The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 25, 1999 - 58
I
GAME RECAP
Big plays fuel illinois' late run, torch Blue defense
FIRST QUARTER:
By UJ Berka
)aily Sports Editor
Coming into Saturday's game, Illinois was limp-
ng noticeably during the Big Ten schedule. The
Fighting Illini, after starting the season with three
ion-conference wins, had dropped three games
within the Big Ten and had the seemingly impos-
ible task of beating No. 9 Michigan on the road.
Illinois coach Ron Turner knew he had to
jn re his troops, so he took things into his own
I. The night before the game, Turner gathered
us players together in the team hotel and sat them
own.
Turner popped in a video showing Illinois' big
lays in their three losses and said, "If we play like
his for 60 minutes, we can beat anybody."
On Saturday, it turned out that 21 minutes worth
f big plays were enough to conquer the
Volverines.
"We were just trying to put points on the board,"
lt is tailback Rocky Harvey said about the end
f game - which saw the Illini come back
rom a 27-7 deficit for the win. "The defense
layed well to get the stops at the end."
The Michigan defense had no answer for stop-
ing Harvey in the fourth quarter, as the dininu-
ve running back scored Illinois' last two touch-
owns on a 59-yard pass and a 54-yard touchdown
untb put the Illini ahead to stay.
But Harvey wasn't the only Illinois player who
an roughshod over the Michigan defense in the
atter third of the game. Quarterback Kurt Kittner
-1o completed 24 of 33 passes for 280 yards
- rew a 31-yard touchdown pass to Walter
'oung and a three-yard scoring toss to Brian
lodges to start the Illinois comeback.
But Michigan had a chance to stop the comeback
efore it started. With six minutes left in the third,
linois faced a fourth-and-three situation at the
lichigan 31. The Wolverines called an all-out blitz
ut missed a coverage assignment, leaving Young
ride open in the middle of the field. Young raced
ito the end zone, and momentum had changed.
"It was just a situation where somebody missed
an assignment," linebacker Ian Gold said. "Those'
things happen during the game, and that time we
got burned on it."
The Michigan defense proceeded to keep get-
ting burned, as the Illini scored 28 points in the
game's final 21 minutes. Combined with the 34
points that the Wolverines gave up against
Michigan State, the Michigan defense has gone
from a strength to a question mark.
"We are anything but a good defensive team,"
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "I have no idea
how this team will respond to this."
But as much as the Michigan defense played
the part of a crumbling wall, the offense didn't
exactly light the Illini on fire either. While Illinois
was scoring four touchdowns in the last 21 min-
utes of the game, the Michigan offense went
scoreless.
Only a safety - which came when safety
Muhammad Abdullah recovered a fumble in the
end zone after a Tony Francis interception with
nine seconds left in the game - provided
Michigan with a score during the last third of the
game.
"We are moving the ball well, but we are mak-
ing mistakes," senior quarterback Tom Brady said.
"This is a senior-led football team and the seniors
aren't playing their best football."
Senior offensive lineman Steve Frazier - who
replaced an injured David Brandt at center -
made the biggest Michigan miscue of the after-
noon. Facing a second-and-five situation at the
Illinois 28, Frazier snapped the ball over Brady's
head. Brady ran back to the Michigan 47 before
recovering the ball.
The Wolverines never recovered, as Brady threw
interceptions to Trayvon Waller and Francis to end
Michigan's hopes of winning the game and possi-
bly going to a BCS bowl in January.
"I'm very disappointed," Brady said. "If we go
out and play Michigan football, there is no way we Illinois tailback Rocky Harvi
lose this game." defense. Harvey scored llini
4o
idjguuFA~
LOUIS BROWN/Daily
ey displays his breakaway speed as he runs away from the Michigan
ois' final two touchdowns of the game, both from over 50 yards out.
STAFF PICKS:
After a Michigan punt gave the llini the ball on
the 50-yard line, Illinois quarterback Kurt Kittner
passed to wide receiver Brandon Lloyd for 33
yards down the the Michigan 2/.
Four plays later, Kittner finds fullback Jameel
Cook for a six-yard touchdown strike.
Illinois 7, Michigan 0
After a 26-yard run by Anthony Thomas set up
the play, Michigan quarterback Tom Brady finds
Marquise Walker on a fade route in the right
corner of the end zone.
Illinois 7, Michigan 7
SECOND QUARTER:
After converting a fourth-and-one on a quarter-
back sneak, Brady finds Marcus Knight on the
next play for a 31-yard touchdown.
Michigan 14, Illinois 7
After a 12-yard punt gave Michigan the ball at
the Illinois 40, Anthony Thomas moved the
Wolverines down the field, carrying the ball on
all three plays before scoring on a 25-yard
touchdown run. The extra point is blocked by
defensive end Fred Wakefield.
