The Michigan Daily -- SPORTSMonday - Monday, September 12, 1994 - 5
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fOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
GAME STATISTICS
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Mistake-free Becton
looses his grip on ball
By BRETT FORREST and MICHAEL ROSENBERG
Daily Football Writers
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Notre Dame tailback Lee Becton fumbled twice
against Michigan. The first time the ball was stripped by Clarence Thompson
at the Notre Dame 18 and recovered by Tony Henderson. Then, in the third
quarter, Becton was about to spring loose when he was hit by Michigan
defensive lineman Jason Horn. The ball popped loose and Wolverine Trevor
Pryce jumped on it.
The fumbles were way out of character for Becton, who had fumbled only
once before in his career, in the 1993 Cotton Bowl. He had gone 233
consecutive carries without coughing it up.
"Lee went all last year without a fumble," Irish coach Lou Holtz said. "We
thought it was best to sit him for a series (after the second fumble). He has been
a fine player here, made some great plays and will continue to."
HOLTZ AGAINST THE BLUE: In his coaching career, Holtz stands even against
Michigan, 5-5-1 (5-3-1 while at Notre Dame). Saturday's loss gave Holtz a
.500 home record against the Wolverines (2-2-1). Michigan coach Gary
Moeller and Holtz are now even with each other as well (2-2-1).
TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING: Notre Dame's last-minute loss by way field goal
Saturday was reminiscent of the defeat the Irish suffered at the hands of Boston
College, Nov. 20th of last season. The game against the Eagles was also the
last home game for the Irish.
The last time Notre Dame lost two in a row at home was in 1984. Head
coach Gerry Faust led his squad to consecutive losses to Air Force, 21-7, on
Oct. 13, and South Carolina, 36-32, the following Saturday.
NmH IN THE '90s: Michigan entered the weekend as the ninth-winningest
team in this decade, with 37 wins. Florida State leads the nation with 45 wins
in the 1990s.
Michigan was the 10th-winningest team in the 1980s and third in the 1970s.
Since 1970, Michigan has won 213 games.
AMAm IN THE BANK: Michigan junior wide receiver Amani Toomer is one
of ten initial nominees for the first annual Biletnikoff Award, given to the best
receiver in the college game. The other nine nominees are: J.J. Stokes of
UCLA, Joey Galloway of Ohio State, Michael Westbrook of Colorado,
Bobby Engram of Penn State, Jack Jackson of Florida, Kez McCorvey of
Florida State, Mike Adams of Texas, Brice Hunter of Georgia, and Eddie
Goines of N.C. State. Galloway, Westbrook and Engram all face Michigan
this season.
EVERYWHERE BUT SCOREKEEPERS: The Michigan-Notre Dame game will be
televised tomorrow to over 100 countries, including Zimbabwe. So if you're
flying to Zimbabwe tonight and you missed the game, don't fret. You can catch
it on the tube tomorrow.
PASSIN
Player
Powlus
Tot.
RUSHIN
Player
Becton
Zellars
Kinder
Powlus
Edwards
Totals
Aft
13
13
3
13
2
44
Yds
76
61
11
10
7
165
Avg
5.8
4.7
3.7
0.8
3.5
165
C-A YdsTD
15-27 187 2
1.5x27 187 2
Int
0
0
Lg
21
16
6
16
8
21
Tim Biakabatuka ran for 100 yards on
25 carries. His eight-yard touchdown put Michigan ahead, 7-3.
OSEs
Continued from page 12
final gun was fired to end the third
quarter, the scoreboard read: Michi-
gan 20, Notre Dame 17.
But that, as they say in all those
previous volumes of Notre Dame folk-
logre, was just the beginning.
*The teams went back and forth in
the fourth quarter until Michigan fi-
nally managed to kick a field goal.
Wolverine fans celebrated. How na-
ive, The field goal gave Michigan a
sixpoint lead with 2:08 to go, which
gave Notre Dame freshman Ron
Powlus a chance to march his team
downfield and score the winning
touchdown and then get carried off
field by several thousand joyous
C executives.
Powlus proceeded to lead the
Fighting Irish straight into Michigan
territory, a textbook Notre Dame
comeback. This should surprise none
of you Irish mystique-makers, because
you guys are always talking about
how Notre Dame players carry text-
books with them everywhere, even to
football games, in case they should,
* example, want to study during
halftime.
At this point it was obvious to
everyone that Notre Dame was going
to win, and Powlus' pretty touch-
down pass to flanker Derrick Mayes
was regarded as a mere formality.
The extra point gave the Fighting
Irish a 24-23 lead. Wow. This Powlus
kid learns quick.
Too quick, as it turns out, because
kid left 52 seconds on the clock for
Michigan to work with, and in foot-
ball, as in economics class, 52 sec-
onds, can seem like forever.
Collins answered Powlus, driving
the Wolverines downfield. Take tha4
freshman. Suddenly Michigan had the
ball on Notre Dame's 33, with time
for just one play to get them into field-
goal range.
Just minutes earlier, not far from
this very spot, Collins had been hit
from behind and fumbled the ball
over to Notre Dame. It was the kind of
play that players replay in their minds
again and again if they lose.
From the start, the play did not
look good for Michigan. Collins was
immediately flushed out of the pocket.
Fighting Irish linebacker Bert Berry
decided that Collins would look much
nicer with his head embedded in the
field, and grabbed the quarterback by
the jersey. As he was pulled down,
Collins somehow completed a pass to
Seth Smith, who scrambled for nine
yards before diving out of bounds.
There. Collins had done his part.
