The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 12, 1998 - 17A
~JOzCONSrn football
RAJU
Continued from Page 15A
in Wisconsin that are backwards, the least backwards is
Madison. While helping my brother move into Ogg East Hall
this year, I enjoyed the campus quite a bit. Madison has that
ambiance, that quaint feel that reminds me of Ann Arbor.
There is a distinct difference between the two universities,
owever, and that difference is in the football programs.
Normally at this time of year, football season is essentially
for the Badgers, with a team relegated to the spoiler role.
'chigan is almost always still in the bowl picture, if not
ready on its way to a Rose Bowl showdown against Ohio
tate.
- But a funny thing happened to the Badgers en route to bas-
tball season: The Wisconsin football team is actually good.
Well, 'good' in a relative sense. The Wisconsin football team
s better than the vegetables on its schedule. If the Badgers
,faced any more tomatoes on its schedule, they could make
9 ough pasta sauce to feed an entire football team.
Or at least Aaron Gibson.
t It's understandable that the Badgers desired a cupcake
schedule.
' Wisconsin has never won a national championship and
probably figured that the easiest way to rise to the top would
be to play colleges that have been mistaken for high
schools.
Wisconsin schedule maker No. 1: "Hmmmmm ... Ohio
State isn't on our schedule this year. Let's just play Ohio
nothing but cheese
Wanna Play some Station (for free)?
University. That's close enough."
Schedule maker No. 2: "Is there any way we can get
Michigan and Penn State off our schedule, too?"
Schedule maker No. 1: "We'll work on that for next season."
So Wisconsin now has a chance at the Big Ten championship
this season - but no real chance at going to the Fiesta Bowl.
Such is the glory of this new Bowl Championship Series,
which rewards teams for strength of schedule. To be the best'
you have to play the best.
Consider the difference between the Badgers this year and
the Wolverines last year: Michigan took on the toughest sched-
ule in the country, grabbed it by the short-and-curlies and
thwarted the Buckeyes in the final game. Then Washington
State and the best offense in the nation were stifled by the best
defense in the country. The rest, as they say, is history.
That's the way everything is done at Michigan - the hard
way. This season has been similar. The Wolverines lost the first
two games but have regrouped and have a full head of steam.
That's the Michigan way of doing things.
Apparently, the Wisconsin way is to tiptoe through the regu-
lar season until the last two games. Which brings us to the pre-
sent.
As long as quarterback Mike Samuel doesn't go into a fit of
alcoholic rage and 'running' back Ron Dayne actually plays
against the Wolverines on Saturday, the Badgers may actually
be smelling roses again.
But there will be no Fiesta in Madison this year.
- Shanat Raju can be reached via e-mail at
sraju@umich.edu.
Didn't win the Sony PlayStation video game contest (see
Mark Snyder's Daily Grind, below, for details) held in the
Union on Sunday? Don't worry. Here's your chance to
improve your hand-eye coordination and gear up for next
year's tourney. Daily Sports Is giving away a free copy of
NCAA Football '99, the popular PlayStation game with
Michigan's own Charles Woodson on the package cover.
How do you win? Simple. Come up with the movie title
that best describes the Wolverines' season thus far, and
the game is yours.
Send entries to daily football@umich.edu, or call the
Sports Desk at 647-3336.
A few examples of clever (but now ineligible) movie titles:
Falling Down, featuring Michigan's defensive backs
Hard Target, starring former threat Jerame Tuman
.11 Angry Men, with Michigan's entire defense
Take the Money and Run, starring Marcus Ray
The Waterboy, featuring Drew Henson
Dazed and Confused, chronicling Michigan's defense
against the option
Grumpy Old Man, with Lloyd Carr fielding questions
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, featuring the defense, the
special teams, the Stadium
Editors' note: All Brady Bunch references will be thrown away.
:. .
