,. Football vs. Notre Dame Tomorrow, 12p.m. (ABC) Michigan Stadium S S Volleyball at North Carolina State Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Raleigh, N.C. Wolverines overmatch Irish this year By ADAM MILLER DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER Notre Dame fans will do just about anything tohelp their beloved Irish. The latest ploy involves a fan reportedly planting Irish sod in the north endzone of Michigan Stadium, supposedly in the exactlocation thatDesmond Howard made "The Catch" two years ago. Will this bring "The Luck of the Irish" to Ann Arbor? Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz better hope so, because his team doesn't match up well with the Wolverines. QUARTERBACKS The mismatch starts here. Whom do you pick: Michigan's Todd Collins or NotreDame's Kevin McDougal? Well, Collins started two games last year, setting records in each, while McDougal's first startwas last Saturday against Northwestern - a 27-12 Irish victory -andhe was amere 6-of-8, for 135 yards and no touchdowns against a suspect Wildcat defense. Collins, a senior with junior eligibil- ity,gotthestartingpositionasheirtothe graduated Elvis Grbac. The Irish had a void to fill, too, with the departure of Rick Mirer, but McDougal wasn't even the first choice. Rookie Ron Powlus was the top Irish QB coming out of spring drills, but he broke his collar- bone, leaving either McDougal or the completely inexperienced Paul Failla as the only options. While McDougal's showing was lackluster, Collins shined last Saturday. He completed 19 of 29 passes, for 265 yards and three touchdowns injust over three quarters of action. You get the picture: Collins is hot, McDougal is not. *L Advantage: Michigan RUNNING BACKS Again, graduation has hit the Irish hard, as both All-American fullback Jerome Bettis and tailback Reggie Brooks are gone. Returning at tailback are juniors Lee Becton, who was sec- ond string last year, and Travis Davis, a converted defensive back. Becton doesn't possess great speed, running the 40-yard-dash in 4.5 seconds, and Davis is quick but his true potential remains to be seen. Contrast this with the Wolverines' stockpile ofrunners.TyroneWheatley. Ricky Powers. Ed Davis. All possess theirown strengths. Wheatley, who went over the 2,000 career yards-mark last week, has the quickness, and the strength. Powers, himselfhaving gained 2,269 career yards, is a Michigan tailback in the classic mold. He hits the seams with force. Davis is a dependable third option. Ray Zelars, who had two starts last year, starts at fullback for Notre Dame. He carried the ball 14times for87 yards in the opener. Che Foster returns at fullback for the Wolverines. The redshirtsophomore will be joined by rookie Jon Ritchie, who made his debut against the Cou- gars. Neither had a stellar rushing day last week, as they combined for 16 yards, but with Michigan's tailback ar- sepal, they can afford to concentrate on their blocks. Advantage: Michigan RECEIVERS Michigan's Mercury Hayes made his mark last week. The sophomore hauled in eightpasses for 105 yardsand two touchdowns. Senior Derrick Alexander is still listed as day-to-day after spraining an ankle on the game's first play last week, butno matter. Hayeshas a few friends to bring with him to tomorrow's party: sophomore Amani Toomer (three catches for 69 yards last week), redshirt junior Walter Smith (who seems to enjoy blocking - hard - more than catching) andjuniorFelman Malveaux. The shelves are also full for the Irish. The roster includes: senior Lake Dawson, who made the infamous catch in South Bend three years ago; senior Adrian Jarrell, who caught the tying touchdown in last year's contest; senior Clint Johnson, who is used on the reverse; Mike Miller, a junior speed- ster who primarily sees time on special teams; and sophomore split end Der- rick Mayes. Advantage: EVEN TIGHT END Both teams lost their starter from last year. For Michigan, it was Tony McGee; for Notre Dame, it was Irv Smith. WolverineseniorMarcBurkholder played in all 12 games last year. He's known for his blocks, and he sprang Wheatley on his 99-yard kickoff return against Houston. Rookie Pierre Coo- per backs up Burkholder, asdoesjunior John Jaeckin. Oscar McBride starts for the Irish, and he led the team in touchdown recep- tions last year despite never starting. Wait, that's not saying much: he only had four. Sophomores Pete Chry- plewicz and Leon Wallace, who's a hefty 6-foot-3, 268 pounds, back up. Advantage: Michigan OFFENSIVE LINE Michigan's linemen will be domi- nating ... later on. But they're still de- veloping now. Left tackle Trezelle Jenkins is the only returning starter, and center Marc Milia the only senior. The rest of the line features a rotation of inexperienced players: redshirt junior Shawn Miller (guard), redshirt junior Joe Marinaro (tackle), redshirt sopho- more Mike Sullivan (tackle) and redshirtfreshman Jon Runyan (tackle). NotreDame'sline is somewhatmore experienced. Left guard Aaron Taylor, a senior, anchors the line. Sophomores Tim Ruddy (center)andToddNorman (right tackle) join him, as does sopho- more Mark Zataveski (right guard). Advantage: Notre Dame DEFENSIVE LINE The strength of the Irish lies here. All four starters return from last year's line - though the Irish can exhibit the 3-4 defense. Brian Hamilton plays left end, and left tackle/nose guard features All-America candidate Bryant Young. A senior, Young had 10 solo tackles and three assists, including two sacks last week. On the right side, senior Jim Flanigan holds down the tackle post, while junior Germaine Holden plays end. Michigan also features strength on its three-man line. Co-captain Buster Stanley starts at left tackle. A fifth-year senior, Stanley was honorable mention All-Big Ten last year, starting 11 of 12 games. Redshirt junior Tony Henderson anchors the line at nose guard, and was All-Big Ten Second Team last year. The solid tandem of senior redshirt sophomore Ninef Aghakhan and Trent Zenkewicz split time at right tackle. Advantage: EVEN LINEBACKERS Two seniors, Pete Berich and An- thony