4B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - October 20, 1997 GAME STATISTICS PASSING Player Griese Thomas Totals C-A 15-26 0-1 15-27 RUSHING Player Att Thomas 21 Howard 13 C.Williamsl1 Griese 8 Totals 52 RECEIVING Player No. Tuman 7 C.Williams 3 Shaw 2 Streets 2 Howard 1 Totals. 15 Yds 12c 81 4: 25 Yds 85 31 26 24 -1 165 No. 6 1 Yds 165 0 165 s Avg 9 6.4 1 6.2 3 3.9 9 -3.6 9 4.3 Avg 12.1 10.3 13.0 12.0 -1.0 11.0 Yds 271 4 0 S s Avg 4 17.0 8 18.0 8 8.0 0 15.0 s Avg 0 11.7 0 11.7 TD 3 0 3 Lg9 58 28 15 1 58 Lg 20 17 16 15 0 20 Avg 15.2 0.0 Lg 26 18 8 26 Lg9 17 17 Int 3 0 3 TD Same old song: Def ense earns ue another win PUNTING Player Vinson Team KICKOFF RETURN! Player No. Yd C.Williams 2 31 -Bryant 1 1 Schanski 1 E Totals 4 6{ PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yd Woodson 6 7( Totals 6 7t 0 0 0 1 1 TO 1 0 1 1 0 3 Lg 54 0 gTD 30 30 30 30 gTD 70 70 Tot 9 6 6 5 5 4 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 By Danielle Rumore Daily Sports Editor Michigan linebacker Sam Sword shuffled forward and stepped in front of Iowa receiver Tim Dwight. Pressured quarterback Matt Sherman had already launched the ball into the air when Sword raced in and picked off the pass. He fell to his knees, cradling the ball like a baby, and spelled the end of the game. "I was under a lot of pressure," Sword said. "I knew I had to come up with that for this team." Sword's interception was the most important of Michigan's three in Saturday's game against Iowa. It spelled the end of the Iowa drive that could have won the game for the Hawkeyes in the final two minutes. Sherman had guided the Hawkeyes into Michigan territory with plenty of time remaining to steal the lead, and the game, but the interception allowed the Wolverines to hold on to a hard-fought 28-24 victory as the clock ticked away. As has been the case all season, Michigan's defense played better and more consistently than its offense. And this time, the defense won the game for the Wolverines while the offense sputtered and struggled all afternoon, especially in the first half. Prior to Saturday, the Wolverines had the second-best total defense in the nation, and it helped save the game from almost slipping away due to offensive mistakes. The Wolverines' three interceptions and one fumble marked their worst offen- sive performance of the season, and almost single-handedly gave the game to the Hawkeyes. "Coach Carr told us to keep fight- ing and believe in one another, and that's what we did," Sword said. "When the offense wasn't doing well, the defense picked up the slack. (At halftime), we just knew we played good defensively. We knew once we cut down on turnovers, that our offense was going to get the ball in the end zone." Iowa had similar offensive strug- gles, matching Michigan with three interceptions and one fumble. Iowa failed to put together a convincing offensive surge, yet managed to hold a 21-7 halftime lead, courtesy of three Michigan mistakes which largely overshadowed Michigan's defensive stranglehold. The 24 points that the Hawkeyes put on the board will not help Michigan's defensive statistics - especially scoring defense - but the defense was not responsible for the scores. The Hawkeyes' three touch- downs in the first half came off offensive turnovers or special teams mistakes. "It was very frustrating," Michigan safety Marcus Ray said. "We knew that we couldn't. afford that same thing happening in the second half if we wanted to win." The Hawkeyes' went up, 7-0, after Plez Atkins intercepted a Griese pass intended for receiver Tai Streets early in the second quarter. The Hawkeyes took over deep in their territory, but four plays later, Iowa's star running back Tavian Banks broke out of the backfield and up the sideline for a 53-yard touchdown. Four plays and 83 yards later, the Hawkeyes had their first touchdown and the Michigan defense had its lone faux paux of the game. Later in the second quarter after the Wolverines tied the game, Ray intercepted his first ball from Sherman, intended for Chris Knipper. On the next snap, Griese gave it right back to the Hawkeyes after Ed Gibson picked off the pass intended for receiver Russell Shaw and ran the ball 64 yards downfield to the Michigan one-yard line. On the next play, Michael Burger jumped into the end zone for the score, 13-7. And with 0:18 remaining in the half, the Wolverines were forced to punt to Dwight, Iowa's deadly punt returner. He started right and then with nowhere to go, cut left, scam- pered between and over a few Michigan defenders and raced rela- tively untouched into the end zone for a 61-yard touchdown run. A peak at the stat sheet reveals