100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

September 15, 1997 - Image 15

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1997-09-15

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - September 15, 1997 - 5B

More aggressive defense
dominates, stuffs Buffs

GAME STATISTICS

PASSING
Player
Hessler1
Bledsoe
Totals
RUSHING
Player A
TroutmanI
Hessler
Bledsoe
M. Barnes
Totals

C-A
15-40
4-8
1"948

Yds
141
34
175

TD
0
0
0

By John Leroi
Daily Sports Editor
If Marcus Ray could have had it his
way, the Wolverines would have shut
out Colorado on Saturday. Instead, he
had to settle for a 27-3 Michigan vic-
tory that wasn't even that close.
Michigan dominated the Buffaloes
on both sides of the ball, but most
impressive was the Wolverines' stingy
defense. And Ray was so pleased with
Michigan's defensive output, he
couldn't help but get mushy after the
game.
"There is something real special
about this team," the senior strong
safety said. "I can't tell what it is just
yet, and I don't want to make some-
thing up, so I'll tell you in a couple of
games when I figure it out.
"But this defense has a real gift, I
can smell it, I can feel it."
Whatever Ray felt was nothing
compared to how Colorado's John
Hessler felt. The Buffalo quarterback
spent a large portion of the day staring
at the sky. The Wolverines sacked
Hessler just three times, but knocked
him down at least a dozen more.
Colorado could get nothing going
offensively. Hessler completed just 15
of 40 passes for a paltry 141 yards and
four interceptions. Meanwhile, the
Buffaloes could muster only 49 yards
on the ground.

The Buffaloes were so inept on
offense that their only score, a late-
game field goal, came courtesy of
two Michigan personal fouls. Not
counting the Buffaloes' meaningless
final drive, the Wolverines held
Colorado to less than 200 yards of
total offense.
"There's no question that was a
spirited effort," Michigan coach
Lloyd Carr said. "To take a good
offensive football team like Colorado
and hold them to three points, you're
ecstatic.
"You have to give a lot of credit to
(defensive coordinator) Jim
Herrmann and the defensive coaches."
Under Herrmann, who took over for
Greg Mattison before the Outback
Bowl, the Wolverines seem a little
more aggressive. Michigan blitzed far
more than any Michigan team has in
recent memory.
The Wolverines got to Hessler early
and often, mixing defenses and win-
ning the battle in the trenches. If a
cornerback wasn't blitzing, then it was
a safety, or a linebacker.
Herrmann even sent All-America
cornerback Charles Woodson, one of
the best cover corners in the nation, on
a couple of blitzes.
Six Michigan defenders had five
tackles or more, and every time a
Buffalo got a hold of the ball, it

seemed like three or four Wolverines
were there.
After seeing how successful
Michigan was playing with such aban-
don, it makes you wonder why fans
haven't seen that sort of aggression in
the past.
"That's how I was raised to play
defense," Herrmann said. "Playing
hard, playing together and playing
aggressively. That was Michigan
defense."
Carr was especially appreciative of
Herrmann's efforts. He said he saw a
dramatic difference over last year's
defense in just one game.
"All of the experts said we have
always had a great defense," Carr said.
"We didn't have a great defense a year
ago. We didn't cause any turnovers,
we didn't force enough negative plays.
Today we did all of those things."
Not only did Michigan sack Hessler
thrice, but the Wolverines threw
Colorado running backs for losses
five other times. Senior defensive end
Glen Steele had four tackles-for-loss-
es alone, including two sacks.
"Michigan came after me about
after every snap," a flustered Hessler
said after the game. "I had to make
decisions fast, and if I didn't make
them, I was running.
"It was just one of those days. It
was horrible."

At
15
-8
1
3
27

RECEIVING
Player No.
Anderson 6
Savoy 5
Stiggers 2
M. Barnes 1
Heffner 1
Chiaverini 1
Troutman 2
Green 1
Totals 19
PUNTING
Player 1
Pietsch

Yds Avg Lg
41 2.7 10
4 0.5 18
2 2.0 2
2 0.7 7
49 1.8 18
Yds Avg Lg
60 10.0 17
50 10.0 15
23 11.5 16
21 21.0 21
10 10.0 10
5 5.0 5
3 1.5 2
3 3.0 3
175 9.2 21
No. Yds Avg
9 313 34.8

Int
4
TD
0'
0
0
0
0
TD
0,
0
0'
0
0
0
0 ,
Lg
43
TD
0'
0

KICKOFF RETURNS

Player I
M. Barnes
Total

No.
3
3

MARGARET MYERS/Daily
jsEven when he got the bail away, Wolverines like Juaquin Feazell made him pay.

