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Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - October 19, 1992
ICHIGA
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I
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He's Too Sweet
Tailback Wheatley impresses for third straight week
by Josh Dubow
Daily Football Writer
BLOOMINGTON - For the third
straight week, Michigan trounced a Big
Ten opponent. And for the third straight
week, Tyrone Wheatley showed why he is
one of the best running backs in the con-
ference as well as the country.
Wheatley carried the ball 18 times for
134 yards, including an electrifying 54-
yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Wheatley also scored on a 26-yard screen
pass earlier that quarter.
In the last three games, Wheatley has
run for 530 yards and has scored seven
touchdowns. For the season, he is averag-
ing two touchdowns and over 120 yards
rushing per game.
Wheatley did not start off well
Saturday. On his first six carries of the
game, Wheatley gained only three yards.
He picked it up from that point, averaging
nearly 13 yards per carry thereafter.
Wheatley ran over, around and through
the Indiana defense. On his touchdown
run, Wheatley broke through a huge hole
in the middle and sprinted into the Hoosier
secondary. There, he encountered Indiana
strong safety Chris Dyer. Wheatley froze
Dyer in his tracks and sprinted toward the
right sideline, leaving Dyer to eat some of
Memorial Stadium's AstroTurf.
Wheatley had one man left to beat -
free safety Damon Watts. Watts had an
angle on Wheatley momentarily, but then
Wheatley put on the afterburners and
sprinted into the end zone.
"I wanted to make sure he didn't cut
back, so I didn't commit," Watts said.
"But he showed a lot more speed than I
anticipated."
Watts wasn't only impressed with
Wheatley's speed.
"Wheatley is an excellent back," Watts
said. "He has good weight, good size,
good moves and speed. Those are all the
things you need to be a great back. And
also a great offensive line."
That line, led by seniors Steve Everitt,
Joe Cocozzo, Rob Doherty, Doug Skene
and freshman Trezelle Jenkins, has opened
up gaping holes for the Wolverine running
attack the last three weeks.
"They dominated us off the ball,"
Indiana coach Bill Mallory said. "They
opened holes and then Wheatley just
killed us. But they have three or four good
backs."
Many of the Il vere saying that
Wheatley was as go- is in
the country.
"Wheatley is the package,"
Indiana linebacker L ina ;d. "He
ran the ball extremely w otowv s a
good back. He's one of the best ve
seen this year. He's about the best I've
ever seen."
Mallory said Wheatley's biggest
strength is his combination of size and
speed. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound sopho-
more gained about 20 pounds since last
season without losing his speed.
"Wheatley is an outstanding back,"
Mallory said. "I haven't seen anyone bet-
ter yet. He's 225 pounds with track speed.
And now he's developed some niftiness.
He really hurt us with that screen pass and
running ability."
Tyrone Wheatley receives congratulations from flanker Walter Smith after his 54-yard
scoring run. The second-quarter touchdown put the Wolverines up 21-3.
In n nn nn AAAAAAn Bg Ten standing
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK-
Desmond who?.
by Josh Dubow
and Albert Lin
Daily Football Writers
BLOOMINGTON - Michigan receiver Derrick Alexander is
making Michigan fans forget about ol' Desmond whatshisname.
Alexander scored two touchdowns in Saturday's game, including one on
a punt return for the second consecutive week.
After holding Michigan on an initial punt, Indiana coach Bill
Mallory decided to kick again following a Michigan penalty. Alexander
took that kick back 70 yards for the score.
"The punt return by Alexander was a big play," Mallory said.
"Afterward, I knew it was a bad decision. We've been pretty good on
coverage and I thought we could get the ball down deeper. It blew up in
our face. I didn't expect that to happen."
Alexander also opened the scoring for the Wolverines. On
Michigan's first drive, quarterback Elvis Grbac hit Alexander on an 8-
yard touchdown pass. The Detroit native also had a touchdown reception
called back in the second half because of a penalty. For the game,
Alexander had 122 total yards.
