4B - The Michigan Daily -- Wednesday, January 7, 1998 GAME STATI$TICS' WASHINGTON STATE PASSING Cougars' lament: 6l Player Leaf Totals C-A 17-35 17-35 RUSHING Player Black Gilmore Tims Leaf Clayton Totals Aft 8 1 10 2 28 RECEIVING Player Jackson McKenzie Mc Washington Tims Taylor Gilmore Jefferson Clayton Totals PUNTING Player Banks No. 5 5 2 2 1 1 1 0 17 Yds 24 20 14 6 3 67 Yd 89 78 43 9 46 8 18 33: Yds 331 331 SAvg 34 2.5 14.0 0.6 1.5 2.4 s Avg 4 17.8 3 15.6 1 20.5 4.5 346.0 242.0 8.0 1 19.5 TD 1 1 L9 8 14t 14 4 14t Lg 35 20 22 5 46 42 8 0 46 Int 1 1 TD 0 0 1 0 0 1 TD 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Michigan's final drive, clock management leave Washington State wondering 'what if?' Wait just a second 6 No. Yds Avg Lg 6 242 40.3 46 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yds Totals 0 0 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Tims 1 Totals 1 DEFENSE Player Gleason Moore, B. Stewart Nelson Thompson Boose Bender Jackson Doyle Moronkola Salausa Price Philley Emerson Moore, K. Solo 9 8 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 1 1 1 0 0 Yds 2 2 Ast 0 1 3 3 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 YdsI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A A% 2. 2. T 9 9 8 8 6 6 5 4 4 1 1 1 V9 Lg TD 0 0 0 LgTD .0 2 0 .0 2 0 Ot Sacks 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 , 0 0 4~ 0. I4 0 1. 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Bik-up TD 2 0 20 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 8 0 By Alan Goldonbach Daily Sports Editor PASADENA, Calif. - Consider, for a moment, the Michigan offense as a slow drip, boring and monotonous, yet consistent, and Washington State's a busted water main, uncontrollable, unpredictable and potentially fatal. The two contrasting styles made for a river-ting ... er, riveting finale in the Rose Bowl. With an eight-point lead and the ball with 7:25 left on the clock, Michigan embarked on a drive from its own 19-yard line that allowed the clock drip, drip, drip away, like torture for the Washington State offense, boiling on its sideline. Michigan was able to milk 6:56 off the clock, relying heavily on tremendous execution on third downs. The Wolverines converted four such oppor- tunities on the drive, a sharp turn from the first half, when they failed to hit paydirt on five third downs. "We really had to keep the Washington State offense off the field," Michigan tailback Chris Howard said. "We had to eat as much clock as pos- sible." The first such opportunity on this drive, howev- er, proved to be the most crucial. With 11 yards needed to move the chains, Michigan quarterback Brian (riese, operating out of the shotgun position, could not find an open target. So the stone-footed senior took off, making 11 yards seem like 11 miles. But when he smelled the first-down marker, Griese dove and made it by a matter of inches. Had Griese not made the first down, Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf would have had the ball with excellent field position and nearly six minutes left, plenty of time to meticulously march over the tiring Michigan secondary for the winning score. But Leaf and his corps of talented targets would have to wait. Three plays later and seven yards away from the red marker, Charles Woodson kept Michigan alive taking a wide lateral pass at the left sideline, faked a pass downfield to Chris Howard and surged ahead eight yards. "That's Big Ten football," Leaf said of the lengthy drive. "They grinded it out when they needed to." A 13-yard completion to Russell Shaw on third and six, followed by a seven-yard strike to Woodson three plays later, where he bowled over the Cougars' Duane Stewart at the first-down marker, and Michigan appeared more feline than Wolverine, earning one new life after another. In fact, these two third-down conversions capped a streak of nine consecutive by Michigan in the sec- ond half. "I felt strongly that we had to use a lot of time," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "Just imagine if we hadn't have gotten those first downs." Michigan didn't have to imagine because it PASS DEFENSE Player Int Stewart 0 Bender 0 Moore, B. 0 Thompson 1 Boose 0 Moronkola 0 Totals 1 Lg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 WARREN ZINN/Daily Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf said he felt helpless watching Michigan's offense eat almost seven minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter. Black ', prsy cast aow MIqover Cougars' running o,. n Bitter in defeat, players say Arizo na State a tougher foe MICHIGAN PASSING Player' Griese Totals RUSHING Player Howard Thomas Floyd Griese Woodson Williams, C. Totals RECEIVING Player Shaw Streets