The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - November 10.,1997 -50
STAT B
Early intimidation
sets game's tine for
Michigan defense
GAME STATISTICS
PASSING
Player C-A Yds TD Int
McQueary 10-22 68 0 1
Totals 10-22 68 0 1
RUSHING
Player Att'
Enis 18,
C. Mitchell 2
Fields 1
Cleary 2
McQueary 7
Totals 30a
Yds
103
10
5
3
-20
101
By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Editor
STATE COLLEGE - Straight out of a Batman
episode was the Michigan defense against Penn
State, in characteristic form.
Pow! Bam! Splat!
It began with the first series, even the first play
from scrimmage for the Nittany Lions, after
Michigan opened the scoring with a Kraig Baker
field goal.
Michigan defensive end Glen Steele blew past a
porous Penn State offensive line on first down and
sent Lions quarterback Mike McQueary to the turf
for the first of five Michigan sacks on the day.
"The first play of the game (on defense) dictated
how the game was going to go," Michigan safety
Marcus Ray said.
Two plays later, on third and 16, Juaquin Feazell
was in McQueary's face and punished him again,
for a seven-yard loss. The rout was on. The in-your-
face tactics were constant throughout.
Those five sacks were among nine Michigan
tackles for losses. The Lions did not convert any of
their 12 third-down possessions. The Penn State
offense, which had averaged 465 yards in total
offense, was held to nearly one-third of that at 169.
Boom!
"The biggest thing defensively is that we had
tremendous pressure," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr
said. "The front four did a great job."
Michigan knew from the start that even though
McQueary had stated in the week leading up to the
game that he intended to go right at its All-America
cornerback Charles Woodson through the air, and
that Penn State's top gun on offense was tailback
Curtis Enis.
A clamp on Enis's legs would mean McQueary
staring down the nation's best secondary, an option
he did not want to be forced into using.
But at halftime, McQueary was left no choice but
to bring his team back through the air. Enis, who
came into the game averaging more than 118 yards
per game, had just 35 at the intermission.
"We wanted to come out hard and stop the run," RECEIVING
Steele said, Player I
Smack! Jlurevicius
Enis did eventually top the century mark, becom- Enis
ing the first Michigan opponent to do so this sea- Fields
son. But his effort did not go without an asterisk, Stephenso
according to Woodson. Pettigrew
"We pounded him for three quarters, Woodson Cleary
said. "The only reason he got 100 yards was Totals
because in the fourth quarter, with that kind of lead,
we played kind of conservative." PUNTING
True enough, Enis racked up 47 of his 103 yards Player
on the ground in the final 15 minutes. Pidgeon
Actually, the outcome was decided so early that
even if Penn State turned exclusively to an air KICKOFF F
attack, it still couldn't make up the 31-point deficit Player
that the Lions faced early in the third quarter. Eberly
"I looked at the scoreboard and saw it was 31-0 Watson
McQueary said, "and I thought then that it would be Total
tough to get 31 points in a quarter and a half." DEFENSE
Statistically speaking, Saturday was not the Player
Wolverines' most dominant performance of the Daniels
season. A. Collins
But don't tell that to Penn State coach Joe Short
Paterno, who even said before the game, "I don't Macklin
know if we've played against a better defense in a Nelson
long time." Fox
Unfortunate for him, Paterno's premonitions D. Collins
came to fruition. Lee
A good reason for that is that Penn State contin- Kurpeikis
ually started deep in their own territory, where it Adams
was tough to get the momentum rolling against 11 Kielmeyer
superheroes on the other side of the ball. The Lions' Brown
average starting field position for their 12 drives Fleischhau
was their own 19-yard line. Fornadel
"They are too good a defensive team to think you Prater
can move the ball starting on your own 15 (yard King
line)," Paterno said. "They have an excellent Boyd
defense and they tie it in with their kicking game Belln
and their coverage. Gatten
"They make your offense go a long way as we Pastas
had to today." Arrington
Kazow! Snyder
Jue
G
No. Yds
F3 20
2 5
2 3
n1 19
1 11
1 10
10 68
Avg
5.7
5.0
5.0
1.5
-2.9
3.4
Avg
6.7
2.5
1.5
19.0
11.0
10.0
6.8
Lg
18
9
5
2
10
18
Lg
8
3
8
19
11
10
19
TD
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
No. Yds Avg Lg
10 411 41.1 48
RETURNS
No. Yds Avg
5 112 22.4
1 16 16.0
6 128 21.3
Solo Asst
8 1
8 0
7 1
4 2
5 0
4 0
4 0
3 1
3 0
3 0
2 1
2 1
er 2 1
1 2
2 0
2 0
2 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
0 1
0 1
Lg
30
16
30
TO"
0
0
0
Tot
9
8
8
6
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
,ed Penn State quarterback Mike McQueary on the Lions' first play from scrimmage, setting the tone
s. McQueary was never able to get into rhythm, and he completed only 10 passes for 68 yards.
