4B The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - November 10, 1997 GAME STATISTICS PASSING Player Griese Brady Totals RUSHING Player Howard Griese Thomas Floyd Jackson McCall Brady Woodson Totals C-A 14-22 0-0 14-22 Att 22 5 12 6 3 4 1 1 54 Ydi 12C 4E 4C 35 27 11 .-5 -9 265 Yds 41 39 19 37 8 7 151 Yds 151 0 151 6 Avg 5.5 9.2 3.3 55.8 79.0 L2.8 -5.0 -9 5 4.9 Avg 10.3 9.7 6.3 37.0 8.0 7.0 10.8 TD 2 0 2 Lg 29 40 12 13 18 5 0 0 40 Lg 26 18 17 37 8 7 37 RECEIVING Player No. Howard 4 Tuman 4 Thomas 3 Woodson 1 Shaw 1 Campbell 1 Totals 14 PUNTING Player Vinson Int 0 0 0 TD 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 TD 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 Lg 49 TD 0 0 Heisman piture remaIs cloudy By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Editor . STATE COLLEGE - Sure, it was Judgment Day, as they like to call it, in college football. But that only involved the teams. As far as the Heisman Trophy race is concerned, there was no judgment passed on anyone this weekend other than that the picture surrounding the nation's most coveted individual honor is as cloudy as ever. The season-long front-runner - Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning - rebounded from the No. Yds Avg 5 165 33.0 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yds Thomas 1 32 Totals 1 32 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yds Woodson 4 2 Shaw 1 0 Totals 5 2 DEFENSE PlayerS Jones Sword Ray Hendricks J. Williams Feazell Renes Hall Brooks Copenhaver Woodson Weathers Frysinger Kratus Jackson Steele Gold Feely W. Peterson Swett Whitley E. Wilson D. Taylor PASS DEFENSE Player IntN Ray 1 Sword 0 Woodson 0 Totals 1 Team Stats First Downs Rushes/Yards5 Passing Yards Total Plays Total Offense Return Yards Solo 6 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 Yds 7 0 0 7 Avg L 32.0 3 32.0 3 Avg L 0.5 0 0.4 Asst 2 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 g2 32 32 g TD 4 0 0 0 4 0 Tot 8 7 4 SARA STILLMAN/Daily Chris Howard's 29-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter pretty much put the game out of Penn State's reach. Howard saved his best game of the season for the right time, rushing for 120 yards and outgaining Penn State's Heisman hopeful Curtis Enis by 17 yards. Howard leads surging ofense Without penalties, offense starts to look as imposing as defense By John Leroi Daily Sports Editor STATE COLLEGE - All week, Chris Howard had to show his teammates he didn't have Enis envy. Saturday, he proved to every- body in Beaver Stadium that he was the big- ger man. "I told Chris all week, we've been reading about this Enis all year long and we know he's a great back, but aren't you getting a lit- tle tired of that?" Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "He has been an underrated player at Michigan." Almost as underrated as the Wolverines' offense, which has purred right along for most of the season but exploded in Michigan's 34-8 thrashing of previously unbeaten Penn State. All of a sudden, it wasn't just Michigan's defense winning the ballgame. The offense marched down the field every time it got the ball. The Wolverines scored on four of its first five possessions. A lot of the credit goes to Howard who outgained Enis, 120-103, on the ground and caught four passes for 41 yards. Enis caught just two passes for five yards and a large passes for 399 chunk of his 103 yards came on Penn State's final drive, when the game was well out of reach. "I knew there were questions as to whether our offense could play up to others' expecta- tions," Howard said. "I think we answered some of those critics today." With Clarence Williams sidelined with a pulled hamstring, Howard and freshman Anthony Thomas shoul- dered most of the offen- sive burden. Thomas carried 12 times for 40 yards. The Wolverines outgained the Big Ten's best offense, 416-169. Howard Howard has been Michigan's workhorse all season, leading the team in rushing yards and catches. But until Saturday, Howard was the only bright spot in an otherwise bland offense. Enter quarterback Brian Griese, who