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 Before you join a new health plan or lHMO, think about the choices you'll be left with. Will your doctors be top-of-the-line, and close to home? Can they help you deliver a healthy baby..,.in the hospital of your choice? What options will you have for children's specialty care, emergency services or even cancer treatment? Don't be left out of quality health care. Choose one of the many health plans now accepted by the U-M Hlealth System. Ybu'll wvin access to world-class medical care and day-to-day health services at any of 30 easy-to-find health centers. Now that's something you can really feel good about. I 11 m