be ficigrn &tilg i~' '. .. .. T... "Ijust sat down by it wouldn 't happen just prayed" myself hoped agai, and "It shows you how easily things could have happened the other way in 1994 ." - Rick Neuheisel Colorado coach - Scott Dreisbach Michigan quarterback Michigan bats down Buffs' 2nd miracle pass By Nicholas J. Cotsonika Daily Sports Editor BOULDER, Colo. - The Wolverines looked up at the score- board Saturday and saw 1994. Five seconds left. Michigan with the lead. Colorado with the ball. And just like two years ago, when The Catch gave the Buffaloes a shock- Michigan 20 Colorado 13 ing 27-26 victory in Ann Arbor on a last-second play, Colorado lofted a pass toward the right side of the end zone. And again, the ball was tipped. And again, the home team's national title hopes ended with the game's final play. But this time, the football gods answered a different Hail Mary. The 11 th-ranked Wolverines prayed hard in the final moments, held on, and beat the fifth-ranked Buffaloes, 20-13, in front of 53,788, the third-largest crowd in Folsom Field history. This time. The Catch was not to be. "I knew that the defense had to make Sophomore tail- back Clarence Williams avoids the grasp of Colorado line- backer Ron Merckerson, run- ning for a good chunk of his 79 yards. Williams, who also snagged two Scott Dreisbach passes for 15 yards, carried the ball for half of the Wolverines' 50 rushing attempts. Michigan had much better luck running the ball than the Buffaloes did. The Wolverines ran for 139 yards while holding Colorado to a measly 70 yards on the ground. MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily a play," said Michigan quarterback Scott Dreisbach, who sat helpless at the end of the bench and didn't watch the Buffaloes' last-gasp pass. "I just sat down by myself, hoped it wouldn't hap- pen again, and just prayed." Prayers and penalties won the game for the Wolverines (1-0 Big Ten, 2-0 overall), even though Michigan's defense limited Colorado to 70 yards rushing. The Buffaloes (2-1) committed 14 penalties for 99 yards, nullifying a touchdown reception and keeping alive two Michigan-scoring drives. "Penalty wise, I don't really have an answer," Colorado quarterback Koy Detmer said. "But I think sometimes, when you try too hard, those things hap- pen. Due to a mistake made by Dreisbach, however, the penalties almost didn't matter. That was when the prayers came in. Ahead 20-13 in the game's waning moments, Dreisbach simply had to run out the clock to send the Wolverines home with a victory. On second-and- seven, he started to do just that, kneel- ing down. On third-and-nine, he scram- bled around and fell. Then, on fourth- and-13, he fumbled the snap and downed the ball. But there were five seconds remain- ing on the clock, and on a change of possession, the clock stops. Colorado had one last chance. "I thought we could kill it," Dreisbach said. "It was my fault." So the made-for-television scene was set. The differences with 1994 were sub- tle: The Buffaloes were closer to the end zone this time, on the Michigan 37 instead of their own 36. There were five seconds remaining instead of six. The game was in Boulder, not Ann Arbor. And, of course, the team The Catch cursed won. The similarities were eerie: The play itself looked much the same, ~and Michigan even ran the exact same defense - 30 victory - and Colorado made the exact same offensive call - rocket-jet-right. Detmer released the ball quickly, and time stopped. The ball was tipped into the air again - only down instead of up this time - and Rae Carruth, who was involved with The Catch in 1994, dove but couldn't come up with the ball. "Had that ball ended up in one of our kids' hands, we'd be talking about it as another great mark in Colorado football history," Colorado coach Rick See COLORADO, Page 4B JOE WESTRATE/Daily Michigan tight end Jerame Tuman is lifted skyward by teammates Mark Bolach and Zach Adami as Scott Dreisbach and Jon Jansen celebrate Tuman's three-yard touchdown catch in front of a dejected Colorado cheering section. ail Mary II has OULDER, Colo. - For a But in reality, it didn't minute, it seemed like 1994 all Michigan fans, Hail Mar over again. no Kprdell Stewart had snuck in at me quarterback for Colorado. Michael Westbrook was in the slot at wide par receiver. And Gary Moeller patrolled wer the sidelines. An , or many Michigan fans, their resu emory of the Michigan-Colorado rivalry centered on one play. BARRY Koy Stewart back to pass (again) ... he SOLLENBERGER des heaves it into the end zone (again) ... Sollenberger in t the ball is tipped (again) ... it s caught in Paradise rec by Westbrook for the touchdown Car (again)! incomplete. And bonehe diffrent result t happen. For iry part t is w just a bad ,mory. On Hail Mary t II, the actors e different. id so was the ult. Quarterback y Detmer's peration heave he direction of eiver Rae ruth fell ad Michigan coaching - this time by Lloyd Carr - did not cost the Wolverines a victo- ry over the Buffaloes. "I was thinking, 'Here we go again,"' Carr said of the final play. "The ball went up in the air, and I held my breath." Michigan quarterback Scott Dreisbach took the blame for giving the Buffaloes one last chance. He fell on the ball on fourth down at the Michigan 37 yard-line, turning the ball over and stopping the clock with five seconds left. But it is Carr's responsi- bility to make sure his quarterback See PARADISE, Page 4B 'M' volleyball takes 2 of 3 in Spikeoff 9 Sophomore out- side hitter Jane Stevens and the Wolverines passed well enough to win two of their three matches this weekend at Ibe Spikeoff rnament in Spokane, Wash, Michigan's straight-set loss to George Mason in Its second game halted the Wolverines' Mendoza, Chase, Jackso By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's volleyball team took the good with the bad this weekend. Fortunately for the Wolverines, there was more good than bad. The Wolverines won two of three games at the Spikeoff Spokane Tournament over the weekend. The tournament improved their record to 4-5. "I'm pleased with our play this weekend," Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. "We picked up a pair of wins and got solid perfor- in lead balanced attack in Spokane tournament attack produced a 15-3, 15-5, 15-9 sweep of the Bulldogs. The win extended Michigan's winning streak to three matches. The first game set the pace for the entire match, as the Wolverines had 15 kills and a .242 hitting percentage. Sarah Jackson and Karen Chase each had 11 kills, leading the team's 42 total kills for the match. Michigan's serving game gave Gonzaga fits with eight aces, two each from Linnea Mendoza, Jeanine Szczesniak and Chase. "(Mendoza) played a great match," Mendoza's 24 assists led the passing game, while Chase and Shareen Luze provided a defensive spark with 13 and 10 digs, respec- tively. But the weekend had just begun for the Wolverines. They had two more games in store for them, one against George Mason and another against Wyoming. George Mason, the strongest team in the tournament, proved to be too much for Michigan to handle. George Mason swept the Wolverines, 15-5, 15-12, 15-2, in convincing fashion.