48 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - October 27, 1997 GAME STATISTICS Irvin gives Michigan State 0 i PASSING Player Griese Totals C-A 10-17 14.17 Yds 102 102 TD 0 0 mnt 0 0 some offensive firepower RUSHING Player Aftt Howard 21 C. Williams 9 Thomas 12 Floyd 3 Griese 3 Shaw 1 Kapsner 1 Totals 50 RECEIVING Player No. Streets 3 Howard 3 Tuman 2 C. Williams 1 Shea 1 Totals 10 UNTING Player inson Yds 110 33 22 11 -1 -1 -1 173 Avg 5.2 3.7 1.8 3.7 -0.3 -1.0 -1.0 3.5 Yds Avg 30 10.0 21 7.0 14 7.0 26 26.0 11 11.0 102 10.2 No. Yds 6 236 Lg 51 10 7 5 2 0 0 51 Lg 20 16 11 26 11 26 Avg 39.3 16 D16 9L9 J) 3) 3 g KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yds C. Williams 2 28 Totals 2 28 PUNT RETURNS layer No. Yds haw 1 5 oodson 2 2 otals 3 7 EFENSE Player Solo Sword 11 Jones 6 eathers 6 Ray 5 Woodson 3 J. Williams 2 Hendricks 2 Steele 2 Johnson 2 Hall 2 G. Brooks 1 Gold 1 Copenhaver 0 ikson 1 rBrooks 1 Holtry, 1 Bryant 1 Whitley 1 Taylor 1 Brown 1 Peterson 1 Patmon 0 PASS DEFENSE Player Int Yds eathers 1 10 Ray 2 36 oodson 2 4 Johnson 1 37 Hendricks 0 0 Hall 0 0 otals 6 87 Avg 14.0 14.4 Avg >5.0 1.0 2.3 TD 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 TD 0 0 0 0 0 0 rL9 51 g TD 5 0 6 0 g TD 5 0 1 0 5 0 Tot 12 7 7 6 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 By Danielle Rumors Daily Sports Editor EAST LANSING - A dejected Sedrick Irvin was dressed in a green suit and a green print tie when he walked into the players' press room. Numerous reporters and television cameramen backed Irvin into a cor- ner and badgered him with the same questions over and over again about Michigan State's loss to Michigan on Saturday. 'Are you disappointed?" "How do you move on from this loss?" "How good was that Michigan defense? " The sophomore tailback stood in the corner and took it all in. He couldn't sneak away. As one of the best offensive play- ers on the Michigan State team, the role of spokesperson is one he must play, week in and week out. Saturday's game, the Spartans' sec- ond loss of the season, destroyed their Rose Bowl hopes. But as a team leader and a Spartan to the very end - the green suit said it all - Irvin accepted much of the responsibility for the loss, despite leading the Spartans in rushing and receiving with 158 yards of total offense. "I'm in that position, I have to do the things to help my team win," Irvin said. "(On Saturday), I had to look at myself and say, 'We're down, we're out; Sedrick, what are you going to do?' "I didn't care what defense (Michigan) ran or nothing like that. I just had to go out there and do the job." Despite Michigan's surreal defense, which has given up just nine points in the second half all season, Irvin managed to put up some good numbers against the Wolverines in the first half - but not as good as usual. He was the only Spartan to gener- ate some consistent production - but not as consistently as usual. Michigan State's offense is built around Irvin and it stands or falls around him, too. And since the Spartans struggled against Michigan's defense, the offense fell on Saturday, but without Irvin, it would have been buried. Irvin seemed to be on the field for every drive, and he was out there until the very end. He carried the ball 20 times for 81 yards and caught nine passes for 77. That includes the fake field goal on Michigan State's first drive of the game, which gave the Spartans their only lead of the game, 7-3. Michigan State holder Bill Burke took the snap in field goal forma- tion, jumped up and passed to Irvin who broke off the line, down the left sideline and into the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown reception. But most of Irvin's offensive pro- duction happened in the first half. "1t just so happened that I was a marked guy out there " - Sedrick Irvin Michigan State tailback He had 14 carries for 66 yards and caught six passes for 75 yards head- ing into the lockerroom; he was almost invisible in the third and fourth quarters. Michigan's defense came alive in the second half. The Wolverines picked off Michigan State quarter- backs Todd Schultz and Burke five times (in the second half) and held the Spartans to just 83 yards of total offense and Irvin to just 17 yards in the third and fourth quarters. "It's frustrating in a way because you always want to win," Irvin said. "It just so happened that I was a marked guy out there and I tried, and I tried." Defenses will crack down on one- man offensive shows, and that was certainly the case with Irvin on