October 5, 1998 - SportsMonday - The Michigan Daily - 7B

Quotable:
"He is a young guy who was trying to win the
ballgame. I give him an A-plus for effort, and a
zero for decision-making.
- Iowa coach Hayden Fry, after freshman
Kahlil Hill was sacked in his own end zone for
a safety in the game' final minute

By the gway..

The last time that Michigan recorded a safe-
ty was November 11, 1995, in a 5-0 victory
at home over Purdue.
The Michigan defense sacked Purdue quar-
terback Rick Trefzger to notch the safety.

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Michigan 12

Iowa

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Whitley, Terrell fail on returns; Streets fills the void

Iy Shrat R
Daily Sports Editor
IOWA CITY - The best offensive
play every other team can run against
Michigan is - without question - the
*unt. The punt is even more effective
against the Wolverines than the option
is.
Yes, the punt. An innocuous chang-
ing of possession from one team to
another. Ordinarily, it's a simple for-
mality, just like shaking hands.
Ordinarily. But not for the
Wolverines, oh no. Not this season.
Every single punt is an adventure.
Free safety James Whitley has been
@andling the punt return duties for the
majority of the season. And, for the
majority of the season, punt returns
have been ... well, the description can't
be used in good taste.
This past Saturday, Michigan's
defense pinned the Hawkeyes deep in
their own territory, forcing a punt.
Whitley signaled for a fair catch on the
first Iowa punt of the game. Whitley
was under it and prepared to catch the
ball in a position to give the
tolverines a good spot to start the
offense.
A moment later, the ball was on the
Kinnick Stadium grass after slipping
through Whitley's hands. Mere
moments after that, Iowa's Doug
Miller pounced on the ball and recov-
ered it for the Hawkeyes at the
Michigan 31.

So the Hawkeyes went from their
own 25 to Michigan's 31. That's 39
yards. Pretty effective play for Iowa,
right?
Whitley stayed in for the next punt,
but freshmen speedster David Terrell
filled in on the third Iowa punt, which
was in the second quarter.
Yeah, he fumbled, too. But Terrell
recovered his own miscue, giving
Michigan a chance to play some
offense. Terrell didn't field another
punt for the rest of the game, and
Whitley returned to his post.
In the third quarter, Whitley
appeared to redeem himself after
catching a punt and returning it for
more a sizeable gain to the 33 yard-
line. And then - yup - he fumbled
once again.
A 23-yard gain for the Hawkeyes.
"James did a good job fielding the
punt," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr
said. "He just got stripped of the bail.
We lost great field position on that
play."
Whitley has had his problems field-
ing punts. Last week against Michigan
State, the Norfolk, Va. native watched
a punt bounce between his legs for a
turnover. The week before that, he
dropped one against Eastern
Michigan.
To prevent any more miscues by
punt returners Saturday, Carr made
what is probably his most intelligent
move this season. Carr sacrificed

game-breaking speed in favor of sure
hands and experience.
Tai Streets -not known for being a
great kick returner because, well, he is
never on any kick return team - used
his big hands to grab and hold on to
the ball. On one punt, Streets returned
it five yards forward and held on to the
ball, simultaneously. The play was per-
haps Michigan's best punt return of the
contest.
But in the end, everything worked
out for the Wolverines on the punt
return since no points were scored on
Michigan following those turnovers.
And in a sort of poetic injustice, Iowa
- the same team whose special team
play Carr raved about last week - had
its fate sealed on its own punt return.
With 39 seconds left in the game,
Michigan punted to the dangerous
Kahlil Hill. Hill has three special
teams touchdowns so far this season,
so the first punt he got a chance to
return all game was a potentially lethal
one.
Lethal for Iowa, as it turned out. Hill
ran backwards into his own end zone
to avoid being tackled, but was
swarmed and stuffed for a Michigan
safety. The punt coverage team made
up for the inadequacies of the punt
return squad.
"We made a lot of mistakes" on
returns, Carr said. "But hopefully.
we've got two weeks and we can cor-
rect some of those."