Michigan 20, Illinois 7
THIRD QUARTER:
After engineering a 15-play, 88-yard drive that
took over six minutes off the clock, Brady hands
off to Thomas, who plunges one-yard for the
Michigan score.
Michigan 27, Illinois 7
In what appears to be blown coverage, Kittner
finds tight end Walter Young wide open over
the middle, and Young lumbers untouched for
the 31-yard score.
Michigan 27, Illinois 14
After recovering an Illinois fumled on the kick-
off, Michigan is unable to gain positive yardgae,
losing 12 yards before attemtping a 46-yard
field goal that is blocked by defensive tackle
Brandon Moore.
FOURTH QUARTER:
Kittner leads the Illini on a mammoth 17-play,
77-yard drive that consumed over, seven min-
utes of clock. The drive ends when Kittner fired
a strike to another backup tight end - Brian
Hodges - for a 3-yard touchdown. Time to
Michigan punts six plays later after gaining one
first down, giving the ball back to the Illini with
four minutes left in the game.
Three plays after getting the ball back, Kittner
finds running back Rocky Harvey , who cuts to
the right sideline and scores untouched, giving
the Illini their first lead since the first quarter.
Illinois 28, Michigan 27
After Michigan moves to the Illinois 28, center
Steve Frazier's shotgun snap sails over the head
of Brady, who tracks the bouncing football
down back at the Michigan 47.
After throwing the ball away, Michigan is star-
ing down a fourth-and-30. Brady's long bomb is
picked of by Trayvon Waller at the goal line.
Two plays later, Harvey gives the Wolverines one
last chance by breaking free for a 46-yard
touchdown run.
Illinois 35, Michigan 27
Again, Brady gets the ball at the 20 and .
breathes new life into the Wolverines. After
completing a 22-yard pass to Knight, Brady hits
Terrell and Johnson on a pair of quick strikes to
move the ball to the Illinois 44. After Illinois
jumped offside, Brady finds Johnson two plays
later at the 28.
On first-and-10 from the Illinois 1, Brady fires
to Terrell, who is running a slant from the right
slot position. The ball barely escapes errell's
hands, falling incomplete. Brady is intercepted
by cornerback Tony Francis two plays later at
the two-yard-line. Upon being tackled, Francis
fumbles into the endzone, where Muhammad
Abdullah falls on it for the safety.
Illinois 35, Michigan 29
Illinois kicks off from its own 20, and Kevin
Bryant returns the ball to the Michigan 41. With
six seconds remaining, Brady's long heave which
was short of the end zone is batted down by
the Illinois secondary.
FINAL SCORE: Illinois 35, Michigan 29
Score by quarters 1 2 3 4 Final
Illinois 7 0 7 21 35
Michigan 7 13 71 2 29
BIG TEN STANDINGS
: ;
All picks made against
the spread.
Home teams in CAPS.
MICHIGAN (-24.5) vs. Illinois
Penn State (-4) vs. PURDUE
WISCONSIN (-2.5) vs. Michigan State
MINNESOTA (-2.5) vs. Ohio State
Indiana (-2) vs. IOWA
Texas Christian (-1) vs. RICE
Nebraska (-9.5) vs. TEXAS
Tennessee (-3) vs. ALABAMA
Florida State (-14) vs. CLEMSON
Kansas State (-7.5) vs. OKLAHOMA ST.
Texas A&M (-4) vs. OKLAHOMA
MISSISSIPPI STATE (-13.5) vs. LSU
GEORGIA (4) vs. Kentucky
Miami, Fla. (-18) vs. BOSTON COLL.
Best Bet
T.J. Berka
Illinois
Penn State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Indiana
Rice
Texas
Tennessee
Florida State
Kansas State
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Georgia
Boston College
Texas A&M
10-4 (0-1)
5441-3 (1-6)
Rick Freeman
Michigan
Purdue
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Indiana
Rice
Texas
Alabama
Florida State
Kansas State
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Georgia
Boston College
Purdue
8-6 (0-1)
49-46-3(3-4)
Josh Kleinbaum Andy Latack
Michigan Michigan
Penn State Purdue
Michigan State
Ohio State
Indiana
Rice
Nebraska
Tennessee
Florida State
Kansas State
Texas A&M
Louisiana State
Georgia
Miami
Ohio State
8-6(1-0)
45-50-3 (2-5)
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Indiana
Texas Christian
Nebraska
Tennessee
Florida State
Kansas State
Texas A&M
Louisiana State
Georgia
Miami
Kansas State
7-7(1-0)
49,46-3 (34)
LOUIS BROWN/Daily
espite the best efforts of Jake Frysinger and the rest of the Michigan defense,
inois quarterback Kurt Kittner threw for four touchdowns
This week
Overall
Top 25
Juskers fall, Seminoles scrape by in wacky week
AUSTIN, Tex. (AP) - Nebraska was
eking revenge against Texas. Instead,
e nghorns handed the Cornhuskers a
g loss in the Big 12 for the third
nsecutive time.
