'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 * k * The YI 0 s 1 r or Bowl - t P\'',. Rays ieparture not what M' needs 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 ' ~ 2k -_ 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. PICK UP FOOTBALL SATURDAY - EVERY HOME FOOTBALL GAME. S I A AIC-it;ANI PAnIO "Tfl CATCH THE GAMES OF ALL SPORTS! GIANT BIG SCREENS & 30 MONITORS - Over 25 Beers on Draft ~ Including: Bel's, Newcastle, Guinness & Youngs - w ,m. n -- - I -- Ar ~ Thank You for the Honor of Being Voted Best Shoe Store* 4 / 1 ?00.'qT nrcir rez- C 'birA, t I I ;