TheZUaiU Grind
Mark Snyder
Udeo game tourney riglt on money
Badgers, Madison are the real deal
ALTER
Continued from Page 15A
' After a few short hours in Madtown, my overmatched
friends had already changed their tune.
They were amazed by the majestic beauty of the campus,
undying spirit of the students and the plethora of fine drink-
' g establishments. After sampling a few too many of the lat-
my friends were begging for mercy, and they barely man-
aged to escort themselves back to my apartment. When I
arrived home, they were sprawled on the living room floor in
a disgusting pile of human refuse.
Apparently, in Ann Arbor, bedtime comes before bartime.
All this is understandable, since they hail from a campus
that is essentially devoid of any social scene and offers very
little else,besides an impressive assortment of libraries. In
Tact, the nicest thing about Ann Arbor is that it only takes
"about 10 minutes to drive through it.
* Actually, there is one other landmark that's worth checking
out if you have the misfortune of driving through Ann Arbor.
Venerable Michigan Stadium has been home to some of the
nost memorable college football games in recent memory,
and this weekend's tilt has the potential to be included on
that list.
As the resident Rodney Dangerfields of college football,
the Badgers have managed to enter the game as a three-point
_nderdog despite an undefeated record and a higher ranking
than the underachieving Wolverines. Pundits have questioned
Wisconsin all season, pointing to their soft schedule as a rea-
n to leave them out of the Fiesta Bowl picture.
On Saturday, Wisconsin will have a little fiesta of its own
in Michigan Stadium.
It'll take more than a bookish Michigan math major to
explain to me how the middling Wolverine offense will be
able to move the ball against the vaunted Badger defense.
Wisconsin ranks first in the country against the rush, and
Michigan couldn't even establish a ground game two weeks
ago against Minnesota, finishing that contest with minus-23
yards rushing.
Then there's the weighty matter of contending with Ron
Dayne, the Badgers' linebacker-sized tailback. The Great
Dayne is averaging more yards per game (141) than the
entire Michigan team, and his totals have topped the century
mark every time he has suited up this season. Michigan safe-
ty Marcus Ray didn't seem to be looking forward to knock-
ing helmets with Wisconsin's human bowling ball when I
chatted with him this summer.
"If I see Ron Dayne breaking through that line and he's
coming at me full steam, I think I just might lie down," Ray
said.
That would undoubtedly be the only intelligent thing Ray
has done in months.
About the only thing Ray wasn't yapping about heading
into the season is the very thing everyone seems to be talk-
ing about now: Wisconsin's schedule. There is no question
that the Badgers' slate hasn't been stellar, but if they defeat
Michigan and Penn State back-to-back to end the regular
season, there's no question they deserve an Alliance bowl
berth.
Meanwhile, Michigan can get back to the business of
another 8-4 season under Lloyd Carr. A team stacked with
the type of talent the Wolverines have every year should be a
national title contender each season, not once every 50 years.
Sure, there's something to be said for the past and
Michigan's impressive 1997 season. Badger fans were more
than a little jealous watching the Wolverines play in
Pasadena last January. But since Wisconsin is now in the dri-
ver's seat for the Rose Bowl, it's much healthier to look at
the glass as half full: At least we're not sentenced to four
years in Ann Arbor.
- Dan Altar is the Sports Editor of the
Wisconsin Badger-Herald.
prom the beginning of the planning, finding a location
in Ann Arbor for the spitting grass and grinding blocks
of a college football game wasn't going to be easy.
The swarm of players would be enough to contend with,
let alone the promotion and marketing that would need to
go into the event. But on a campus world-renowned for its
gigantic football stadium, the location had to be perfect.
The proprietors of the game found the spot they desired
and made the announcement: If you could handle college
football, the Union's Pendleton Room was the place to be
last Sunday.
Fortunately for the preservationists of the grand old build-
ing, all the roughhousing was contained inside eight televi-
sion screens during the first round of the EA Sports Sony
PlayStation College Football '99 national tournament.
