4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 2, 1998
Michigan
Minnesota
15
i
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1
1
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Michigan player of the game: Tai Streets
Streets has become a valuable offensive threat, especially in recent weeks.
His two touchdowns against Indiana were a big boost, and he proved himself
again with 192 yards Saturday against Minnesota.
10
Stat line:
Catches
6
Yards
192
Touchdowns
1
GAME STATISTICS
MICHIGAN
Vinson's hot streak stalled after fumbled punt
PASSING
Player
Brady
Totals
RUSHING
Player
Thomas
Fargas
Shea
Vinson
Brady
Totals
RECEIVING
Player
Streets
Knight
Tuman
Thomas
Johnson
Terrell
Totals
PUNTING
Player
Vinson
Totals
C-A
19-27
1927
Yds TD
282 1
282 1
Att
18
5
1
1
8
33
No.
6
5
4
2
1
1
18
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No.
Fargas 3
Totals 3
PUNT RETURNS
Player No.
Knight 3
Totals 3
Yds
34
9
1
-25
-42
-23
Yds
192
25
15
18
27
5
282
No.
7
7
Yds
67
67
Yds
10
10
Solo
5
7
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
52
Yds
0
0
0
0
0
0
Avg
1.9
1.8
1.0
-25
-42
-.7
Avg
32
5
3.8
9
27
5
15.7
L9
6
7
1
0
2
7
Ls
76
14
7
20
27
5
76
Yds Avg g
286 40.9 50
286 40.9 50
int
0
0
TD
0
0
1
0
0
0
TD
1
0
0
0
0
0
I
DEFENSE
Player
Sword
Hendricks
Renes
Jones
Hall
.Gold
Feazell
Brooks
' Patmon
Frysinger
Epstein
Weathers
Whitley
W. Peterson
Wilson
J. Williams
CampbellI
Fargas
Jordan
Shea
Miller
Totals
(PASSDEFENSE
Player
Weathers
,Whitley
-W. Peterson
Patmon
Frysinger
Totals
Team Stats
First Downs
Rushes/Yards
Passing Yards
.Offensive Plays
Total Offense
Return Yards
Comp/Att/Int
Punts/Avg
Fumbles/YLost
Penalties/Yards
,Time of Poss
Avg Lg
22.3 26
22.3 26
Avg Lg
3.3 9
3.3 9
Asst
4
0
1
1
2
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
16
TD
0
0
TD
0
0
Tot
9
7
6
6
6
5
4
4
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
68
TD
0
0
0
By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Editor
MINNEAPOLIS - Two weeks ago,
everything was going right for Jason
Vinson. The Michigan punter was the Big
Ten special teams player of the week after
dominating Northwestern.
But in the first half on Saturday, the spot-
light was his for a different reason.
All season long, Vinson handled punts
with the good hands of an Allstate agent.
But when long snapper Jon Jansen let fly
with :19 left, Vinson fumbled the snap and
the ball caromed toward the wrong end
zone.
As the ball bounced into the end zone,
Tommy Hendricks decided he was the
punter and tried to kick the pigskin out the
back.
But his efforts were to no avail, as he
missed the ball entirely, opening the way for
Minnesota to fall on the ball for its only
touchdown - and the 7-3 lead.
Vinson wanted to crawl into a hole, but
when he went to the sidelines, his team-
mates had already forgiven the miscue.
"When I came off, the team wasn't down
on me," Vinson said. "They were very sup-
portive."
Vinson got his chance at redemption in
the fourth quarter when the game was knot-
ted at 10.
His 43-yard punt to the Minnesota 10
yard line pinned the Gophers with little
room to move.
Four plays later, James Hall recorded
Michigan's third safety of the season and
Vinson was vindicated.
"It helped me out a lot," he said. "Getting
them pinned deep helped ease the pain."
JESSE ... THE MAYOR?: Throughout the
1980s, Jesse Ventura spent his weekends
yelling at all of America from inside the
television set during WWF matches.
His forum was usually the ever-entertain-
ing "Piper's Pit," but now, Ventura is truly
attempting to give back.
The former "Jesse The Body" has
reached the depths of society, truly scraping
the bottom of the barrel.
No, he's not returning to the squared cir-
cle, but instead is running for governor of
Minnesota.
Yes, that's right, Ventura's platform has
changed from questionable elbows to ques-
tionable promises.
So what does this icon of our youth have
to do with the football game?
Columnist Patrick Reusse of the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune put it best, dis-
cussing how Ventura will save the city.
"Once the Body is sworn in," Reusse
wrote, "if (Twins owner) Carl Pohlad or
(Vikings owner) Red McCombs makes
even one whimper about a new stadium, the
Guy will kick down the office door and put
the billionaire in a chest-crushing bear
hug."
Now that's a real politician.
TIGHT DEFENSE: On of the hallmarks of
last season's Michigan defense was its clos-
ing ability.
In the second half of games, the defense
would tighten up and points were hard to
come by for Michigan's opponents.
This season, the trend is continuing. With
just 61 points allowed in the second half -
not to mention just 20 in the fourth quarter
- the Wolverines are demonstrating that as
the game wears on, they get stronger.
Minnesota's ineptitude after the break -
the Gophers didn't score after the first quar-
ter - allowed Michigan to chip its way
back into the lead after falling behind early.