that the Hawkeyes were not an offensive juggernaut on Saturday. Michigan's defense stymied Iowa's aggressive offensive charge and its usually potent trio of Sherman, Banks and Dwight. Banks came into the game as the nation's top rusher, averaging 184 yards a game. On Saturday, he only rushed for 99 yards, 53 of which came on his lone touchdown drive in the second quarter. Essentially, Banks' afternoon consisted of 46 yards on 18 carries. Dwight was Iowa's leading receiv- er coming into the game with 23 catches for 441 yards and five touch- downs. On Saturday, he was Iowa's worst receiver and was limited to one reception for seven yards. Most of his offensive production came on special teams where he returned three punts for 80 yards, including the 61-yard run, and two kickoff returns for 82 yards, including a 72- yard run in the third quarter. And Sherman, the 10th most effi- cient passer in the country prior to the game, struggled all afternoon. He completed eight of 21 passes for 86 yards and was sacked and picked off three times apiece. Iowa converted only two of its 13 third down opportunities, once of which came on its first touchdown drive. A telling statistic: Iowa pro- duced 220 yards on special teams compared to its 187 yards of total offense; the Wolverines had 389 yards of total offense. "I don't know how we won it," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "Our defense played tremendous football from the beginning of the game until the end." , DEFENSE PlayerS Jones Sword Woodson J.Williams Renes Copenhaver Peterson Steele Gold Whitley Howard Tuman Feazel l Swett McCall Jackson Patmon Ray Taylor Quinn Hendricks PASS DEFENSE Player Int1 Ray 2 Sword 1 Peterson 0 Hall 0 Woodson 0 Totals 3 Team Stats First Downs Rushes/Yards Passing Yards Solo 7 5 2 5 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 Yds 0 0 0 0 0 0 Asst 2 1 4 0 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 The Charles Woodson watch continued Saturday at Michigan Stadium with lesst nerback failed to make this interception but continued to to return punts, totaling L9 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mich 21 52/224 165 4 Offensive Plays 79 Total Offense 389 Return Yards 70 Comp/Att/Int 15/27/3 Punts/Avg 7/38.7 Fumbles/Lost 1/1 Penalties/Yards 7/80 Time of Poss 35:18 MICHIGAN SCHEDULE Sept. 13 COLORADO Sept. 20 BAYLOR Sept. 27 NOTRE DAME Oct. 4 indiana Oct. 11 N'WESTERN 'Oct. 18 IOWA Oct. 25 Michigan St. 12 Nov. 1 MINNESOTA Nov. 8 Penn State Nov. 15 Wisconsin Nov. 22 OHIO STATE HOME GAMES IN CAPS Brk-up TO 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 4 0 Iowa 7 31/101 86 52 187 194 8/21/3 8/43.3 1/1 7/56 24:42 W 27-3 W 38-3 W 21-14 W 37-0 W 23-6 W 28-24 2:30 p.m. TBA TBA TBA Noon EVANSTON (AP) - Adrian Autry burned the nation's fourth-ranked rushing defense for 175 yards and Northwestern blocked a 28-yard field goal with 5 seconds left as the Wildcats dealt No. 12 Michigan State its first loss, 19-17 Saturday. Northwestern (1-3 Big Ten, 3-5 overall) snapped a four-game losing streak and earned its first conference victory after winning back-to-back titles. Michigan State (2-1, 5-1) had feasted on mediocre opponents, outscoring them 185-54. The Spartans entered the game allowing an average of only 64 rushing yards but the Wildcats, ranked 10th in the conference in rushing, almost doubled their aver- age with 208 behind Autry's career-high performance. Still, the game came down to the last play, when a leaping Anwawn Jones blocked Chris Gardner's kick. The Spartans had almost effortlessly moved the ball from their 24 to Northwestern's 9, but coach Nick Saban Spartans become upset victim; Penn State survives decided to play for the field goal by Gardner - who had missed only once in 26 attempts from 29 yards and in. No.1 PENN STATE 16, MINNESOTA 15 Chris Snyder's fumble recovery set up Curtis Enis' 10-yard touchdown run with 3:59 to play and No. I Penn State escaped with a 16-15 victory over Minnesota to keep alive its hopes of a national championship. The Nittany Lions (3-0, 6-0) turned mistakes into the touchdowns it needed in the fourth quarter to overcome the 15-3 lead that Minnesota (0-3, 2-5) built on field goals of 52, 23, 32, 50 and 33 yards by Adam Bailey. Minnesota's Crawford Jordan was called for pass interference on a third-down pass, giving Penn State a first down at the Gophers' 6. Enis, who ran for 112 yards, scored on the next play to make it 15-10. No. 11 OnIo ST. 31, INDIANA 0 Michael Wiley ran for one touchdown and threw for another and Ohio State's defense did not allow Indiana inside the Buckeye 30 in a 31-0 victory. Clinton Wayne added