"Derrick is really getting a feel for things," Michigan coach Gary
Moeller said. "He's starting to play with a lot more confidence."
SACKED!: The Michigan defense constantly applied pressure on
Hoosier quarterback Trent Green. The Wolverines sacked Green nine
times for 61 yards.
"We didn't expect their defense to be that good," Green said. "They
stopped the run and didn't let us pass. Every time I went back to pass, it
seemed like I had no time. You can't move the ball if you can't run or
pass.
The leader of the defensive charge for Michigan was outside
linebacker Chris Hutchinson, who had three sacks for 31 yards.
"Hutchinson taught our guys a lesson all day," Green said. "He's an
outstanding guy against the run and the pass. Hutchinson proved today
why he is one of the top linemen in the country."
Six other Wolverines recorded one sack each - Tony Henderson,
Matt Dyson, Marcus Walker, Trent Zenkewicz, Gannon Dudlar and
Jason Horn.
BOOTED!: Even though Moeller hates to do it, he may now feel
more comfortable with the man he has out there punting.
Chris Stapleton solidified his job Saturday with a near-flawless
performance, booting five balls for an average of 45.8 yards a kick. He
was extremely consistent, hitting all his punts for at least 40 yards, and
also tagged two for over 50.
INJURIES: Cornerback Alfie Burch left the game midway through
the second quarter with a twisted foot. Moeller likened the injury to one
suffered by Hutchinson against Oklahoma State.
Tailback Ricky Powers did not play because his twisted ankle has
not sufficiently healed. Moeller held fullback Burnie Legette out
because he did not practice enough during the week.
OVER THE HUMP: Michigan tailback Jesse Johnson ran for 88
yards Saturday. Johnson has now crossed the 1,000-yard plateau in his
career with 1,057 yards.
' v v
Team
Michigan
Wisconsin
Iowa
Michigan St.
Ohio St.
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue
Minnesota
Northwestern
w
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
T
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pct.
1.000
.667
.667
.667
.333
.333
.333
.333
.333
.333
THIS WEEK'S RESULTS
Michigan 31, Indiana 3
Michigan St. 20, Minnesota 15
Ohio St. 31, Northwestern 7
Wisconsin 19, Purdue 16
Iowa 24, Illinois 14
NEXT WEEK'S GAMES
Minnesota at Michigan (1 p.m.)
Northwestern at Illinois
Ohio St. at Michigan State
Purdue at Iowa
Wisconsin at Indiana
Penalties still too big
a part of team's play
by Albert Lin
Daily Football Writer
BLOOMINGTON - Michigan
entered Saturday's game as the sec-
ond-most penalized team in the Big
Ten. The Wolverines did nothing
against Indiana to change that claim.1
Ten times Michigan was flagged,
over the weekend, setting the squad1
back a total of 124 yards. And that
doesn't even begin to account for the
lost scoring opportunities.
Penalties brought back two
Michigan touchdowns - one in the
second quarter when the game was
still somewhat in doubt, and another
at the end of the third quarter. This
has been an area of concern 'for
Michigan coach Gary Moeller, and it
is still near the top of his priority list.
"In the second half we did the
same thing I thought we'd elimi-
nated in the first half - three major
penalties to stop drives in the second
half," he said. "In fact, we had one
in the first half. You can't self-de-
struct that way, and we have to make
sure we iron that out and address
that."
With under three minutes left in
the half, Jesse Johnson culminated a
personal scoring crusade - he had
earlier runs of 19, five and 12 yards
- by taking a swing pass from Elvis
Grbac on the left side and sneaking
just inside the left pylon. But it was
not to be. Rather than tallying six
points, Michigan was docked 15
yards for illegal participation. The
Wolverines had to settle for a field
goal.
Just about a quarter later, it was
d6j, vu all over again. On third
down from the Indiana 16,
Alexander beat his defender to the
right corner and made an over-the-
shoulder grab on a perfectly thrown
ball. Once more, close but no cigar.
