vM x zWntlwcl qUui UU SF f Cz« i . ."1 + C,'r E4ci' a;' c s+ , : vty q Bucks stopped 1 here {- Blue bowls past Ohio State 24-17 By Josh Kleinbaum Daily Sports Editor Everyone was right. When Ohio State showed up at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, these Buckeyes weren't the same ones xho had struggled to a 6-5 record. Their trash cans were packed with records. This bunch played aggressively, showed heart, even showed skill. But they were still Buckeyes. And, as usual, since they were playing Michigan, they lost, this time 24-17. The Buckeyes have won just two of the last 12 meetings in this storied rivalry. Ohio State outplayed No. 10 Michigan in most facets of the game. The Buckeyes had 116 more yards than Michigan. They out- y rushed the Wolverines, 296 yards to 137. For most of the game, they had the better quar- terback (although Steve Bellisari ran better than he threw). But three turnovers and 13 penalties by isl rOhio State kept Michigan in the game, and - the last turnover, a Kevin Houser fumble, set up a stellar Michigan fourth-quarter drive to put Michigan ahead for good. And on that drive, Michigan quarterback Tom Brady, who struggled through most of the game, starred. After hitting just 12 of his first 21 passes, Brady connected on five of six, including a crucial third-down conver- sion and a nine-yard pass to Marquise Walker, who caught the ball at the three yard line and shimmied around a would-be tackler and into the end zone. "You don't always play your best football," Brady said. "Last week we didn't play our best football, either." But Michigan won the game, which means the Wolverines all but clinched a berth to a Bowl Championship Series SAM HOLLENSHEAD/Daily Bowl, either the Orange Bowl in Miami or Rob Renes had Michael Wiley and the Ohio State offense for lunch during Saturday's game. Michigan ended up feasting on the Buckeyes at See BUCKEYES, Page 5B the end, beating Ohio State, 2417. The loss leaves the Buckeyes with a 6-6 record and an awful taste In their mouths. Mici6an vidory over Bucks one or the ages the bar for a second and watching mute highlights on the TV behind the bar- tender. Remember when Brady found Shawn Thompson and you just knew he was about to tie the score as long as he didn't drop the pass - and he didn't. Remember that moment at breakfast, when all conversation - and even the world it seemed - stopped, just before one of your companions said softly, "So are we out of here?" And you were up and moving again, on your way to a day you'knew you'd remember. Remember it all, because this game happens every year, but it will never again be like this. It might be a bigger. game next year; the Rose Bowl - or more - could be on the line. It could be worse. But it will never again be the way it was yesterday. Two years from now, when the Buckeyes come back to the Big House, you'll be older. You'll have different friends. You'll have laughed more and you'll have cried more. When you watch it again, you'll be different, and so will the game. Two years from now, when Ohio State comes to Ann Arbor again it won't be like this. You might be fatter. You might have different priorities. Things will have hap- pened to you that be conceived of right now. Maybe you won't even be here. You could very well be out in the real world, where people don't wake up at 9 a.m. to grill meat and drink beer. You, like all but a lucky 111,000*or so, w'ill.have to watch it on TV You, like all but the luck- iest, won't be able to go to bars on South U. or Main Street afterward. If you live on the West Coast, the game will end just after lunch. It will be weird, not at all how it was meant to be. Saturday was how it was meant to be. That's why you should remember as much as you possible can. So you can tell other people what it was like to be there as Michigan scored on Ohio State. You'll try to capture the way it feels to teeter on the bleachers and the way the red numbers look when the sun is obscured by clouds. If you're a decent storyteller, you'll be able to explain how the stands look dif- ferent in November, when everyone is wearing coats instead of T-shirts, and See FREEMAN, Page 4B * denied by Lake Superior State this weekend. , Men run today Lakers sweep a for NCAA title slapn to the face'D o Shat ofBlue icers The clock on the Yost Ice Arena scoreboard read all zeroes, and as if to add insult to injury, Lake Superior State goalie Jayme Platt took a bow. In fact he took sev- eral - a mocking salute to the fans at Yost, and a per- sonal acknowledgement of his team's effort this past weekend. His Lakers swept the Wolverines, winning 3-0 o riday and 4-2 on Saturday. was just one final smack to the Wolverines. You could see it in their faces after the game. Frustrated, dejected and battered, the Michigan hockey team looked for reasons to explain this weekend's performance. The sting left by the Lakers' sweep of the Wolverine icers is one that will eventually subside, but the mark that it has left will not be forgotten. By Jon Schwartz Daily Sports Writer Today, the Michigan men's cross-country team will join a pack of about 250 runners in Bloomington to vie for the oppor- tunity to be named NCAA Champions. Cross-country meets, even championship meets, may not match the thrill of watching the grueling football match-up between Ohio State and Michigan. It is unlikely that there will be a crowd of maniacal Michigan fans shouting "Sieve" at the other runners, and the football band won't be bussing down. But for the Wolverines, today represents 30 minutes to show the world that the Michigan men's cross country team is still a national threat. To the runners, today is the end of a season where expecta- tions were few, and surprises were almost an everyday occur- rence. Runners came from nowhere to almost single-handedly win a race, as sophomore Tom Caughlan did at the Big Ten Championships, and senior co-captain Jay Cantin coming down the home-stretch at the Wolverine Interregional with an unfathomably large lead over the rest of the field. But today, at about 11:40 a.m., the team can judge its season McGire hopes for top 15 finish By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Writer After a long season that included more peaks and valleys than the Himalayas, the Michigan women's cross-country team has finally reached the summit: the NCAA Championships. The Wolverines will be running against the cream of the crop this Monday in Bloomington, Ind. for the right to call themselves "national champions." While the national tile may be unattainable for this season's young Michigan squad, a strong finish is certainly not out of the question. "I think that a Top-15 finish is a reasonable goal for us," Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. "We're going to have to run like we did the last two meets, but we're capable of it" A big key for Michigan will be the health of junior all-con- ference honoree Lisa Ouellet. At the NCAA Regional Championships last weekend, Ouellet was bothered by the residual effects of the flu and ended up as Michigan's third finisher. "Ouellet's much better now," McGuire said. "She wasn't really sick, but it affected her performance. She's had a good week of practice; the nine days off between regionals and :: ; ,,..=..ti. ,v, . .