Page 4 --The Michigan Daily- Sports Monday - September 28, 1992


rvz*

I

C

H

I

G

A

6

1

Rushing
Player Att

Yds AvgLg

Alexander
Wheatley
Collins
Powers
Riersma
B uff
Davis
Johnson
Foster
Leaette

1
7
3
16
1
1
11
12
3
2_

23
45
-29
55
2
1
105
62
5
10

23.0
6.4
-9.7
3.4
2.0
1.0
9.5
5.2
1.7
5.0l

23
19
0
12
2
1
32
13
4

Defense responds to
Cougars' challenge

Total 57 313 4.8 32
Passing
Player C-A Yds TD In t
Collins 17-24 205 4 1
Carr 1-2 10 0 0
Riersma 3-3 43 1 0
Total 21-29 258 5 1
Receiving
Player No Yds La TD
Alexander 5 61 27 0
Smith 1 4 4 0
Hayes 2 53 43 1
Powers 4 26 9 0
Toomer 2 22 14 1
J. Johnson 2 33 21 1
Legette 2 11 6 0
Malveaux 1 7 7 0
McGee 2 41 23 2
Totals 21 258 43 5
Punting
Player No Yds Avg La
Azcona 2 62 31.0 33
Stapleton 2 96 48.0 55
Total 4 158 39.5 55
Punt Returns
Player No Yds Avg L g
Alexander 2 13 6.5 11
Toomer 1 6 6.0 6
Hayes 2 16 8.0 10

by Jeni Durst
Daily Football Writer
Though the Michigan football
team racked up 61 points in its vic-
tory over Houston Saturday, the
best-executed game plan did not
come from the offensive side. The
Wolverines' defense buried the
Cougars' run-and-shoot offense, los-
ing its shutout bid with less than
seven minutes left in the game.
Houston's lone scoring drive
lasted ten plays, its longest drive by
far. Michigan forced Houston to
punt 11 times, while picking off two
passes and recovering a fumble.
"I'm very pleased with with our
defense, particularly our coaches,
(defensive coordinator) Lloyd Carr,
and, I don't like*to single anyone
out, but Greg Mattison, our defen-
sive line coach, executed a great
plan against their offense," Michigan
coach Gary Moeller said. "You can
have a plan but you have to teach it
to the kids and I think they did a
great job executing it."
Mattison, a former coach at
Texas A&M, had defended Hous-
ton's run-and-shoot several times
before and gave the Wolverine line
insight on the Cougars' offense. The
Wolverine coaching staff also con-
sulted the Detroit Lions' staff to dis-
cover more about defending the run-
and-shoot.
"We made it a joke all week (in
practice) to see which guy was the
quickest to the ball," Mattison said.
"The big thing with the run-and-

shoot is not rushing the pass, but get-
ting to the ball."
The Wolverines succeeded at
both - rushing the quarterback and
cutting off Houston's passing lanes.
The Cougars attempted 46 passes for
the game, completing only half of
them for 224 yards.
"Really what you have to do with
a team like (Houston) is you can't do
a lot of man-to-man. You have to
have two or three up front," Michi-
gan defensive tackle Chris Hutchin-
son said. "We had good rotation onO
the defensive line because they
throw a lot of short passes."
The rotation was a key to Michi-
gan's success. Carr and Mattison's
game plan included each player in-
dicating when he felt tired and then
replacing that player with a fresh
body. This allowed for superior
quickness and strength along the
line.
Though the Wolverines focused
on the pass rush, they recorded only
three sacks for the game.
"To me, when it's a pass situa-
tion, I would like to have their quar-
terback so nervous that it's notice-
able," Mattison said. "The sacks will
happen - the biggest thing is to get
the guy nervous."
"Klingler said that we have a
poor pass defense, that's a pretty
bold statement," cornerback Alfie
Burch said. "He didn't know how
we were going to come get him. I
hope after the game he has a differ-
ent point of view."

KRISTOFFER GILLETTEDaily
Michigan defenders, Alfie Burch (top left), Nate Holdren, and Marcus Walker (bottom), stifled another Houston play.
The 61-7 drubbing typified the smothering Michigan defense which Houston could not move through.

