S 0 r a r'W.J V i I *Victory 1s no consolation after subpar .8-4 season S AN DIEGO - Here's what this football game means to this city: The Holiday Bowl parade made the front page of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The game itself chewed up a large portion of the sports section. Billboards around the city advertised the game, which was *early sold out. Clearly, this Holiday Bowl business is a big deal in San Diego. Yeah, well, some people made a big deal about New Kids on The Block, but that doesn't mean they deserved it. The fact is, the Holiday Bowl is not an important bowl. All the game did was stretch Michigan's streak of consecutive bowl appearances to 20. The game ;:fc is a* consolation e * prize for those ____________who couldn't MICHAEL even get the ROSENBERG Big Ten's real Roses are consolation *Read prize -a Citrus Bowl bid. For the second straight year, the Wolverines beat a minor team in another minor bowl game. This year, ColoradoState played the part of North Carolina State quite well, lying down for the Wolverines. Michigan ended the season icely, showing some of the talent veryone knew was there in a 24-14 victory. But that doesn't hide the fact that the Wolverines had a second straight 8-4 season. And at Michigan, that's a huge disappointment. Mention the word "disappointment" to any of the Wolverines and they'll look at you like you just suggested showing Onemas on pay-per-view. No way, they'll plead. And then they'll be ready with all the excuses for this season. Injuries really held the team back this year. This has some merit. Tailback Tyrone Wheatley was robbed of the healthy senior season he richly deserved, and key players like inebacker Matt Dyson and guard Joe Marinaro were hurt for much of the season. These were key injuries, no doubt. But this is football. Every team has injuries. The best teams learn how to deal with them. Most teams would be'thrilled to finish 8-4. We're holding the Wolverines to a higher, "Michigan standard." Well, what other standard should Ove hold the them up to? Colorado State's? Slippery Rock's? The University of the Socially Inept's? This is the worst of all the excuses, because it goes against what the players and coaches tell us every September. We're Michigan, they say. We expect to be the best. Nobody else expects that anymore. If coach Gary Moeller wants to say his team shouldn't be held to a higher standard, fine. We'll say Michigan isn't any better than any other football program in the country - as long as he tells recruits the same thing. We had a tough schedule. True, the schedule was difficult. But playing tough opponents early - like Boston College and Colorado - don't account for Michigan stinking like yesterday's lunch in losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State, and even in a win over Minnesota. There are only eleven football Saturdays each year. Michigan came out ready to play on eight of them, tops. We finished on a high note. The Wolverines played well *gainst Colorado State. But is it so impressive that there's more talent in Todd Collins than in Fort Collins? Is this what this program has come to? Michigan is better than Colorado State. So what? You Who holds the Michigan football record for individual total offense in a career? (Answer, page 2) Insie POTS .rda M' Sports Calender AP Top 25 Athlete of the Week Women's Basketball Q&A Forrest Fires Football Men's Basketball Hockey 2 2 2 2 3 3 4-5 6 7-8 Y Blue ends year with happy Holiday 'M' knocks off Colorado State, 24-14, for bowl win By RACHEL BACHMAN Daily Football Writer SAN DIEGO - After the Michigan football team's season of improbabili- ties, the Holiday Bowl was a fitting end. In it, a slow-starting team attacked early (Michigan scored 10 pointsin the first quarter). A previously weak defense grounded a high-flying WAC offense (the Wolverines held Colorado State to two scores). And a lower-ranked favorite came away victorious: No. 20 Michigan 24, No. 10 Rams 14. Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick said, despite the loss, "It was a season of dreams," in which the Rams made their third bowl appearance in school history. For the Wolverines, the game marked their 20th bowl appearance in a row. And, on a day of reversals, credit was due an unlikely source. "We're just dumbfounded by the performance of our defense," Michigan quarterback Todd Collins said of a squad that had given up an average of 23 points per game. Collins, named co-offensive MVP with Colorado State quarterback Anthoney Hill, made an impression himself with two touchdown passes. Collins finished his career as the most accurate passer in Wolverine history. "We're going to miss him," Michigan coach Gary Moeller said. Moeller avoided a negative milestone in San Diego: his first five-loss season. The last time the Wolverines finished with more than four losses was after their last Holiday Bowl appearance - 1984, when they lost to BYU to finish 6-6. Michigan concluded 1994 with an 8-4 record; WAC champion Colorado State ended up 10-2. Besides Collins, others making their final encores included linebacker Matt Dyson and tailback Tyrone Wheatley. Wheatley had one touchdown and 80 yards on 16 carries. Having begun the year as a Heisman hopeful, he recovered from a preseason shoulder injury to finish with 