TEXAs A M 22, MICHIGAN 20
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GAME
PASSING
Player
Pullig
Totals
RUSHING
-] By Scott Burton
Daily SportsWriter
SAN ANTONIO - Michigan quar-
STATISTICS terback Brian Griese didn't have any
answers after Michigan's 22-20 loss to
Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl. No
explanation as to why he couldn't coun-
teract the Aggies' blitzes. No reasons
C-A Yds TD Int why he couldn't find his open receivers
downfield. Norationale why Michigan's
12-22 136 0 0 season ended with a defeat, despite com-
ing into San Antonio on an emotional
12-22 136 0 0 high.
"Wejustdidn't win the game," Griese
Player
Aft Yds Avg Lg TD
21 56 2.7 11 0
Bernard
Hardeman
Connell
Pullig
Totals
RECEIVING
Player I
Hardeman
Connell
Parker
Sanders
Spiller
Totals
PUNTING
Player
15 50 3.3 13 1
6 41 6.8 19 0
1 7 7.0 7 0
said.
But what Griese
And every team -
e did have after
Michigan's
fourth loss of the
season was a
sense of consola-
tion. He knew
that what is great
about sports is
that once one
season's national
champion is
crowned,thenext
season begins.
from Nebraska to
season, led Michigan to a stunning upset
of powerhouse Ohio State.
What will likely be remembered in-
stead is the assortment of tough games
that he had during the regular season, his
inability to generate any offense in cru-
cial junctures during Michigan's four
losses. They will remember the sight of
Aggie cornerback Andre Williams in-
tercepting a Griese pass to seal the Wol-
verines' loss in the Alamo Bowl.
Not all of this is entirely fair. True,
Griese did not perform at a level neces-
sary for Michigan to be a Rose Bowl
team. But when in the recent history of
college football has a first-year starter
ever lead a team to championship glory?
The almighty Ron Powlus was a bomb
in South Bend in his first year.
Tennessee's Peyton Manning was good
as a freshman, but not good enough to
elevate his team to the Southeastern
Conference title.
Indeed, ifyou look at the quarterbacks
of the elite teams this season, what you
have is acollection ofexperienced helms-
men: Nebraska's Tommy Frazier, a se-
nior; Florida's Danny Wuerffel, a jun-
ior; Ohio State's Bobby Hoying, a se-
nior; and Florida State's Danny Kannell,
a senior.
Hence, the fact that Griese often
couldn't get the job done in 1995 should
not have brought out the wolves. Nei-
ther Griese nor his coach, Lloyd Carr,
never laid out lofty expectations for
Griese; they admitted from the get-go
that the sophomore was going to
struggle sometimes. That's simply
what rookie quarterbacks do when
faced with the fierce level of competi-
tion in Division I football.
And while Michigan did have pre-
tenses of a Big Ten championship, that
goal was based on what it thought it
could do as a team, not what it thought
Griese, or any other one player, could
do. Likewise, no one player - espe-
cially not Griese - should be made to
answer for what went wrong against
Texas A&M, or in 1995.
1::.
I
r'
; .
:
, -
2 (-)14 (-)7.0(-)14
0
45 140 3.1 19 0
Michigan to Middle Tennessee State -
pursues perfection anew with the exact
same record: zero wins, zero losses.
Ifonly Griese himselfcould enterthe
No. Yds Avg Lg TD 1996 season with the same degree of
3 41 13.6 22 0 renewal. It's not often that a team that
compiles four losses escapes without
3 36 12.0 14 0 its share of scapegoats. And Griese,
who.had a 5-4 record as Michigan's
3 23 7.6 12 0 starter after taking over a 4-0 Wolver-
ine team from Scott Dreisbach in late
2 30 15.0 20 0 September, has been the favorite target
1 6 6.0 6 0' of scorn.
As Griese battles Dreisbach and a
12 136 11.3 22 0 slew of young quarterbacks for the start-
ingspotthis spring, the cynics will likely
forget that the sophomore threw for 323
yards against Penn State, Michigan's
third-highest single passing game ever.
No. Yds Avg Lg Or that Griese, who joined the team as a
walk-on in 1993 and never threw a pass
5 215 43.0 51 in a college game entering the 1995
Michigan's third straight appearance in an also-ran bowl game didn't go quite as well as the last two.
