4 - TheMichigan Daily_-_SPORTSWednesday - Wednesday, January 5, 1994
M
I
C
H
I
0
A
N
4
2'
GAME STATISTICS
PASSING
Player C-A
Collins 11-22
Carr 1-1
Totals 12-23
Yds TD
189 1
12 0
201 1
RUSHING
Player Att
Wheatley 18
Davis 7
Biakabutuka 5
R.Powers 4
Buff 3
Ritchie 3
Foster 2
Collins 1
Carr 1
Totals 47
RECEIVING
Yds
124
36
22
33
26
9
10
4
1
179
Avg
6.8
5.1
4.4
8.2
8.6
3.0
5.0
4.0
1.0
3.8
Int
0
0
0
Lg
26
10
19
16
22
4
8
4
1
59
FOOTBALLNOTEBOOK
olverines enter 1994
on our-game streak
By ADAM MILLER
DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER
TAMPA, Fla. - The Michigan football team (8-4 overall) may have
stumbled early in the season, but it definitely finished in style.
While only 4-4 after its 13-10 defeat at Wisconsin Oct. 30, the Wolverines
put together a four-game winning streak that saw them outscore their opponents
153-24.
"It was very important," junior quarterback Todd Collins said. "If we had
lost another game, we knew we'd be one of the worst teams ... We knew we
were a lot better than what we had showed."
Some players said that the streak helps Michigan build momentum for the
1994 campaign.
"We go into next year on a high note, especially with a lot of guys coming
back," freshman free safety Clarence Thompson said. The Wolverines lose
only five defensive and three offensive starters to graduation.
However, Michigan coach Gary Moeller said he preferred to concentrate
on the present.
"It helps us for next year, but I didn't play this game to help us for next year,"
he said. "I played the game for the guys I thought needed to play."
ALL NosrRADAmus: At a press conference two days before the game, senior
cornerback Alfie Burch made statements that turned out to be semi-prophetic.
"If we contain their big plays, and stop the run, we'll be successful," Burch
said. N.C. State had none of its trademark "big-plays" Saturday, and only
tailback Gary Downs (102 yards) made any significant headway against the
Wolverine defense.
Not impressed? Consider Burch's remark on how the Wolverines would
have to deal with All-ACC split end Eddie Goines.
"There will be some opportunities to make some plays for (sophomore
cornerback) Ty Law and on the corners," he said.
With 3:37 left in the third quarter, Wolfpack quarterback Geoff Bender
looked long for Goines and instead found Law.
Believe it or not.
SHATTERING THE RECORDS: The Wolverines set no less than 13 records
Saturday (five Hall of Fame, eight Michigan).
Hall of Fame: Most Touchdowns (six); Most points (42); Longest Punt
Return (senior split end Derrick Alexander's 79-yard TD dash - also the
longest by 'M' in a bowl); Most PAT kicks made (six by Pete Elezovic);
Longest interception return (Thompson, 43 yards - also sets Michigan records
for longest INT return in a bowl and first INT return to score).
Michigan: Most Career Rushing Touchdowns (36 by junior tailback Tyrone
Wheatley); Most TD's in Bowls, cumulative (six by Wheatley); Most Points
in Bowls, cumulative (36, Wheatley); Most Passing Completions and At-
tempts, season (Todd Collins was 189-296 on the year); and the records listed
above that were also Hall of Fame-records.
By KEN SUGIURA
DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER
TAMPA,Fla. -It was the Michi-
gan defense, Tyrone Wheatley ex-
plained. It was the defense that pro-
vided the offense with good field po-
sition that allowed him to charge
through N. C. State's defense for 124
yards and two touchdowns.
Also, all kinds of credit was due
for the offensive line that opened up
the holes in the Wolfpack defense.
And for the coaching staff that came
up with the game plan. It seemed as
though Wheatley would have every-
one gathered at the Hall of Fame Bowl
press conference that he had nothing
It
Wheatley takes MVP trophi
Junior tailback's two-touchdown performance spars
to do with his wonderful performance.