Game progression
1st Quarter
Tom Brady con-
pletes TD pass to M 7, 0
Tai Streets.owa
James Whitley 7,}
fumbles punt.
Iowa's Tim
Douglas misses M 4
52 yard FG.
Brady throws INT
to Tang Holman.
Brady throws INT
to Holmangain.:14
2nd Quarter M 7, Iowa 0
Douglas drills 412 29
yard FG. M7Iowa3
Iowa's Zach
Bromert hits 29-..4
yard FG. M 7, Iowa 6
David Terrell fum-
bias punt, but
recovers.
Bromert kicks a
28 yard FG. Iowa 9 M 7
3rd Quarter Iowa 9, M 7
Whitley fumbles..
punt return again
at Iowa 33.
Iowa's Ladell M 2'
Betts fumbles at Iowa 9, M 7
his own 17. _
Fumble lost on
next play by RB Iowa 9, M 7
Clarence Williams
4th Quarter Iowa 9, M 7
10-play Michiga
drive culminates M1,Iw
in Jay Feely 22 ,. .
yard field goal.
Michigan drive -
drains clock
before punting.
Iowa's Kahlil Hill M- :38
receives punt., M1Iowf9
backtracks into
his end zone and
is tackled by for
a safety. M- :36
'erame Tuman col-
lects onside kick.
FINAL SCORE M 12, Iowa

WARREN ZINN/Daily
Michigan wide receiver Tal Streets doubled as a punt returner Saturday after cor-
nerback James Whitley and wide receiver David Terrell both botched returns.

Nebraska escapes Big 12 scare

KANSAS CITY (AP) - Joe
Walker's 73-yard punt return for a
TD with 7:29 left gave No. 2
Nebraska a 24-17 victory over
Oklahoma State, but the Cowboys
(1-1 Big 12, 2-2 overall) nearly
forced overtime.
On fourth-and-4 at the Huskers 12
with 14 seconds left, Tony Lindsay
hit Sean Love with an 11-yard pass.
After spiking the ball to stop the
clock with five seconds left,
Simmons ran up the middle but was
stopped by Rucker and a swarm.of
defenders.
"We didn't come up here for a
moral victory," Cowboys coach Bob
Simmons said.
"We had a good game plan and we
thought we could execute the game
plan.
"We came up here to win."
No.3 UCLA 49, WASHINGTON ST.
17: Cade McNown threw for 205
yards and a TD and ran for another
score as the Bruins (1-0 Pac 10, 3-0)
ran their school-record wining streak
to 13 games.
Jermaine Lewis and Keith Brown
each ran for two TDs as UCLA

avenged last year's 37-24 the
Cougars (0-2, 3-2).
No. 4 TENNESSEE 17, AUBURN 9:
Shaun Ellis returned an interception
90 yards for a TD and the Vols (2-0
SEC, 4-0) capitalized on three
Tigers' turnovers to win the rematch
of last year's SEC title game.
Auburn (1-2, 1-3) had trailed 17-0
before making a run.
No. 6 FLORIDA 16, ALABAMA 10:
Travis McGriff caught nine passes
for 213 yards, including a 32-yard
TD from Jesse Palmer, for the Gators
(2-1 SEC, 4-1). Alabama (1-1, 2-2)
was at the Florida 34 with 19 sec-
onds left, but Tony George intercept-
ed on the next play.
"The Gators don't play like cham-
pions anymore," Florida coach Steve
Spurrier lamented after his team
came away with just three field goals
on six trips inside the Alabama 12.
The Crimson Tide fell to 1-1, 2-2.
No.8 FLORIDA ST. 24, MARYLAND
10: Sebastian Janikowski kicked five
field goals and Chris Weinke passed
for 261 yards as the Seminoles (2-1
ACC, 4-1) overcame their own mis-
takes.

