The Daily Libels (Football) Football
vs. The State News vs. Michigan State
Today, 4:30 p.m. Tomorrow, 3:30 p.m. (ABC-TV)
Palmer Field Michigan Stadium
The Michigan Daily Friday, October 9, 1992 Page 11
Spartans just don't stack up
by Albert Lin
Daily Football Writer
QUARTERBACKS: Elvis Grbac
showed signs of his layoff last week
against Iowa, throwing two intercep-
tions, but he should be fine now that
he's returned to his normal routine.
Who is State's QB? First it's Jim
Miller, then it's BretJohnson. Some-
times it's Mill Coleman. Not one has
been able to lead the offense capably.
RECEIVERS: Michigan wideouts
had the week offagainst the H awkeyes
in terms of receptions, making only
five grabs. But their blocking helped
pave the way for the running backs.
Tight end Tony McGee had another
three catches last week, giving him 14
for the year.
Coleman is the Spartans' multi-
purpose threat. He leads the team
with 18 receptions and is also tops in
kick return yardage. Tight end Mitch
Lyons is No. 2 in catches with 11.
Advantage: Michigan
RUNNING BACKS: Craig Thomas
and Tico Duckett have combined for
over800 yards and more than six yards
per carry. State's weekly football re-
lease includes an item heralding
Duckett as "a long-distance threat."
The note says that Duckett's 55-yard
run last week against Indiana was the
fourth-longest of his career.
But lest the Spartans forget, the
Wolverines boastback-to-back AT&T
Long Distance Award winner Tyrone
Wheatley. And that's not even men-
tioning Ricky Powers and Jesse
Johnson.OrEd Davis, who has rushed
for more yards in each of the last two
games than either Powers or Johnson.
Advantage: Michigan
Advantage: Michigan
OFFENSIVE LINE: All the questions
were answered last week with
Michigan's 480-yard ground effort.
And the coaching staff wins again by
shifting left tackle Doug Skene back
inside, where he played last year, and
inserting redshirt freshman Tree
Jenkins in Skene's vacated spot.
Michigan State's line was young
to begin with, featuring three sopho-
mores. But it got even younger when
right guard Brett Lorius, a junior,
suffered a season-ending injury. His
replacement is a redshirt freshman.
At least they're all big.
Advantage: Michigan
DEFENSIVE LINE: Michigan's front
three have had more success recently
pressuring the opposing quarterback,
but it is usually the rest of the defense
that makes the stop. The starters have
a total of 42 tackles on the year.
The Spartan line lost three of four
starters to graduation, but the replace-
ments have stepped in admirably -
the 1992 starters have combined for
73 tackles. And don't forget, head
coach George Perles started his pro
coaching career as the defensive line
coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
5
Advantage: Michigan State
LINEBACKERS: Depth outside has
been hurt with the losses of Greg
McThomas and Martin Davis. Matt
Dyson stepped up last week, leading
the team with nine tackles, including
a sack, and adding his first career
interception. Shawn Collins is young
but talented. Inside, Steve Morrison
continues to lead the team in tackles,
and Marcus Walker produced a big
game against Iowa with eight stops.
Michigan State's Rob
Fredrickson is an all-Big Ten candi-
date. He and fellow starters Ty
Hallock and Matt Christensen are
fourth, second and first, respectively,
on the team in tackles. But Michigan's
linebackers have gotten better every
week and seem to have developed a
penchant for the big stop.
Advantage: Michigan
SECONDARY: The Wolverines are
proving they may have the best group
of DBs in the country. The new
wrinkle in the Michigan defense is
blitzing members of the secondary,
and it's paid off with two sacks each
for Shonte Peoples and Alfie Burch,
along with a several hurries.
The Spartans have a young but
experienced group, with three return-
ing starters among a trio of juniors
and one sophomore. But Michigan
has a second unit that would start at
most schools around the country.
Advantage: Michigan
KICKERS: The Spartans have long
been known for their kickers, but this
isdefinitely a down year. Punter Chris
Salani averages only 32.4 yards a
punt, and kicker Jim DelVerne has
hit only one of four field goals. He did
connect from 44 yards out, but he isO-
for-3 inside the 40. Go figure.