Now all Michigan needed was a
42-yard field goal. From a guy who,
until Saturday, had only made one
field goal in his career.
It would have been great if Remy
Hamilton had just kicked the winning
field goal. People would be talking
about it for ages, like they talk about
the Four Horsemen and George Gipp
and Joe Montana's Cotton Bowl
comeback, about how Hamilton was
an untested player who came through
in the game's final moments.
But you know how these legends
are. You always need to keep tugging
at the heartstrings.
So it wasn't enough that Hamilton
kicked the winning field goal. You
also have to bring up that since com-
ing to school he had been injured,
frustrated, and had lost confidence in
himself. He was thinking of transfer-
ring.
"You have to realize where this
kid's come from," special teams coach
Mike DeBord said. "He's come from
not being able to kick an extra point or
a field goal to hitting them like he's
hitting them today."
He was ready to change schools,
but instead changed his work habits.
He practiced and practiced all sum-
mer. He became the best kicker on the
team. The coaches tried Erik Lovell
for a week, but when that didn't work
out, they had no problem going to
Hamilton.
HARD WORK MAKES
HAMILTON HERO, you could call
this chapter.
But then you would be leaving out
that special bit of historical inspira-
tion found in most of your previous
chapters.
When Remy Hamilton arrived at
college, he was given the number 19.
That was the number worn by his
team's last great kicker, Mike Gillette.
Hamilton had never met Gillette, but.
he knew all about him.
Saturday morning, Mike Gillette
walked up to Remy Hamilton.
"I met him today and he said, 'I
don't know if you know who I am.
I'm Mike Gillette. Just go out there
and have a good day."' Hamilton said.
Thus inspired by a hero from the
past, Hamilton kicked the winning
field goal.
"Kids always have their own ways
of trying to do things and a guy that's
been there before can sometimes speak
their language better than a coach,"
Moeller said. "You can look at me
and tell I wasn't a placekicker."
I'm telling you, it's perfect. An-
other chapter in the folklore.
Powlus
RECEIVING
Player
Mayes
Miller
Zellars
Stafford
Becton
Totals
No. Yds AvgLg
7
3
2
2
1
Is
106
24
31
25
1
187
15.133
8.013
15.517
12.514
1.0 1
12.533
PUNTING
Player No. Yds AvgLg
Ford
Totals
5
5
199
199
39.8 47
39.847
PUNT RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg Lg
Miller 2 18 9.0 12
Totals 2 18 9.012
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg Lg
Miller
Chryplewicz
Totals
DEFENSE
5 12925.8
1 4 4.0
6 13322.2
55
4
5E
Penn State sends Southern Cal
packing; Purdue finally wins one
Linebacker Trevor Prye sacks quarterback Ron Powlus.
W No.8 Penn St. 38, No.14 South-
rn Cal 14
Kerry Collins passed for two of
Penn State's five first-half touch-
lowns and the eighth-ranked Nittany
Lions went on to beat No. 14 South-
-rn Cal 38-14.
Penn State (2-0) led 21-0 less than
ight minutes into the game and 35-0
halftime.
Southern Cal (1-1) scored only on
auincy Harrison's 68-yard intercep-
ion return in the third quarter.
Purdue 51, Toledo 17
Corey Rogers rushed for 129 yards
ind three touchdowns and Joe Hagins,
itarter on defense. carried for two
in the first half and finished with 191
as Indiana defeated Miami (0-2), 35-
14.
Smith carried 26 times in the first
half and sat out the fourth quarter as
Indiana (2-0) took command.
No. 25 Washington 25, No. 18
Ohio State 16
Napoleon Kaufman squirted his
way to a career-best 211 yards and
scored a touchdown to lead No. 25
Washington to a 25-16 victory over
18th-ranked Ohio State.
Washington (1-1) scored three
touchdowns and led 19-0 in the first
quarter, then had to hang on to beat
Ohio State (1-1).
Doxzon and Robby Duncan into 17
points and beat the Cyclones 37-9.
Iowa (2-0) committing three turn-
overs, including Ryan Terry's fumble
into the end zone, and Iowa State (0-
2) turning it over four times.
Leading 13-3 at halftime, Iowa
broke it open after Doxzon fumbled
on Iowa State's first two plays from
scrimmage in the third quarter.
Minnesota 33, Pacific 7
Chris Darkins rushed 33 times for
a career-high 179 yards and a touch-
down and turned a short pass into a
47-yard scoring play as Minnesota
rebounded from an opening-game
embarrassment to beat Pacific 33-7.
COLLINS
Continued from page 1
sealed. When Notre Dame linebacker
Bert Berry grabbed Collins around
the waist at midfield, the planned-for
sack looked to be in the making.
"I felt like I was just about ready to
go down," Collins said.
He went down all right, but not
before spinning and throwing com-
plete to wide receiver Seth Smith.
"I was kind of worried as I twirled
to my left that my momentum was
going the other way and the ball was
going to sail to the right," Collins
said. "I thought at first it might get
nicked off."
Player
Magee
Nau
Goheen
Wynn
Gibson
Saddler
Taylor
Grasmanis
Hamilton
Sample
Wooden
Davis
Cobbins
Cengia
McLaughlin
Berry
Moore
Graham
Zataveski
SACKS
Player
Nau
B. Taylor
Tac
3
3
1
4
1
1
1
0
3
1
3
2
2
1
0
0
1
0
Ast
6
5
7
3
5
4
4
5
1
3
0
1
0
1
1
2
2
0
1
Toi
9
8
8
7
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
No.
2
1
Yds
-11
22
-