not only connected for two touchdown passes on 14-of-22 passing, but carried five times for worst game of his career to post some stellar, more char- acteristic numbers in the Volunteers' 44-20 victory over S o u t h e r n Mississippi. Manning com- pleted 35 of 53 yards and four touch- 46 yards, including a 40-yard scamper that even Howard had to envy. Howard deflected most of the credit to the offensive line, which turned in its most impressive performance of the season. Not only did the Wolverines control the line of scrimmage, but the linemen all but eliminat- ed offsides and holding penalties, the one thing that Carr said was holding the offense back. "Penalties have been killing us all season," Howard said. "They're known as drive killers. But our offensive line was just domi- nant today, you couldn't have asked for any- thing more." But some of the credit has to go to Howard, who played his best game at the most opportune time. His 29-yard touch- down run in the second half put Michigan up, 31-0, and stomped out any hope for a Penn State comeback. "This was his last game against Penn State and he wanted to go out with a win," Thomas said. "As an offense, we felt we had some- thing to prove, but the young guys are really coming together right now and Brian Griese and Chris Howard are a big part of that." downs, passing the 2,500-yard mark this season through the air. The Tennessee senior has a number of advantages going for him in the race: he has long been a contender for the award (perhaps as far back as his sophomore season); he was given the award to lose in the preseason; and he plays a position that generally receives the most attention for the honor. After Manning, several second-tier candidates had their stock drop or rise moderately with their perfor- mances this weekend. Marshall's Randy Moss caught seven passes for just 56 yards. He did catch a touchdown, his 22nd, which is one short of the major college record set by Houston's Manny Hazard in 1989. But Moss has the small-college label of newly annointed Division I Marshall on his back, which could cost him a lot of votes. The Big Ten's top two running backs, Iowa's Tavian Banks and Wisconsin's Ron Dayne, went up against each other this weekend in Madison and neither came away in particularly good shape. With Iowa losing, Banks's 145- yard effort seems much more insignificant, as does his yards per game average of 155, which has dropped drastically since the first month of the season. Dayne, on the other hand, sprained his ankle on the game's opening drive and sat out the remainder of the con- test. Without a monster game to his credit yet this season, the Heisman candidacy for the Badgers' sopho- more seems to be fading, especially if this injury affects his late-season push for the award. Finally, there is Michigan's all- everything Charles Woodson, who is making as strong a case as ever for becoming the first defensive player to win the award. With Manning's per- formance in recent weeks not being [ 7-. /s Michigan's Glen S for the dominant M Lg 7 0 0 7 Brk-up 1 1 2 4 TD 0 0 0 0 the caliber of the be. country, Woodson's picked up some steam Saturday was Wo opportunity to show.% against a top-ranke front of a national au Woodson didn't di; sively, catching a - pass. But overall, meaty enough for trad heavy voters to give I sideration. In addition, many not watch Woodson wi out to see how he al offenses by his mere j For Woodson to pu victory, he may need interceptions or somet return for a touchew next blockbuster gar against Ohio State. THE BARRIER iS BI first time this season, up a second-half t4 points in the fourth q toric moment came x the game as Penn Sta plunged into the .end yard out to put the Lio On a day that a close to perfect as it c Wolverines, they seei score pretty tough. Mich 24 54/265 151 76 416 34 PSU 9 30/101 68 52 169 128 Florida State takes out NorhCaoina Comp/Att/int 14/22/010/22/1 Punts/Avg 5/33.0 Fumbles/Lost 2/0 Penalties/Yards 4/24 Time of Poss 33:30 MICHIGAN SCHEDULE Sept. 13 COLORADO Sept. 20 BAYLOR Sept. 27 NOTRE DAME Oct. 4 