. "One rea-
son, we tackled better. We fronted
people up and tackled like Michigan.
The first half wasn't Michigan. We
didn't tackle, we didn't front."
The epitome of Michigan's tack-
ling blunders came on Notre Dame's
second drive of the game. With the
ball at Michigan's 20, Mirer ran the
option to his right and flipped to
tailback Reggie Brooks. Brown read
the play, came up and hit Brooks at
the line. However, Brooks spun out
of that tackle and broke five more
before collapsing at the end of a 20-
yard touchdown run.
"We were a little over-anxious in
the first half," Brown said. "We
were flying around, and we weren't
making the plays. But we came back
in the second half and played like
we have to."
While the Wolverines finally
contained the Irish ground attack in
the second half, Notre Dame con-
trolled Michigan's talented trio of
tailbacks - Wheatley, Johnson and
Ricky Powers - all game long.
"Our only breakdown offensively
was run blocking," McGee said.
"Notre Dame ran stacked defense,
and we wanted to block down on the
linemen before releasing to the
linebackers. But sometimes guys re-
leased before blocking the linemen."
DEFENSE
Continued from page 1
awful hard to anticipate any of their
moves."
Corwin Brown led the defense,
laying some hard hits on a few plays
and finishing with 11 tackles to tie
Coleman Wallace for the team lead.
Shonte Peoples and Alfie Burch, the
other members of the starting sec-
ondary, were next on the team with
10 and nine tackles, respectively.
Brown even lived out a fantasy,
hitting Bettis in the last minute of
the third quarter and knocking the
ball loose.
"I told him in the series before
that one that he was gonna fumble,"
Michigan defensive lineman Chris Hutchinson puts the wraps on Notre
Dame running back Reggie Brooks during third quarter action Saturday.
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