6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 4, 1999 -..WOOL GAME STATISTICS PASSING Player Brady Henson Totals RUSHING Player A. Thomas Cross Terrell Askew Brady Henson Drake Walker Team Totals RECEIVING Player Knight Shea Walker Terrell Cross Johnson Thompson Totals PUNTING Player Sargent Epstein Team M I C H I G A N Offense pulls its share of weight C-A 15-25 3-3 18-25 1 Att 23 11 1 4 2 2 2 47 No. S 4 3 2 1 1 18 N KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Thomas 3 Drake1 Totals 4 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Knight 2 Johnson1 Bellamy 1 Totals 4 DEFENSE Player Whitley Patmon Gold Howard Hendricks Williams June Terrell Renes Brooks Hobson Foote Wilson Rumishek Jordan Schanski Thompson Sargent PASS DEFENSn Player Int Foote 1 Howard 0 Williams 0 Patmon 0 Hendricks 0 Brooks 0 Totals 1 Team Stats First Downs Rushes/Yards Passing Yards Offensive Plays Total Offense Return Yards Comp/Att/Int Punts/Avg Fiumbles/Lost Penalties/Yards Time of Poss P U PASSING Player C-A Brees 20-4 Segard1- Totals 21-5 RUSHING Player Att Lowe 10 Crabtree 8 Shyne 2 Sutherland 2 Edgerton 1 Brees 5 Totals 28 RECEIVING Player No. Daniels 7 Lane 3 Stratton 3 Sutherland 2 Jackson 2 Dawson 1 Tolbert 1 James 1 Crabtree 1 Totals 21 PUNTING PlayerN Rogers Totals KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Shyne 4 Total 4 PUNT RETURNS Suterland 2 Toals2 Yds 116 38 16 4 2 0 0 -3.0 -2.0 171 Yds 136 52 48 44 11 20 7 318 No. 4 5 Yds 67 21 88 Yds 4 8 7 19 Solo 8 5 5 5 4 2 2 2 1 2 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 Yds 250 68 318 A 5. 3 16 1. 1. 0. 0. -3 -2 3. 27 13. 16 22. 5. 20. 7. 10. Yds 150 42 192 A 2 2 t2 A S4. TD 2 0 2 .0 391 .5 6 .0 16 .0 10 .0 6 .0 0 .0 3 .0 0 .0 0 .6 39 .0 36 .0 25 .0 26 .5 7 .0 20 '. 7 .2 .56 Avg f 37.5 42.0 ! 38.4 1.0 21 '2.0 28 Ivg L1 2.0 8.0 8 7.0 7 .75 8 Asst 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 int 0 0 0 TD 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 TD 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 39~ 42 42 TD 0 0 0 TD 0 0 0 0 Tot 8 7 7 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 TD 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 By Rick Freeman Daily Sports Editor Whether or not they had the nick- name, before Saturday, Michigan's offense was just as suspect as its sec- ondary was held up to be. Their rush- ing game was 80th-best in the nation after the Wisconsin game, and aver- aged 117 yards per game -- the amount they put up in the first half of Saturday's victory over Purdue. Tailback Anthony Thomas - who doubled as Michigan's ground attack until B.J. Askew and Walter Cross pitched in Saturday - scored two or more touchdowns for the third time this year. Askew scored in the fourth quarter. And Michigan's offense rarely faltered, save for a few three-and-outs early in the second half. "We went in thinking Purdue was very good up front," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "If you would have told me that we were going to run as well as we did, I wouldn't necessarily believe that." But what might be even more important, the Wolverines didn't try to force the issue on the ground this time. When they found holes plugged, they went to the air..Twice in the first quarter, Michigan scored on touch- down passes - the second when Tom Brady, not known for his mobility, rolled to his right unprotected and found Marcus Knight coming across the field with him. While the ground game is still con- sidered dogma in Schemebechler Hall, it seems that the forward pass is no longer considered the heresy it once may have been. "I think we've got great talent at wide receiver," Brady said. "They go out and make plays. If we continue to do that, we'll be in good shape." Michigan went to a four-wideout set several times during Saturday's game. The package is nothing new, but may have been prompted by Michigan's greater depth at wide reciever than at running back. "We kind of use it to spread the defense out a bit, Brady said. "We've got Dave Terrell, and Marcus Knight, DiAllo Johnson - I just think you want your best personnel in there." Brady thinks the move may also be part of a larger trend. "In college football these days, it's tough to run the ball, because I think the players are getting so much faster, and so much bigger on the inside," he said "If you spread them out, and you put your fast personnel in there, you can find a mismatch and get a high- percentage pass for first down." No matter the reason for Michigan's increased offensive efficiency, the fact remains that few are crediting Saturday's win to just the defense. "The defense picked it up a couple times, but when they scored we had to go down and score," Brady said. "It was a total-team win." And thanks to Michigan's rushing offense (which racked up 171 yards) and Michigan's rushing defense (which held Purdue's ground game to 68 yards) Michigan can be proud once again. The skewed numbers moved Michigan's rushing yards-per-game average back above Purdue's - to 128 yards a game. "We know we can throw the ball, but the thing we have to be able to do to be the team we want to be is to have a run game," Carr said. For now, having one better than Purdue's will have to do. That, and remembering that Brady outplayed a Heisman candidate quarterback. 4 Whaa Yds 0 0 S0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 MICHIGAN 23 47/201 318 75 489 107 18/28/0 5/38.4 3/2 6/40 32:26 R D U E Brk-up 0 4 2 1 1 1 9 LOUIS BFuWN/Daily Tailback Anthony Thomas and the rest of the Michigan ground game broke free against Purdue, amassing 171 total yards rushing against the Boilermakers. Blue makes statement vs.