No. 1 Michigan battles Big Red to 3-3 tie Bylan Stillman Daily Sports Writer Referee Roger Graff took control of last night's game at Yost lee Arena early. The result - a good and relatively clean overtime thriller.. In the end, No. 13 Cornell tied No. 1 Michigan, 3-3, as the Wolverines failed to win at home for the first time since tying Ohio State last season. Omell (6-3-2 ECAC, 8-4-3 overall) played from behind throughout the game as the Wolverines (9-1-1 CCHA, 18-1-2) took leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. With 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the third period, Cornell tied Michigan for good. During a four-on-four play, Cornell's Darren Tymchyshyn skated down just to the right of the goal on a two-on-one. Tymchyshyn kept the puck and put it past Michigan goaltender Marty Turco, rattling it off the bottom of the crossbar. Both teams had a couple of scoring opportunities during the overtime peri- od - including Michigan's Jason Botterill, who hit the post with a shot - but neither could convert. The Wolverines credited Cornell with a good performance but did not give themselves similar marks. "Our whole team didn't show up tonight," Michigan captain Brendan Morrison said. "But you got to give Cornell credit coming in here. Yost is a pretty intimidating place to play and they played a great game." Five-on-five hockey was a rarity dur- ing the first period. But neither team could capitalize on power plays until Michigan scored with 3:51 remaining in the period. A fraction of a second after the Wolverines' fourth power play of the game came ended, Michigan defender Harold Schock's slap shot deflected to Greg Crozier right of the net. Crozier sent it back in front to Legg, who wrist- ed a shot past Cornell goaltender Jason Elliott for the only goal of the first peri- od. Graff was quick with the whistle early in the period on both sides, including questionable cross-checking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Michigan's Blake Sloan and John Madden, respectively. The Big Red tied the game twice dur- ing the second period. A little less than four minutes into the period, Cornell defender Chad Wilson knotted the score at one from in front of the net. Wilson beat Turco after receiv- ing teammate Kyle Knopp's pass from behind the left post. The Wolverines countered 8:14 into the period off of a well-placed crossing pass. Schock skated down the left side and crossed the puck in front of the goal, past Elliott to a streaking Brendan Morrison who knocked it in. But Cornell proved resilient again. With about five minutes left in the sec- ond, the Big Red scored the only power- play goal of the night. Cornell forward See CORNELL, Page 6B #1 S. ARREN ZRNN/DadIy Jason Elliott stopped 23 shots for the Big Red in its 3-3 tie with Michigan last night at Yost Ice Arena. Michigan had won U1 straight at home. UFw £irbign at&tilg sJ, ALABAMA 17 MICHIGANi14 SAN Aggressive 'I By Ryan White Daily Sports Writer TAMPA, Fla. - When it was all said and done, the Outback Bowl was nothing more than a summary of the entire Michigan football season. The Wolverines were hurt by u costly turnover, an offense that failed three times to score after moving w in the Alabama 35-yard line, and a defense that ctdn't hold the Crimson Tide when the Wolverines needed it most. The result was a 17-14 loss to Alabama on New Year's Day in front of 53,161 at Houlihan's Stadium. Both the Wolverines (8-4) and the Crimson Tide (10- 3) came into the game with highly touted defenses, and neither unit disappointed. Michigan held Alabama to 247 yards of total offense and effectively shut down the Tide for most of the game. lama defense stymies Blue | For their part, Alabama's defenders made stops when they had to and turned the game around with one fourth-quarter play. With just 45 seconds left in the third and Michigan up 6-3, Alabama quarterback Warren Faust handed off to flanker Michael Vaughn, and Vaughn handed to flanker Marcell West on a reverse. After a three-yard gain, West was smacked by Michigan safety Marcus Ray and fum- bled. The Wolverines took over on their own 31, and on first-and-10, running back Clarence Williams broke through theright side of the line for 30 yards. Michigan drove down to the Alabama seven-yard line, but on