The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 25, 2000- 5B. ILLI Carr pulls Epstein for Del Verne THE CALL OF THE ZEBRA By David4Den Herder Jaly Spor Editor HAMPAIGN - Saturday night was no sortnal football Saturday for the Fhting Illiti. Memorial Stadium was erflowing and buzzing like it hadn't in years. Some compared the atmos- phere to Illinois' Rose Bowl season of 1983. Fireworks even thundered off the towers during pregame festivities. What fireworks went off in the Michigan lockerroom during halftime, ony the Wolverines know. But however it hipened, when the Wolverines came out for the second half, they had a new ker kter missing two field goals and a PAT last week and botching another 32- yder in the first half Saturday, kicker H1y16en Epstein was pulled for senior Jcf Del Verne. "t have a lot of confidence in Hayden," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr saiO. "But I think anytime you've been around a while and you miss a few field goals, you're pressed a little bit. So I went with Jeff." Epstein's powerful leg did handle ickoffs in the second half, but anything requiring accuracy was up to Del Verne. Epstein's punting duties were also called into question when the junior bobbled a low snap in his own end- zone, and instead of throwing the ball backward for a safety, tried to punt while being tackled. The kick made it out to the Michigan three-yard line and Illinois quickly scored on the next v. Michigan never punted in the second half, but senior punter Cory Sargent could be seen practicing with long snap- per Jeremy Miller on the sideline after the break. As for who will start next week against No. 17 Wisconsin, Carr said, "We'll just see it practice" FAKE AND BAKE: Ti. thin smile that creeps across Carr's face after a suc- cessful gimmick play made an incot- spicuous return Saturdav at Memorial Stadium. With the Wolverines showing punt: on their first drive of the night, I psteit xery convincinglv flailed his arms in >anic as if the snap had sailed over Itis head. in reality, the snap went straight to Walter Cross, who went straight up the middle 41 vards to set up Michigan's first touchdown. "That's not unlike Lloyd to do that:' Illinois coach Ron Turner said. "We had some one assigned to the fullback, and they blocked him." RMxtsE tilE t t Carr's gimmick grin was replaced with a furious rage late in the fourth quarter Saturday when officials penalized Larry Foote for excessive celebration. After 'Sopping Illinois on third down and seemingly forcing a punt, the Wolverines were penalized 15 yards and the Illini kept the ball. After the stop, Foote waved his arnis in celebration. "I never knew that was a penalty," Foote said. "I've done it 100 tmes. The officials did not give an explaination. "lie just said, You guys can do that" Foote said. SWITCH HITTERa: Drew Hten son was- j nt the only new addition to the Michigan offense late in the first half Saturday. Cornerback James Whitley once again tried his hand at iron man football. checkin' in at receiver for Henson. "Wherever they need me. I'll play I know what it's all about and I'mi just trving to help the team:' Whil"tisaid. The seior had one catch for I I yards. "If they need me to play center. I'll playit. Ijsst wiant to xin" Wltitlev said. The three judgements that made the game Larry Footeis called" or Foote: unsportsmanlike conduct for waving his arms toward the crowd, some- unsports- thing he says has been manlike done hundreds of times. p l The call nullified what penalty would have been fourth- and-eight for Illinois. Rockey With 3:53 left and Harvey: Michigan down 31-28, Harvey collects a screen from Kittner and is sent flip- Is it a ping by Victor Hobson. The fumble? fumble looks to be caused by the ground, but the men in stripes say fumble. Anthony Did he or didn't he? While Thomas: the replay clearly shows the ball popping loose well before he hits the ground, Is it a Thomas is ruled down by fumble? the officials. Michigan Part IL scores the game-winning touchdown on the next play. t . Saturday, coach Lloyd Carr inserted fifth-year senior Jef. Del Verne for extra points in place of kicker/punter Hayden Epstein. Epstein continued on kickoffs, but for the second straight game struggled on punts and field goals. Epstein's kicking troubles and points lost: at UCLA -7 points Missed two field goals (46 and 22 yards) and one PAT. at Illinois -8 points. Mishandled low snap and instead of taking safety tried to punt. Play resulted in the Fighting Illini recovering at the three-yard line. Illinois scored on the next play - a five point turnaround. Also