For the first time, the computer wizards who brought us
such memorable interfaces as Contra and Blades of Steel
put their minds to good use and capitalized on a collegiate
phenomenon -- the video game.
Though video games were originally created as a diver-
sion to reduce arcade games into a home-size entertainment
unit for seven year-olds, the power of the PlayStation cur-
rently dominates the 18-22 demographic on college campus-
es everywhere.
Walk through the hall of any dorm on our campus in the
evening and you'll hear screams, grunts, groans and yells -
and that's before the late-night fraternity hazing. (No letters
please. In my pledge class, the winner of a game of NHL
'96 on Genesis was a hell of a lot more important than who
was the pledge president.)
We are the first generation to have grown up in the arcade
age and it seems that every five years we've had another toy.
Recall the days where Atari's Pong was the rage?
Remember the media blitz for Super Mario 2?
1 low about when Genesis made John Madden more of a
computer name than a football coach?
These were the defining moments of our life and video
games were at the center.
After a hard night of celebrating Michigan's real football
victory on Saturday, 40 eager combatants dragged them-
selves out of bed and into the Union at 3 p.m., eager to test
themselves against the best college football players at the
University not on Lloyd Carr's leash.
The grand prize? A free trip to California. For the run-
ners-up? Free copies of the game. Not a bad opportunity
when they would have spent the afternoon doing the same
thing at home.
"I saw it posted in the Union," said eventual champion
Sumit Javeri.
The 32-competitor playoff tournament began after the 3-
5:30 p.m. play-in round concluded but the media blitz one
might expect never really materialized.
Javeri said the candidate pool, derived from Internet reg-
istration and the ever-effective "Union signs;" left a lot to be
desired.
"We play in our hall - Wenley United," said the New York
City native. "It's actually stiffer competition in my hall."
Nevertheless, Javeri rolled through the five-game tourna-
ment, finishing off his final opponent just before the clock
struck 9:30 p.m. After emerging from the pack, Javeri was
more than pleased by his achievement.
"I'm glad to represent Michigan," he said. "I hope I get to
face Ohio State."
Tournament organizers said that may be a distinct possi-
bility. When Javeri is flown out to the EA Sports headquar-
ters in Silicon Valley for the regionals in early December,.
he'll square off against the best of the Midwest (i.e. the win-
ners from the other schools EA has visited.)
Business School student Dave Stempler, an EA Sports
intern last summer, helped organize the event on campus
even though it was new to campus.
"People could see it happening,' he said. "It's a chance to
play and (these players) were good."
While the bulk of Stempler's job was to test products acid
discover flaws, Javeri thinks he has the game and its cover
boy, Charles Woodson, beat on a bomb.
"You can lob the ball up and catch it every time," Javeri
said in a whisper, as if revealing classified information. "It's
a good game, but there's money plays" to win.
I can hear it now: Random Michigan quarterback drops
back, throws a lob pass to Tai Streets ... Money.
Talk about realistic ...
- Mark Snyder can be reached via e-m'bil
at msnyder@umich.edu.
'Big old puppy dog' Dayne throws his
weight around in pursuit of Big Ten title
Large and in charge
Wisconsin running back/monster truck Ron Dayne is listed:
at 258 pounds. That's a lot of weight for a running back -'
or most anything. Here are a few things we came up with
that just may weigh less than Dayne:
Things we know weigh lessI Things we think weigh less'
By Sharat Rau
DaIly Sports Editor
"Driving, up Interstate 90 into
Wisconsin, you would notice the usual
Thamland, cowfolk, giant signs that
-ceam "cheese."
'As you approach Madison, howev-
er, -the signs change. They say "Now
entering Dane County"
So to get to Wisconsin, you have to
go through Dane.
Also, to beat Wisconsin, you have
to go through Dayne --- Ron Dayne,
that is.
The Badgers' behemoth running
back is a pure marvel of physiology. At
foot-10 and listed at 258 pounds,
'ayne is just about the size of a small
county. Well, at least the size of the
average defensive lineman.
