I
46 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - September 15, 1997
GAME STATISTICS
Three years later, Vinson proves
he has the leg to kick for Blue
PASSING
Player
Griese
Brady
Totals
RUSHING
C-A
21-28
2-2
23-340
Player Aft
C. Williams1O
Howard 12
Floyd 8.
Thomas 9
Griese 2
Totals 41
RECEIVING
Player No.'
Tuman 5:
Streets 5
Shaw 3
Woodson 1
Howard 5
Wright 1
Thomas 1
Floyd 1
C. Williams 1
Totals 23:
PUNTING
Player A
Vinson
Griese
Ydf
4C
27
1;
142
Yds
126
36
31
29
26
17
9
8
2
284
No.
5
2
Yds
258
26
284
s Avg
2 4.2
D 3.3
7 3.4
D 2.2
3 6.5
23.5
Avg
25.2
7.2
10.3
29.0
5.2
17.0
9.0
8.0
2.0
12.3
Yds
212 4
76 3
S
s Avg
8 24.0
8 24.0
s Avg
3 4.3
3 4.3
TD
2
0
2
Lg
16
9
13
5
9
16
Lg
53
16
15
29
10
17
9
8
2
53
Avg
42.4
38.0
L9
2
2
Lg9
9
9
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No. Ydh
C. Williams 2 4E
Totals 2 4E
PUNT RETURNS
Player No. Yds
Woodson 3 1Z
Totals 312
Int
1
0
1
TD
0
0
1
0
0
1
TD
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
2
Lg
48
39
g TD
7 0
7 0
gTD
0
g0
Tot
7
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
By Alan Goldenbach
and John Lerol
Daily Sports Editors
Jason Vinson got to watch a lot of
football games his freshman year. All of
them were on TV
Vinson nearly gave up on his college
football aspirations during his first year
at Michigan. He had to pester the
Michigan coaching staff just to watch
him kick.
After two unsuccessful try-outs,
Vinson walked on to the team before
the 1995 season. Now, the Troy High
School product is Michigan's starting
punter.
And Vinson took advantage of his
opportunities Saturday, averaging 42.4
yards on five punts, including one out
of his own end zone.
"He was just tremendous," Michigan
coach Lloyd Carr said. "I told you guys
he had a good leg. He got that ball to
turn over. He kept us in great shape
field-position wise."
Vinson didn't even know he would be
Michigan's starting punter until this
week. Carr said Vinson was in a heated
battle with Kraig Baker for the starting
spot.
And if Vinson had faltered, Carr
would have had no reservation at letting
Baker, a placekicker by trade, try his
hand (foot?) at it. But Vinson delivered,
nailing a 37-yarder in his first collegiate
attempt followed by a 48- and a 45-
yarder.
i OOa
1t.4te4S
making good deci-
sions. Griese was
even cheered for
throwing a ball out
of the end zone
when he had no
receiver open.
The day was
especially important
to Griese, whose
"That's amazing for a kid who
walked on," Carr said. "You know those
are great dreams kids like him have.
There are a lot of guys out there who
can learn a thing or two from him."
FAMILY AFFAIR: Brian Griese played
almost flawless football for the
Wolverines. His 258 yards passing are
the second most he's ever thrown for
and Carr lauded the fifth-year senior for
Strikes Back," fourth-year medical stu-
dent Chandan Devireddy appeared on
the field, fully clad in a Darth Vader
costume, dancing alongside the band to
the song.
But as well-rehearsed as Devireddy's
performance appeared, it was not
planned.
Making Devireddy's appearance all
the more surprising was that there was
an increased security presence in the
stadium checking tickets and making
sure everyone was in the correct seats.
But security knew where to draw the
line; don't cross over and mess with the
Dark Side.
POLL-VAULTING: Michigan's victory
propelled the Wolverines from No. 14
to No. 8 in the latest Associated Press
poll and from No. 13 to No. 9 in the
USA Today/ESPN poll.
The jump of six places in the AP poll
matches the movement made by
Michigan after upsetting No. 2 Ohio
State last November. Before that, the
Wolverines' biggest leap in the polls
came on the heels of a season-opening
22-14 upset of top-ranked Miami (Fla.)
in 1984. That victory sent Michigan
from No. 14 all the way up to No. 3.