missed a 32-yarder at the end of the half. cLE is Lloyd Carr says he still Season: 1-5 field goals, 14-15 PAT's. Epstein has per- has confidence in his formed admirably on punts. kicker/punter Hayden Epstein, Carr chose to Del Verne was three for three on extra points, and did replace him with Jeff not have the opportunity to kick a field goal. He played Del Verne on field goals in seven games last season. Carr replaced Dev Verne Saturday. issAl uith e-xssnn_ ixei op ctn t n101 i~inV nl iis csi a wt distance-kickert peintaveruinois field goal and an extra point versus Illinois. N'western shocks Big Ten, Lions continue downfall GAME PROGRESSION FIRsT QUARTER: Michigan drives to midfield on the first possession of the game, and Walter Cross runs 41 yards on a fake punt to move the Wolverines deep into Illini territory. Anthony Thomas caps the drive with a 2yard touchdown run. Michigan 7 Illinois 0 SECOND QUARTER: Early in the second quarter, Hayden Epstein drops a snap in - the Michigan endzone, and then punts the ball out of bounds at the Wolverine 3. Illinois running back Antoineo Hartis runs in from two yards out on the next play. Michigan 7, Illinois 7 With Michigan struggling behind QB John Navarre, Iltni QB Kurt Kittner hits receiver Aaron Moorehead for 58 yards to the Michigan 6, and running back Rocky Harvey scores a touch- down on the next play. Illinois 14, Michigan 7 Drew Henson enters the game at quarterback for Michigan, and takes the offense to the Illinois 1C, where Epstein misses a 32 yard field goal. THIRD QUARTER: Illinois opens the second half of the game by marching 63 yards. scoring on a Kitner to Josh Whitman 15 yard touchdown pass. Illinois 21. Michigan 7 Michigan counters the llint touch - down, and puts together an 80 - yard drive capped off by an eight yard Henson scramble for a touchdown. Illinois 21. Michigan 14 After the next lilinois drive stalls out on the Michigan 7. Steve Fitts boots a 24 yard field goal. Illinois 24, Michigan 14 FOURTH QUARTER: Michigan almost immediately answers the Illinois field goal, as Henson completes a 57 yard bomb to David Terrell, who tip' toes his way to the endzone. Illinois 24, Michigan 21 Illinois again had an answer for a Michigan score, going 80 yards in' just seven plays to put another touchdown on the board. This one comes as Kittner hits ErictMcGoey from 17 yards out for the score.; Illinois 31, Michigan 21 Five plays after a B.J. Askew kickoff return put Michigan in great field position at the lilini 45, freshman running back Chris Perry rushes 15 yards for a touchdown. Illinois 31. Michigan 28 With under four minutes to go, Michigan forces an Illinois turnover, recovering a fumble on the Illini 26 yard line. Thomas rushes three times, scor- - ing from three yards out to give the Wolverines the lead back. Michigan 36, Illinois 31 With one last chance to win the game, Illinois turns the ball over again with a fumble, and Michigan runs out the clock. Final: Michigan 36, Illinois 31 WHO'S NEXT; WISCONSIN Michigan comes off a critica come-from- behind win on the road over Illinois and will host Wisconsin in a huge conference- match-up. Wisconsin is trying to rebound from a devastating 47-44, double overtime loss-' to Northwestern at Sorne. Tee less came' in the final game of a four-game stretch the Badgers had to face without several key players lost to suspension. THE cOncCERNS: Any ball near the wolverine seconday; wisconsin looking for revenge; Drew Henson staying healthy; Injuries on defense. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............--- -- ..... -... . . ...- BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Big Ten Overall Ohio State 1 0 4 0 Michigan 1 0 3 1 Northwestern 1 0 3 1 Purdue 1 0 3 1 Michigan State 0 0 3 0 Indiana 0 0 1 2 Iowa 0 0 0 4 Illinois 0 1 3 1 Wisconsin 0 1 3 1 Minnesota 0 1 2 2 Penn State - 0 1 1 4 THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS Michigan 35, IkOtis 31 OHIO STATE 45, Penn State 6 PURDUE 38, Minnesota 24 Northwestern 47, WISCONSIN 44 (2 OT) INDIANA 42, Cincinnati 6 NEBRASKA 42, Iowa 13 MicHIGAN STATE 27, Notre Dane 21 .M SCHEDULE Date Onpongat Time-UTV/Resyal Sept. 2 BOwsuNG GREEN W. 42-7 Sept. 9 RicE W. 38-7 Sept. 16 at UCLA L 23-20 Sept. 23 at Illinois W. 331 Sept. 30 wiscONsiN Noon, ABC Oct. 7 at Purdue TBA Oct. 14 INsoANA 3:30. ABC Oct. 21 MIcHIGAN STATE 3:30. ABC Nov. 4 at Northwestern TBA Non. 11 PEON STATE NrAs Nv, 18 at Ohio State Noon. ABC MADISON (AP)-The other shoe finally fell on the Wisconsin Badgers. "I was probably the least surprised person out of 80,000 here today," Northwestern coach Randy Walker