Florida State led only 16-10 at
halftime against a team it has domi-
nated for years.
No. 9 VIRGINIA 52, SAN JOSE ST.
14: Thomas Jones ran for 203 yards
and two of Virginia's six rushing
TDs.
Aaron Brooks also rushed for two
scores as the Cavs (5-0) gained 446
yards on the ground.
No. 10 ARIZONA 31, WASHINGTON
28: Ortege Jenkins scored on a 9-
yard run - somersaulting over three
defenders into the endzone - with
four seconds left as Arizona beat
Washington.
The Wildcats (2-0 Pac 10, 5-0) are
riding a nine-game wining streak,
while the Huskies (1-1, 2-2) fell out
of the Top 25.
No. 14 COLORADO 27,
OKLAHOMA 25: The Buffaloes (5-0,
2-0 Big 12) survived at Oklahoma,
squeeking out a win as Mike
Moschetti threw three TD passes.
No. 16 WEST VIRGINIA 45, NAVY
24: Marc Bulger threw for 354 yards
and two TDs as West Virginia (3-1)
rallied for a win over Navy (1-3) at
Annapolis, Md.

AP PHOTO
Nebraska running back DeAngelo Evans (center) is brought down by Oklahoma
State safety Trent Alexander, but Nebraska brought down the Cowboys, 24-17.

No. 1 Ohio State clocks
Penn State; Illinois wins

COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio State turned to its
defense on a rainy day, and linebackers Jerry
Rudzinski and Joe Cooper came through with fum-
e recoveries for touchdowns Saturday as the top-
ranked Buckeyes beat No. 7 Penn State 28-9.
A year after a Penn State gained the No. 1 rank-
ing with a win over Ohio State at State College, Pa.,
the Buckeyes (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) offered proof why
they are on another national title run.
The Nittany Lions (3-1, 0-1), thanks to a pursu-
ing defense led by end Brad Scioli and linebacker
David Macklin, hung tough most of the first half
before the Buckeyes' defense turned the game.
First, Rudzinski recovered
Penn State quarterback Kevin
ompson's fumble in the end CONFERENCE
e for a touchdown with 3:51
left in the half.
Then, the offense woke up briefly and Ohio
State moved to a 14-3 halftime lead on Joe
Germaine's 20-yard scoring pass Michael Wiley
with 23 seconds left.
At the start of the third quarter, the Buckeyes'
defense was at it again. Percy King blocked Pat
Pidgeon punt from the 8, nearly fell on it for a score,
but the ball slipped away and Cooper pounced on it
rthe touchdown and a 21-3 lead.
The Nittany Lions, who ran for 316 yards in last
year' 31-27 win over the Buckeyes, managed 181
total yards -just 79 rushing.
ILiNois 13, NoRrHWESTERN 10: Rocky Harvey
scored two touchdowns to lead Illinois to its first
victory against a Division I-A team in nearly two
years. beating Northwestern 13-10.

and Illinois ran out the clock.
No. 13 WiscoNsiN 24, INDuiNA 20: Ron Dayne
became the sixth player in major college history to
reach 4,000 career yards as a junior and scored the
go-ahead touchdown as No. 13 Wisconsin held off
Indiana 24-20.
Indiana (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) led 20-17 after Chris
Gall's touchdown late in the third period, but the
Badgers (5-0, 2-0) moved 66 yards on the next pos-
session for the go-ahead score.
Mike Samuel, who ran for a touchdown and
passed for another one in the third quarter, com-
pleted passes of 23 yards to Dague Retzlaff and 34
yards to Nick Davis, taking Wisconsin to the
Indiana 6.
Dayne then ran 2 yards and scored on the next
play to give the Badgers the lead with 10:54 remain-
ing. Dayne carried 28 times for 130 yards, to give
him a career total of 4,083 yards.
Antwaan Randle El, the Hoosiers' flashy fresh-
man quarterback, completed four straight passes on
the next possession, but he was sacked twice by
Tom Burke and Indiana lost the ball on downs when
a pass intended for Derin Graham fell incomplete in
the end zone with 2:24 to go.
PURDUE 56, MINNEScyA 21: Drew Brees set
school records by passing for 522 yards and six
touchdowns to lead Purdue over previously unde-
feated Minnesota 56-21.
Purdue (3-2, 1-0 Big Ten) set a school record
with 692 yards of total offense, topping the mark of
616 set in 1980 against Illinois. Minnesota (3-1, 0-
1) gained most of its 321 yards after the outcome
was determined. Purdue's total was the third highest

-J

The schedule
Date Team
Sept. 5 at Notre Dame (36-20, ND)

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