Tuman Howard Thomas Woodson Campbell Williams, C. Totals C-A 18.30 1&30 Yt 2E 26 Att 19 7 5 7 2 1 41 No. 6 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 18 Yds 70 20 17 13 6 2 128 Yds 49 127 33 13 14 7 7 1 251 1 ds TD '51 3 51 3 Avg Lg 3.7 28 2.9 9 3.4 11 1.9 11 3.0 8 2.0 2 3.1 28 Avg Lg 8.2 13 31.8 58t 16.5 23t 6.5 16 14.0 0 7.0 7 7.0 7 1.0 1 13.9 58t 'nt 1 1 TD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TD 0 2 1 0 14 0 0 0 3 L9 38 23 38 TD 0 0 TD 0 0 PUNTING Player Vinson Feely Totals No. 5 1 6 Yds 160 23 183 ti M Avg 32.0 23.0 30.5 Lg 20 20 KICKOFF RETURNS Player Thomas Totals No. Yds Avg 2 38 19.0 2 38 19.0 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Woodson 3 Totals 3 DEFENSE Player Jones Hendricks Ray Weathers Hall Gold Williams, J. Whitley Patmon Feazell Wilson Shea Peterson Woodson Solo 6 5 4 4 2 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 Yds 18 18 Ast 4 2 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Yds 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Avg Lg 6.0 15 6.0 15 Tt 10 7 5 5 5 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 Sacks 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Editor PASADENA, Calif. -- With Michael Black on the sideline, the Washington State running game was in the dark. The Pac-10's second-leading rusher was forced out of the game on the Cougars' third drive of the first quarter with an injury to his calf. He could only watch the second and third quarters as the pain was too much for him to handle., But with the outcome still up in the air in the fourth quarter, Black's gut told him to give it one last shot. On the Cougars' first play of the fourth quarter, he took a handoff into the line and was stopped for no gain. "I tried to come back," Black said, "but I didn't have any nerves in my leg that responded. I couldn't run." 74 Although Washington State's offense is primarily pass-ori- ented, Black still led a rushing attack that averaged 157 yards per game during the season. With Black out, the Cougars' backfield blacked out too, mustering only 67 yards and placing an even greater load on the talented arm of quarterback Ryan Leaf. "When you lose the best offensive player, it's tough," Leaf said of Black, who also caught 15 passes out of the backfield during the season. Without a legitimate threat next to him in the backfield, Leaf had a much more difficult time handling the nation's best defense. Michigan con- tinued to blitz relentlessly and showed confidence in just a five-man defensive front. "Everybody in Washington knows he makes a difference," Washington State wide receiver Kevin McKenzie said. "Without a running game, you can't have a passing game." CAST THESE VOTES FOR NEBRASKA: Perhaps a few were sore losers. Maybe they were caught up in the moment of having a Rose Bowl victory right there in their grasp. Or they might have been just telling the truth. Regardless of their reason, several Washington State players didn't have a whole lot of high praise for Michigan. "Michigan is not the best team we've faced," wide receiver Nian Taylor said. "Arizona State's defense is better than Michigan's. Michigan just got a couple of lucky plays on us." In case that seems like a shot in the dark, the Sun Devils handed the Cougars their only other loss of the season, a 44-31 decision Nov. 1 in Tempe. Wide receiver Kevin McKenzie said that Arizona State's "secondary is much better and much faster" than Michigan's, which was ranked ROSE BOIW L Continued from Page lB all season shied from the spotlight despite playing the most scrutinized position on the field, relished the moment and realized how close it came to remaining just a dream. "I have been through so much," he said, "and to win the game and the national championship is my ultimate goal and the team's. To be named MVP for No. I in the nation statistically, even though the Sun Devils allowed Washington State almost twice as many points as the Wolverines did. "Michigan is thoroughly impressed with the way we played," Cougars defensive end Leon Bender said. "If we play them again, the outcome wouldn't be the same. I thought we were the better team on the field." And of course, what would a controversial end- ing be without a conspiracy theory or two. "If Michigan had been down, they might have got those two seconds back," wide receiver Shawn Tims said. Ouch. became a reality in the game's final minute. With 39 ticks on the clock and the ball at the Washington State 30, Michigan lined up for an apparent 47-yard field goal, but faked it and Jay Feely dropped a pooch punt down on the Cougars' seven-yard line. Ninety-three yards from victory with no time- outs, Washington State seemed left for dead. But Michigan could ill-afford