said after Damien Anderson's 12-yard TD run in the second overtime gave the Wildcats a 47-44 v-tory over Wisconsin on Saturdax. U oments earlier, the Badgers (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) had taken a 44-41 lead on Vitaly Pisetskx s 39-yard field goal. Northwestern (3-I, 1-0), which had never scored this many points against Wisconsin, got 174 yards on 21 carries from Anderson, who also scored on a 69- yard run midway through the fourth quarter. The Badgers completed their NC.AA-mandated suspensions by sitting out six players against the Wildcats, including No. I receiver Chris Chambers and All-American cornerback Jamar Fletcher. They were among 26 players who got caught receiving *dvertised discounts at a shoe store. It looked as though Wisconsin would make it through the punishment unbeaten when Pisetsky's 47-yard field goal gave the Badgers a 34-31 lead with 5F seconds left in regulation. But, just as Cincinnati did a week earlier,. Northwestern quickly moved downfiehd for a game- tying field goad as time expired. Tim Long was good from 46 yards. No. 1 NEBRASKA 42, losA 13 --- Eric Crouch 0de nearly every pass count against lowa, and No. ebraska came away with another victor. Crouch-only threw the ball 13 times Saturday, but the results couldn't have been much better ---- 10 completions, five touchdowns and a 42-13 win over the Hawkeves. Nebraska (3-0) will never be confused with a pass- ing team and even though most of its points came through the air, the Cornhuskers ran for 331 yards against the Hawkeyes (0-4). } The )-Huskers weren't able to put the game away until Crouch's 4-yard TD pass to Wistrom with 1:27 left in the game. Troy vWatchorn added a 39-vard interception return for a TD with 55 seconds left. .No. 12 0mo SAE 45, PENN Sr 6 - _-Joe Paterno was expected to pile uLp a few coaching mile- stones this season, but not like this. Six players scared touchdowns as Ohio State beat Penn State 45-6 ct Sunda, handing Paterno his most lopsided loss and his worst start ever. Stuck on 318 career victories. Paterno remains five victories shy of tying Bear Bryant for the most wins by a major college coach. The loss nave Penn State its first 1-4 start under Paterno, matching the school's worst record through five games since 1964 when Rip Engle was head coach. Ohio State ntaoted to 4-0 fr the seventh time in the last 10 years. Goach John Cooper wasn't surprised by the outcome in the Big Ten opener for both teambut was by the margin. "Never did f dream we would beat Penn State as badly as we did" he said. After winining its first coin toss of the year, Penn State kicked off to the Buckeyes and were behind 7- 0 almost immediately and trailed 17-0 at the half No.18 MtIciaN St.27, NOTRE DAtE 21 --- Jeff' Smoker made up for two mistakes with one big play. The freshlinen quarterback threw a 68-yard touch- down pass to Herb Haygood with 1:48 left, lifting Michigan State to a 27-21 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday. Smoker threw a perfect pass to H aygood ott fourth-and-10 after turning the ball over twice in the final 13 mintes - a fumble at Michigan State's 12 and an intercpilition at the. "It was great to have them put the ball in my hands on fourth down," Smoker said. I'm just glad I could come through after making those two mistakes" Michigan State (3-0) has won nine consecutive games at hone, while the Irish (2-2) have lost eight straight on the road. Julius Jones' 2-yardTD run put Notre Dame ahead 21-20 with 7:59 left, one play after Anthony Weaver's interception. Jones gained 126 vards on 26 carries. After the Spartans took the lead, Notre Dame was unable to complete a pass when it got the ball back with 1:48 left after Haygood's touchdown. No. 22 Plot. e 38, Mtsxesot s24 -Minnesota coach (cien Mason is thankful that he's done witilt Purdue's Drew Brees. Brees set Bii Ten career records for completions and attempts Saturday, throwing for 409 yards and two touchdowns i Nso. 21 Purdue's 38-24 victory over Minnesota. Brees. who was 33-of-49 has 1.325 attempts, 820 completions, 9,487 yards and 73 touchdown passes in 36 games. He topped the Big Ten marks of 797 completions set by Illinois' Jack Trudeau and 1.309 attempts by Purdue's Mark Herrmann.. His total offense of 497 vards made him the see- ond player ins conference history to accumulate 10,000 yards. Brees has 10,036 and needs 219 to top the record set by owa s Chuck Long. Purdue (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) built a 24-0 lead over Minnesota (2-2, 0-1) in the first half and was never challenged as it beat the Giolden