4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 11, 1999 GAME STATISTICS ......................................N... PASSING Player C- Brady 30-41 Henson 6-1 Totals 36-5: RUSHING Payer Att A?Thomas A14 Shea 1 Walker 1 Henson 5 Totals 21 RECEIVING Player No. Terrell 10 Shea 7 Walker 7 Knight 5 Thomas 3 Johnson 2 Thompson 1 Coleman 1 Totals 36 PUNTING Player N Sargent Totals KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Thomas 5 fTotals 5 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Knight 3 Totals 3 DEFENSE Payer Golde Brooks Hendrcks Whitley Patmon Howard Hall Renes Wilson Askew Foote Jones Thompson Williams Sgroi Shea Knight Team Totals Despite loss, Big Ten title stil a possi or Wolvennes 12 i3 Yds 38 -2 -11 -19 6 Yds 86 75 75 125 9 12 11 3 396 Yds 285 111 396 Avg 2.7 -2.0 -11.0 F-3.8 S0.3 A 10.7 10.7 25.0 3.0 6.0 11.0 3.0 11.0 TD 2 3 1? 12 0 0 3 12 33 37 81 6 6 11 3 81 nt 0 1 1 TD 0 0 0 1 TO 0 0 0 0 0 3 8 359 44.9 58 By Andy Latack Daily Sportst Edaor EAST LANSING - That sound you just heard was the collective adjustment of expectations all around Ann Arbor. With Michigan's national title hopes dashed at least tem- porarily . after Saturday's 34-31 loss to Michigan State, many people no longer have visions of Sugar Bowls dancing in their heads. But if Michigan was going to lose a game, they picked the right conference to do it in. With the strength of the Big Ten this season. it's fairly likely that the conference champion will have a loss. As of right now, only the Spartans and Penn State remain undefeated. But before both teams look ahead to their Nov. 20 showdown, there are still plen- ty of dangerous teams along the way. Which leaves Michigan right in the thick of things. "We play for Michigan, so we expect to win every game," quarter- back Tom Brady said. "But if we play out and get a little help, we'll see how the chips fall." Michigan State coach Nick Saban, ers and the Wohverines is slim. "I said it before and I'm saying it again now -the team that lost today can still win the Big Ten champi- onship," Saban said. "I'd have said that if we lost, and I still say that." But it's probably a little easier to say from the winning end. Too LITIL, Too LATF: After tak- ing over for Drew Henson in the sec- ond half, quarterback Tom Brady went to work, leading Michigan to 21 fourth-quarter points and putting a scare into the Spartans. On his first possession. Brady took Michigan on a 80-yard drive that culminated in an Anthony Thomas touchdown run. At one point, as Brady was engineering one of his three scoring runs, the quar- terback completed 14 straight pass attempts. Brady would finish the half a scorching 24-of-30 for 241 yards - a good game for most quarterbacks. But in the end, his heroic effort wasn't quite enough. "We didn't move the ball consistent- ly until the latter part of the third quar- ter," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "Brady played well, but the complex- A BRoKEN RmcuHou: Michigar State records were dropping like [lie. on Saturday, thanks to the Spartans masterful passing game and the play of wide receiver Plaxico Burress. Burres. snagged 10 passes for 255 vy eclipsing Andre Rison's mark ofl in the 1989 Gator Bowl. And Burkc threw for 400 yards, besting Ed Smith's 369-yard performance agains: Indiana in 1978. But lost in Michigan State's land- mark offensive showing was Michigan kicker Hayden FEpstein's 56-yard field goal that put the Wolverines on the board in the first quarter. Lpstein blast tied the Michigan school re i set by Mike Gillette against Ohio at-, in 1988. AN AWARD ToiR: Offensive guarc Steve Hutchinson and nose tackle Rot Renes were announced Saturday as twc of 12 semifinalists for the Lombard1 Award, given to the nation's top line- man. Three other Big Ten players Penn State linebacker LaVar Arringtor and defensive end Courtney Brown and Wisconsin offensive tackle (' ri McIntosh were also incl. X among the semifinalists for the award Yds 109 109 Yds 13 13 Solo 11 3 7 5 5 4 3 4 2 4 1 1 1 2 0 1 3 58 Yds 0 0 0 0 0 0 Avg Lg 21.8 30 21.8 30 Av Lg 4.3 11 4.3 11 Asst 1 2 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 17 TD 0 0 TO 0 0 