Saturday. He was shut down in the second half along with the rest of the Spartans. Irvin had one run for 21 yards early in the first quarter, but if that :: AP Michigan State tailback Sedrick Irvin was left asking what happened after he rushed for 81 yards and caught 20 passes for 77 yards. run is subtracted from his rushing total, he averaged just 3.0 yards a carry. That was 2.2 yards below his average coming into the game. Despite Irvin's struggles, his work was still enough to keep the few pro- ductive Michigan State drives alive. Michigan's defense held the Spartans to 4-of-15 third-down con- versions in the game, including three of eight in the first half, and Irvin was responsible for converting all four. But his work alone was not enough to put numbers on the board for the Spartans on Saturday. "I thought Sedrick competed well in the game," Michigan State coach Nick Saban said. "I think he played hard. "He didn't have a lot of opportuni- ties to do things, but he caught some balls and had some good runs. We tried to utilize him in different for- mations today, and he did a good job." Last season, Irvin set the Michigan State freshman rushing record with 1,067 yards, and h* ranked eighth in rushing (88.9 yards per game) and ninth in all-purpose yards (121.8) in the Big Ten. He is an All-Big Ten candidate this season, averaging 98.5 yards per game, tops on Michigan State, prior to Saturday's game. He was ranked 12th in all-purpose yards (167.2), 16th in punt returns (13.6 average) and 23rd in the nation in rushing (98.5 yards per game). 4, I 1 Asst 1 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 CONFERENCE Iowa humiliates Indiana, 62-0; Illinois continues losing streak X11 Lg 10 30 4 37 0 0 37 ich 5 173 a2 Brk-up 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 TD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 leam Stats First Downs Rushes/Yards 'assing Yards ffensive Plays rotal Offense Return Yards Mk 50/1 10 Mich St. 14 29/95 177 67 272 78 IOWA CITY (AP) - Randy Reiners ran for a touchdown and threw for two in his first start and Tim Dwight scored on a 92-yard punt return on Saturday to pace No. 18 Iowa to a 62-0 victory over Indiana. The. Hawkeyes (2-2 Big Ten, 5-2 overall) broke a two- game losing streak while keeping Indiana (0-5, 1-7) at a mere six points in four games in October. The Hoosiers, who have lost 20 of their last 21 Big Ten games, haven't scored a point in 10 quarters and have gone without a touchdown in the last 18. Reiners, a sophomore, filled in for fifth-year senior Matt Sherman, who had started the previous 32 games but is out of action for at least two weeks after hurting his right hand last week at Michigan. Reiners, who was 8-of-16 for 148 yards, also gave the Hawkeyes another running threat. He ran well on a variety of scrambles and option plays, scoring on a 7-yard dash that made it 42-0 with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter. No. 9 OHIO STATE 49, NORTHWESTERN 6 Joe Germaine threw three touchdown passes, two to Dee Miller, in No. 9 Ohio State's 49-6 victory over Northwestern. Pepe Pearson also scored twice for the Buckeyes, who put the game away by dominating the third quarter. Ohio State scored on each of its three possessions in the quarter, covering a combined 176 yards in 23 plays. Northwestern had the ball for nine plays in the period, gain- ing 5 yards. The victory kept Ohio State (3-1, 7-1) in the running for the conference title and Rose Bowl bid, although the Buckeyes remained in fifth place behind Michigan, Purdue, Penn State and Wisconsin. The defeat eliminated Northwestern (1-4, 3-6) from postseason contention after two straight years in bowls. WISCONSIN 22, MINNESOTA 21 Wisconsin rallied in the fourth quarter for a 22-21 victory on Saturday, with Ron Dayne's one-yard touchdown with 7:40 remaining accounting for the winning points. The winning score came two plays after a questionable 28-yard catch by Donald Hayes. Hayes went well out of bounds while jostling with cornerback Craig Scruggs, then caught the ball at the Minnesota seven-yard line, apparently without re-establishing himself inbounds. The call seemed similar to a bad pass-interference penal- ty that hurt Minnesota in a 16-15 loss at Penn State last week. The Big Ten admitted after that game that the official had made the wrong call. Wisconsin's rally, its fourth fourth-quarter comeback of the season, also included Mike Davenport's 38-yard field goal after Dayne apparently had fumbled the ball away, only to have an