-Boilers PURDUE 20 28/108 328, 80 396 99 21/S2/1 6/40.3 3/1 8/51 27:34 A !9 33 Yds 44 33 7 5 -6 -13 68 Yds 59 77 32 73 31 35 14 9 -2 328 Yds 293 35 328 Avg 4.4 2.9 3.5 2.5 -6 -2.6 2.4 Avg 8.4 25.7 10.7 36.5 15.5 35.0 14.0 9.0 -2.0 15.6 TD 1 0 9 6 6 0 11 11 11 33 17 66 26 35 14 9 0 66 Int 1 0 1 TD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TD 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 PUR DUE Continued from Page 1B per game - rush for a season-high 171 yards on the ground. "We all needed to step it up," Michigan fullback Aaron Shea said. "We needed to prove that we could run the ball and we did." Thomas, who was suffocated by Wisconsin in his previous game, started off rocky, fumbling the ball away on the game's second play. But Thomas bounced back two drives later, running off left tackle for 39 yards to set up a 17-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Marcus Knight. That score put the Wolverines up 14-3 and helped set the tone for the rest of the game. "I saw the defensive backs bite on the run fake," Knight said. "I got open and Brady did a great job of getting the ball to me." Knight saw the ball often, catching five passes for a career-high 136 yards. Knight broke loose for a 56-yard bomb from Brady in the fourth quar- ter, setting up a 10-yard touchdown run by B.J. Askew - the freshman's first collegiate touchdown. While Brees was getting all the hype coming into the game, he was outperformed by Brady. The senior quarterback went 15- for-25 for 250 yards and two touch- down passes - an 18-yarder to David Terrell for Michigan's first score and the touchdown strike to Knight. Brees wasn't nearly as successful, as a 66-yard bomb to Vinny Sutherland in the third quarter was his only scoring pass of the game. Brees spent his afternoon being hounded by the Michigan defense. The Heisman Trophy candidate - who was sacked once in his previous four games - was sacked by James Hall and Victor Hobson. Brees also fumbled three times and threw an interception to line- backer Larry Foote. "I think it was a total team effort," linebacker Ian Gold - who had seven tackles - said. "We prepared to shut them down and we pretty much did." The secondary had a lot to do with holding the Boilermakers - wh6 had averaged 41 points per game to 12 points. Cornerback James Whitley led the team with eight tack- les. "I think our corners have played consistently and got better this week," Carr said. "We were con- cerned about that going into the sea- son." Fellow corner Todd Howard broke up four passes and added five tack- les, including a brutal tackle 0 Purdue wideout Larry Shyne in th third quarter that elicited 'oohs' when replayed on the scoreboard. "I didn't see it but I certainly felt it," safety Tomm- Hendricks said. "We definitely wanted to make a point today and ' thought we did." No. Yds 6 242 6 242 Yds Avg 73 18.25 73 18.25 Av L 40.3 49 * TD 25 0 DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Wide receiver Marcus Knight caught five passes for a career-high 136 yards and a touchdown. DEFENSE Player Beasley Loerzel Fells Rose Mitrione Ayodele Odom Nugent Dunnigan Dinkins Conrad Hawthorne Botts Turner Williams Clopton Upshur Tone Doe Starling Dorsch Foggio PASS DEFENSE Player Int Rose 0 Dunnigan 0 Hawthone 0 Botts 0 Totals 0 5 Yds 26 26 Solo 6 5 6 6 5 4 4 3 2 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Yds 0 0 0 0 0 Avg La TD 13.0 19 0 13.0 18 0 Asst Tot 3 9 2 7 0 6 0 6 0 5 1 5 1 5 1 4 2 4 0 3 1 3 o 2 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 BIG TEN Badgers ambush Ohio State; Spartans scary against Iowa- COLUMBUS (AP) - Ohio State coach John Cooper could only shake his head. "Guys, it's been a long time since we've been physically whipped like that in a game;' Cooper said. Thirty-two years, to be exact. Ron Dayne rumbled for four second- half touchdowns as Wisconsin roared back from a 17-0 deficit Saturday to beat Ohio State 42-17. It was the worst loss for Ohio State at Ohio Stadium since a 41-6 defeat against Purdue on Oct. 14, 1967. "That was a good old-fashioned butt- kicking," Cooper said. "I'm embar- rassed by the way we played in the sec- ond half. We didn't do anything right." Defense and Dayne did the damage. The Badgers (1-1 Big Ten, 3-2 overall ) didn't score on their first four posses- sions, then rattled off 42 consecutive points by scoring the next eight times they got their hands on the ball. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes (0-1, 3-2) ,_-1_)- 1 1 -- -11.,.««2 No. 14 MICHIGAN STATE 49, IOwA 3: This is as good as it can get for Michigan State coach Nick Saban. And he wasn't talking about Michigan State's 49-3 victory over Iowa on Saturday. or two weeks, Saban warned fans and the media not to look ahead. With Iowa brushed aside, Saban imme- diately cast his eye on next Saturday's showdown with No. 4 Michigan (5-0), which beat Purdue 38-12. "There are going to be a lot of good players on the field and this is a big game for both teams," Saban said. "That's the way I like it." The No. 14 Spartans (2-0, 5-0) were just about as good as they can get on Saturday. Bill Burke threw four touch- down passes and Plaxico Burress snagged three scoring strikes. "That was probably our best half of football, in the first half," Saban said. "I think our team has progressed very nice- ly, and I think one of the things we haven't done well until today is execute r-- n.. n