"I Michigan St. annihilates
Memphis; Boilermakers
take down Notre Dame

DEFENSE
Player
Sutter
Navies'
Phillips
Kelly
Olson
Gregorak
R. Barnes
Cade
Washington
Ziegler
Merkerson
Maumau
McDonnell
Loper
Marshall
Davis
Thomas
Wheeler
Peters
McCarty
Black

Yds
70
70
Solo
11
10
7
6
5
5
5
3
3
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0

Asst
2
. 1
1
1
0
0
0
2
1
2
2
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1

Tot
13
11
8
7
5
5
5
5
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

Avg
23.3
23.3

Lg
27
27

EAST LANSING (AP) - Michigan
State is 2-0 for the first time since 1983.
But in whacking weaker opponents by 62
points, the Spartans still haven't put their
starters through a full game.
Now comes a trip to Notre Dame -
"'the test of a lifetime, coach Nick
Saban said.
Michigan State's 51-21 victory over
Memphis moved the Spartans from No.
21 to No. 17 in the new AP poll
announced yesterday
The Spartans caged the Tigers (1-2)
early Saturday, building a 28-0 lead in the
first quarter and adding two touchdowns
before halftime.
With the huge margin, the first-string
punched out early and the reserves got
some playing time, just like a week ago
against Western Michigan.
Quarterback Todd Schultz completed
18 of 22 passes for 206 yards and three
touchdowns. Tailbacks Sedrick Irvin and
Leroy McFadden each scored twice,
McFadden was Michigan State's leading
rusher with 95 yards.
PURDUE 28, No. 12 NOTRE DAME 17
Purdue outplayed No. 12 Notre Dame
in every way possible Saturday, beating
the Irish 28-17 in Joe Tiller's first game at
Ross-Ade Stadium. Billy Dicken was 26-
of-39 for 352 yards for Purdue (1-1).
Edwin Watson rushed for 34 yards and
two touchdowns, and safety Adrian
Beasley returned a fumble for a touch-
down to seal the victory.
No. 1 PENN STATE 52, TEMPLE 10
Chafie Fields ran for 90 yards and two
touchdowns on reverses as No. 1 Penn
State beat Temple 52-10. Penn State (2-
0) took a 14-7 lead with 8:27 left in the
first half on a 43-yard reverse by Fields.
Cordell Mitchell extended the lead to
21-7 on a 38-yard run for his first career
TD. Mike McQueary hit Joe Nastasi
from 25 yards out to end the scoring for
the half. Curtis Enis had 81 yards on 16

carries and one touchdown, increasing
his career total to 2,059, 11th on the
Nittany Lions' career list.
No.9 OH10 ST. 44, BOWLING GREEN 13
Michael Wiley scored two touch-
downs, including a 100-yard kickoff
return, as No. 9 Ohio State overcame a
sloppy first half to beat Bowling Green
44-13.
The victory was Ohio State's 17th in a
row over an in-state college, dating to a
7-6 loss to Oberlin in 1921.
The Buckeyes lost four fumbles in the
first half and Gary Berry's interception
was disallowed by a roughing penalty.
NORTHWESTERN 24, DUKE 20
Brian Musso caught a 74-yard touch-
down pass and later set up the winning
score with a clutch fourth-down recep-
tion as Northwestern rallied twice and
beat Duke 24-20.
After Musso's 32-yard catch on a pass
from Tim Hughes went to the Duke 1,
Adrian Autry carried for the touchdown
with 3:43 left, putting Northwestern
ahead and sending the Blue Devils to
their 15th straight loss-the longest skid
in Division I-A.
No.18 IowA 54, TULsA 16
Tavian Banks set an Iowa single-game
rushing mark with 314 yards to pace No.
18 Iowa to a 54-16 victory over Tulsa.
Banks, who ran for a career-best 203
yards last week in, also had touchdown
runs of 71, 14, 14 and 23 yards as the
Hawkeyes (2-0) avenged last year's 27-
20 loss to Tulsa (0-2)
LOUISVILLE 26, ILLINOJS 14
Chris Redman completed touchdown
passes of 63, 28 and 20 yards to Ibn
Green, sparking Louisville to a 26-14
victory over Illinois (0-2).
Redman's 20-yard strike to Green
proved to be the game-winner, capping a
12-play, 98-yard drive that gave
Louisville (1-2) a 20-14 lead with 3:57
remaining.