Pete Elezovic has improved the
distance on his kickoffs, but because
the Wolverines keep finding a way to
the end zone, he has rarely had a
chance to show any proficiency on
field goals. Chris Stapleton is now
the starting punter, and he got off a
couple good kicks last week. But he
also shanked one for nine yards.
Look for both coaches to go for a
bunch of fourth downs.
Advantage: Michigan
(by default)
Michigan's Tyrone Wheatley breaks free for some of his 224 yards against
Iowa last weekend. Wheatley and the rest of the Wolverines will seek
revenge and their second Big Ten victory Saturday versus Michigan State.
STATE
Continued from page 1
"Michigan State is always the
biggest game," inside linebacker
Steve Morrison (Birmingham) said.
"This is the best game of the year to
watch. The rivalry is tremendous.
When I was growing up, I switched
who I cheered for depending on who
I knew was on the team."
Not all of the Wolverines grew
up without allegiances to either
:school.
"Whenever I think about Michi-
gan State, I always want to beat
them," wide receiver Derrick
Alexander (Detroit) said. "I always
cheered for Michigan. I don't know
why. Maybe it's a green thing. I
don't like green and white.
"Touchdowns are a lot sweeter
when they come against State,"
'Alexander added. "It's a big game.
It's for the state championship.
Whoever wins has the bragging
rights for the state."
Michigan State struggled in its
first three games before beating In-
diana last week, 42-31, in the con-
ference opener. The Hoosiers
jumped on top of the Spartans, 14-0,
before MSU game back with a
strong, diversified offensive attack.
"We had success offensively with
running and throwing the football,"
Michigan State coach George Perles
said. "We threw well and deep
which allowed us to open up our
running game. Indiana's defense was
pretty good, but Michigan's defense
is outstanding."
The Spartans were able to move
the ball on the ground last week as
well as for most of the season. MSU
has a two-pronged running attack led
by Tico Duckett and Craig Thomas.
Duckett averages 108 yards per
game and has reached the end zone
four times. Thomas, who comes off
the bench, averages 88.3 yards and
has seven TDs.
"They have a fine running at-
tack," Moeller said. "They have
some good backs and a big solid
line. We ran into a solid line last
week and had a hard time, but these
backs are better than Iowa's backs.
They have three 300-pounders on
the offensive line, and they can
move. I worry about them possess-
ing the ball and their running game."
Michigan State also has the abil-
ity to get the ball to the outside.
Quarterback Jim Miller threw for a
season-high 274 yards last week. His
main target is sophomore receiver
Mill Coleman. Coleman has 18
catches so far this season and also is
a threat on end arounds and returns.
Perles' biggest worries come on
the defensive side of the ball. The
Spartans have given up over 30
points and nearly 400 yards a game,
while the Wolverines average over
500 yards of total offense and over
40 points a game.
"We need to play more man de-
fense in order to have tighter cover-
age," Perles said. "We can't let them
throw the ball up and down the field.
We can't let them get blocking to
open up holes for their backs. We
can't let those backs get through, es-
pecially Tyrone Wheatley because
he has so much speed. If he gets a
little hole, he can break right
through."'
.
t
t
t
Ar
T-SHIRT PRINTERY
" A2's MULTI-COLOR PRINTING CHAMPS!
" STAFF ARTIST SUPPORT.
" 2-DAY RUSH SERVICE AVAILABLE.
SU-M P.O. # s ACCEPTED.
" LOCATED ACROSS THE BRIDGE FROM GANDY DANCER.
S 5% DISCOUNT
WITH THIS AD
994-1367
1002 PONTIAC TRAIL ANN ARBOR
* MINIMUM ORDER
12 SHIRTS
iI
MEIJER.
KRAFT
NBA
SHOWDOWN!
DETROIT
PISTONS
I1
Isiah Thomas
THE PISTONS VS. THE NETS
Chuck Daly
FRIDAY OCTOBER 16
7:30 PM AT CRISLER ARENA
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW
STUDENT TICKETS ONLY $5.50
(LIMITED NUMBER AVAILABLE)
AT THE MICHIGAN UNION TICKET OFFICE
763-TKTS