But most defensive linemen aren't
able to run the ball with any degree of
success, which is what makes Dayne
different. He's gigantic and athletic.
"He's just a big old puppy dog,"
Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said.
"He will light up a room."
For the record, there has never been
a puppy dog that weighs 258 pounds.
Dayne has been able to light up oppo-
nents, however. This season, the
Wisconsin tank has rumbled to 1,131
yards on 229 carries, good enough for
a 4.9 yards per carry.
He has also scored 11 touchdowns
and is averaging 141.4 yards per game.
Despite his success in shouldering
the load for the Badgers through this
undefeated season, Dayne has shied
away from notoriety and publicity.
"Ron doesn't have a whole lot to
say," Alvarez said. "He's very unas-
suming."
How can someone so large be unas-
suming? Well, if you've seen the offen-
sive line in front of Dayne, you know
the answer.
Senior lineman Aaron Gibson,
already considered a shoe-in for the
Outland Trophy, tips the scales at a
lean, mean 6-7, 368 pounds. Fellow
trenchman, Chris McIntosh is no
slouch, either, listed at 6-7, 310
pounds. Bill Ferrario (295 pounds) and
Dave Costa (285) toss around their
weight, as well.
Behind those gargantuan lineman,
Dayne has not only propelled himself
atop the national scene this year, but
his career numbers are staggering.
As a freshman, Dayne ran for an
NCAA record 1,863 yards on 295 car-
ries with four 200-yard rushing games
and 50 carries in a single game. He is
one of 12 players to ever rush for 2,000
yards in a season - 2,109 as a fresh-
man in 1996, including the bowl game.
Although he was slowed down last
season with a leg injury, he finished
with 1,412.
"It was frustrating being injured,"
Dayne said. "I worked hard to recover
for this season."
With his totals this season, Dayne
is now third all-time on the NCAA's
three-year rushing list -- 4,415 yards
- trailing only Herschel Walker's
5,259 and Marshall Faulk's 4,589.
"He wants to talk about the offense,
not himself," Alvarez said. "He wants
to deflect any publicity or press about
the records he's broken. He doesn't
even know he's broken a record. He's
very team oriented."
No defense has stopped
Wisconsin's offense this season, which
means nobody has stopped Dayne.
Last year, due to his leg injury, Dayne
was unable to play against Michigan's
top-ranked defense.
"Ron Dayne is an outstanding run-
ning back," Michigan linebacker
James Hall said. "We have never had
to tackle him because he didn't play
against us last year. But he's never run
against a Michigan defense before,
either."
This season, the Wolverines have
been shutting down the run, but they
haven't faced someone like Dayne.
Then again, there really isn't anyone
like Dayne.
"We don't have anybody who can
simulate Ron Dayne," Michigan coach
Lloyd Carr said. "We've talked about it
but Ron Dayne is not an ordinary kind
of guy. Even if we had a guy (who
could act as Dayne), I wouldn't want
him to hurt our guys."
Carr will just have to wait until
Saturday for the hurt - Dayne will
make sure of that.
Every Michigan
linebacker
Twenty-five 10-pound sacks
of potatoes
Lloyd Carr
The Michigan cross country
team
0 The Cube
The Michigan Daily sports
editors
a Maui
\Aichigan squeaks out
close win in NCAAs
22 N
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*ntinued from Page 15A
percentages were pretty good, but
we could have even scored more."
Michigan narrowly outshot Xavier
11 to 10, but most of Xavier's shots
were easily saved.
The Musketeers came right back
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Michigan this season, but is the pri-
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Michigan's formation proved suc-
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is used to strengthen the midfield
and create a wall for the opposing
offense.
The 3-5-2 set gave Michigan two
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the District of Columbia, as well as rapidly
expanding affiliate operations in Canada and
the United Kingdom, Edward Jones is one of the
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