a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown as I11th-ranked Ohio State (2-1, 6-1) bounced back from its loss last week to Penn State. Ohio State, which piled up 432 yards of offense, held Indiana (0-4, 1-6) to 179 total yards, including 35 yards on 32 rushes. PURDUE 45, No.24 WISCONSIN 20 Ed Watson ran for 'three touchdowns and Billy Dicken threw for three as Purdue defeated No. 24 Wisconsin 45-20, extending its longest winning streak since 1980 to five games. Purdue (3-0, 5-1) took control early while accumulat- ing 353 yards in the first half. Dicken completed two scoring strikes in the first half as the Boilermakers built a 28-3 advantage. Wisconsin (3-1, 6-2) was seeking to win a seventh consecutive game for the first time since 1912. Scoring summary. First Quarter No Scoring Second Quarter Iowa - Banks, 53-yard run (Bromert kick), 1:31 Mich - Streets, 15-yard pass from Griese (Baker kick), 10:07 Iowa - Burger, one-yard run (PAT failed), 12:33 Iowa - Dwight, 61-yard punt return (Knipper from Sherman for two-point conversion), 15:00 BOMBER Continued from Page 113 This was a team that was faced with legitimate adversity and a criti- cal deficit against a tough opponent for the first time all season. Not only that, but this team - not the offensive juggernaut that it was a few years ago - was 14 points in the hole to an Iowa bunch that Carr indi- cated earlier in the week as the "most explosive team we've faced" and playing uncharacteristically sloppy ball for the first time all season. And to top it all off, a potential dagger-in-the-heart was delivered by Tim Dwight's punt return for a touchdown on a play that as sup- posed to be just a running out of the clock. In recent years past, when down a significant amount to a ranked team, Michigan typically rolled over and played dead. Never did the Wolverines come out of lockerroom like a team possessed and on a mis- sion. "Coach Carr told us to keep fight- ing and believe in one another," said linebacker Sam Sword, whose inter- ception in the final minute sealed the son don't have the same effect as hearing a graduating Michigan class never going to a Rose Bowl. And while on a mission of this cal- iber, a team needs to show it has the three characteristics of a champion and Michigan showed that by shrug- ging off adversity Saturday. "Adversity is part of being," Carr said. "It's part of life. This experi- ence with dealing with it in a posi- tive way has to help us." The test for the third component of a champion will come next week, in Michigan's "Biggest Game of the Year" of the week. That component is maintaining focus. There's no doubt that the Wolverines will be prepared both emotionally and physically to play Michigan State. But they could very easily come in overzealous and not focusing on the job at hand. "There's a lot going on during the game, a lot of trash talking," Charles Woodson said. "There's a lot of peo- ple who know each other because a lot of them are from the Detroit area. So there's going to be a lot of people talking noise." We will know if Michigan is focused coming into East Lansing if Up next Who: Michigan State (2-1 Big Ten, 5- Where: Spartan Stadium, East Lansin When: Oct. 25, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN) Series: Michigan leads all-time 58-26- The Spartans were upset victims Satu Evanston, ruining a chance for a 6-0 The game will be far from meanins Michigan quarterback Brian Griese sa they're going to be ready to play. The last years' game, 45-29, but the Spar Spartan Stadium. The last time both t No. 21 Michigan State, 10-7 in East L State will be gunning for the fifth-rank HAWKEYES Continued from Page 1B0 Dwight, one of the league's to receivers, caught one pass for seve yards under the coverage ofAll-Americ cornerback Charles Woodson. Mat Sherman, the most efficient quarterbac in the league, threw three interception and finished 8-for-21 for 86 yards and n touchdowns. Though Banks was held to just 8 yards rushing by Ohio State and star line backer Andy Katzenmoyer two Ak ago, he said the Wolverines' defense wa "definitely a lot faster. They have guy flying all over the place. Ohio State ju has Katzenmoyer. "We could have killed them. Our lin and tight ends made some mistakes. W really let this one slip away." Iowa coach Hayden ,Fry said th Wolverines "proved in the second hal that they have one of the best co g defenses. We just didn't execute. Yo shouldn't lose like that." The Hawkeyes, who lost a fumble - addition to Sherman's three interception could muster just seven first downs to th Wolverines' 21 and converted just two 12 third-down plays. Michiganline backer Dhani Jones had nine tackle rrn ~' 1