"They're smart and they listen on the
sidelines and (during) halftime," Michigan
defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann said of
his defense.
lot
1
1
1
0
0
3
Lg
0
0
0
0
0
0
Brk-up
0
1
0
1
1
3
WARREN ZINN/Daily
David Terrell caught one pass for five yards in the Metrodome, but Tom Brady's game was on track - he com-
pleted 19 of his 27 passes for 282 yards.
i
0
0
0
Micigian ' real
MICH
10
33/-23
282
60
259
77
19/27/0
7/40.9
4/2
7/58
28:09
MINN
14
50/136
83
70
219
108
6/20/3
6/38.3
1/0
11/106
31:51
season starts
0
MINNESOTA
PASSING
Player C
Cockerham 6-2
Totals 6.2
RUSHING
Player Att
Hamner 23
Cockerham 19
Evans 8
Totals 50
RECEIVING
Player No.
A. Henderson 2
Johnson 2
Leverson 2
Totals 8
PUNTING
'Player
Rindels
Totals
KICKOFF RETURNS
Player No.
Carter 3
Totals 3
DEFENSE
Player
carter
Hoffman
P. Williams
M iddlebrooks
Mezera
Scruggs
Schlecht
Dimmy
Richard
Hutton
Russ
Harden
Cisei
Graham
Poole
Michals
Braaten
R. Smith
Totals
C-A Yds
20 83
40 83
Yds
87
50
.1
136
Yds
36
32
15
83
Avg
3.8
2.6
-.1
2.7
Avg
18
16
7.5
8.5
TD
0
0
L9
16
12
7
16
L9
27
27
8
27
int
3
3
TO
0
0
0
0
TD
0
0
0
0
next weekend.
M INNEAPOLIS - Well, the preseason is over
Bring on the real football season. We're all
waiting for it in nervous anticipation.
The preseason has gone pretty well. Oh sure, there
were some stumbling blocks early on in the campaign. #
You know, the usual: penalties, mistakes, fumbles,
Syracuse.
That's all in the past, right?
No more fumbled long snaps that turn into touch-
downs for the opponents - that was taken care of
against Minnesota on Saturday.
No more option offenses will run wild over the
Michigan defense. Syracuse, Notre Dame and Indiana
helped the Wolverines work out the kinks.
No more games in the slop - Iowa and Northwestern
were enough.
No.
6
6
Yds Avg Lg
230 38.3 46
230 38.3 46
Yds
94
94
Solo
8
5
4
6
4
1
2
1
1
1
.1
1
0
0
0
0
0
37
Avg Ig
31.3 35
31.3 35
Asst
2
4
5
1
0
3
1
2
2
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
26
TO
0
0
Tot
10
9
9
7
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
63
There will be no more fumbled,
punts. That was taken care of dur-
ing ... well, most of this preseason.
There will not be any more
blown coverages, missed tackles,
false starts, holding calls, etc.
None.
But that's why you have a presea-
son, to tie up those loose ends and
prepare the team for the real sea-
SHARAT
RAJU
Want to voice your opinion about
Michianfootball or the Daily's
coverage. E-mail the football writers
atdaily.footbaU@umich.edu.
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
The Michigan defense was able to get to Minnesota quarterback Billy Cockerham just enough to seal a 15-10 victory.
Cockerham just e atest in e 1ne
of opposing running quarterbacks
SharatsrkIt helps everyone - the players,
in the Dark the coaches and the fans - get
ready for what really counts, for
games that really have an impact on the season.
And that's what the next three games are - the real
season.
Penn State. Wisconsin. Ohio State. Those games are
all that matters against the top three contenders for the
conference title, along with the Wolverines.
That is the way a season should unfold. Michigan
coach Lloyd Carr and whoever else puts the schedule
together should be commended for arranging this sce-
nario.
A few tough combatants earlyon, but a nice, light,
middle portion to help out a team struggling for an
identity.
In retrospect, it would have been reasonable to pre-
dict that coming out of the preseason Michigan would
have as many as three and as few as zero losses.
So two defeats isn't too bad, and Michigan is now in
a position for at least a respectable bowl game, if not
something even better.
And who really cares that the Fighting Irish and the *
Orangemen made the Wolverines look like a bunch of
high schools players?
Who is concerned that the Wolverines were in a posi-
tion to lose to the Gophers, the Hawkeyes, the Hoosiers
and Northwestern in the same year?
Who is worried that Michigan ran backwards for 23
yards on Saturday?
Big Ten Standings
Team conf. Overall
Ohio State 5-0 8-0
Wisconsin 5-0 8.0
Michigan 5.0 6-2
Penn State 3-1 6-1
Purdue 3-2 54
Michigan State 2-2 4-4
Iowa 2-4 3.6
Minnesota 1-4 4-4
Indiana 1-4 3-5
Illinois 1-5 2-7
Northwestern 0-6 2-7
Last Week (HOME TEAM IN CAPS)
By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Editor
MINNEAPOLIS - The option never dis-
appears.
While this week it wasn't an option
offense in the traditional sense, Minnesota's
quarterback moved wherever and whenever
he wanted in the first half, drawing compar-
isons to earlier foes who have eaten
Michigan alive.
He just opted to run.
As if to give his legs a rest, Cockerham
decided to diversify the offense. Instead of
running between the tackles, outside and
inside, he decided to let tailback Thomas
Hamner do the same.
Though the Gophers settled for just a field
goal, the message was clear: We've found
your weakness and are determined to exploit
it.
"Cockerham made some outstanding plays
in the game," Lloyd Carr said. "Particularly
quarter.
As with all the other teams Michigan has
had trouble with, the running game was the
largest problem.
Cockerham ended with 66 yards rushing
and Hamner tallied 98 in the Gophers' defeat.
In the end, the Gophers' passing attack was
exposed for what it-is, ineffective and ineffi-
cient.
Though there were times Cockerham
found open receivers, they were few and far
I