The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 11, 1999 - 5

I


Blue defense comes up
small in biggest game

By TJ. Beika
Daily Sports Editor
EAST LANSING - A main ingredient in the
Michigan football team's 5-0 start this season was
the defense's ability to force turnovers from the
opposition while the offense stayed mistake-free.
The turnover differential, so key in the third-
ranked Wolverines undefeated start, was won by
Michigan State on Saturday. Not coincidentally,
the game was as well.
The Michigan offense turned the ball over once
on an Aric Morris interception. While Morris'
interception led to a Michigan State touchdown,
Michigan's frustration didn't come from the mis-
cues it made.
It came from the mistakes that it couldn't force
the Spartans to make.
"That was a big difference in the game"
Michigan nose tackle Rob Renes said. "We didn't
get any turnovers and we didn't play as well as we
needed to."
The Michigan defense - which had only given
up 11.2 points per game in the previous five games
- was scorched for 34 points and 490 yards by
the Spartans.
The main cause of Michigan's problems was the
passing combination of quarterback Bill Burke
and wide receiver Plaxico Burress. Both Burke,
with 400 yards passing, and Burress, with 255
yards receiving, set school records with their per-
formances.
But the Wolverines had dealt with a great mdi-
vidual performance from Notre Dame's Jarious
Jackson and got through it unscathed.
While Michig;n stopped Jackson when it
counted during the season opener, they just could-
n't stop the Spartans.
"Our kids played hard to the end," Michigan

coach Lloyd Carr said. "We just couldn't stop
them at the end, though."
With Tom Brady dissecting the Michigan State
defense in the last 20 minutes of the game, all the
Michigan defense had to do was to stop the
Spartans a couple of times - a request that it has
delivered on countless times thus far this season.
But the deliveries weren't executed on Saturday.
"It was very frustrating," safety Tommy
Hendricks said. "We just couldn't stop the pass. I
tried to keep the guys together, but it was really
hard."
After Michigan closed the deficit to 27-17 in
the beginning of the fourth quarter, the defense
had its chance to complete a switch in momentum.
But Burke efficiently drove the Spartans 76
yards in 1:55, hitting tight end Chris Biker and
wide receiver Gari Scott for gains of 23 and 35
yards, respectively. Fullback Dawan Moss -in
his only carry of the of the game - ran 14 yards
for the eventual game-winning touchdown.
"When you've made a lot of big plays, you come
to expect them," linebacker James Hall said. "So
when you can't come up with one its frustrating."
After the Wolverines moved within three points
of the Spartans with 2:47 left to go, the defense
had a second chance at redemption. But on third-
and-nine at the Michigan 32 with just over a
minute left, Burke found Burress wide open on the
sideline for the 15-yard gain.
Michigan State made the big play. Michigan
was unable to. And that ended up being the differ-
ence in the game.
"I let one thing carry over to the other and it
eventually got to me," said Michigan cornerback
James Whitley, a primary victim of the Michigan
State passing game.
"That has never happened to me."

DANA LiNNANE/Daily
Gari Scott and the Michigan State offense told James Whitley and the Michigan defense what was up to
the tune of 490 total yards and 34 points in the victory.