Aggies'me Mchigan
Totals
5 215 43.0 51
By Darren Everson
Daily Sports Editor
SAN ANTONIO - Even if the
Wolverines remembered the Alamo, it
didn't help them any.
There was nothing in there about the
Texans using the blitzkrieg to steamroll
the opposition. That military tactic
wasn't even conceived until the next
century.
However, these Texans - or
Aggies, more precisely - used the
blitz quite often to shut down
Michigan's passing game. What's
more, the Wolverines seemed un-
able to cope with the extra pass rush-
ers each time they came.
And you thought only Colt.45 works
every time.
"When you blitz so many people, it's
kind of hard to get the ball off," Michi-
gan quarterback Brian Griese said.
The Aggies certainly were bring-
ing a lot of people; on several occa-
sions, there were more guys to block
than there were blockers. That's just
part of the game, though, and to his
credit, Griese wasn't making any
excuses.
"(When they blitz) is when it's my
job to take advantage of the situation,"
Griese said.
He did a good job of that in the first
half. Griese completed 4-of-5 passes
then, including a 41-yard touchdown
pass to split end Amani Toomer. On
that play, the Wolverines did exactly
what they had to against A&M's ag-
gressive defense. The offensive line
protected Griese, Toomer beat the man-
to-man coverage and Griese's pass was
on target.
Such execution was nowhere to be
found in the second half. Also AWOL
were the officials, who often allowed
the Aggie defensive backs to mug the
Wolverine receivers.
"That was very critical in the game,"
Michigan receiver Mercury Hayes said.
"Those plays that they did call were
big for us." ba
One such call, a pass interference pen- se(
alty in the first quarter, got the Wolver- efi
ines started on their only touchdown
drive of the half. The Aggies often went of
unpunished, though, particularly at one mi
point in the third quarter. Tl
On a first-and-10, Griese tried to con-
nect with Toomer, who again was cov-
ered one-on-one. Toomer was unable to
catch up with Griese's pass because he it
had been held up by the Aggie defender co
before the ball was thrown. thi
The official nearby threw his pen ev
alty flag, but the flag was later waved
off because the pass was ruled we.
uncatchable. th
"I don't know if the official on that
side of the field understand the differ-.Al
ence between holding and interfer- tiv
ence," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said.Sh
"If the ball is thrown and the (receiver) ho
is being held, then the timing of the an
play is distorted."
Illegal contact by A&M defensive ha
PUNT RETURNS
Player
Mickens
Totals
No. Yds Avg Lg TD
3 52 17.3 26 0
3 52 17.3 26 0
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No. Yds Avg
Connell 1 26 26.0
Lg TD
26 0
Lowery
Totals
1 00.000
2 26 13.0 26 0
Solo Ast Tot
5 2 7
Exosure in Texas 5% a
a Blue s recruiting -
DEFENSE
Player
Walker
R. Brown
B. Mitchell
S. Horn
Holdman
Mickens
Nguyen
McMullen
P. Williams
Meyers
Allen
Jasper
K. Mitchell
Little
Crowley
Venetoulias
Terry
Crabbe
Jennings
Jones
Q. Brown
A. Williams
Oliver
Driver
Fisher
TEXAS A&M SCHEDt
SEPT. 2 LSU
5
4
2
3
3
4
3
2
2
1 6
1 5
2 4
1 4
1 4
0 0
0 0
2 3 *| |*"' ......|..| ...........,....
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
0 0 Texas A&M's Kyle Bryant kicked a Alamo Bowl record five field goals.
2 0 0 SLNBERGER
2 0 0 Continued from Page 2B
1 1 2 close to losing a game this year.
Nebraska scored more than 50 points
2 0 0 in agame six times andreached the 70s
1 0 0 twice. The Cornhuskers' closest mar-
gin of victory was the win over Wash-
1 0 1 ington State, and it seemed like they
could have scored 100 against Florida
1 0 0 if they had wanted to.
The Gators never had a chance after
1 0 1 the first quarter.
1 0 1 Florida did have an opportunity,
though, to make the final score re-
1 0 1 spectable. With 1:29 left in the third
quarter, Ike Hilliard made a nifty over-
1 0 1 the-shoulder touchdown grab of a
1 0 1 Wuerffel pass (although the replay
showed that Hilliard was out of
0 1 1 bounds). The subsequent two-point
conversion made the score 42-18 with
0 1 1 just over a quarter left to be played.
While not in position to win, the Gators
0 1 0 hadachancetogetoutoftown without
ULE being massacred.
