The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 2, 1998 - 13 THE MATCHUPS MICHIGAN PASSING OFFENSE VS. IOWA PASSING DEFENSE Brady is starting to exhibit confidence in Michigan's offensive scheme. If the Wolverines find Jerame Tuman, then expect a big game from the passing offense. Edge: Michigan --..-- - - ---.---- -----------.-------------- a MICHIGAN RUSHING OFFENSE VS. IOWA RUSHING DEFENSE Staff Picks - all picks made against the spread. 1 h6i, Clarence Williams and Anthony Thomas appear to be the regulars in the backfield for Michigan. Only Jared DeVries stands in the way. Edge: Michigan ...................... -----....... .......-- --- .-- . ------- _- - -- IOWA PASSING OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN PASSING DEFENSE Although the Iowa quarterbacks are somewhat shaky, the wide receivers have propelled the Hawkeyes to second in the conference in passing. Edge: Iowa ----------------------------------------- IOWA RUSHING OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN RUSHING DEFENSE Iowa has the worst running game inathe conference, bar none. Clint Copenhaver returns at linebacker for the Wolverines. Edge: Michigan ---------------------------- ------SPECIAL TEAMS Game (HOME TEAM IN CAPS) Michigan (-10) vs. IOWA MICHIGAN STATE (-29) vs. C. Michigan Florida (-16.5) vs. ALABAMA Florida State (-28) vs. MARYLAND LOUISIANA STATE (-8.5) vs. Georgia UCLA (-23.5) vs. Washington State NORTHWESTERN (-14.5) vs. Illinois NOTRE DAME (-18) vs. Stanford OHIO STATE (-14) vs. Penn State PURDUE (-10.5) vs. Minnesota SOUTHERN CAL (-3) vs. Arizona State Tennessee (-7.5) vs. AUBURN Best Bet Last Week (best bet) Overall (best bet) SHARAT RAJU Michigan Michigan State Florida Maryland Louisiana State UCLA Illinois Stanford Ohio State Purdue Arizona State Tennessee Michigan 6-6 (1-0) 17-19 (2-1) JIM ROSE 4 Michigan Michigan State Florida Florida State Georgia Washington State Northwestern Stanford Penn State Purdue Southern Cal Tennessee Florida 6-6 (0-1) 13-23 (0-3) MARK SNYDER Michigan Michigan State Florida Maryland Georgia UCLA Northwestern Notre Dame Ohio State Minnesota Arizona State Tennessee Minnesota 6-6 (1-0) 14-22 (2-1) Michigan Michigan State Florida Florida State Louisiana State UCLA Illinois Stanford Penn State Purdue Arizona State Tennessee Michigan 8-4 (1-0) * 20-16 (1-1)* Guest Selector JIM BRANDSTATTER We will have a guest selector each week for the staff picks. Most times it will be someone famous, but if you think you deserve to pick, e-mail us at dailyffootball-@umich.edu and tell us why. Friends and family of Daily staffers are not only not excluded, but are welcome to apply. Good luck. owa's Kahlil Hill has three special teams touchdowns in just four games this season. Yeah, he's good. Edge: Iowa *Previous guest selectors have been: Professor Ralph WIlliams, Professor Sidney Fine and former Michigan kicker Remy Hamilton A note of explanation on Staff Picks: One quick word about those picks, folks. They're made against the spread. That means this: OHIO STATE (-14) vs. Penn State actually means that ifJim Brandstatter picks the Nittany Lions to win, they don't actually have to win the game - they just have to be within 14 points of'Ohio State. So if Ohio State wins by 13 points or fewer, Brandstatter wins that game - even though the team he picked actually lost. V Who and What is ZS? INTANGIBLES ' _ Michigan is coming off an emotional, in state rivalry game last week. Iowa played Illinois. Edge: Michigan ZS Associates is a global management consulting firm providing world-class expertise in sales force management and marketing issues. Will 1 Fit in? ZS will be on campus recruiting: Business Information Sciences Software Developers PREDICTION: MICHIGAN 35, IOWA 17 Michigan offense will be too much for Iowa to overcome By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Editor Tomorrow, the dam is going to break. Someone, someone, is going to do it. It'll happen tomorrow. Either Michigan or Iowa is going to break the illustrious .500 mark. Now calm down, everyone. Take a l w deep breaths. People all around the nation are eagerly anticipating the emergence of one of these power- houses of the 1998 season. Michigan, after doing away with highly touted Eastern Michigan and overachieving Michigan State, can now look ahead and prepare for the brutal stretch of the season: Iowa, fol- wed by a bye week, then orthwestern, Indiana and Minnesota. You can almost hear the Wolverines' teeth rattling. The Hawkeyes, on the other hand, are ecstatic after their monumental victory over conference heavyweight Illinois. Along with a stunning victo- ry over Central Michigan in the sea- son opener, Iowa is prepared for a breakthrough game. Someone is going to be .600 after s game. The tension mounts. So here, in week five, are the matchups: MICHIGAN PASSING OFFENSE VS. IOWA PASSING DEFENSE Each game, Tom Brady seems to be learning more and more about how to run a Division I offense. Although he threw one interception last week early 0 the game, coach Lloyd Carr raved about Brady's mental toughness and his ability to bounce back. Brady's 208-yard passing