GAME RECAP
FIRST QUARTER:
After driving 50 yards to the Mchigani 22.
Michigan State receives 1 t0-yard holdn
penalty The Spaortans tail to onvert the first
down, and Paul Edinuer misses a 49-yard field
goal
Bill Bu"ke hs Plimfo Burress or a 68-yard gain
on a tlea-fici~ker, setblnq up a one-yard T J.
Duc.kett touc hdown plnge
Michigan State 7, Michigan 0
SECOND QUARTER:
Following a Mihigan State pnt, Mhgan
drives 26 yards in 8 pav.s the drive stalls at the
Michigan State 39-yard line, but Hayden pstein
nails a 56-yard( field goal
Michigan State 7, Michigan 3
Burke onnects deep with Brress again, his
time tor 49 yards After the Spartans tail to pk
up another first down,E "iger" oots a 39-yard
field goal.
Michigan State 10, Michigan 3
The lirst two plays on) the next Mchgan posses-
sion gain one yard. On third down Drew
Henson, in at quarterbac k for Tom Brady, hits
David Terrell tor an 81-yard tou hdown.
Michigan State 10, Michigan 10
Herb Haygood returns the kickoff 32 yards to
the Mihigari State 45)-yard line A 25-yard pass
from Burke to Ivory M oy sets up a 43-yard
field goal by Edinger
Michigan State 13, Michigan 10
THIRD QUARTER:
On thle Spartfairs'first possession robte second
halt, Burke arid Burress hook up for a 39-yard
giin But, two plays later, Burke is sa ked for an
I -yard loss by James Hall, and the n Spartans fail
to pick up a first down Edinger then misses a
44-yard field goal
Robare Smith saks Drew Henson for a lb-yard
loss, and a short punt gives the Sparans the
ball at the Michigan 49-yard line Burke hits
Burress for a 1 /-yard gain, and five plays later,
Burke finds Gari Scott n the end zone fora 19-
yard touchdown.
Michigan State 20, Michigan 10
On the next possession, Henson is sa(ked again
by S =ith this ti=e for an 11-yard lossOn
third-and-18, Henson forces a pass to DiAllo
Johnson and is inter epted by Ari Morris, who
returns the intercept ion to the Michigan 18-
yard line-f'hree plays later, Burke hits Burress on
a 15-yard sorinng pass
Michigan State 27, Michigan 10
FOURTH QUARTER:
Brady returns at guarterback for Michigan and
moves the Wolverines down thefield with a
series of short passes to his wide receivers.
However, tre big play on the drive is a 33-yard
pass from Brady to fullback Aaron Shea down
to the Spartan 2. Anthony Thomas caps the
drive with a 2-yard touchdown plunge
Michigan State 27, Michigan 17
On their next possession, the Spartars respond.
Burke hits tight end Chris Baker for 21 yards.
and two plays later he finds S ot for a 35-yard
gain. Atfter a five-yard ofides penalty on the
Michigan defense, Dawan Moss runs 14 yard,
into the end /one for the Spartans.
Michigan State 34, Michigan 17
A 26-yard pass from Brady to Marcus Knight is
the hghlight of another long Michigan drive_
which culminates n a 19-yard touchdown pass
from Brady to Terrell.
Michigan State 34, Michigan 24
A 54-yard punt pins Michigan at their own 4-
yard line. Unfazed, Brady moves the Wolverines
96 yards in 12 plays, including a 37-yard bomb
to Marquise Walker. On first-and-goal, Brady
connects with Shea for an 8-yard score.
Michigan State 34, Michigan 31
Michigan attempts an onsides kick, but Epstein's
kick is recovered by Burress. Four plays later, on
tird-and-nine, Burke fies a 1 5-yard pass to
Burress, who makes a spectacular tptoe catch
on the sidelnes. With Michigan out of time-
outs, the Spartans run the ball twice, and Burke
takes a knee on third down.
Michigan State 34, Michigan 31

34M

TO Ab £


With Warrick watching, Florida State holds off Miami

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - No.
1 Florida State beat No. 19 Miami
Saturday, 31-21, despite playing with-
out the star wide receiver, who was sus-
ded after his arrest on a theft
Xrge.
Peter Warrick's fellow wide receivers
were a big reason. Germaine Stringer, a
fifth-year senior with just 12 catches
before Saturday, had three for 80 yards
including a 48-yarder 3:47 into the
game.
And Ron Dugans came through with
five grabs for 80 yards, including a 54-
yarder that set up Travis Minor's clinch-
2-yard touchdown with 9:55 left in
game.
"I don't want to talk about Peter at
all," said Weinke, who scrambled his
way to 23 completions in 34 attempts.
"This football team showed up and
played and won. They got the job
done."
Florida State (6-0) has now beaten
Miami (2-3) five years in a row, and in
doing so the Seminoles won their 27th
straight at Doak Campbell Stadium and
O without a loss. Both streaks are the
longest among major colleges.
"You were never sure how well we
would play after all the things we went
through," Seminoles coach Bobby
Bowden said after gaining career win
No. 298. "The only thing that blew my
mind was he way they rolled up and
down the field against us in the first
half."
iami scored all its points in a 21-21
thalf, with Kenny Kelly throwing
TD passes of 8 yards to Reggie Wayne
and 80 and 14 yards to Santana Moss.
The Hurricanes finished with 4481
yards, but were held to 166 in the sec-
ond half by a defense that almost gave
away the game in the opening 30 min-
utes.
No. 5 VIRGINIA TECH 58, RUTGERS
20: Virginia Tech's offense doesn't have
to take a back seat to its top-ranked
nse any more, not with Michael
fk running the show.
Vick threw four touchdown passes