An illegal block brought the ball
back to the 32; and Pete Elezovic
missed his attempt two plays later.
"I think we got some overanxious
penalties there," Moeller said. "They
were stacking inside good, they were
playing good hard defense, and you
had to break a couple of plays. But
we're gonna be confronted with that
all year long. We still gotta be able
to run and throw the ball. But you
throw a touchdown pass, you get it
called back on a penalty. You break
a run, you get another penalty. You
can't do those things."
Conversely, while penalties kept
Michigan from the end zone a few
times, they played a big part in
Indiana's only score. On the
Hoosiers' first play from scrimmage,
a personal foul tacked 15 yards to an
18-yard completion. Two consecu-
tive offsides calls later gave Indiana
a first down, and Scott Bonnell
kicked a 3- -yard field goal for the
Hoosiers' sole points.
"We had a lot of penalties, three
or four e that first drive," said
middle guard Tony Henderson, al-
most incredulously, when asked how
Michigan was able to hold the
Hoosiers in check. "We stopped that
eventually, but they had like 40
yards _n penalties that first drive."
MOLLY STEVENS/Daily
Mark Burkholder opens a hole for tailback Jesse Johnson. In Saturday's
game, Johnson surpassed 1,000 career rushing yards.
DUBOW
Continued from page 1
different game. It was costly as heck.
Back up a minute, Bill. That
fumble was the difference in a 28-
point game. The fact that Michigan's
offensive line cleared holes as big as
the Grand Canyon for backs Tyrone
Wheatley, Jesse Johnson and Ed
Davis apparently didn't make a dif-
ference.
But Indiana tailback Brett Law
was not extremely impressed with
the Wolverine triumvirate of backs
or Michigan as a whole.
"They aren't more talented than
us," Law said. "They just executed
better than we did.
Michigan isn't more talented than
Indiana? This said by a man who
would probably be the fifth-string
running back on the Wolverines. If
the only difference in the game was
execution, than execution must in-
clude size, speed, strength, depth and
ability.
While it appears that Indiana
won't close the talent gap in the near
future, Mallory thinks his young of-
fense will match up well with
Michigan's defense next season.
"Michigan is a pretty seasoned
ball club," Mallory said. "They are a
veteran, senior club. Their defense is
all seniors except two juniors.
They're a veteran ball club defen-
sively. Things will be different next
year."
Hold it there, Bill. Two juniors,
nine seniors? Eight of Michigan's
starting 11 defenders are under-
classmen. That means that those
players are not seniors. They will be
back in 1993.
The only difference next year is
that the game will be played in Ann
Arbor.
S
C IDDERS
Continued from page 1
pass to Alexander in the left corner
of the end zone to take the lead, 7-3.
"They came out playing with a
lot of emotion, and they stopped us
for a little bit," Alexander said. "We
just had to come in here and settle
down a bit. I think we were a little
anxious to put a lot of points on the
board and get into the end zone.
Once we know we can score, we just
keep getting in there."
Confidence in hand, the
Wolverines played perhaps their best
foo~thall of the seasnin the second
ble and returned it 24 yards to the
Wolverine 46.
One play later, Wheatley struck
again, streaking 54 yards for his sec-
ond touchdown. He froze free safety
Chris Dyer just beyond the line of
scrimmage and outraced a final de-
fender to the end zone.
"I can't really remember it,"
Wheatley said afterward. "But No.
16 (Dyer) was approaching me, and
I guess he thought I was gonna cut
back up field, and I just made the
move to the outside and ran away."
And the real excitement was still
to come. Another fumble led to a 33-
defenders and cutting up field into
daylight. He galloped into the end
zone 70 yards later with Michigan's
final score.
"I was real surprised. I didn't
know what had happened (with the
penalty)," Alexander said. "We
came back out there for another punt
return, and I was just excited to be
back out there."
The second half was a defensive
struggle of sorts, as neither team was
able to score. The first five posses-
sions of the third quarter ended with
a punt after three plays. Michigan
came the closest when Elezovic
6
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