f i i i E GAME STATISTICS ...............Safetyfirst - Orangemen First Downs 19 15 Rushes/Yards 36/121 34/49 Passing Yards 177 200 Offensive Plays 7z1 64 Total Offense 298 249 l s o f n Rtr ad 4 8 7/34 6/3 get lesson in fundamentas Comp/Aut/nt 21/38/1 13/30/2g e ut/v7346 6 3. Fumbles/Lost 0/0 3/0 Penalties/Yards 5/30 12/94 Time of Poss 28:44 31.16 By Josh Kleinbaum too. Nunes threw the ball on the run. Nunes was pretty quiet after ti M I C H I G A N PASSING Player Hensor, Brady Totals RUSHING Player A. Thomas Terrell Henson Shea C ross Totals RECEIVING Player Terrell Shea Thompson Walker Totals C-A 16-28 5-10 21-38 Yds 151 26 177 Att 26 3 2 36 No. 8 7 3 2 21 Yds 97 15 10 4 121 Yds 30 110 23 7 7 177 Av3 50 33 40 05 3.4 Avg 157 7.7 3.5 70 8.4 TD 1 0 1 Lg 15 9 4 16 Lg 9 30 22 6 7 30 Int 0 1 TD 0 0 0 0 0 0 TO 0 0 0 0 1 Daily Sports Editor SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The funda- mental principle of football is pretty simple: Move the ball forward. Apparently, Syracuse quarterback Troy Nunes never learned it. At least that's what it looked like mid- way through the third quarter Saturday night, when Nunes rolled to his right out of the pocket, trying to find a receiver. Instead, he found several white jerseys bearing down on him. The ugliest play of an ugly game unfolded over the next several seconds. Nunes, unfazed for the moment by the oncoming rushers, stopped for a sec- ond to look for a receiver before rolling back to his left, dropping farther back behind the line of scrimmage. Still, no receivers - at least none that Nunes had time to find. Then it was James Hall coming hard. Nunes ran in a semicircle, circling closer to his own goal line, a desparate attempt to avoid the oncoming Hall. Hall followed Nunes into the end zone, 22 yards behind the original line of scrimmage. Ian Gold was closing in. Yellow flag. Hands together over the referees head. Safety. '*That was a big, big play in this foot- ball game," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. Of course it was. The safety - the result of an intentional grounding call in the end zone - gave Michigan a 15-13 lead, a lead the Wolverines would bare- ly hold on to but never relinquish. But it was the uniqueness of the play that made it so interesting. In a span of seconds, the play progressed from an apparent short loss to a potential big gain to a strange backfield chase to another potential big gain to two points by Michigan, the defensive team. This is football, right? "It was a great play by the whole front seven, Ian and I were just the ones who got there:" Hall said. "I was pretty much exhausted after that play." It was an exhausting play to watch, too, and obviously frustrating for the sold-out Carrier Dome crowd who was so loud all night, but suddenly so quiet. PUNTING Player Sargent Team KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. June 3 A. Thomas 1 Totals 4 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Knight 4 Totals 4 DEFENSE Player D. Jones Howard Hall Renes Hendricks Gold Whitley Hobson Brooks J. Williams Wilson Ziemann June Curry Shea Sgroi PASS DEFENSE Player Int Patmon 1 Whitley 1 Howard 0 Totals 2 No. Yds 7 242 7 242 Avg Lg 34.6 46 34.6 46 Yds 42 22 64 Yds 10 10 Solo 8 8 5 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 0 0 Yds 8 0 0 Avg 14.0 22.0 16.0 Lg 15 22 22 Avg L 2.5 10 Asst 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 TD 0 0 S 0 TD 0 0 Tot 9 8 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 TO 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 Lg 8 0 0 8 Brk-ur Defense gets it done in second half 0 RANG EM EN headed play was called for intentional second quarter performance provided Michig Continued from Page 1B grounding from his own end zone. with the momentum going into the break. Al