and ran for another in a record-setting
performance and No. 5 Virginia Tech
scored on seven of its eight first-half
possessions in defeating winless
Rutgers 58-20 on Saturday night.
"He's good enough right now to be
in the Heisman Trophy race." said
Virginia Tech lineman Corey Moore,
the Big East Conference's defensive
player of the year in 1998. "In my opin-
ion he'll be a Heisman Trophy winner
in the next year or two."
Vick has completed 18 of 21 passes
for 470 yards and five touchdowns over
the last two games in giving Virginia
Tech (1-0, 5-0) its second straight per-
fect start. The win also set up a great
matchup next weekend with No. 18
Syracuse (5-1) at BlacksburgVa.
Against Rutgers (0-2, 0-5), Vick set
a conference record for accuracy in a
game, completing I I of 12 passes for
248 yards. He also rushed for a team-
high 68 yards, giving him 316 of
Virginia Tech's 511 total yards. He also
only played one half.
"Mike is going to be one of the great
ones," Hokies offensive tackle
Anthony Lambo said. "He's a redshirt
freshman and he still has a lot to learn,
and he's going to get bigger, stronger
and faster, if that's possible."
No.8 FLORIDA 31, LOUISIANA STATE
10: Two years ago, when Tigers fans
tore down the goal posts to celebrate
the upset of then-No. 1 Florida, Robert
Gillespie was on the LSU sideline
cheering for the Tigers, the team he
expected to play for.
Things never quite worked out as
Gillespie planned, and he scored two
touchdowns Saturday for the Gators,
including one with 45 seconds left in
the game that ensured a victory for
Florida.
"Some of the guys in the line were
questioning why we didn't down the
ball," Gillespie said. "(Quarterback)
Doug Johnson came in, fired guys up
and said we were going to put it in."
A visit to Florida, where winning
was a reality, convinced Gillespie he'd

rather play there than try to help the
Tigers build a winning record.
"At Florida we always expect to
win:" Gillespie said. "We expected it
today."
After last week's upset loss to
Alabama, Florida (3-1 Southeastern
Conference, 5-1 overall), which has not
lost back-to-back games since 1992
and only twice since 1990, could not
afford another loss and keep its SEC
championship hopes alive
No. 7 GEORGIA TECH 31, NORTH
CAROLINA 24 (OT): Despite throwing
two interceptions and fumbling twice,
Joe Hamilton remained upbeat going
into overtime.
Hamilton set up the tying field goal
by freshman Luke Manget with five
seconds left in regulation, then scored
on a 6-yard run in overtime to give
Georgia Tech a victory over North
Carolina.
"You have to forget about the bad
plays," Hamilton said.
"I don't win games by myself and I
don't lose games by myself."
No. 10 KANSAS STATE 50, KANSAS 9
For more than 100 years, they were
bitter rivals, competing every autumn
for statewide bragging rights.
But now it's getting hard for Kansas
State even to take Kansas seriously.
Perhaps lacking full concentration,
the 10th-ranked Wildcats set a team
record with 18 penalties for 162 yards
Saturday but still won 50-9.
"Last week at Texas I think we were
a lot more enthusiastic than we were for
this game," said defensive end Monty
Beisel, a Kansas native. "When you
beat a team by 50 every year, it's tough.
We knew we had a tough game last
week at Austin. This week we knew if
we played OK, we'd win."
No. 13 TEXAS A&M 45, BAYLOR 13:
Randy McCown revived Texas
A&M's dormant offense with three
third-quarter touchdown passes
Saturday as the Aggies rebounded from
their first loss of the season by pound-
ing Baylor.

The Aggies had gone 10 quarters
without an offensive score.
"All of us were relieved to finally get
some touchdowns." said A&M coach
R.C. Slocum. "It had been annoying for
us for the last few weeks. We had to live
with questions why the offense hadn't
been scoring. We had no definitive
answer for it until today."
McCown hit fullback Ja'Mar
Toombs with a 26-yard swing pass for
a touchdown, found Leroy Hodge on a
12-yard scoring strike, and threw a 74-
yard touchdown pass to Bethel Johnson
in the third quarter as A&M beat
Baylor (0-2, 1-5) for the ninth consecu-
tive time.
No. 14 MISSisSIPPI STATE 18,
AUBURN 16: While the rest of the
league grabs all the attention,
Mississippi State just keeps winning.
The Bulldogs jump-started their
offense with two late touchdowns.
moving Mississippi State (3-0 SEC. 6-
0 overall) to 6-0 for the first time in 55
years.
Auburn (1-3, 3-3) has now lost three
straight.
"Very few teams in the country have'
the opportunity to go 6-0," Bulldogs
coach Jackie Sherrill said. "I think
when it comes down to it, you have to
put yourself in a position to do that, and
we did today."
Even though the Bulldogs represent-
ed the West in last year's SEC title
game, few expected them to repeat.
Arkansas and Alabama were picked
to fight it out for the right to play either
Florida or Tennessee.
That left Mississippi State alone to
quietly go about its business. It has,
using the second-best defense in the
country to win its first five games.
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI 39, No. 16
EAST CAROLINA 22: Southern
Mississippi turned perception into real-
ity against East Carolina.
Known as one of the giant killers in
college football, the Golden Eagles had
actually gone 22 straight games against
ranked opponents this decade without a