"I just ran," Wheatley said, after
earning bowl game mostvaluable player
honors for the second straight year.
Yeah, and Captain Ahab "just
fished."
Wheatley, the 1993 Rose Bowl
MVP, took home the Hall of Fame Bowl
MVP trophy after leading Michigan to a
42-7 demolishing of the Wolfpack New
Year's Day at Tampa Stadium.
At least Wheatley thought enough
of his performance to not decline the
award on the spot. Indeed, in addition
to terrorizing the Wolfpack, the junior
wrought more havoc on the Michigan
record books to cap an historic season,
and perhaps career.
Neither Wheatley nor coach Gary
Moeller had any comment about
Wheatley's impending decision to skip
school for the NFL or stay for his
senior season. It was just as well,
because his performance spoke plenty.
After collecting a quiet 25 yards in
the first quarter, Wheatley amassedn
awesome 78 in the game-brekig secon
quarter. He earned 26 of them when he
tookapitchfromquarterbackToddCollins
and sprinted around the right end on the
rain-slicked turf for a 7-0 Michigan lead.
He added another score in the third
period, Michigan's fifth touchdown, an
easy 18-yard scoot around the left side.
"Both my scores, I went in un-
touched," Wheatley said. "The team
:i
c,
Player
W.Smith
D.Jones
Toomer
Hayes
Davis
Richards
Totals
No.
3
2
2
2
2
1
12.
Yds
48,
65
44
27
5
12.
201
Avg Lg
15.624
32.548
22.031
13.510
2.5 4
12.012
16.748
EVAN PETRIE/Daily
last they will see of Tyrone Wheatley in a Wolverine uniform.
Michigan fans hope the Hall of Fame Bowl was not theI
Thompson, Blue defense stand out
in shutting down Wolfpack attack
10
Moeller
PUNTING
Player
Stapleton
Totals
No.
6;
4r
Yds Avg Lg
282 47.0 60
157 39.3 47
PUNT RETURNS
Player N
Toomer
Alexander
Totals
KICKOFF R
Player N
Alexander
Hayes
Totals
DEFENSE
Player
Morrison
Dyson
Hankins
Irons
Burch
B.Powers
Henderson
Law
King
Denson
W.Smith
Thompson
Freedman
Buff
Stanley
Evans
Horn
Dudlar
Johnson
Peoples
Pryce
o.Yds
2 13
1 79
3 92
Avg
30A
ETURNS
o.Yds Avg
1 28 28.0
1 20 20.0
2 48 24.0
Tac
8
5
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1.
1.
1
1
1
0
0
Ast.
0
1
0
0
1.
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1I
_L9
5 9
) 79
>79,
9g
28
)20
)28
Tot
8
6
4
4
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1I
1I
By ADAM MILLER
DAILY FOOTBALL WRITER
TAMPA, Fla.-Clarence Thomp-
son had a feeling Saturday would be
special.
As the members of the Michigan
football team settled back into their
rooms at the Wyndham Harbour Is-
land Hotel on New Year's Eve, the
players' thoughts turned to the next
morning's game against N.C. State.
But Thompson, a true freshman
free safety from Detroit, didn't just
think in general terms about the
Wolfpack, or the wavy-stadium, or
the ESPN audience.
He thought about the end zone.
Thompson had only intercepted
one pass previously this season, in the
Minnesota contest, and he had no re-
turn after the catch. But Saturday,
with 11:05 remaining in the third quar-
ter, Thompson stepped in front of a
Terry Harvey pass in the left flat that
was intended for receiver Kevin Hinton
and returned his snatch, untouched,
43 yards for a touchdown.
"I had a feeling I was going to
score today," the 6-foot-1, 176-
pounder said. "I thought about it last
night. I told (senior tailback) Ricky
Powers before the game I was going to
score. (When I did) I was just so ec-
static. I ran out of the end zone before
(my teammates) caught me."
Perhaps the rest of the Wolver-
ines' defensive effort wasn't as dra-
matic as the longest scoring intercep-
tion return in Hall of Fame Bowl his-
tory, but it was effective. As the of-
fense rolled up 42 points (counting
Thompson's contribution), the defense
contained the Wolfpack to a solitary
touchdown.
