10A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 31, 1996 M crew heads to Head of the Elk Coxswains critical in head-style regattas By Tracy Sandler Fur the Daily After finishing off Ohio State at last Sunday's Jack Speakman Regatta in Columbus, the Michigan crew team is preparing for another head-style race at this Sunday's Head of the Elk Regatta in Elkhart, Ind. Both the freshman ° and varsity teams are looking to the coxswains to keep them on the right track. "We have three very g~ood coxswains on the varsity team," Michigan coach Mark Rothstein said' "We also have very good coxswains on the freshman team. In a head style race, the coxswain can make a big dif- ference. The course that they steer is very important." This Sunday, the Wolverines will face competition that includes Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern, but no first-place finishes are guaranteed. "I don't really know what the com- petition is like, but we hope to do well," junior rower Tina Stutzman said. "We expect to be at the top. We were very happy about our perfor- mance against Ohio State. We came in first and second and they came in third." Besides speeding past the competi- tion this fall; Michigan's long-term objective is to prepare for the spring season. "At this point in the season, we are more focused on improvement," Rothstein said. "I feel we have a good chance to win (on Sunday), but we're focused on getting faster. The athletes have been working extra hard this fall. The work we do right now will pay off in the spring." The freshman team is also showing a lot of promise for a successful spring, after last Sunday's second- place finish. "We feel very good about the fresh- man," Rothstein said. "We feel they are developing and that they are where they need to be. We expect them to be very fast in the spring. A lot of talent is going to develop in the next four years. THE GAl Northwestern quarterback Steve Schnur will need many hand- offs to running back Darnell Autry to defeat Penn State. JOE WESTRATE/Daily AROUND THE ITN CONFERENCE Black cat crosses Wildcats' path Who: No. 9 Michigan vs, M Where: Michigan Stadiumf 106,000 expected) When: Saturday, noon Television: ABC, Channel Notable: State won last fa Sparty Michigan State students ar statue of Sparty this week vent vandalism before the By Josh Kleinbaum Daily Sports Writer Will Jim Wacker finally get victory number four? Will Northwestern pull off yet another miracle on its last drive? Will Wisconsin blow a late lead and lose an upset bid again? Nope. While the Big Ten has had a crazy season so far, don't expect anything too crazy this weekend. NORTHWESTERN (5-0 Bi; TEN, 7-1 OVERALL) AT PENN ST ATE (3-2, 7-2): Northwestern is a team possessed. The I Ith-ranked Wildcats have won their last four games in the final min- utes, and each game was decided by four points or less. Only a team with God on its side can win so many games in the final minutes. Well, this week- end, God will be looking the other way. In the best Big Ten game of the weekend, and one .of tfie best in the nation, the Wildcats go into Happy Valley with star running bac~k and actor extraordinaire Darnell 'Autry returning to the lineup. Last week, Autry, the Big Ten's leading rusher who averages 5. 1 yards per carry, was sidelined due to a shoulder injury sustained two weeks ago. Understudy Adrian Autry, who is unrelated to Darnell, filled in, rushing for 128 yards on 30 carries against Illinois. Much of the Wildcats' success will ride on the health of Darnell Autry. If he's 100 percent. the Nittany Lions' defense could be in for along day. But if he's still not healthy, the Lions should be able to contain both him and Adrian. After a fabulous start, the Penn State defense has cooled off of late. It allowed only 34 points in its first five .games, but the Lions have allowed 99 points in their last four, and a healthy Darnell Autry could be trouble. Penn State quarterback Wally Richardson has one of the worst pass- ing-efficiency rankings in the Big Ten and was yanked last week in favor of Mike McQueary, creating a quarter- back controversy in Happy Valley. Expect Joe Paterno to give McQueary some playing time if Richardson does- n't get ofT to a good start. The Lions will have to look to their running game to make up the difference. Running back Curtis Enis has been excellent this season. averaging five yards per carry,, although he had a sub-par performance last week against Indiana. The 15th-ranked Nittany Lions start- ed out flat against Indiana last week and faced a 21-10 deficit at the half before waking up and routing the Hoosiers, 48-26. Don't expect to see a similar start to this one. Afier the 21-10 loss last season, this is a game the Penn State players have been looking for- ward to. Penn State will be out for revenge, but the game will oo down to the wire. The Wildcats' last-minute drive will be stopped this time. Penn State 27, Northwestern 24 MINNESOTA (0-4, 3-4) r Oio S"I'AE (4-0, 7-0): In Minnesota. coach Jim Wacker's contract says if the Golden Gophers S. .F Lsj-1-ii.