Total

5 35 7.0 11

Kickoff Returns
Player No ys Avg Lg
Wheatley 1 99 99.0 99
Hayes 1 16 16.0 16
Total 2 115 57.5 99
Defense
Player Tac Ast Tot

Wolverines use speed to run away from Houston

Peoples
Morrison
Burch
Maloney
Stanley
R ekowski
Walker
Dyson
Brown
Buff
Wallace
Dobreff
Steuk

7
6
4
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2

SPEED
Continued from page 1
quickness to compete with national power-
houses.
This year, Michigan has increased its team
speed. The Wolverines still will be the class of
the Big Ten, but now they might also be able
to compete with juggernauts like Washington.
Nowhere is this change more evident than
in the secondary. Michigan's defensive backs
hit harder and are faster than before. The
Wolverines now have the ability to play man-
to-man coverage because of the speed of their
cornerbacks - Alfie Burch, Coleman Wallace,
Dwayne Ware and Ty Law. This gives defen-
sive coordinator Lloyd Carr an added luxury

- the luxury of the blitz.
"I think we mixed (our coverages) up well,"
Moeller said. "I think we got some pressure on
them early which helped - Alfie or Shonte
Peoples coming off the corners. And those
guys can come."
Michigan fooled the Cougars with those
blitzes. Klingler said they were not expecting
the Wolverines to blitz, and when they did,
Houston was unable to take advantage of the
vacated zones.
What allowed Michigan to blitz so often
was the speed of its secondary. Cornerbacks
Law, Ware and Wallace were able to handle
Houston's receivers, allowing Burch and Peo-
ples to pressure the quarterback.
But Michigan's speed did not stop in the

secondary. Moeller was also impressed with
his defensive linemen's pursuit of the ball. The
Wolverines' depth allowed them to rotate their
linemen.
"Our linemen ran to the ball extremely well
on the short passes and caught some of those
guys who broke tackles from behind," Moeller
said. "And I think we did a great job of keep-
ing fresh bodies in there. Because of the per-
sonnel we used, we matched up with them
speed-wise very well."
Last season, what separated Michigan from
the upper echelon of college football was
speed. Saturday, the Wolverines showed that
they belong at that elite level. However, that
was against a team like Houston. While Michi-

gan still has not proved it can play with teams
like Miami, Houston coach John Jenkins is in-
terested in how this team will stack up at the
end of the season.
"I sure gotta acknowledge what a great
team we saw here today," Jenkins said. "It'll
be interesting to see how far this team can go
this year. There's nothing they can do about
the Notre Dame tie but there's a lot they can do
from here on out. I'll be interested to see where
this thing is at on New Year's Day for this*
club."
If this club continues to play like they did
Saturday, it will be ranked with the nation's
elite. And come New Year's Day, the
Wolverines may even be the nation's elite.


0

KRISTOFFR Gi ILLE I I JUAI~
Linebacker Martin Davis moves to wrap up quarterback Donald Douglas. Michigan's defense held Douglas to only eight completions on 18 attempts.
Boston College drops Spartans to 0-3

Associated Press
Two scoring runs by Boston College running
back Dwight Shirley were all the Eagles needed
to defeat Michigan State, which fe to 0-3. After
scoring 31 points and racking up 483 total yards.
last week against Notre Dame, Michigan State
was held to 228 yards by the Eagles, who pitched
their third straight shutout and improved their
record to 4-0 with the 14-0 victory.
"They have had good defense in all their
games, and today was no exception," MSU coach

Detmer, who rescued the Buffaloes (4-0) with
two TD passes in the' second half of last week's
21-20 comeback victory over Minnesota,
replaced struggling Kordell Stewart at the start of
the second half. His scoring strikes to Christian
Fauria, Michael Westbrook and Charles Johnson
were enough to quell the Hawkeyes (1-3).
Wisconsin 18, Northern Illinois 17
Brent Moss scored two fourth-quarter
touchdowns and freshman Darrell Bevell ran for

the day, the Irish (3-0-1) collected 458 yards on
the ground in crushing Purdue (1-2).
Irish Heisman candidates Rick Mirer and
Jerome Bettis took backseats to Brooks today,
Mirer throwing for 122 yards and Bettis running
for 93.
Indiana 20, Missouri 10
Sophomore Brett Law ran for 240 yards and
two touchdowns in his first collegiate start. Law,
who had 169 yards as a backun last year. rushed