The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 9, 1996 - 13
0 Around the Horn
From here, Michigan looks a lot like Spartans
Michigan State football coach
Nick Saban is not the most
exciting guy to talk to after a
loss ... or after a win for that matter.
Saban sounds disinterested, like there's
30 or 40 things he'd rather be doing.
But he does, however, say what's on
his mind.
His Spartans blew a 17-0 first-quarter
lead last Saturday against Iowa and
ended up losing, 37-30.
The Spartans fumbled five kickoffs,
pinning themselves deep in their own
territory numerous times, and lost the
ball once.
Saban acknowledged that his team
simply made too many mistakes to win
the game, but that wasn't all.
"They prepared hard, and I feel bad
for the kids," Saban said of the Spartans.
"We just wish we could have helped
them a little more as coaches to win the
game."'
Saban wasn't happy with the way he
coached. He could have done better, he
said.
And that brings us to Michigan, which
blew a 16-0 lead in the fourth quarter of
last Saturday's loss to Northwestern.
In the game's most crucial moments,
Michigan's offense ground to a halt.
And on a day when quarterback Scott
Dreisbach was throwing the ball beauti-
fully, it appeared that the Michigan coach-
ing staff was applying the parking brake.
The Wolverines threw the ball five
times in the final stanza and picked up
only one first down.
Offensive coordinator Fred Jackson
said the goal was to take as much time
off the clock as possible to give
Northwestern no time for a comeback.
Yesterday, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr
elaborated further on what the offensive
philosophy is at
the end of
;.. ,games.
x "Our first
priority is to do
what we think
is necessary to
wwin,"Carr said.
I'm not sure
RYAN exactly what
WHITE that means, but
White on I guess it
Target makes sense.
And I guess
they thought wrong against the Wildcats.
Carr pointed to two failed third-down
conversions in the fourth quarter. He
noted that "great defenses are going to
protect the lead when it has to win the
game."
He is right on both counts. The
offense could have performed better in
the fourth quarter, and Northwestern
should have been stopped.
But the blame shouldn't end there.
Like Michigan State, the Wolverines
prepared hard for last Saturday's game.
Like the Spartans, Michigan made too
many mistakes to win the football game.
But just like Saban, Carr and his staff
could have done more to help the
Wolverines.
The coaches should have battled
Northwestern, not the clock.
RouND Rosm: Northwestern's upset
victory over Michigan brought back a
question that resonated throughout the
Big Ten last season.
Should every conference team play
each other?
"That's the only way you can have a
true champion," Carr said. "But at this
point, I don't think it's feasible."
By feasible, Carr means that most
teams are not going to give up their non-
conference slates. Which is great if it
means we still get to see games like
Ohio State-Notre Dame or Michigan-
Colorado.
But I think we'd all be willing to sacri-
fice Illinois-Akron to the good of games
less interesting than curling.
Iowa coach Hayden Fry agreed with
Carr, saying he would love to play
Michigan this year but won't because of
the schedule.
About the only coach who didn't like
the idea was Northwestern's Gary Barnett.
Bamett voted against the proposal
before and said he would do so again.
He felt that it would cost the conference
too many prestigious games and hurt all
the teams in terms of national recruiting.
Barnett has a very good point, he also
doesn't have Ohio State on his schedule
this year.
Ho mim:"It was just another dull,
boring day at the office this week,"
Illinois coach Lou Tepper said.
Tepper, of course, was joking since the
Fighting Illini and Indiana played the Big
Ten's first overtime game.
Illinois came out on top, 46-43, in the
second extra session, and for all
involved, it was a good time.
"If I had it to do again, I would be for
it, even though we came out on the short
end," Indiana coach Bill Mallory said,
voicing his support for overtime, new to -
college football this season.
For Illinois, it was the second straight
win after starting the season 0-3.
Tepper credited the Ilini's turnaround
to an improved offensive effort. It might
also have something to do with Illinois'
last two opponents: Indiana and Akron.
QuorE OF THE WEEK I: Fry wasn't
exactly happy that his Hawkeyes waited
so long to make their comeback and beat:
Michigan State last weekend.
"I've got a ball club that's making my
hair more and more gray," Fry said. "And
I'm not a young chicken to begin with.'
QUOTE OF THE WEEK II: Purdue
coach Jim Colletto on his team's 30-27
victory over Minnesota last weekend:
"It was another one of those Purdue-
Minnesota games," he said.
If you're wondering what that means,
consider this: Over the past five years
the two teams have put up a combined
record of 41-76-3.
- Ryan White can be reached over
e-mail at target@umich.edu.
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Defensive backs Marcus Ray and Chuck Winters may have been let down by the
Michigan coaching staff In the Wolverines' 17-16 loss to Northwestern, Saturday.
fAROLINA
tinued from Page 12
volleying well' when it's actually
because of the surface."
Farah, as well as junior captains
Arvid Swan and David Paradzik, each
won two matches in the A flight. Eisner
also singled out junior transfer Brook
Blain, who won three of four singles
matches and paired with Swan to win
tone of two doubles. Freshman John
Long also won four of five singles
matches in the B flight.
"I was especially pleased with Brook
and John's performance," Eisner said.
"They did an outstanding job."
As expected, the tournament allowed
Eisner and assistant coach Dan
Goldberg the opportunity to evaluate
the team.
"I think we played better than North
Carolina, but I also think we were out-
played by Notre Dame. We're not happy
about that."
,The Wolverines beat the Irish, 7-0,
last year.
"We need to pay attention to detail
when we're setting up points with our
groundstrokes. We often finish too fast
and are not patient enough," Eisner
said.
The Wolverines play at Georgia Tech
on Oct. 18, where Eisner hopes they can
build upon their strong performance of
last week.
"We got what we needed (from the
Carolina Classic). Now we've got a lot
of work to do," he said.
'M' Crew
Jakes 3rd at
ead of
Ohio Regatta
By David Eklund
For the Daily
The Michigan women's crew team
-competed Saturday in the 10th annu-
al Head of the Ohio Regatta in
Pittsburgh.
The Wolverines were entered in
four events, all at a distance of 2 1/2
miles: the championship eight, the
open pairs, the club eight and the
freshmen eight.
In the championship eight, the
three Michigan teams entered fin-
ished third, fifth and eighth out of 14
total boats. Brown, last year's
"--ational champion, won the champi-
onship flight with a course record
time of 11:52.1. Cornell finished
second with a time of 12:13, eight
seconds faster than the Wolverines'
third-place rowers.
Transfer student Emily Green and
Kate MacKenzie set a course record
in the open pairs with a time of
14:23.8.
They were followed by two other
Michigan pairs, who finished second
and third.
In the club eight, the Wolverines
took third, and in the freshmen eight,
they finished second, just 1.4 sec-
onds out of first.
"This is the first sten." Michigan
>{
f
,
Ha t
,6
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I 11
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