^ is ;t na iP1 t y :x ' y. 7 t n r sl" 1 x: t . " "t.1"l : - t t xl ,,t .r t1 s yy.. .3 {'. c y_,1 1 T L t' if R J E ii...,a t l 1 f a i. ja?'i i to tF i iy..r^ , .t ' 3 i } n i..;L ry13 :a ti ti t" ti :i 1. ;._ Ft ,~ } }2 ,-5 1 t 7-~ " r t ?j Zrt; :7 .1% _',M' 1" ^ ,t.rr 1 Y ± .Tt. l ..t -.'. ;r 1 C t C. i t "5-1 t y .. .+ } ?-i, 1 .jt .til i "S " H!t .tt 1 7 i . t ., tl . 1 ".l L 'y" i *. v t Li iS c s ;,i t r xE.. i'.%r , w 7 ' u t s s n v StE > y, 5 s 1 "i t , x t f 'a t c t t c -taSi t lt 3isk. ? y 'l. Y-Jt r t , t Y g. t tLk iY tr by+ 7 t ,. t.-1 5' '' ," .FF r _ dl {J;. -s .1 *7y ,6 f n - t .,,t to p , k y t r t i i t[raTik ' q t 7T ..lstl 3' ' 'rt £ L,,_ {, t Y h T. yt r."- itl , tt i t". t, rt it S tv . 2 "t . Y v i 'y1, s x vt jsi r ¢ " 4S"s at r 7 s" i. x don't win five games this season, Wacker will lose his job. With only four games left on their schedule, the Gophers are two shy of the magic num- ber. And don't expect victory number four to come in Columbus. The Gophers are coming off a 44-10 drubbing at the hands of Michigan, a team that supposedly doesn't believe in running up the score. The second- ranked Buckeyes need to light up the scoreboard to impress pollsters. And we all know John Cooper's stance on running up the score. Ohio State is undefeated and in the middle of both a Rose Bowl and a national championship race. With run- ning back Pepe Pearson averaging five yards a carry, and quarterbacks Joe Germaine and Stanley Jackson holding the one-two spots in Big Ten passing efficiency, the Gophers shouldn't be much of a road block for the Buckeyes. Minnesota is 2-16 all-time in Columbus and hasn't beaten the Buckeyes since 1981. Last year. the Buckeyes blew Minnesota out, 49-21, amassing close to 600 yards on offense. This year, don't expect to see much dif- ferent. Ohio State 653, Minnesota 13 PtROlE (1-3, 2-5) AT WIscoNSIN (0- 4, 3-4): Wisconsin has to be the best 0-4 team in the conference. Afterjust miss- ing upsets over Penn State, Ohio State and Northwestern, an obviously demor- alized Wisconsin team was blown out last week by Michigan State. Don't expect the same thing to happen this weekend. The Badgers are led offensively by running back Ron Dayne. Dayne, one of the best freshman backs in the league, has averaged 5.2 yards per carry. While sophomore quarterback Mike Samuel has been less than stellar. junior wide receiver Donald Hayes has played well, averaging just under 60 receiving yards per game. The Badgers, ranked fifth offensive- ly in the conference, shouldn't have much trouble against Purdue's defense. The Boilermaker's D is last in the Big Ten, allowing a whopping 401.9 yards per game. I f Samuel is going to have a good game, this Saturday is the day to do it. The Badgers finally get their first Big Ten win - in fashionable style, too. Wisconsin 24 Purdue 10 low (3-1, 5-2) AT ILLINOS (1-3, 2- 5): After a comeback bid against Ohio State failed last week, the 25th-ranked Hawkeyes look to right themselves and stay in the Rose Bowl race as they go into Champaign. The Illini coming off a heart-break- ing loss to Northwestern in the Wildcats final drive - surprise, sur- prise - looks to repeat last year's per- formance, when they blew the Hawkeyes out, 27-6. Illinois will look to running back Robert Holcombe. Holcombe, who gets virtually no recognition nationally - or even in the conference - has amassed 759 yards in seven games behind a weak offensive line. The Hawkeyes will look to running back Sedrick Shaw, who has averaged close to 90 yards per game this season, to ignite them offensively. Quarterback Matt Sherman must be better this week than he was last week if Iowa is going to win this game. Last week, Sherman was picked off four times. If he has a good day, this game should be all Iowa. It probably will be anyway. Iowa 27, Illinois 17 t inrir x nr . f r = t 7t a , * a rr t y ,^' s i }' Reese starting to pick up pieces Linebacker's life, game in order 1 k' ': ,t ' Y.,, ,iz F, ; : , . By Brian C. Hedger The State, News On the Monday following a great performance in a blowout win over Illinois, Spartan junior linebacker Ike Reese sat listening to his head coach do something rare - publicly compli- ment a player's personality. The player to whom Saban was referring his remarks was Reese, who sat not .more than 50 feet from the podium where his coach was speaking. The question posed to Saban by one reporter was: "What kind of maturity have you seen in Ike Reese both on and off the field?" "1 think Ike is one of the guys that Im most proud of in the