third-and-five, quarterback Brian Griese floated a forced throw over the middle and was picked off by Alabama linebacker Dwayne Rudd. Rudd turned up field and ran an Outback Bowl record 88-yard inter- ception return. The score gave Alabama a 10-6 lead, and it never looked back. "The guy was forced to throw the ball when he did- n't want to," said Rudd, who was named Player of the Game. "I got it, and I just saw a lot of green." Michigan coach Lloyd Carr had said after the Nov. 23 Ohio State game that Scott Dreisbach would be the starting quarterback in the bowl if he was healthy. Dreisbach was healthy, but based on practice perfor- mance in Florida, Carr gave the starting nod to Griese. Griese connected on 21 of 37 passes for 287 yards and one touchdown to go with the interception. "I would say it was one of the few mistakes he made all day," Carr said of the interception. While Griese played well, the offense consistently stalled and failed to convert. Don't expect the unexpected; Michigan mired in mediocrity T AMPA, Fla. - There is so much in col- lege football that is unexpected. For instance, no one expected Northwestern to win the Big Ten two years in a row. No one expected Nebraska to lose a game this season, much less two. No one expected Troy Davis, a lit- tie-known running back" from Iowa State, to rush for over 2,000 yards in successive seasons. The list goes on and on. And you know what? This unpredictability is what makes college football BARRY great. It's what brings SOLLENBERGER excitement to the game. Sollenberger On the other hand, there in Paradise is much in college football that is expected, that is predictable. Take, for example, the Michigan football team and its game against Alabama in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1. Before the game, most people thought that the two teams' defenses would dominate the action. They did. By the same token, most people thought the game would be low scoring. It was. And many people thought that they could predict the game's outcome. They thought it wouldn't matter who the Wolverines started at quarterback. It wouldn't matter which Michigan back received the most carries out of the backfield. It wouldn't matter how well the Michigan defense played. The Wolverines would find a way to blow the game. And, indeed, they did. It's what we've come to expect. The Wolverines won the total-offense battle with the Crimson Tide, 415-247. They had 22 first downs to Alabama's 13. They set an Outback Bowl record by allowing only 65 yards passing. But in the end, they still found a way to lose. How? A complete answer would match a Russian novel in length, so here's a shorter explana- tion: Alabama won despite an offense that man- aged only a field goal through the game's first 57 minutes. And the field goal was due more See PARADISE, Page 5B Wolverines stumble to 1-1 Big Ten start By Will McCahill Daily Sports Editor EVANSTON -Thank God for Louis i "lock. W ith the Michigan men's basketball team desperately in need of a win against Northwestern on Saturday, the sopho- more guard dropped 25 points on the Wildcats in the Wolverines' 75-57 victo- ry. with Northwestern (0-2, 5-8) was as cru- cial as a matchup with the Wildcats can be. Junior forward Maurice Taylor tied the game at two after abusing Northwestern forward Carvell Ammons for a baseline jam. But then the Wildcats began to double-team Taylor in the post, and that's when things opened up for Bullock. Five minutes into the game, Michigan 1nrA 11-A wit Rfln~r'r riirn frr a trey, but that was about it. Four minutes later, Michigan led, 28- 16, on Bullock's fourth 3-pointer of the afternoon, after taking advantage of sev- eral Northwestern turnovers. Bullock finished the half with 19 points, hitting six of nine shots from the floor, including five threes. In the second half, Jerod Ward came out strong for the Wolverines, nailing 3- nointem on r nenrtive trins tdown the timeout with 4:43 remaining, but could- n't hit key shots or control rebounds. The Wolverines pulled away, and a Ron Oliver steal led to a layup for Brandun Hughes, providing the 18-point final margin. Bullock took it easy on the Wildcats in the second half, finishing with 25 points. "(The defenders) usually come up on me ... but today they just hung back I I h~cri~~ h~v ew xnrnd ~ioiitour i-.