Peterson returnfor the Irish, and they give Notre Dame speed, strength and experience at this position. The lost senior at the .third slot is Demetrius DuBose, an All-American Michigan fans will be glad not to see tomorrow. Yet Peterson ranked second behind DuBose in tackles last season with 75 (50 solo), and Berich had an intercep- tion last week. Joined byfirst-year starter and sophomore Renaldo Wynn, they will pose a tough test for Michigan's inexperienced offensive line. Michigan'slinebackingcorpshasbeen stretched thin by injury, from which the Wolverines are only starting to recover. Inside linebacker Steve Morrison ap- pears to have recovered fist as he started last week. The Butkus candidate eagerly awaits the return of fellow nominee and OLB Matt Dyson, whose calf has healed sufficiently for him to see limited action. Yet all is not lost. Rookie inside linebacker Jarret Irons had a good game last week, with two tackles and an assist. The inside position is fairly well stocked, with such players as senior Dave Dobreff and redshirt juniors Marcus Walkr and Bobby Powers. The outside position needs Dyson's return. Defensive tackle Gannon Dudlar has filled in well-hehad three tackles last week-and Shawn Collins has markedly improved from last year. Advantage: Notre Dame DEFENSIVE SECONDARY Word to MDougal: Michigan strong safety Shonte Peoples is a preseason All- American. And the senior's fighting mad at the Fighting Irish, who stopped recmit- ing him midway through high school. Might he settle his score tomorrow on a safety blitz, or with an interception (like the one he had last week)? Possibly. But even if he doesn't achieve personal vengeance, Peoples' teammates - the self-titled "Lynch Mob" - probably will. Consider cornerback Alfie Burch, who likes Irish cornerback Tom Carter picks off an interception in last year's 17-17 tie while Wolverine wideout Derrick Alexander looks on. making tackles that produce really loud noises. Orcornerback Ty Law, asopho- more who probably hasn't forgotten the pass-interference call against him in lastyear'smeeting. Orfree safety Chuck Winters, who plays well beyond his redshirt freshman years (six solo tack- les to lead the team last week). Notre Dame counters with an experi- enced secondary with three seniors. Se- niorfree safetyJeffBurrishad73 tackles and five interceptions last year, and four tackles last week. Fellow senior John Covington plays strong safety, though he can also play atlinebacker (as Pbeoples did for Michigan last week). At the corners, senior Greg Lane, who is team captain, is solid if not flashy. He had 57 tackles (44 solo) and two sacks last season. Sophomore Bobby Taylor joins Lane, playing right cornerback. Of course, experience isn't every- thing. Desire and motivation count fora lot, too, and Peoples' people seem to have this cornered. Advantage: Michigan KICKING Craig Hentrich handled both punt- ing and placekicking for Notre Dame for the past four seasons. Replacing him as placekicker is senior Kevin Pen- dergast, and senior walk-on Rob Leonard punts. Both are unproven. Michigan's kickers are at least more experienced. Senior Pete Elezovic is the primarily field goal kicker, with redshirt junior Eric Lovell backing up. Either Elezovic or redshirt freshman Remy Hamilton kicks off. Senior Chris Stapleton punts for the Wolverines. Advantage: Michigan RETURN TEAMS It's Wheatley and Hayes on kickoff returns. Wheatley is always a threat to take it back all the way, as he almost did last week. Alexander normally returns punts forMichigan, though ToomerandHayes will fill in until his return. Notre Dame's return team is amish mash of offensive and defensive spe- cialists, as players as diverse as Miller and Burris drop back for the Irish. Advantage: Michigan PREDICTION The Michigan-Notre Dame game traditionally goes down to the last quar ter, and often to the last play, to decide the winner. Not this year. Michigan 24, Notre Dame 10 r.__._ _. "1 SPORTING VIEWS 1 ~By ANDY DE KORTE DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER Football fan or no, most everyone has heard of Notre Dame. The University, abeachhead of Catholicism in America, tries to represent all that is right in higher learning as well as in athletics. Going back to the days of Knute Rockne, the Fighting Irish football team took on epic proportions. "Win one for the Gipper," a statement by football great George Gipp, became a part of American lexicon after Ronald Reagan played Gipp's role in the 1940 film, "Knute Rockne, All-American." That was then. In "Under the Tarnished Dome", a new book by Don Yaeger and Douglas Looney, theNotreDame image and current coach Lou Holtz fall underheavy fire. The major accusations include physical and emotional abuse of athletes, players being forced to play hurt, recommended steroid usage and lowered academic requirements for football recruits.f Irish troubles typical of college football Again, the accusations are well-documented. However, none ofthe situations arerare or illegal. Itisjustcallous behavior. The reason it makes news is because N.D. is supposed to be above certain behavior. Encouraged drug abuse of anabolic steroids is the most serious charge made in the book. NotreDame has not denied that their players have failed Notre Dame drug tests, but the numbers in the book and the one's stated by the school's executive vice president, Father William Beauchamp, differ. Beauchamp main- tains thatonly five players have failed tests and none since 1990. Several lineman tell of personal knowledge of at least 25 players who were on drugs, including several on the 1988 national championship team. The existence of lesser academic standards for football players is hard to prove. Nonetheless, average SAT scores fell approximately 50 points under Holtz frum his predecessor GerryFaust.It should also be noted that two of Holtz's first big recruits, Tony Rice and John Foley, were Notre Dame's first Prop 48 students.Thus, they sat out their fist season because their SAT scores were too low TTnfwmtl far d,,. t, T'1appnn a i t imati n ~nir~~ 'a fr~tnPn~i[ t