to not recall another five point lead some three years ago. Remember 26-2? You know, 64 yards away, two seconds on the clock? The Wolverines sure do. Colorado, a name as evil to Michigan as Satan's is to the Bible, was elbowing its way to the front of the Wolverines' minds. As much as they tried to block out the image, it almost seemed as if Kordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook were back to haunt Michigan, this time in crimson. "You're talking to a guy who was on the field the day Colorado threw that pass and broke Michigan heart,' Carr said. "So I know anything can happen." But for a moment it seemed anything would even be a stretch for the Cougars. Incompletions on the first two plays left 16 seconds on the clock. Then Leaf uncorked a bomb down the right side- line to Nian Taylor, who appeared to shove Woodson out of the way before snagging the pass. The official standing right next to the players actu- ally removed the penalty flag from his back pocket, but instead of dropping it, let it sit in his hand as he saw Taylor come down with the reception. Tlick, tick, tick. Leaf and his offense ran downfield to line up. Nine seconds remained. He fired a dart over the middle to tight end Love Jefferson, whose lateral to a streaking Jason Clayton brought the ball down to the Michigan 16-yard line. Tick, tick, tick. Two seconds remained and Leaf looked to stop the clock with one second left by spiking the ball.. But after the teams lined up and the clock started. Leaf cocked his head up and looked up at refere. Dick Burleson for the go-ahead. That glitch proba- bly cost the Cougars the one second that would have set up as dramatic a finish as one could hope. Leaf took the snap and one quick step before spiking the ball. But when he looked up at the clock, it showed a trio of zeroes. Time had run out on the Cougars. "With two seconds left," Leaf said, "you don't want to put the ball in the hands of the referee. But I don't blame them at all." Carr, on the other hand, was probably the fir person on the field from either sideline. "Even when we ran onto the field, I wasn't sure what was going to happen," Carr said. "I was hop- ing that if there was any doubt in (the officials') minds, they would forget about it because there would be too many people to kick off the field." o9 49 Michigan coach Lloyd Carr addressed his players after their Rose BoW victory, saying, "You guys just won the national championship." The Wolverines were crowned national champions in the Associated Press poll, but slipped to second in the USA Today/ESP coaches poll behind Orange- Bowl champion Nebraska. WARREN ZINN/Dail Then Michigan put the clamp down on defense and regained its bread and butter on offense - tight ball control - to seal the victory. The Wolverines' next drive that went 77 yards in 5:25 capped a pla* that has worked magic all season - the bootleg roll- out to the right to tight end Jerame Tuman. Griese floated one to his favorite target, who was a good five yards from the nearest Cougar, for a 23-yard score and a 21-13 lead. "Man, I thought that ball would never come PASS DEFENSE Player int Woodson 1 Copenhaver 0 Weathers 0 Williams, J. 0 Feazell 0 Peterson 0 Totals 1 Team Stats N First Downs Rushes/Yards Passing Yards Offensive Plays Total Offense Return Yards Comp/Att/Int 1 Punts/Avg Sacks/Yds Fumbles/Lost Penalties/Yards Time of Poss Lg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brk-up TD 4 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 10 10 0 Michigan 22 41/128 251 71 379 56 18/30/1 6/30.5 4/28 0/0 4/40 32:14 Wash. State 18 28/67 331 63 398 2 17/35/1 6/40.3 1/15 0/0 4/43 27:46 SCORING SUMMARY First Quarter Washington State - McKenzie 15-yard pass from Leaf (Lindell kick), 3:17 Second Quarter Michigan - Streets 53-yard pass from The clock stopped temporarily with two seconds remaining, so that the officials could move the chains. Once the two teams lined up, Leaf took the snap and spiked the ball hoping to stop the clock with one second left, leaving time for the Cougars to get set for one more play. It never happened. Time ran out and chaos ensued - confusion from the Washington State sideline and the elation from Michigan's. "I think everyone knows you can down the ball in Woodson said. "1 played him to run a shadow route, then Ryan Leaf threw me a nice wobbly pass." Two possessions after the interception, Griese began work on his MVP resume. Responding to those who claimed he had insufficient arm strength, Griese lofted a beauty down the right sideline that Tai Streets caught in stride a full step ahead of his man and galloped into the end zone for a 53-yard touchdown, sending the teams into the lockerrooms at halftime tied at seven.