Tot 13 7 7 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 3 75 pTO 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 7 0 LOU -RcwN D4 despite posting one of the biggest wins ion of the game changed because we which will be announced on e Marcus Knight and the Michigan football team, although beaten by Michigan of his career on Saturdays knows the were so far behind. At the end we came S .exas A&M linebacker Dat State, still have a strong shot at a Big Ten title. distance between the conference lead- back, but we just ran out of time." took the honor last season. Flashy Burress makes statement on and off field yecembe Nguyet PASS DEFENSE Player I Howard Gold Whitley Schanski Totals Team Stats First Downs Rushes/Yards Passing Yards Offensive Plays Total Offense Return Yards Comp/Attnt Punts/Avg Fumbles/Lost PenatesYards TmofPss MI C H PASSING Player Burke 2 Totals 2 RUSHING Player A C lemons 2 Moss Duckett Burke Totals 3 RECEIVING Player No Burress 1 Scott Baker McCoy Clemons 1 Totals 2 Int 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Brk-up 3 1 0 MICHIGAN 19 21/6 396 74 402 122 36/53/1 8/44.9 0/0 6/41 28:06 MICH. ST. 20 35/90 400 71 490 127 21/36/0 5/45.6 0/0 5/39 31:54 I G A N S T C-A Vds 21-36 400 21-36 400 TA T E TO 2 2 tt 6 3 5 35 a. 10 5 3 2 1 Yds 88 14 5 -17 90 Yds 255 76 41 31 -3 400 Avg 3.4 14.0 1.7 -3.4 2.6 Avg 15.2 13.6 15.5 -3.0 19.0 21 22 14 3 0 22 35 21 25 0 68 Int 0 0 TDO 0 0 2 TD 0 0 0 2 By Andy Latack Daily Sports Editor EAST LANSING - Plaxico Burress accomplished the impossible in Saturday's game. And it wasn't his school-record 255 receiving yards -- although that's pretty hard to believe as well. No, the Spartan receiver's feat was even more impressive than -that. He left David Terrell at a loss for words. After spending the first half playing keep-away from Michigan' smaller defensive backs, the 6-foot-6 Burress found himself lined up across from Terrell - a wide receiver also seeing cornerback duty - early in the third quarter. Having failed to even slow Burress down tip to that point. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr desperately hoped that the 6-3 Terrell could match his size and athleticism with Burress. And at the very least, the chatty Terrell could certainly mix words with the equally talkative Spartan. Well, Terrell lost on both fronts. He lasted all of two plays in the series, being pulled from the game after Burress beat him on a 17-yard out pattern. But that wasn't what shut Terrell up. On the previous play, his first of the game against the Spartans' go-to guy, Michigan State ran the ball to Burress' side. As soon as the ball was snapped, Burress exploded at Terrell, sending him stumbling backwards to the turf. Once Terrell was on the ground. Burress pounced on him, holding Terrell down until the play was finished. And Burress had yet to do the real damage. When Terrell had gotten to his feet. Burress proceeded to give Michigan's newest two-way player quite an earful. "After I ran over him, I told him, 'You gotta pick one side of the ball or the other,"' Burress said. "You can't play both: At least not against Burress. he couldn't. "I said. 'If your coach has that much confidence in you to put you on me, one- on-one. I'm gonna show you."' Burress said. Burress had good reason to be sure of himself. He made it clear by the first quarter that he couldn't be stopped, amassing 106 receiving yards in the game's first 15 minutes. He gained 68 yards alone on one play, a flea-flicker on Michigan State's third possession of the game that set up the Spartans' first touchdown. Spartan quarterback Bill Burke hooked up so often with Burress that each of them re-wrote the Michigan State record book. In addition to Burress' mark, Burke threw for a school- record 400 yards - many of which came in the form of jump balls to his favorite target. 