Major Applewhite threw for two see-
nd-half touchdowns as No. 18 Texas ral-
:d to beat No. 3 Nebraska for the third
might time, 24-20 Saturday.
The Cornhuskers (3-1 Big 12, 6-1
verall) talked all week about avenging
st year's 20-16 loss to Texas, which
iapped Nebraska's 47-game home win-
ng streak. But they couldn't stop Texas
-I -2) from becoming the only team
Nebraska three times in the '90s.
"We knew it was important to do our
lking on the field," Applewhite said.
We knew it wouldn't do any good to do
ty talking before the game."
Applewhite was 9-of-21 for 47 yards
the first half as Nebraska built a 13-3
ad. He was 8-of-9 in the second half for
56 yards, including a 13-yard strike to
wame Cavil in the third quarter that
ivjxas its first lead at 17-13.
WI FLORIDA ST. 17, CLEMSON 14:
His son put a mighty scare into his top
nked team, but Bobby Bowden
eaked away with career win No. 300.
orida State rallied for a victory over
emson in major college football's first
ther vs. son coaching matchup.
No. 5 TENNESSEE 21, No. 10
ALABAMA 7:
It was hardly the welcome back party
Alabama had planned on throwing for
Tee Martin.
Martin, originally from Alabama, ran
for two touchdowns and passed for a
third to lead Tennessee to a 21-7 victory
over Alabama.
Trying to run time off the clock while
protecting a 14-7 lead, Martin marched the
Vols 84 yards in 11 plays. He broke the
game open with a 21-yard touchdown run
that put Tennessee up 21-7 with 8:26 left.
No.7 KANSAS ST. 44, OKLAHOMA ST.
21:
Big passing plays by Jonathon Beasley
and a badgering defense lifted No. 7
Kansas State from a 21-point deficit to a
decisive victory over Oklahoma State.
For the third time this year, Kansas
State found themselves down early
against a Big 12 opponent before storm-
ing back, defending their unbeaten status.
They stand alone atop the Big 12 North
Division.
OKLAHOMA 51, No.13 TEXASA&M 6:
Josh Heupel accounted for six touch-
downs as Oklahoma (2-1 Big 12, 4-2
overall) handed Texas A&M (2-2, 5-2)
the third-worst loss in Aggies' history.
Heupel ran for three scores, all of them
sneaks, and threw one of his three touch-
Mississippi State 46 yard line.
No. 14 GEORGIA 49, KENTUCKY 34:
Quincy Carter finally put up some of
the stats that were expected of him at sea-
son's beginning, passing for 304 yards
and two touchdowns and rushing for 87
yards as Georgia (4-1 SEC, 6-1 overall)
beat Kentucky (3-2 5-3).
Carter connected with Terrence
Edwards on a 20-yard scoring play in the
second quarter and opened the third quar-
ter with an 80-yarder to Brett Millican.
No. 15 MARSHALL 59, BUFFALO 3:
In a meeting between two teams on
very different streaks, Marshall handily
beat Buffalo.
Chad Pennington was 20-of-25 for
339 yards and threw five touchdowns in
less than three quarters as Marshall (4-0
Mid-American, 7-0 overall) routed
Buffalo (0-6, 0-7).
No.19 BRIGHAM YOUNG 29, UNLV 0:
Owen Pochman set a school record
and tied another with five field goals as
Brigham Young shut out the Nevada-Las
Vegas 29-0 in a Mountain West
Conference game Saturday night.
Pochman kicked field goals of 47, 26,
28, 31 and 30 yards for Brigham Young's
(Mountain West, 6-1 overall). He set a
record for his 17 points and tied a school
record for field goals in a game.
No.20 E. CAROLINA 52, TULANE 7:
Team
Penn State
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Indiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Ohio State
Purdue
Illinois
Northwestern
Iowa
Big Ten
4 0
4 1
3 2
3 2
2 2
2 2
2 2
1 2
1 3
1 3
0 4
Overall
8 0
6 2
6 2
4 4
5 2
5 2
5 3
4 2
4 3
3 4
1 6
THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS
Illinois 34, Michigan 29
Penn State 31, Purdue 25
Wisconsin 40, Michigan State 10
Ohio State 20, Minnesota 17
Indiana 38, Iowa 31
NEXT WEEKEND'S GAMES
Michigan at Indiana, 3:30
Penn State at Illinois
Purdue at Minnesota
Wisconsin at Northwestern
Iowa at Ohio State
SCHEDULE
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