official rule that he was down on the play. The victory allowed the Badgers (4-1, 7-2) to qualify for a bowl bid and kept first-year Minnesota coach Glen Mason (0-4, 2-6) winless in the conference. No. 22 PURDUE 48, ILLINOIS 3 Billy Dicken threw for two touchdowns and ran for one as No. 22 Purdue won its sixth straight game and extended Illinois' losing streak to 13 with a 48-3 victory. The win guaranteed the Boilermakers (4-0, 6-1) their first six-win season since 1984, when they finished 7-5 and went to the Peach Bowl. That was also the last time the team was nationally ranked. The Fighting Illini (0-3, 0-7), meanwhile, are still search- ing for their first win under new coach Ron Turner. The 13- game losing streak is the second-longest in school history. The Boilermakers capitalized on numerous mistakes by the Illini, who turned the ball over seven times. Seventeen of Purdue's first 24 points came after recovered fumbles or interceptions thrown by first-time starting quarterback Kirk Johnson, who finished 14-of-27 for 128 yards with four interceptions. The Purdue defense also sacked Johnson seven times, while Dicken was sacked once. I, I 67 275 35 Pomp/Att/Int 10/30/021/38/6 aunts/Avg 6/39.3 6/39.3 umbles/Lost 0/0 0/0 enalties/Yards' 11/75 10/96 ime of Poss 33:22 26:38 ICHIGAN SCHEDULE ept. 13 COLORADO W 27-3 Sept. 20 BAYLOR W 38-3 Sept. 27 NOTRE DAME W 21-14 ect. 4 Indiana W 37-0' ct. 11 N'WESTERN W 23-6 ct. 18 IOWA W 28-24 ct. 25 Michigan State W 23-7 ov. 1 MINNESOTA 12:30 p.m. ov.8 Penn State TBA ov.15 Wisconsin TBA bv. 22 OHIO STATE Noon r ' b Michigan's six interceptions kept the Spartans off-balance all through Saturday's gant * Woodson grabs his second interception of the game. His first interception was a one-hi bounds before falling out-of-bounds. -OME GAMES IN CAPS Scorng Summary Frst Quarter Mich - Baker, 30-yard field goal, 8:24' MSU - Irvin, 22-yard pass from Burke (Gardner kick), 3:39 Second Quarter Mich -= Griese, one-yard run (Baker kick), 0:47 Third Quarter Mich -' Baker, 30-yard field goal, 5:58 LEROI Continued from Page IS who picked off two Michigan State passes (one of which I would say God had to help him with if I didn't believe that he was God) and caused another. How good is Michigan's defense? The Spartans had no first downs in the third quarter and by the time Michigan State could move the sticks twice, there was just four minutes left on the clock, and Michigan led 23-7. The Wolverines still haven't allowed a point in the fourth quarter all season and have allowed just three field goals after halftime. After Michigan found a way to shut down Sedrick Irvin, the Spartans did- n't have a chance. Without Irvin, who caught a touchdown pass from Burke on a fake field goal in the first quarter, Michigan State would have amassed less than 150 yards of total offense. For some reason, it takes this defense a series or two to warm up. But Michigan's defense is simply phe- nomenal in the second half. The Spartans gained just 83 yards after halftime, and 41 of those came on the last drive of the game. Attribute that to defensive speed and a strong desire to shut out every team they play. "The defense is playing as good as you want them to play," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. Maybe better. So even with a predictable offense that isn't ever going to put 40 points on the scoreboard, Michigan feels like it has a shot at the Big Ten title, which is a convenient way to say "Rose Bowl" without actually saying it. If Michigan's defense is good enough to win games all by itself, it's good enough to ... well, you know. "If our defense keeps playing like this, we can get there," Ray said. Somebody had to say it. - John Leroi can be reached via e- mail atjrleroi@umich.edu. -7 -.. WOODSON Continued from Page 1B junior almost certainly had this game cii endar as far back as two years ago. In 1995, as a freshman, Woodson A a less-talented Michigan State team on i last trip to East Lansing, 28-25. The loss hurt Woodson particularly? Spartans were driving the field for the te touchdown, the usually sure-handed and1 ing Woodson uncharacteristically let an interception slip through - his hands and into the Spartans' Derrick Mason's. Instead of trying to knock the fourth-and-li pass down and allow Michigan to take over on downs, Woodson tried to boost his ever-expanding ego and went for the interception. His gaff led to a 22-yard gain and kept Michigan State's final drive alive. "Two years ~ao. we came un here aiun ..... :. e 0.. .U Y.....