half. The Wolverines, after leading 13-7 at the On a series that looked more like it belonged his first drive stalled, Henson led Michim n half, managed just one scoring drive the rest of on a Sony Paystation, Nunes scrambled around scoring drives on its final three posses s the game - a Jeff Del Verne field goal late in for ages in the Syracuse backfield eluding the half. The first two resulted in field goais, 1 the fourth quarter. Michigan defenders while searching for an IHenson's final charge down the field was m Before Del Verne's 31-yarder, Michigan's open receiver. Finally, in his own end zone, 25 terfuL. previous five possessions had ended with four yards behind the line of scrimmage and with laking the ball with 4:07 left in the halfal punts and one interception. Michigan linebackers Syracuse enjoying its first lead of the game, "They made some adjustments at halftime." lames Hall and Ian Gold bearing down upon 6. I lenson engineered a five-play, 65-yard dr said Henson. who finished with 151 yards on him, Nunes heaved the ball far out of bounds, that culminated in a 22-yard touchdown pass 16-of-28 passing. "They were busting through drawing the lag. fullback Aaron Shea with 54 seconds remai the line and disrupting things. The Syracuse "Everybody was running around in pursuit," ingl. secondary is one of the toughest I've ever seen." Hall said. "I was hoping somebody was going to During the drive I lenson displayed th at While Syracuse's defense put the clamps on get him." leticisml that has had Carr drooling thltl Michigan in the second half. its offense was After the safety, Michigan led 15-13 and got season. I lenson routinely scrambled away fri woefully ineffective. The Orangemen demon- the ball at the 40 after Syracuse kicked off from defenders, finding wide receiver David Tri strated the downside of a two-quarterback sys- its own 20. on a series of crossing patterns and marchi tem. with Williams and Trov Nunes each stru- But the Wolverines couldn't take advantage the Wolverines quickly downfield. gling to find a rhythm and completing just 13 of of the good field position, and would be forced On the score, Henson deftly avoided their 30 attempts. to attempt one of their seven punts in the con- Syracuse pass rush and dumped the ball to Sh Michigan's defense almost outscored its test. in the right flat. Using solid downfield blocki offense in the second half, registering a safety Although le had difficulty moving the Shea scampered untouched into the end zo when Nunes - making the game's most bone- offense in the second half, I lenson's poise il the, giving the Wolverines a 13-7 halftime-lead. S Y R A C U S E PASSING Player M. WIhams Nunes Totals RUSHING Player Browvn J. Wilams Nunes Ningro K.Johnson Totals RECEIVING Player Spotwood Woodcock Campbell Mungro Bennett K. Johnson Brown Totals PUNTING Player Shafer Totals C-A 7-12 61-8 13-30 Att 12 7 7 4 3 33 No. 4 2 2 2, 13 1 13 Yds 37 24 -21 15 16 49 Yds 59 65 47 15 7 5 2 200 Yds 128 72 200 Avg 31 34 -3 0 3.8 53 1.4 Avg 32.5 23.5 7.5 7.0 5.0 2.0 15.4 TD 2 Lg 1' 22 10 11 15 22 Lg 43 54 38 12 7 5 2 54 Int 0 2 2 TD 0 0 0 0 0 0 TO 1 0 0 0 0 2 LOUIS BROWN,,Daly Josh Williams pursues Syracuse quarterback Madei Williams Saturday night. Florida swamps Vols; 'Bama falls in fantastic finish No. Yds 6 259 6 259 Avg !g 432 58 43.2 58 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Allen 1 McIntosh 1 Total 2 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Spotwood 3 Totals 3 DEFENSE Player Allen Bulluck McIntosh Harris Greenwood Johnson Banks Ford Downng Simpkins Dinkins Brown Burton Oliver Hunter Byrd Campbell Corley PASS DEFENSE Player Int McIntosh 1 Allen 0 Banks 0 Ford 0 Byrd 0 Totals 1 Yds 33 28 61 Yds 24 24 Solo 4 6 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 Yds 0 