'It's a huge comfort zone when you have such a tall receiver, especially against shorter defensive backs," Burke said. "He can really go up and get the ball, so you have a much larger room for error. The same cannot be said for the Michigan defensive backs - the 5-10 Todd Howard and the 5-11 James Whitley. If they lost track of the ball for a second or didn't time their jump cor- rectly, all they saw was a pair of long arms catching the ball a few feet over their head. "Burress was incredible, and we couldn't find any way to stop him:' Carr said. "He's a tough matchup for any sec- ondary." Not surprisingly. the vocal Burress felt the same way. "I was out there, hitting my chest, say- ing 'Hey, come to me every play."' Burress said. PUNTING Player Jarrett Totals KICKOFF RETURNS Payer No. Haygood 3 Burress 1 Total 4 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Scott 6 Totals 6 DEFENSE Player Morris Hill Myers Campbell Guess Thornhill Smith Shaw Newsome Suggs Turner Peterson Wright Henry Franklin Austin Sailor McCoy Thompson Haygood No. Yds Avg 5 228 45.6 5 5 228 45.6 55 DANA LINNANE/Daiiy Yds 72 0 72 Yds 38 38 So00 10 5 2 6 4 3 4 4 4 3 2 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 Yds 17 0 0 0 0 Avg 24.0 00 18.0 Avg 12.0 12.0 Asst 2 3 5 0 2 3 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 Lq TO 3 0 0 0 32 0 Lg TO 0 0 0 0 Tot 12 8 7 6 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 As dominating as Burress was, the Spartans still had to rely on the wide receiver to seal the game late in the fourth quarter. After Michigan had closed to within three points, 34-31, Burress recovered the Wolverines' onside kick attempt. And four plays later, Burress caught a game-saving pass on third-and-nine with two minutes left in the game and Michigan out of time-outs. Burke simply downed the ball after that, running out the clock and preserv- ing the Spartans' first victory over Michigan since 1995. I went hard to the sideline and tried to keep my feet in," Burress said of the sideline pattern that clinched the game. "When I saw the ref spot the ball, I big smile on my face." Thanks to Burress, a lot of Spartan fans have similar expressions right now. Plaxico Burress left Michigan defenders in the dust with his Michigan State-record 255 receiving yards. Buckeyes survive late Purdue rally; Indiana rolls PASS DEFENSE Player Int Morris 1 Campbell 0 Hill 0 Newsome 0 Totals 0 COLUMBUS (AP) - Brent Johnson blocked a tying field goal with 53 seconds left and Steve Bellisari's late 68-yard run preserved the lead as No: 21 Ohio State held off No. 17 Purdue 25-22. Drew Brees drove Purdue from its own 20 to the Ohio State 14 with just under a minute left. Brees' third-and- three pass for Chris Daniels was tipped away by Buckeye cornerback Nate Clements, and coach Joe Tiller sent his field goal unit onto the field. But the kick by Travis Dorsch was a low line drive. Johnson, who broke through the wall over the middle of the line, batted the ball down with his right hand as he was falling to the soggy turf. No. 2 PENN ST 31, IowA 7: Eddie Drummond ran 68 yards for a touch- down on a reverse and Eric McCoo sped 47 yards for another score to keep Penn State the only other undefeated team in the Big Ten other than Michigan State. Other than those two plays, Penn State (2-0, 6-0) had to scratch and claw for almost everything it got against an Iowa team that had been routed by Michigan State 49-3 the week before. The Hawkeyes (0-2, 1-4) stalled Penn State by intercepting two passes and blocking a punt. But with a chance to cut the lead to 21-14, Iowa couldn't punch it in from the Penn State I-yard line, and a penal- ty for having too many players on the work, ending Minnesota's four-gd winning streak and beating Gophers for the fifth straight time. The Badgers (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) and Gophers (4-1. 1-1I) met as ranked teams for just the third time in their 109-year rivalry and for the first time since 1962. Minnesota, ranked for the first time in 14 seasons, got a great performance from running back Thomas Hamner, who rushed 27 times for 144 yards caught seven passes for 92 yars, including a 49-yard TD. INDIANA 34, NORTHWESTERN 17: Antwaan Randle El scored three touch- downs and Levron Williams rushed for a career-high 241 yards, leading Indiana to another come-from-behind On 0 0 0 0 Brk-up 4 3 4 TO 0 0 0 0 0 PLAYER OFTHE A M .............................. ....... ................... PLAXICO k ::: . ,;