1,144 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns in 10 games. "He's been a special guy because of how he contributed and how he stayed around (for his senior year)," Moeller said. Wheatley, who plans to compete on Michigan's trackteam again this year, See HOLIDAY, Page 4 VAN''IE''a'y The Michigan defense came up big against Colorado State, offense to 14 points. Thanks to the defensive effort, coach capturing two interceptions and holding the Rams' Gary Moeller improved his bowl-game record to 44. Nechigan ing sofGLIan Wolverinels capture seventh straight tournent titles By SARAH DeMAR and DARREN EVERSON Daily sports Writers The Michigan hockey team, at- tempting; to win its seventh straight Great Lakes Invitational, appeared to have its toughest test yet at the annual tournament. In order to extend the streak, the Wolverines would have to defeat an improved Michigan Tech club and perhaps archrival Michigan State. But, despite the opposition and some key per- , sonnet losses, Michigan beat LIYI both clubs, claiming yet an- other GLI title. After trouncing the Huskies, 13-0, the Wolverines overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Spartans, 5-4, in the championship game. "Michigan is not going to win this every year. I feel fortunate," Michi- gan coach Red Berenson said. "This is the best team (Michigan State) has had here in a while. "They played well enough to win." The Spartans had a chance to do just that, after Steve Suk tied the title game at four eight minutes into the third period. After some scoring opportunities on both ends, Michigan's Bill Muckalt took a pass from Rick Willis and beat goalie Mike Buzak high glove-side for the game-winner. "We scored a lot of goals up top (on Buzak). That's been the secret," Muckalt said. "Willis made a great play intercepting the puck and he saw me coming across. Then I just did what I do best, which is shoot the puck." Michigan forward Brendan Morrison, who also had an assist on that goal, played a major role in the Wolverines' success at the tourna- ment. After an attempt to play in the World Junior Hockey Championships with teammates Kevin Hilton and Jason Botterill didn't work out, the sophomore center came back in time to play in the GLI - and to be named the tournament MVP. "It would've been nice to repre- sent (Canada), but I'm excited to be here," he said. "I thought our five-on- five outplayed (Michigan State's) all game. We came back after the first goal and took it to them in the sec- ond." The Spartans were at the top of their game in the first, twice shut- ting down Michigan's power play and scoring a shorthanded goal of their own. Though theeWolverines outshot Michigan State 31-18 the rest of the way, coach Ron Mason found little fault with his team's performance. "I have no apologies for the way we played," he said. "We played about as well as we can." In the Wolverines' first match, Michigan gained a spot in the tournament's record book with a 13-0 slaying of Michigan Tech. The tally set marks for both the number of goals scored by a team and the margin of victory during a GLI game. Good things came in pairs for the Wolverines as a number of Michigan players racked up two goals. Left wing Matt Herr notched two in the first period, defenseman Blake Sloan scored his pair in the second stanza and Muckalt netted one in each of the final two periods. John Arnold, Mike Knuble, Tim Hogan and Robb Gordon also added goals for the Wolverines, but the star of the night was Mike Legg. The sophomore scored his first ca- reer hat trick while substituting in the center position for Hilton and Botterill. "Mike's a much improved player," Berenson said. "He came in last year with that great freshmen class. We really needed him to step up, and he did." The lopsided score signified the dominance of the Michigan offense, See GLI, Page 7 JOSE JUARENSpOcial to the Daily Ron Sacka hoists the GLI championship trophy after Michigan defeated Michigan State, 5-4, to win its seventh consecutive tournament title. Maurice Taylor dunks over Purdue's Roy Hairston in the first half of Michigan's 71-61 defeat of the Boilermakers. Taylor and Jimmy King led the Wolverines with 18 points apiece. Purdue was 'M' drops Purdue in Big Ten opener By ANTOINE PITTS Daily Basketball Writer Following a long search, the Michigan basketball team finally found an answer to its shooting woes. It came in the second half Tuesday night against Purdue. The Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 7-5 overall) sank 61 percent of their shots in the final 20 minutes and outran the Boilermakers, 71-61. the half until 4:52 remained in the contest.. "For this early in the season, they play great team defense," Purdue guard Matt Waddell said. "They're very ath- letic and they cover a lot of ground on the floor." The Wolverines pounded the ball down low trying to take advantage of the Purdue big men. All three frontcourt starters for Michigan finished in double you have to execute on every posses- sion." The Michigan defensive effort in- cluded shutting down the Boilermak- ers' biggest offensive weapon. "It starts with our seniors," Fisher said. "Ray Jackson made things aw- fully tough for Cuonzo Martin." The Wolverines held Martin, Purdue's leading scorer coming into the game with 16.4 points per game, to I ,a_. m