Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Sports Monday - September 21, 1992
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35
Rushing
Player Att Yds Ava La
Smith 1 36 36.0 36
Collins 2 -2 -1.0 0
Powers 13 64 4.9 23
Davis 4 17 4.3 9
Johnson 17 64 3.8 14
Foster 3 16 5.3 6
Leiette 4 21 5.3 13
Total 44 216 4.9 36
Passing
Player C-A Yds TD Int
Collins 29-42 285 2 1
Receiving
Player No Yds Lg TD
Alexander 7 103 44 2
Smith 4 44 19 0
Hayes 2 23 16 0
Powers 2 24 12 0
Toomer 2 15 8 0
J. Johnson 3 10 4 0
Burkholder 1 4 4 0
Malveaux 3 30 15 0
McGee 5 32 9 0
Totals 29 285 44 2
Punting
Player No Yds Avg La
Azcona 2 88 44.0 54
Punt Returns
Player No Yds Avg La
Alexander 4 39 9.8 11
Hayes 1 19 19.0 19
Collins steps forward
by Albert Lin
Daily Football Writer
An injured ankle kept quarterback Elvis
Grbac out of action against Oklahoma State,
but it did not keep him off the field. Grbac did
his best Gary Moeller impression during
Saturday's game, pacing the sidelines and
barking out instructions while pointing with a
rolled-up gameplan.
Most of Grbac's comments were directed at
his fill-in, redshirt sophomore Todd Collins.
And Collins took the advice to heart, doing his
best Grbac impersonation in leading the
Wolverines to a 35-3 romp over the Cowboys.
"(Grbac) was really helpful before the
game, calming me down a lot," the Walpole,
Mass., native said. "He told me to go get first
downs and not to make any errors. He asked if
I was nervous, and of course I was. But he was
really good - he helped me out a lot."
Grbac got a new perspective of the game
from the sidelines, and he was pleased with
what he saw his understudy accomplish.
Collins finished the day by completing a
Grbac-like 69 percent of his 42 passes - set-
ting a school record for most completions with
29 - for 285 yards.
"It was kind of exciting actually because I'd
like to get into coaching sometime and just get
the feel of it," Grbac said. "Everybody said I
looked like a coach. It was a different feeling.
It was amazing how I could relate to the situa-
;ons he was in.
"I was in a situation when I started that no
1ne caine to me and said you're going to be in
this situation and you should do this, this, this
and this. No one went through the situations
with me. I want to show the younger guys how
it should be done.
"Todd played real well. He really sensed
the defensive concepts. He was prepared and
came out and read the defenses well, andl he
did the job a quarterback is supposed to do -
he led his team to a win."
"It was just taking what they gave us,"
Collins said. "The defense dictates what we do.
1hey wanted to see if I could throw, so they
got up on the run. And we were atle to throw."
As Grbac's backup, Collins has had ample
practice time with the No. I oftense even be-
fore this week. That familiarity made the tem-
porary transition easier - and all the more
successful.
"To get into an offense this complicated
took a lot of study," Collins said. "I think my
first year, I didn't realize that. Last year, I be-
gan to get an idea of wiwt it takes to quarter-
back here. And this year '' ik I nt it all to-
gether. I still have a lot to tea :getting
better.
"I expected to be more ner\ ou. ldin I was.
I was pretty calm fr omost of1 die gaih, Ihe
coaches say if you go out and practic, d,
things should go well. We had a good v, e; kof
practice, and I think things went pretty well
Junior wideout Derrick Ak xander was the
biggest beneficiary of Collins' throws, making
seven catches for 103 yards and two TDs.
Alexander opened the scoring by grabbing a
quick throw on a short slant and hauled in an-
other touchdown that covered 44 yards. He
also barely missed on two more opportunities,
having a 55-yarder brought back on a holding
penalty and letting a ball slip through his fin-
gers on a timing pattern.
"Todd can throw the ball. There's nothing
wrong with (his ability)," Alexander said. "He
made some good plays. I was impressed be-
cause it was his first game (starting)."
And probably his last - for now. Grbac is
due to have the cast removed from his ankle
today, and he will be evaluated afterward. The
sprain Grbac suffered against Notre Dame was
not serious, and he is expected to be back prac-
ticing shortly. That means Collins' time in the
sun is over and it's back to the sidelines.
"That's the ile I assume. I'm usually the
backup, but nov i'm the starter. When Elvis
comes back, I'll just keep practicing hard. I
know I'm always one step away from being
back on the field," Collins said.