perfor- mance earned him Big Ten co-player of the week honors. The biggest improvement by Brady and the pass- ing attack was finding tight end jerame Tuman last week. If Brady spreads the wealth again, Michigan should be able to exploit wa's pass defense - the fourth- 4rst in the conference with only one interception to its credit. EDGE: MICHIGAN MICHIGAN RUSHING OFFENSE VS. IOWA RUSHING DEFENSE The Wolverines are starting to find heir running legs, it seems. Last week, Anthony Thomas and Clarence Williams carried the bulk of the load. * rr's effort to find consistency in the "ackfield paid off and both upper- classmen tailbacks had big games. That just leaves freshman Justin Fargas out of the loop. Still, with just two people rotating in the backfield, it's easier for each to get into a rhythm. All indications are that the IOWA PASSING OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN PASSING DEFENSE The Michigan secondary showed signs of life against below-average quarterback Bill Burke last week. Safety DeWayne Patmon had the game of his life. Well, here's another below-average quarterback: Kyle McCann. He only completes 54.4 percent of his passes. Scott Mullen has also seen playing time in each of his four games, but he has even worse numbers. Still, the Hawkeyes are second in the conference in passing offense. Why? Their receivers are extremely talented and make up for their quar- terbacks' shortcomings. Kahlil Hill (12.9 yards per catch), Ryan Barton (24.8) and Kevin Kasper (20.8) all have good numbers and could provide problems for a Michigan secondary that had its num- bers inflated thanks to a terrible pass- ing offense last week. EDGE: IOwA IOWA RUSHING OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN RUSHING DEFENSE Iowa's ground game is awful. That's all that can really be said. They average just 73.8 yards per game and a measly 2.1 yards per carry. Ladell Betts is their only threat in the backfield, and he aver- ages 50.8 yards per game. There really aren't any bad words that can be spared in describing the Hawkeyes' running game. No matter how injured or depleted Michigan's linebacking corps is, whoever is in there should not have a problem stop- ping the run somewhat. And with a resurgent defensive line and the return of linebacker Clint Copenhaver, the Wolverines will stuff the run cold. EDGE: MICHIGAN SPECIAL TEAMS Last week Kahlil Hill returned a kick 88 yards for a touchdown. That's nothing - he has two other returns for touchdowns this season. So that's three touchdowns on special teams alone. Yeah, he's good. No, wait - he's the best offensive weapon Iowa has and probably the best kick returner in the country. Carr admitted that his team has had it's problems on special teams, saying that it really isn't "strength against strength" this week against the Hawkeyes. And if James Whitley con- tinues to let punts go through the wickets, the Wolverines will find themselves in considerably bad field position. Or, worse yet, without a chance to play offense at all. Jay Feely did have a breakthrough performance last week, booting three fields goals and tying a career-high 51-yarder. And Hayden Epstein, for the most part, still kicks the ball well on kick- offs for the Wolverines. Nevertheless, Iowa's special teams nearly won them the game last year and they might be Iowa's best chance to win it this year. EDGE: IOWA INTANGIBLES Michigan needed confidence in itself, and beating the Spartans last week provided that. Momentum is a great thing, and the Wolverines have it on their side. Iowa has the benefit of playing at Kinnick Stadium. And when the Wolverines are in town, the host almost always play its best tame of the season. The Hawkeyes beat the Illini last week - a team that has been mistak- en for a high school practice squad. Michigan is following up an emotion- al in-state rivalry game. The Hawkeyes might not be prepared for playing against a real life college football team. EDGE: MICHIGAN READ ALL ABOUT THE GAME STRAIGHT FROM IOWA CITY IN SPORTSMONDAY. U° / --.. N, When Can 1 Meet ZS? October 6 Job Fair '98 12 p.m. - 5 p.m. Michigan Union JI USA: Z5 Associates Evanston, Illinois wwwzsassociates.com Prniceton, New Jersey Menlo Park, California e-mail: Careers((ZSaSSociateS.COmr Miami, Florida (Fall 1999) Europe: London, United Kingdom Frankturt, Germany Paris, France LSc% m .j t ' 4 IN g , Because the last thing p0 you want in colle ge is a long-term commitment. aut That's why AirTouch the easiest way Student Prepaid Cellular to get cellular but the smartest. PREDICTION: IOWA 17 MICHIGAN 35, Thank You for the Honor of Being Voted Best Shoe Store* 1200 S. University at Church St. 734-994-9401 requires no contracts, no monthly bills, no credit checks, and just for you,-no long-term commitments. Plus, AirTouch is offering special discounted rates to Michigan college students, which means it's not only All you have to do is purchase what- ever airtime you want in advance. Even if it's just $Oworth. Because, hey, not everyone feels comfortable with a long-termcommitment. For more details, call 1-800-AIRTOUCH or E-mail us at mistudentprepaid@airtouch.com I £