victory.
That was until Saturday. Jeff Kelly
threw three touchdown passes and
workhorse Derrick Nix rushed for 171
yards to beat the previously unbeaten
Pirates.
Prior to a week off, the Golden
Eagles had lost to No. 4 Nebraska and
No. 13 Texas A&M in close games.
"There is a lot of speculation from a
confidence standpoint," coach Jeff
Bower said of playing ranked oppo-
nents. "Certainly we have played some
tough opponents and it got us ready to
play."
ARIZONA 31, No. 22 SOUTHERN CAL
24: What was good for Arizona wasn't
necessarily so for the conference.
Arizona gained 550 yards against
the Pac-10's best defense and equaled
its five-game sack total to knock the
Trojans - the last remaining Pac-10
team in the top 25 - from the rank-
ings.
The Wildcats (2-1, 4-2), a preseason
No. 4 pick, fell from the rankings after
a blowout loss at Penn State and less-
than-dazzling wins against Texas
Christian and Middle Tennessee.
No. 23 TEXAS 38, OKLAHOMA 28:
Mack Brown saw something he liked
Saturday, and hopes it can help turn his
team's season around Major
Applewhite passed for three touch-
downs and Hodges Mitchell rushed for
204 yards and a TD as the 23rd-ranked
Longhorns rallied from a 17-point,
first-quarter deficit.
It was the largest come-from-behind
victory for Texas (2-1 Big 12.5-I over-
all) since a similar rally to beat Texas
A&M 21-17 in 1965.
"We really came through today" said
Texas coach Mack Brown. "There's a
defining point in every season and this
can be it for us."
No. 25 BRIGHAM YOUNG 38,
CALIFORNIA 28: It's a bruising and bit-
ter tradeoff for Kevin Feterik. Two
straight weeks he has thrown for four
touchdowns, and two straight weeks he
has taken a beating.

Score by quarters:
Michigan
Michigan State

1
0
7

2
10
6

3 4
0 21
14 7

Final
31
34

BIG TEN STANDINGS

Team
Michigan State
Penn State
Michigan
Wisconsin
Indiana
Minnesota
Ohio State
Purdue
Illinois
Iowa
Northwestern

Big Ten
3 0
2 0
2 1
2 1
2 1
1 1
1 1
1 2
0 2
0 2
0 3

Overall
6 0
6 0
5 1
4 2
3 3
4 1
4 2
4 2
3 2
1 4
2 4

Brady best quarterback
for offensive continuity All picks made against
_ the spread


STAFF PICKS


BE RKA
Continued from Page LB
the collegiate level?
I don't know what would happen.
And I'm sick of asking that question
evrw eek.

Home teams in CAPS-

Carr has had the spring, the sum-
mer and six games to decide, so I
think he might need some help.
I will provide a little nugget of
assistance: play Brady.
The offense needs continuity
B~radyv has won 15 out of the 19

Rick Freeman
Ohio State
Wisconsin

THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS
Michigan State 34, Purdue 31
Indiana 34, Northwestern 17
Penn State 31, Iowa 7
Wisconsin 20, Minnesota 17
Ohio State 25, Purdue 22
NEXT WEEKEND'S GAMES
Ohio State at Penn State
Michigan State at Purdue
Indiaria at Wisconsin
Minnesota at Illiois

MICHIGA' ({-25) vs, Michig tSete f 'til En
OHIO STATE (-2.5) vs. Purdue Purdue
Wisconsin (-3) vs. MINNESOTA Wisconsint

Josh Kleinbaum Andy Latack
Mkhi~anMicigarv
Purdue Ohio State
Wfscor sin isconsin
IndanaInanai~i