But then there was the problem of
33-17 tackling Tommie Frazier.,
On the following series, Frazier kept
By Antoine Pitts
Daily Sports Editor
SAN ANTONIO-Michigan's trip,
to the Alamo Bowl could spawn even
more players from the state of Texas to
come play in Ann Arbor.
Eight Wolverines on this year's ros-
ter - Mercury Hayes, William Carr,
George Howell, Jarrett Irons, Daydrion
Taylor, Kenneth Jackson, Steve Frazier
and Josh Williams - hail from the
Lone Star State and the Michigan
coaching staff can't wait to get more.
The week long stay in the Alamo
city gave the Wolverines plenty of
local coverage on television and in the
newspapers.
"It's important in that every day the
high school players and coaches see
and read about our players from Texas,"
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "It's
an opportunity to get some media ex-
posure we normally wouldn't."
Texas not only has a wealth of excel-
lent high school players, it also has a
good number ofgreat football programs
to grab them up. With all the available
talent, recruiters from the schools in the
north don't seem to bother Texas A&M
coach R.C. Slocum.
"R.C. is as fine a recruiter as there
is," Carr said. "He can't take them all,
so there's enough for the rest of us."
An avenue Carr thinks works best in
recruiting in Texas is to have his cur-
rent Texans talk to the recruits.
"Our best recruiters have been our
players from Texas," Carr said. "Those
kids have an impression on all the
recruits. Once you break that barrier it
becomes easier."
One such player is Hayes, an All-
Big Ten Second Team wide receiver,
who made one of this season's most
spectacular plays. Hayes' tippy-toe
last-second touchdown catch to beat
Virginia made everyone's highlight
reel.
Hayes, a Houston native, tells the
players exactly what they should ex-
pect at Michigan.
"I tell them the truth," Hayes said.
"You going to come to a place where
you're going to have a chance to es-
tablish yourself. You can't go wrong.
Just look at what me, Jarrett Irons and
the others have been able to accom-
plish."
Nose tackle William Carr almost
ended up an Aggie before he became a
Wolverine. He didn't bite on Texas
A&M's take it or leave it scholarship
offer.
"They recruited me for all of three
days," Carr said. "They wanted to give
me a scholarship but I wasn't ready to
commit early. I told them I wanted to
wait and I didn't get any more phone
calls from A&M."
Carr, a native of Dallas, was also a
Second Team All-Big Ten selection.
He tells the recruits that it's tough
being away from home no matter where
you go, but coming to Michigan is the
right choice to make.
"You're going to get homesick wher-
ever you go," Carr said. "Michigan is
like no other school, though. You're
on TV every weekend. If you chose
Michigan, you'll be happy."
"The only thing is the weather, but
you can stay inside all the time."
With the ensuing extra point, the
scoreboard blinked49-18 andtheGator
fans headed for the exits.
Predictably, Spurrier wasn't happy
about that play or the game in general.
"We were outmatched," he said. "We
got smashed up front ... Tommie
Frazier made us look like we weren't
trying at times. We have to come to the
ballpark prepared to play, like they
were. We got clobbered. I'm embar-
rassed we couldn't make a game of it."
While Gator fans muttered to them-
selves on their way to the parking lot,
the large contingent of Nebraska fans
were having a party in the confines of
Sun Devil Stadium.
They whooped and hollered until
the final gun. After that, they whooped
and hollered some more. A few even
climbed onto the turf to be a part ofthe
post-game festivities.
In fact, in the distance on that crisp
evening, you could almost hear the
entire state of Nebraska roar its ap-
proval for their 1995 Cornhuskers, one
of the greatest teams in college foot-
ball history.
Can you imagine anyone ever being
Amani Toomer won't be celebrating any moi
uniform, as his career as a Wolverine Is over
Texas for a replacement for the senior split
players in the Lone Star State In recent year
Texas A&M exposes Michigan 's
By Darren Everson
Daily Sports Editor
SAN ANTONIO - The Alamo
Bowl may have taken place in 1995,
Wolverines relied heavily on
Biakabutuka. He led the team in rush-
ing with 1,818 yards - 1,591 better
than the No. 2 rusher, Clarence Will-
age 3.7 yards per carry, compared to
Biakabutuka's 6.0. Williams ran well,
in the Alamo Bowl - seven times for
36 yards - but neither Howard nor,
A
ye