0 0 0 0 0 Av 28 0 30.5 13 28 33 Ag i 8.0 13 Asst 1 2 5 2 3 2 2 2 1 C( G 0 0 TD 0 0 0 TD 0 0 Tot 9 9 8 7 6 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 1 1 1 TO 0 0 10 0 > 0 Ln 0 0 0 0 Brk-up 1 GAINESVILLE. Fla. (AP) - Once again. Florida tried to give the game away. Unlike last year. Tennessee refused to take it. This time, five turnovers weren't enough to doom the Gators. Doug Johnson threw for 343 yards and two scores - barely enough to overcome his three interceptions - and Alex Brown had five sacks Saturday night to lift No. 4 Florida to a 23-21 victory over the defending national champions. A sloppy game the whole way through, it had eerie similarities to last year's meeting. "We can't act like we're much better than anyone after that," Florida coach Steve Spurrier said. "We know we were very fortunate with all the bad things that happened to win this game." After the victory, the Gators gathered at the middle of their field, got in a huge huddle, jumped around and waved- towels as hundreds of flash bulbs went off in The Swamp. "We're going to treat it just like all the other wins," Spurrier said, asked if this was one of his biggest. "We have a lot of room for improvement." No. 1 FLORIDA ST 42, No. 20 NORTH CAROLINA STATE 11: It wasn't revenge, but getting even was a kick. Actually, lots of kicks. Sebastian Janikowski booted five field goals and Florida State forced six turnovers as the top-ranked Seminoles defeated No. 20 North Carolina State Saturday. "We came out strong and they got paid back," Janikowski said. "That's the best feeling ever." Two turnovers by Barnette resulted in Florida State touchdowns. Abdual Howard returned one inter- ception 47 yards for the game's final scnre and Iamal Revnnlds recovered a The Huskers (3-0) gave tip 209 pass- ing yards. and Southern Miss stayed in the game until a Keyo Craver intercep- tion sealed the win for Nebraska It was the second interception of the game for Craver, who tipped the pass that Jackson returned for a TD. No. 7 TEXAS A&M 62, Tt LSA 13 Randy McCown accounted for three touchdowns. one running and two pass- ing, including a school-record 96- yarder to Chris Taylor, as the Aggies capitalized on six turnovers for a 62-13 victory over Tulsa on Saturday night. Texas A&M converted the turnovers into 34 points. "I thought we started off rough but then got into a good tempo." A&M coach R.C. Slocum said. "I was pleased that a lot of players got into the game with their families in the stands." No. 12 GEORGIA TECH 41, CENTRAL FLORIDA 10 Joe Hamilton rushed for a career- best 100 yards and two touchdowns, passed for 161 yards and a score and guided the No. 12 Yellow Jackets to a 41-10 rout of Central Florida. "I don't think Central Florida knew what they were getting into," Hamilton said. "We needed a win. We needed the taste of victory in our mouths again. Unfortunately for them, they were the next team in the way." No. 17 SOUTHERN CAL 24, SAN DIEGO STATE 21: The 17th-ranked Trojans, favored by 23 points, were taken to the wire in edging San Diego State 24-21 Saturday. "We thought it would be an easy one, it wasn't," said Carson Palmer, who threw two touchdown passes to help USC avoid being upset. Jermaine Watkins returned an inter- centon off Palmer 62 yards for a PLAYER OF ThE GAME: THE DEFENSE In a sloppy second half, Michigan's defensive crew kept the Orangemen from capitalizing on Michigan's lack of offensive output. James Hall and the other six rushers forced Troy Nunes into a safety, which clinched Michigan's third victory. AP PHOT A return trip to the national championship bowl seems less likely for Tee Martin after his Volunteers lost to Florida Saturday. The Swamp lived up - or down - to its name, hosting a sloppy, mucky game in which Florida survived five turnovers.