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EN For the
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to take the
Up next
Who: Wisconsin (5-1 Big Ten, 8-2 overall)
Where: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison
When: Nov. 15, 3:30 p.m., EST (ABC)
Series: Michigan leads all-time, 41-10-1
The top-ranked Wolverines will try to maintain their hold on the nation's top
spot at a place in which it is notoriously tough to play, especially in the cold
weather, which is standard for this time of the year. Wisconsin running back
Ron Dayne sprained an ankle on the opening drive of the Badgers' 13-10 victo-
ry over Iowa. His status for next week is still up in the air, but chances are
that the 260-pound sophomore will find some way to suit up.
"We didn't like that," safety
Marcus Ray said. "We really did not
like that. They at least had to score
something for pride."
"That really meant something to us
to give up the touchdown in the
fourth quarter," defensive end Glen
Steele said.
MOURNING PERIOD: Think you're
competitive? Losing pretty tough for
you to swallow?
Penn State linebacker Jim Nelson
was downright morbid in the locker-
room after the worst home loss in the
coaching tenure of Joe Paterno.
"It's like a funeral in there," said
Nelson of the lockerroom atmos-
phere. "Nobody really says anything.
Heads are down and people really
aren't going to congratulate each
other for anything. It's like somebody
died."
And what does Nelson do to recov-
er from a beating like this?
"I know it's the worst whoopin'
I've taken in a long time," he said. "It
makes me sick. I want to vomit I feel
so bad."
ENIs RUMBLES ON: Enis's 103
yards rushing marked the first time
all season an opponent ran for the
century mark against the Wolverines.
Penn State quar-
terback Mike
McQueary was the
Big Ten's second-
most efficient
passer. That was
before he got
caught in the whirl-
wind that was the
Michigan defense.
Here, Juaquin
Feazel l assoes
McQueary for the
second of
Michigan's five
sacks on the day.
SARA STILLMAN/Daily
coordinators. And he's been proved correct. His
staff's game plan and play-calling here were superb,
keeping everyone off-balance, and so was his team's
mental makeup.
After the game, Carr spoke impressively as he was
all season, without euphoria, laying a foundation for
the future by expecting more. "We have to get bet-
ter," he said. "In the Big Ten, they don't care how you
did last week."
Carr's right. A magical season has begun for the
Wolverines. Now all they have to do is finish it.
- Nicholas J Cotsonika can be reached via e-mail
at cotsonik@umich.edu.
COTSONIKA
Continued from Page 11B
Nice guy, but can't coach. No experience. Never
should have had the job. Some of those points were
- and still may be - valid. But, though it's
extremely easy for me to say in the wake of such a
victory, it's only fair now to give Carr the praise he
deserves.
The Wolverines are 9-0 for the first time since
1986, because they've been well-prepared. Amid
criticism, Carr made adjustments such as putting
Griese at quarterback and naming two rookies as his
ther back of the pack
PASS DEFENSE
Player Int Yds Lng Brk-up TD
Adams 0 0 0 2 0
Fornadel 0 0 0 1 0'
PSU
Sept. 6 PITTSBURGH W 34-17
Sept. 13 TEMPLE W 52-10
Sept. 20 Louisville W 57-21
Oct. 4 Illinois W 41-6
Oct. 11 OHIO STATE W 31-27
Oct. 18 MINNESOTA W 16-15
Nov. 1 Northwestern W 30-27
Nov. 8 MICHIGAN L834
Nov. 15 Purdue
Nov. 22 WISCONSIN
Nov. 29 Michigan State
HOME GAMES IN CAPS
At a glance
Key Perfonners
For Michigan, running backs Chris
Howard and Anthony Thomas and
fullback Chris Floyd accounted for
195 of Michigan's 265 total rushing
yards to help the Wolverines post
their best offensive performance of
the season. Quarterback Brian
Griese threw for 151 yards and two
touchdowns. Safety Marcus Ray had
one interception.