The high-ranking did nothing but
show that the No. 3 spot was too high
for the Wolverines. Michigan went out
the following week and lost to No. 16
Washington, 20-1, sending Michigan
back down to Earth to the Huskies' old
spot in the poll the following Monday.
I'.
DEFENSE
Player
Sword
Ray
Steele
Jones
Woodson
Hall
Peterson
Whitley
Mayes
Hendricks
Gold
Weathers
T. Brooks
Shea
Singletary
Copenhaver
Streets
Feazell
Renes
Swett
K. Jackson
Solo
5
5
5
3
3
3
4
2
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
Asst
2
1
1
3
2
2
0
2
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
PASS DEFENSE
Player Int Yds
Jones 1 0
Woodson 1 0
Hendricks 1 19
Copenhaver 1 17
Ray 0 0
Peterson 0 0
Whitley 0 0
totals 4 36
Lg
0
0
19
17
0
0
0
19
Brk-up
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
4
TD
0
0
0
0
0-
0
0
0
father, Bob, a former quarterback him-
self for Purdue and the Miami
Dolphins, was announcing the game,
the first time ABC let Bob cover a game
in which he knew his son would play.
"I'm glad to be here watching my son
play" the elder Griese said. "Given a
choice I'd rather be here doing the game
than at home watching it on TV"
THE DARK SIDE OF HALFTIME: The
Michigan Marching Band added a new
song to its repertoire for the halftime
show. It also received a special,
although uninvited, guest to perform
along with it.
As the band played "The Imperial
March" from the movie "The Empire
4
ti
th
n
b
> t i
fi
a
y
Sba
C
icE
g
thl
2 ty
WARREN ZINN/Darl P
e five times on the play-actIon to
adjust after the first two tImes. T
down. Afe W osn pikdoff
setting up a first-and-goal situation'.
Two plays later, fullback Chris Floyd
punched in the ball from one yard out
to give Michigan a 7-0 lead with 9:28
remaining.
That was a relief for the Wolverines,
not known for good starts. In fact, they
sputtered at the beginning Saturday,
too, when Kraig Baker missed a 44-
yard field goal on Michigan's first
drive. Jay Feely also missed one for
Michigan, a 49-yarder in the fourth.
Baker made a 37-yard field goal
with no time left in the second quarter
to give Michigan a 10-0 halftime lead.
The last Division I team to open the
season, Griese said the Wolverines
were "willing to hit walls" instead of
each other, and the good start "was no
surprise at all. We were hungry, and we
came out in both halves ready to go."
The Wolverines quickly scored to
open the second half, marching on an
89-yard 11-play drive that culminated
in a five-yard touchdown pass from
Griese to running back Chris Howard
y Alan Goldenbach
aily Sports Editor
This is why football teams have 10-
nember coaching staffs. This is why
here are video cameras set up all over
he field. This is why there is halftime.
So that teams, to borrow a phrase
rom The Who, don't get fooled again.
knd again. And again.
But for some reason, Colorado was
ot able to solve what seemed to be a
asic play-action bootleg play that
Aichigan quarterback Brian Griese and
ght end Jerame Tuman were able to
pork to perfection four times through-
ut the game.
The play went like this: Griese would
ake a handoff going off left tackle.
hen Griese reverses his field, cutting
cross the backfield while running par-
lel to Tuman, who has slipped behind
he linebackers but not deep enough for
safety to commit to him.
Four times, the duo hooked up for
ompletions that went for 20 or more
ards and a total of 118 yards.
The first time Michigan unleashed
he play came immediately after
harles Woodson's spectacular inter-
eption less than five minutes into the
ame. With the ball at the Michigan 45,
he Wolverines went counter to their
ypical run-first game plan and ran the
lay-action on first down. Griese faked
Chris Howard, rolled out and hit
uman about 15 yards downfield. The
junior then rumbled and stumbled all
the way down to the Colorado two-yard
line. All told, a 53-yard pickup.
The key, though, to the play's success
is the effectiveness of the running
game. A good running game, of which
Michigan showed periodic flashes of
during the game, keeps the defense
honest.
"There are different variations of that
play," Tuman said. "It's not designed to
mainly go to me. It's something that
makes them be true to both the run and
the pass.
"But you can't play nine guys to the
ball on the run. So in order for it to be
successful, you have to run the ball.