Gophers forthe fifth consecutive tisme. ORco 29, No.8 UCLA 10: The reviews on UCLA's road show are in, and they are not good. Maurice Morris ran for 139 vards and two touch- downs as Oregon beat UCLA 29-10 on Satucan .or its I 7th straight home victory and the Bruis' seventh straight road defeat - their first this season. Oregon (3-1) dominated in almost every category, holding UCLA (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) to minus-9 yards rushing in the Pac-10 opener for both teams. The Bruins failed to win a game on the road. UCLA was coming off a victorv over then-No. 3 Michigan, and opened the season with a win over Alabama ---- also No. 3 at the time. - iompiCpledl hr Chris Bie fiiuiii sta//isdl tit' 'rejot'ts AP PHoo Northwestern's Damien Anderson (20) is congratulated by Rolf Reinalda (88) after running for 69-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. i WEEKEN SOUTH CAROLINA GAMEcOCKS - Coming off an 0-11 season, South Carolina coach Lou Holtz didn't F have many reasons to smile. Although Holtz said early on this year his squad was going to bet- ter, never could the former Notre Dame coach ever have' imagined 'is sq uad would start out 3-0. defeat 10th-ranked Georgia. and see the goalpost of Williams-Brice Stadium come down two different times in the first three weeks. And after this week, Holtz is still smiling. The Gamecocks upset another ranked team on Saturday when '25th-ranked Mississippi State became Holtz's fourth victim of the year. Erik Kimrey, who came in for Gamecocks' starting quar- erback Phil Petty, threw a 25- ard touchdown pass to Jermale Kelly on fourth-and-10 to guide South Carolina to a 23-19 victory. Kelly finished the game with nine catches for 123 yards. This is the first time South Carolina has started 4-0 since 1988, when the squad finished 8-4. The win skyrocketed the Gameocks into the Top 25 D'S BEST HOW THE AP TOP 25 FARED Associated Press Poil for week of September 17th. Games updated through September 24th. ERIC CROUCH - The Nebraska quarterback threw the ball only 13 times against Iowa on Saturday, but Crouch proved that quantity doesn't really matter as the Husker quarter- back threw for five touchdowns, leading the nations top-ranked team to a 42-13 win over the Hawkeyes. The junior set a Husker record for touchdown passes in one game as he threw passes of 31, 12, 43, 10, and four yards respectively to lead Nebraska's romp. Crouch ended the day with 159 yards in the air. -t lAatsimer 1. Nebraska (3-0) 2. Florida State (4-0) 3. Florida (4-0) 4. Kansas State (4-0) 5. Virginia Tech (3-0) 6. UCLA (3-1) 7. Wisconsin (3-1) 8. Washington (3-0) 9. Southern Cal (30) 10. Michigan (3-1) 11. Clemson (4-0) 12. Miami (2-1) 13. Tennessee (2-1) 14. Ohio State (4-0) 15. Texas (2-1) 16. Notre Dame (2-2) 17. Oklahoma (3-0) 18. TCU (30) 19. Illinois (3-1) 20. Auburn (4-0) 21. Purdue (3-1) 22. Southern Miss (2-1) 23. Michigan State (3-0) 24. Georgia (2-1) 25. Mississippi (21) beat Iowa 42-13 Missouri beat Louisville at Maryland beat Kentucky 59-31 at Mississippi State beat North Texas 5510 at Colorado idle at Boston College lost to Oregon 29-10 Arizona State lost to Northwestern 47-44 (20T) at Michigan idle at Oregon beat San Jose State 34-24 at Oregon State beat llinois 35-31 Wisconsin beat Virginia 31-10 at Duke beat West Virginia 47-10 at Rutgers beat Louisiana-Monroe 70-3 LSU beat Penn State 45-6 idle beat Houston 48-0 Oklahoma State lost to Michigan State 27-21 idle beat Rice 42-14 Kansas Arkansas State 52-3 Navy lost to Michigan 3531 Minnesota beat Northern Illinois 31-14 Vanderbilt beat Minnesota 38-24 at Penn State beat Oklahoma State 28-6 Memphis beat Notre Dame 27-21 Northewestern beat New Mexico State 37-0 Arkansas lost to South Carolina 2319 Florida NEW AP TOP 25 (first-place votes in parentheses) TEAM PTS PVS 1. Nebraska (39) (3-0) 1,743 1 2. Florida State (30) (3-0) 1 ,732 2 3. Florida (1) (4-0) 1,603 3 4. Virginia Tech (3-0) 1,491 S 5. Kansas State (1) (4-0) 1,484 4 6. Washington (3-0) 1,426 8 7. Clemson (4-0) 1,223 11 8. Southern Cal (3-0) 1,181 9 9. Michigan 13-11 1.160 10 10. Miami Fla. (2-1) 1,079 12 11. Tennessee(2-1) 1,043 13 12. Ohio State (4-0) 995 14 13. Texash(2-1) 747 15 14. Oklahoma (3-0) 740 17 15. UCLA (3-1) 727 6 16. Texas Christian (3-0) 640 18 17. Wisconsin (3-11) 5947 18. Michigan State (3-tI 583 23 19. Auburn (4-0) 545 20 20. Oregon (3-1) 457 NR 21. Southern Miss. (2-1) 418 22 22. Purdue (3-1) 414 21 23. South Carolina (4-0) 291 NR 24. Illinois (3-1) 268 19 25. Georgia (2-0) 199 24 Dropped Out: No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 25 Mississippi State i