PASS DEFENSE
Player Int Yds
Washington 1 0

Lng Brk-up
0 0

TD
0

COLORADO SCHEDULE
Sept. 6 COLORADO ST. W 31-21
Sept. 13 Michigan. L 3-27
Sept. 27 WYOMING
Oct. 4 TEXAS A&M
Oct. 11 Oklahoma St.
Oct. 25 KANSAS
Nov. 1 MISSOURI
Nov. 8 Iowa St.
Nov. 15 Kansas St.
Nov. 28 NEBRASKA

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

SARA STILLMAN/Daily
Thris Howard, who scored a touchdown off a four-yard pass from Brian Griese, tries to find his way around the Colqrado
lefense. Howard, just one of four Wolverines with eight carries or more, rushed 12 times for 40 yards.

Upnext
Who: Baylor (0-0 Big 12, 1-1 overall)

BLJq

re: Michigan Stadium
When: Saturday, 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

Series: Tied 0-0-1. The Bears and Wolverines last met in 1975.
Baylor will have the advantage of an extra week of preparation before facing
the Wolverines on Saturday. The Bears were pummeled by Miami (Fla.) in their
seasonopener and squeaked by Fresno State last week, 37-35. Baylor has
been unimpressive so far this season but gets linebackers McKinley Bowie and
Eric Clay back from school suspension this week.

liird quarter. On third-and-goal at the
Colorado five-yard line, he was under
ressure and no one was open, so he
hrew it away in the end zone. But he
hrew it in the direction of a player or two
o he wasn't flagged for intentional
rounding. That takes some thinking, not
Oways an easy thing to do when there is
ibig, bad defensive lineman trying to
nake you eat grass.
guess what happened on the next
>lay, on third down?
Griese hit Chris Howard at the goal
ine for a touchdown reception. The
Molverines went up, 17-0, after the point
ier attempt was good.
a'I was anxious to start the game'"
iriese said. "I was nervous to an extent.

times to tight end Jerame Tuman was a
perfect example.
That play opened up the scoring in the
first quarter. Tuman came off the left side
of the line and dashed across the field to
the right side. Colorado's safeties
dropped down on the receivers and
backs, leaving Tuman wide open. Griese
rolled right and hit Tuman for a 53-yard
reception down to the one-yard line.
"We run that play a lot in practice"
Griese said. "I think any one of you guys
(in the media) could have thrown that
pass. (Tuman) made a good play."
The play set up fullback Chris Floyd's
one-yard run that put Michigan ahead, 6-
0, before Kraig Baker's extra-point
attempt.

Arizona St.,
UCLA score
upset win
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The fans
were streaming out by halftime. John
Mackovic had to stay to the bitter end.
Not since 1904, in only its seventh sea-
son of football, had Texas been humiliat-
ed as it was in a 66-3 thrashing by UCLA
on Saturday.
"The guys are going to be embar-
rassed," Mackovic said. "What do you
say to friends and family who see this
score? If you're saying what went wrong,
I don't know. Everything went wrong."
The final score was staggering not just
because UCLA was 0-2 and an under-
dog, but because it was on the home
field of the defending Big 12 champion.
Cade McNown threw a school-record
five touchdown passes and Skip Hicks
scored three times as UCLA (1-2)
enjoyed its biggest victory since the
1954 season.
Texas (1-1) absorbed its worst defeat
since a 68-0 loss to Chicago 93 years
ago. "I'm shocked," backup Texas quar-
terback Richard Walton said. "I'm
embarrassed to be a part of this loss."
A1A y~ CTA'FV71 Ntl 1IA Muii IT12

I

1: ;.

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan