'IN
Scoreboard .
SOR LEAGUE N.Y. Yankees 4,
BALL TAMPA BAY 0
S*'ate 8. Kansas City 13
OAlKI ND o CHI. WHITE SOX 4
Bosun 3, TEXAS 7,
BALTIMORE 2 Anaheim 6
CLEVILAND 9 Chi. Cubs 4
Minrisota 1 SAN DIEGO 3
DET tIT 7, Atlanta 1
Toroi 4 ARIZONA 0
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
AIR FORCE 30,
Colorado State 27
SPORTSijmz~a~
Tracking 'M' teams
After an 0-2 starts so far, the Michigan football team
hopes that their third try for a win will be the charm.
The Wolverines face unranked Eastern Michigan on
Saturday at 12210 p.m. in The Big House.
Friday
September 18, 1998
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at groan you heard across cam-
.pus yesterday echoed from
*Schembechler Hall.
It was the Michigan football
cam's anguish at the loss of a leader.
In front of an anxious horde of
eporters, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr
mnounced that safety Marcus Ray
was suspended
for allegations
of dealings with
an agent,
When con-
fronted with the
NCAA sugges-
tions, Ray
MARK denied the
SNYDER issue. Michigan
Mark My athletic director
Words Tom Goss
approached him
with the news,
at which point Ray was "shocked by
it," Goss said.
"He expressed opposition" to the
news, Goss said.
So now Michigan sits in an
NCAA-induced purgatory.
Over the next few days, the athlet-
ic department's compliance officers
will decide whether the allegations
arc accurate.
,qhe problem for Michigan is than
they have to decide who is telling the
truth. The NCAA was tipped off to
the situation by an unknown source
before passing all of its facts on to
Goss.
And so the waiting game begins.
Until there is a resolution,
Michigan must move forward without
its heart and soul. Therein lies the
Sb est problem with this situation -
hole Ray leaves behind.
See SNYDER, Page 17
Eagles make
short trip to
Ann Arbor
I
i
Daily Sports Editor
No. Eastern Michigan doesn't run the option.
Eastern coach Rick Rasnick assured media the other day
that his Eagles wouldn't use the much-publicized formation
tomorrow against Michigan, despite the Wolverines' even-
more-publicized inability to stop it thus far in the season.
"That's not just something that you throw in at the last
minute," Rasnick said.
Two weeks ago, this game looked to be a breather in the
schedule for the Wolverines. It was supposed to be
Michigan's easy week, sandwiched between a pair of tough
nonconference games and the annual intrastate clash with
Michigan State.
Now, this game's a big one.
It might only be Mid-American Conference foe Eastern
Michigan that's coming to town, but tomorrow's game is
nonetheless huge for the Wolverines (0-2), who are 0-2 to
start the season for the first time since 1988.
After dropping back-to-back contests to Notre Dame
(36-20) and Syracuse (38-28), Michigan's title defense has
started on a sour note. The Wolverines have been surprising-
ly bad in nearly all phases of the game. The 74 points they've
surrendered thus far are more than they gave up in their first
nine games combined last season. Their pass defense, tops in
the nation last year, is worse than all but three teams in
Division I. They haven't been able to run the ball on offense,
leading to an uncharacteristically high average of 44 pass
attempts per game.
Yes, by all indications, now's as good a time as ever to
invite a MAC team into the Big House.
The Eagles (1-1), coming off a victory over Ball State,
rely heavily upon sophomore quarterback Walt Church.
Church, who started as a true freshman after incumbent
Charlie Batch was lost for the season to an injury, redshirted
last year when a healthy Batch resumed the position. Now,
it's his Church's turn again.
But Rasnick said that even though Church is clearly the
No. I guy, he may throw in backup quarterback Adrian
Barbera "just to mix it up and give a different look.
Strangely enough, that's similar to the philosophy
employed by Michigan coach Lloyd Carr in the early stages
of the season this year. Junior Tom Brady has been the starter
- and will be again tomorrow - but freshman Drew
Henson has seen playing time in both games - and will
again tomorrow.
Carr said that "Henson has earned the opportunity to
See EAGLES, Page 17
FILE PHOTO
Michigan strong safety Marcus Ray will be sorely missed by the defensive unit. The tr-captain's 'indefinite suspension' has left another gaping hole
for the Wolverines - this time, in the defensive secondary. Ray faces possible ineligibility should the allegations that he interacted with a sports
agent be proven true.
N '
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S(
Michigan almost has it all versus Eagles
By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Editor
When the ball kicks off in the Big House tomor-
row at 12:10 p.m. the usual excitement of a
Michigan football game may be absent.
On a normal Saturday, a mighty opponent enters
the Big House attempting to steal a victory. Last
week, it was Syracuse flexing its muscles, suc-
cessfully in fact, toppling the once-mighty
Wolverines.
But with Michigan holding an 0-2 record and
playing without strong safety Marcus Ray (sus-
pended for alleged dealings with an agent),
Eastern Michigan's appearance does not serve as
the week three breather the Wolverines anticipat-
ed. Instead, it is a must-win game to avoid an 0-3
start and the ultimate embarrassment of entering
week four winless.
Despite watching two weeks of game film,
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr will probably find it
difficult to accurately gauge Eastern's team. The
Eagles may not even know their own personnel.
They lost 28 players off last year's team and there
are only 31 players returning.
So judging from our expert analysis - hey, we
didn't even know the old Eastern players - here
are the matchups.
MICHIGAN PASSING OFFENSE VS. EASTERN
MICHIGAN PASSING DEFENSE:
At this critical juncture of the season, Michigan
is having trouble riding the golden arm of its quar-
terback to victory. Most likely, that's because there
are two arms in the competition. Tom Brady is
scheduled to be the starter, but when he gets
relieved by Drew Henson remains to be seen.
The Michigan merry-go-round under center is
only offset by the uncertainty at center. An injury
to starting center Steve Hutchinson two weeks ago
at Notre Dame has Steve Frazier on call. Frazier
snapped more often last week against Syracuse but
according to Brady and Henson, they take equal
snaps in practice with both centers. -
It may not make a difference who throws the
ball for Michigan. Eastern's secondary has only
one returning starter - Phil Franklin at corner-
back - so inexperience may be more of a concern
for the Eagles.
ADVANTAGE: MICHIGAN
EASTERN PASSING OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN PASS-
ING DEFENSE:
This week, no one thought the Wolverines could
suffer any more on defense than they already had.
After all, there was a new spot at corner still being
broken in opposite Andre Weathers, and William
Peterson didn't even dress last week. At least
Michigan still had preseason all-American Marcus
Ray at strong safety. Not anymore.
Welcome to Lloyd Carr's hell.
With Ray suspended indefinitely, a gaping hole
emerges in the secondary. DeWayne Patmon will
step in for the Wolverines in Ray's strong safety
spot, but Patmon is hardly the same player. Ray's
five interceptions from last season will be severe-
ly missed.
At quarterback, one might expect Charlie
Batch's successor to be green :with both inexperi-
ence and envy. Fortunately for the Eagles, neither
applies.
New quarterback Walt Church has been down
the big road before. Two years ago - Church red-
shirted last year - he passed for more than 2,000
yards and 11 touchdowns, more than respectable
See MATCHUPS, Page 17
0 MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Even though Michigan tailback Clarence Williams is Injured along with freshman
Justin Fargas, the Wolverines should still dominate the Eagles in the running
game.
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