Michigan forced six N.C. State
turnovers (four interceptions, two
fumbles), and it was the third con-
secutive four-interception game for
the Wolverines. They sacked the
Wolfpack quarterbacks three times,
and senior Buster Stanley and com-
pany applied constant pressure. N.C.
State could only manage 117 yards
rushing (with a 3.2 per rush average),
and 312 yards total.
Twenty-five players notched at
least one tackle, and the group was led
by junior linebackers Steve Morrison
(eight tackles) and Matt Dyson (six).
"We had an idea we could do well
against them," said Stanley, whose
sole tackle dropped All-ACC split end
Eddie Goines for a five-yard loss in
the second quarter. "We got good pen-
etration, put pressure on their quarter-
back, and we did well."
Michigan's containment of
Goines particularly stood out.
Known as a big-play threat, Goines
entered the game with 10 touch-
downs to his credit, and an average
of over 19 yards each time he caught
the ball. In the Wolfpack's 36-34
comeback victory at Texas Tech this
year, Goines caught three touchdown
passes, including one on the final
play of the game to give
N.C. State the victory.
During the week, his "Goin',
Goines, Gone" nickname, candid dis-
cussion of his feats and hometown
status (he hails from Lakeland, Fla.)
had made him quite the localfavor-
ite.
However, senior cornerback Alfie
Burch and freshman cornerback Ty
Law shadowed Goines all game, as
they had done against Ohio State's
Joey Galloway, and the Wolverines
found similar success. Goines had only
72 yards on seven receptions and no
touchdowns. His longest reception
went for 21 yards, and on two longer
passes thrown his way, one was bro-
ken up by Burch and Law intercepted
the other.
When reminded after the game that
he was usually a proficient deep-threat,
Goines sighed "I know" and then,
surprisingly, hinted that N.C. State's
game plan didn't figure him in enough.
"We only called one or two deep
plays the whole game," Goines said,
"and if we don't call them, I can't
catch them."
Michigan coach Gary Moeller sa&
it less as a Wolfpack coaching guffaw
and more a Wolverine success.
"I'm not sure there's any one se-
cret (in how to stop big-play receiv-
ers)," Moeller said. "We just played
more aggressively on defense the past
two games."
Thompson concurred.
"It's just our style of defense -
aggressive," he said. "Others may tall4
a lot or play for others, but we're
playing for ourselves."
In addition to Thompson and Law,
sophomore free safety Steve King and
Morrison grabbed interceptions.
Morrison, who missed part of the sea-
son with a foot injury, said he particu-
larly relished his, which he returned
19 yards in the middle of the third
quarter.
"Sure we're disappointed that W
didn't get into the Rose Bowl, but this
was a great trip and I got an intercep-
tion," Morrison said. "Ten years from
now when I think of this bowl, I'll
think of that interception."
EVAN PETAIE/DalHy
Senior Ricky Powers scored one final touchdown on a 16-yard run in the third
quarter of Michigan's 42-7 victory over N.C. State in the Hall of Fame Bowl
BAND, TAKE THE FIELD: Actually, the Michigan Marching Band had a hard
time taking the field after the game.
While, traditionally, the losing team's band yields to the victors' so that the
post-game celebration can commence, the N.C. State band came on first and
played its entire concert show, over 20 minutes. This despite most Wolfpack
fans had left by the fourth quarter and there were some 15,000 Wolverine
faithful waiting for the 'M' band.
When the Michigan band finally came on, the N.C. State percussion section
showed that it did have some class. The entire percussion corps stayed on the
field to watch the Michigan band play "Temptation" and "Hawaiian War
Chant" and saluted them afterwards.
WE THINK THEY WENT TO MiAmi: The Hall of Fame Bowl sold 52,649 tickets
to the game, and announced the crowd as such. However, a combination of the
plethora of other bowls in the state, including the national championship game
being played five hours away at the Orange Bowl, the soggy conditions, and the
vnicmate4h 1 macePthe crowdnIseem more like 40.000.