Total
5 58 11.6 19
Kickoff Returns
Player No Yds Ava gLa
Malveaux 2 23 11.5 13
Defense
Player Tac Ast Tot
KRISTOFFER GILLETTE/Daily
Quarterback Todd Collins drops back to pass in Saturday's 35-3 romp over Oklahoma State.
Overall, the Michigan junior had 29 completions, a school record, for 285 yards and two scores.
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Hutchinson
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Team W L TF
Ohio State 3 0 0 1
Michigan 1 0 1
Illinois 2 1 0 .
Wisconsin 1 1 0 !
Indiana 1 1 0
Purdue 1 1 1
Iowa 1 2 0
Minnesota 0 2 0.
Michigan State 0 2 0.
Northwestern 0 3 0.
THIS WEEK'S RESULTS
Micihigan 35, Oklahoma St. 3
Notre Dame 52, Michigan St. 31
Houston 31, Illinois 13
Toledo 33, Purdue 29
Wisconsin 39, Bowling Green 18
Stanford 35, Northwestern 24
Ohio State 35, Syracuse 12
Colorado 21, Minnesota 20
Kentucky 37, Indiana 25
NEXT WEEK'S MATCH UPS
Houston at Michigan
Michigan State at Boston CollegE
Purdue at Notre Dame
Missouri at Indiana
Iowa at Colorado
N. Illinois at Wisconsin
Minnesota at Pittsburgh
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MICHIGAN
Continued from page 1
offset turnovers and penalties.
Michigan's backup quarterback set a
new Wolverine record for pass com-
pletions in a game, breaking Bob
Ptacek's 1958 mark by five. Collins
recorded 29 completions on 42 at-
tempts (69 percent) for 285 yards; 15
of Michigan's 26 first-downs came
off the pass.
Collins found Alexander twice
for scores in the second quarter, the
first on a short four-yarder that
Alexander snagged with the finger-
tips of his upraised hands. Just 28
seconds later, Michigan notched an-
other touchdown on a 44-yard bomb
following a Steve Morrison intercep-
tion. The scores put Michigan up,
14-0, going into halftime.
"Todd practices hard, and once
he got in there he played like he'd
been in there the whole time,"
Alexander said. "The more he
played the better he got. He threw a
couple (one) of interceptions, but
there's nothing wrong with his play.
I think it's just a mistake because it's
his first game.
"He's a good leader and we lis-
tened to him. I mean, he's the quar-
terback and you have to listen to the
quarterback. He put the ball where
you have to put it so the defensive
backs couldn't touch it."
Collins' passing game not only
led to Michigan scores, but allowed
the Wolverines to open up the run-
ning game in the second half - after
it had been almost non-existent in
the first. Michigan rushed for only
46 total yards in the first half but
gained 216 by game's end.
In the third quarter, tailback
Ricky Powers, who registered no
yardage in the lirst half, blasted 12
yards to the goal line, breaking three
tackles en route to Michigan's third
score of the afternoon. Powers struck
again in the fourth quarter, sciam-
bling five yards for a touchdown.
Redshirt freshman Ed Davis put the
final nail in Oklahoma State's coffin
on a one-yard 'ID run with 2 minutes
4 seconds left in the game.
"We didn't get our running game
started until the second half,"
Moeller said. "We have to have a
tougher running attack. What hap-
pened? ... It's simple, there is one
(OSU) guy to many in there to
block, so even when you're running
the ball you have to make sure you
convince your backs they can beat
one guy.
"We've got to block everybody
cleanly enough so that back has that
option. When Ricky came out there
and decided to run over a few people
and look like the Ricky Powers I like
to see, that was important."
Oklahoma State mustered only a
single field goal, coming on a 34-
yard attempt in the third quarter.
The Cowboys' lack of offensive
prowess was due in large part to
Michigan's defense, which caused
OSU to tread in its end of the field
for a large part of the game.
The Wolverines held the
Cowboys to only four first-down
conversions and 187 yards of total
offense foi the game. Going into the
matchup, one of the Wolverines
biggest concerns was Denson, whom
they held to a n,,re 33 yards rushing
on 18 attempts.
01
ITHE MICHIGAN DAILY
I
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KRISTOFFER GILLETTE/Daily
Michigan wideout Derrick Alexander hauls in his second touchdown grab
to the day. Alexander pulled in seven catches for 103 yards and two scores.
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