Fortunately for us, they didn't make any
adjustments."
Michigan ran the ball well when it
needed to, gaining 141 yards on 41 car-
ries. Although statistically speaking,
3.5 yards per rush is not a particularly
efficient rate, the occasional Clarence
Williams reverse for nine yards or a
Chris Floyd second-and-one carry that
Team Stats Mich
first Downs 18
Rushes/Yards 41/142
gassing Yards 284
)ffensive Plays 71
;otal Offense 426
{Return Yards 97
)Comp/Att/Int 23/30/1
aunts/Avg 7/41.1
fumbles/Lost 0/0
) enalties/Yards 10/93
Time of Poss 34:24
Michigan's defense harassed Colorado quarterback John Hessler, sacking him three
Griese fools Colorado four times
o
on play-action passes to Tuman
F'.
"That's a tremendous play, especially.
when you have a defense like
Colorado's that tends to over-pursue
--- Chris Howard.
Michigan tailback
Colorado
15
27/49
175
75
224
92
19/48/4
9/34.8
0/0
8/83
25:36
went for 11 yards, showed the Colorado
front seven that the Wolverines' run-
ning game was as capable as Griese-to-
Tuman.
"That's a tremendous play," Wd
Michigan tailback Chris Howard, who
was often the one pulling off the initial
fake on those plays. "Especially, when
you have a defense like Colorado's that
tends to over-pursue."
Over-pursuing is exactly how
Colorado got caught four times. Three
times Griese called Tuman's number on
the first play of a drive. Each instance
occurred on what would be a typical
running down for a run-happy and -
erally conservative Michigan offen .
And each time, not only was Griese
able to fake out an over-pursuani
Colorado defense, but he fooled it so
badly that there wasn't a Buffalo within
five steps of Tuman.
Which in that case, Griese says, "You
don't miss him. When that guy is that
wide open you got to hit him."
Hit him, again and again and again.
RUMORE
Continued from Page 1B
Jerame Tuman hooked up with Brian Griese
route. Both wondered why Colorado didn't4
MICHIGAN SCHEDULE BUFFALOES
Sept. 13 COLORADO W 27-3 ContInued from Page 11B
dept. 20 BAYLOR crowd in Michigan Stadium history,
Sept. 27 NOTRE DAME Hessler seemed to buckle. Three of his
Oct. 4 Indiana interceptions led to a combined 17
"Oct. 11 NORTHWESTERN points for the Wolverines.
Oct. 25 Michigan State "It was a frustrating day," said
Nov. 1 MINNESOTA Hessler, who was 15-of-40 for 141
-Nov. 8 Penn State yards and was sacked three times.
Novv. 15 Wisconsin "They were all over me"
Nov. 22 OHIO STATE As Hessler was interviewed after the
game, Neuheisel pulled him into a
HOME GAMES IN CAPS secluded area and spoke with him for
five minutes. Hessler emerged with
tears in his eyes, and Neuheisel, who
~rmg Sonce played quarterback for UCLA,
defended him. "1 threw four intercep-
tions against Georgia back in 1983 and
Mich- Floyd 1yar ended up coming back and having a
(BE~ker iclq) ,5:28decent year," Neuheisel said. "He'll
bounce back."
The Wolverines (1-0) rotated sever-
ua~a Mch- akr37yad ied.va, al players into their strong secondary,
giving Hessler different looks. Carr
':0said he didn't have a great defense last
season because of its inability to create
Third Quarterturnovers and "negative plays."
on it. It bounced into the end zone for
touchback. The second time in the thir
quarter, the football hit around the 18
yard line and bounced before Michigar
receivers Tai Streets and Russell Shav
pinned it on the Colorado one-yard line
That's nice.
Did I mention that he completed ,
28 passes?
Griese's passing game ranks tied fo
20th on the school's all-time list. Then
are only five games in the history o
Michigan football in which the quarter
back passed for more than 300 yards.
Scott Dreisbach and Todd Collins di<
it once apiece, and Jim Harbaugl
accomplished it twice. Take a guess whc
was the other player?.
Yes, you're correct. It was Gest
when he passed for 323 yards, third all
time, against Penn State on Nov. 18
1995.
The numbers that led to the one-sided
ness and the astounding margin of victo
ry aren't the most important thing abou
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