program," Saban answered. "He's doing much better in school, and I don't think he's had any problems off the field for a long, long time." Saban didn't limit his praise of Reese to his off-the-field actions. however. "He's having an outstanding year foot ball-w ise, Saban said. "We don't have any player on the team that works any harder than he does." Reese leads the team with 63 tack- Reese les, has two sacks, four tackles for a loss and he picked off his first interception of the year against Illinois.' But Reese's newfound success did not come without its share of growing pains. After a 1995 season full of nagging injuries, Reese decided it was time for a change. Taking on massive offensive linemen was too detrimental to Reese's health as a linebacker last season, so he put on 10 to 15 pounds of muscle over the summer. He now tips the scales at an impres- sive 220 pounds. "In Hank Bullough's defensive scheme (in 1994), my position was more of a pass rushing position," Reese said. "In the new system, I had to take on more offensive linemen looking to chop block me. I felt like I had to put the weight on." Yet it has been Reese's development into a mature person and player that has caught attention this season. "I did a lot of thinking in the off- season about some of the things I wanted to do, and some of the things I wanted to accomplish' Reese said. "I felt there were some changes I had to make in the way I handled things and in the way I dealt with things." Reese made significant strides in making those changes in the last year and a half. As a result, he is considered one of the main leaders of a revamped "Gang Green" defense. Yet as Saban spoke of his improve- ments on and off the field, Reese sat quietly in the back of the room - almost as if he was embarrassed by the compliments. Not exactly the reaction one migl expect from an intense outside line- backer who's been known to do a sack dance every once in a while. "It makes you feel good." Reese said of Saban's remarks. "I guess that's the type of reward you get for working hard. Reese has been working hard since the summer of 1995 when his life as a football player - and as a person - was dealt a significant blow. He w involved in a brawl on June 1. 1995 outside Dooley's Restaurant and Sensations Nightclub. The establishment has since been shut down for numerous violations, including citations for fights that occurred outside the bar. As it turned out, that fateful summer night helped him make significant changes in his lifestyle. Reese was arrested, along with fort other people, for disorderly conduc He was sentenced to two days in jail and received one year of probation. Today, Reese does not discuss the incident in detail. Instead, he opts to discuss his pre- sent situation as a team leader and role model. "I don't want to talk about it." Reese said. "I don't want to discuss anything about the whole situation." This is an understandable reaction from a player who went from Spartan freshman hero to trouble maker in the course of one night. But Reese did come out of his shell a bit to talk about the struggle he faced in getting back to the top of his game and his life. He said the fall from grace came quicker than what he expected. "Before the incident happened, (I) was the doll of the MSU campus* Reese said. '"After it happened, I'm a thug on the MSU football team from the George Perles era that coach Saban has to deal with." How Saban would deal with Reese's mental mistake off the field was a hot topic of debate around the MSU cam- pus last year. Many thought his MSU playing days might be numbered under the new coach. Reese, who came to MSU frog Cincinnati, would not say whether he was worried about that possibility. He did say, however, that the incident changed his life. "You can't constantly be in the pub- lic eye negatively and be successful," Reese said. "I have a son (three-year old Michael), and school became more important for me. I'm going to be 23 years old, and I want to get my degree for my mother and my son." Reese's role as a leader on the team is not going unnoticed by his team- mates either. Sixth-year senior tailback Duane Goulbourne said Reese's improvement as a player and as an individual is clearly marked. "He's matured a lot," Goulbourne said. "Now he's still intense, but he's more in control. You can see it in his eyes, and in his performance." Senior defensive tackle Chris Smith said Reese's improved maturity level is like night and day compared to his pre- vious seasons. "From his first year to now, there's just been a 100 percent turnaround. Qr ith milt "Iaa'cr nvrrc.Iaia n n e of the v e rb && ti 4 . t 4 I etc Str t 1 a r t s 4 t t 4 x d r L ,Ltd - t : l ' 'gin k ;1:2;' ~I r t N it ry v t t L 0 T H I N G S TA- 1220 S. University 665-7777 0 a30 ( I MENEM= 8 /._°4 ! E,