For Penn State, tailback Curtis Enis
rushed for 103 yards on 18 carries
and one touchdown.
Key Play
Defensive ends Glen Steele and
Juaquin Feazell sacked Penn State
quarterback Mike McQueary on two
of the first three Lions' plays from
scrimmage. The two sacks set the
defensive tone for the game. The
Wolverines sacked McQueary three
more times and picked him off once
to post a 34-8 victory.
Big Ten Standings
Team Conf. Overall
MIchigan 6-0 9.0
Ohio State 5-1 9-1
isconsin 5-1 8-2
Purdue 5-1 7-2
Penn State 4-1 7-1
Iowa 3-3 6-3-
Michigan State 2-4 5-4
Northwestern 2-5 4-7
Indiana 1-5 2-7
Minnesota 0-6 2-8
Illinois 0-6 0-9
Last Week (HOME TEAM IN CAPS)
Michigan 34, PENN STATE 8
PURDUE 22, Michigan State 21
Ohio State 31, MINNESOTA 3
WISCONSIN 13, Iowa 10 -
Northwestern 34, ILLINOIS 21
Next Week
Michigan at Wisconsin
Penn State at Purdue
Illinois at 0hio State
Iowa at Northwestern -
Indiana at Minnesota
Michigan State idle
ghs of 26 carries and 119 yards in
sergency duty and scored the
irs' only touchdown as Wisconsin
- Big Ten, 8-2 overall) beat a team
t a-winning record for the first time
year.
Despite losing the nation's second-
ading rusher, the Badgers built a 13-0
lftime lead on Faulkner's four-yard
uchdown run and field goals of 37 and
yards by Matt Davenport.
The Hawkeyes (3-3, 6-3) pulled to
-16 -on a 19-yard touchdown pass
>bandy Reiners to wing back Tim
wight in the third quarter and Zach
omert's career-best 41-yard field goal
dvay through the fourth quarter.
But Bromert, whose 29-yard attempt
the -third quarter was blocked, mis-
ed from 43 yards out with 3:50
taining, wasting a 73-yard run by
vian Banks, who rushed 20 times for
5 yards.
OIO STATE 31, MINNESOTA 3
aCo. 7 Ohio State watched one Big
wout unfold on the Metrodome
reboard, it took care of one of its
M. '
While Michigan drubbed Penn State,
e Germaine threw two of his three
ichdown passes to David Boston,
iding the Buckeyes to a 31-3 win over'
innesota.
Germaine finished 17-for-21 for 211
rds, while Boston had eight catches
jyards.
The victory, coupled with the
Wolverines' win, kept Ohio State (5-1,
9-1) in the race for the conference title.
The Buckeyes, co-champions with
Northwestern last year, visit host win-
less Illinois next weekend.
Ohio State, which lost its only game
at Penn State, could be playing for the
title outright at Michigan if Wisconsin
upsets the Wolverines next weekend and
Penn State loses one of its three remain-
ing games.
NORTHWEsTERN 34, ILLINOIS 21
Chris Hamdorf passed for 183 yards
and three touchdowns in his first start
this season as Northwestern beat Illinois
34-21 and extended the Fighting Illini's
losing streak to 15 games.
Hamdorf completed 15 of 19 passes
with no interceptions for the Wildcats
(2-5, 4-7). Adrian Autry rushed for 111
yards and one touchdown on 26 carries
in his sixth 100-yard game this season.
The Wildcats scored 10 of their 20
first-half points after Illinois (0-6, 0-9)
mishandled one punt return and fum-
bled another
Illinois has lost a school-record tying
15 consecutive games, dating back to
Oct. 5, 1996, when the Illini beat
Indiana 46-43 in double overtime.
Northwestern led 34-7 in the third
quarter on passes of 31 yards and 25
yards from Hamdorf to John Burden,
who finished with three receptions for
71 yards.
SARA STILLMAN/Daily
Michigan fullback Chris Floyd shrugged off a shoulder injury to help pave the way for the Wolverines' overpowering rushing attack.
Michigan gained 265 yards on the ground and converted seven of 15 third-down opportunities, many of them with key runs.
4