Indiana 10/41.1 0/0 7/55 26:30 W 27-3 W 38-3 W 21-14 W 37-0 CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - In their own cruel, confident and con- vincing way, Florida State beat down another up-and-comer Saturday night. North Carolina had hoped to use this showdown with the Seminoles (7-0 ACC, 9-0 overall) as a platform to prove it had moved into the nation's elite, but Florida State's 20-3 victory showed the Tar Heels (5-1, 8-1) have some way to go. It was Florida State's defense that doomed the Tar Heels, sacking Oscar Davenport seven times before knocking him out in the third quarter with an ankle injury. Replacement Chris Keldorf went down twice as the nation's sack leader tied a school record with nine. On offense, Thad Busby threw two first-half touchdown passes as the Seminoles grabbed a 17-0 intermission lead on the way to improving their ACC record to 46-1 NEBRASKA 45, MISSOURI 38 Scott Frost completed Nebraska's version of the Immaculate Reception with no time remaining, then ran for his fourth touchdown in overtime as No. I Nebraska avoided an upset with a 45-38 victory over Missouri on Saturday. Nebraska (6-0 Big 12, 9-0) stayed unbeaten thanks to a b6uncing ball that ended up in the hands of Matt Davison for a 12-yard touchdown pass that forced the extra period. Oct. 11 Oct. 18 Oct. 25 Nov. 1 .Nov. 8 Nov. 15, Nov. 22, NORTHWESTERN W 23-6 IOWA W 28-24 Michigan State W 23-7 MINNESOTA W 24-3 Penn State W 34-8 Wisconsin 3:30 p.m. OHIO STATE 12:10 p.m. Purdue comeback pushes Spartans 1 I HOME GAMES IN CAPS Scoring summary First Quarter Mich - Baker, 29-yard field goal, 8:52 Mich - A. Thomas, 12-yard run (Baker kick), 4:41 Second Quarter Mich - Woodson, 37-yard pass from Griese (Baker kick), 11:07 Mich - Tuman, eight-yard pass from Griese (Baker kick), 6:10 WEST LAFAYETTE (AP) - Purdue coach Joe Tiller was amazed. Imagine how Michigan State's Nick Saban felt. Purdue, seemingly beaten with two minutes to go, scored two late touch- downs to overtake the Spartans for an improbable, 22-21, victory on Saturday. "This is about as disappointed as I've ever been as a coach. That's as disap- pointed as I've ever been for a team," Saban said. "Divine intervention may have been on our side," Tiller said. "This game also shows why I don't get concerned about statistics except for the points." Ed Watson had season highs of 115 yards and 24 carries, including a three- yard run for the winning touchdown with 40 seconds to play. "I went to coach and asked for the nlno h pr n.11-A iaw m I m nt .A tphe Purdue (5-1 Big Ten, 7-1 overall) has won seven games in a season for, the first time since 1984, and takes on Penn State next week. Purdue trailed, 21-10, with two min- utes to play and appeared doomed as the Spartans (2-4, 5-4) lined up for a field goal that would have padded the margin to 14 points. But Gardner's 39-yard attempt was blocked by Leo Perez and Rosevelt Colvin returned it 62 yards. Adrian Beasley's block cleared the final obstacle to the end zone. "We called a time out and coach Brock Spack told us that we were going to block the kick and score," Colvin said. Chris Daniels recovered an on-side kick for Purdue at the Boilermakers 45- yard line after the ball bounced off a Michigan State defender. RillyD ilc-n who had h en nulled straight game, helped Purdue by having 12 players on the field for the next play to move the ball to the 2. Dicken lo yard on a quarterback sneak and Watson then carried two tacklers into the end zone for the score. Michigan State wasn't finished. The. Spartans returned Purdue's squib kick to, its 33. Todd Schultz completed passes to: Marc Renaud and Gari Scott, moving the ball to Purdue's 33, and an offside penalty gave Michigan State five more yards. Renaud, who had 114 yards on 22 carries, picked up one to set the stage.* Gardner's final kick. After each team took a timeout, Gardner's attempt missed badly short and left. The Spartans were set back when leading rusher Sedrick Irvin hurt his toe in the first half. Irvin carried only twice for pioht vardsk in the scond half with L n m ::_, _ , -. 1 1