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Sports desk: 647-3336
sportsdesk@umich.edu
SECTION B
t t .., ,.: 9 2
Purdue 32,
Michigan 31.
Blue is not a
perenni-i
title contender
ST LAFAYETE - Pre-
pare for some harsh truths.
The football program at the
University of Michigan is not a perennial
national championship contender. It is a
top-15 team, but it is not a team that can
be expected to finish in the top five each
season.
Michigan is a solid football program,
a good program, on some days maybe
even a great program. It is not a gauntlet.
Michigan is a perennial power in college
football, but not a superpower like Flori-
da State and
Nebraska.
The supposed k
spinoff from
1997 was a pro-
gram that would
compete for the
national title
every year. CHRIS
This hasn't DUPREY
happened.
Michigan fans Dupe's
must accept
some incontro-
vertible facts about this program.
1. 1997 was a special year, with a spe-
cial team. It was not an indication of
things to come. Michigan cannot com-
pete on the national level every year
because it can't take care of business in
games like Saturday's.
2. Michigan, for whatever reason, is
} incapable of employing a killer instinct
that seizes control of games and doesn't
let go.
3. Almost every year, there will be
one "Michigan game" where the
Wolverines blow a game of medium pro-
portions, etching it in the memories of
fans forever who can then say, "Is this
Saturday's game another Illinois '99?"
Recent past examples of these games,
for your future conversational use,
include Purdue '00, UCLA '00, North-
western '96 (17-16 after leading 16-0),
and Purdue '96 (a 9-3 debacle in Michi-
gan's last visit to Ross-Ade Stadium
before Saturday).
Michigan's buffoonery in winnable
games has become a legend that is dog-
ging this program - and this campus.
Saturday was a classic example. The
Wolverines played impeccably on
offense in the first half, scoring a touch-
down on each possession. Purdue made
adjustments at halftime and shut down
Michigan in the second half.
It became evident in the second half
that Michigan made no adjustments at
halftime - none that worked, anyway.
Drew Brees continued to carve up
Michigan's rag-tag defensive backs,
moving down the field and scoring at
will. Even Lloyd Carr admitted that the
Boilermakers "had their way" - quite
an admission from the Big Ten's stoic
coach.
See DUPREY, Page 4B
No consolation:
Icers tie twice
No. 2'M' settles for third place
By Joe Smith
Daily Sports Writer
Almost everyone got to see the matchup they wanted this past
Saturday night in the Ice Breaker Tournament.
Only it took place three hours earlier than expected.
The top two teams in the nation went head to head when No. 1
North Dakota and No. 2 Michigan
took the ice - but not many thought ICE BREAKER
that it would be a battle for third RESULTS
place in the consolation game.
In their second overtime thriller in Friday night
as many nights, the Wolverines (0-0- North Dakota 2
2) once again reached a stalemate New Hampshire 2
with a highly ranked foe, tying (UNH advances in
defending national champion North shootout, 1-0)
Dakota (0-0-2), 5-5. Michigan 2
While their tie against No. 16 Colgate 2
Colgate the night before had to be shootout, 2-0)
decided in a shootout for the single
purpose of advancing a team to the Satrdav night
championship game, both teams felt Michigan S
that "picking a loser" in another North Dakota 5
shootout was unnecessary and New Hampshire 7
unfair. Colgate 3
"It didn't make any sense," North Full ice Breaker
Dakota coach Dean Blais said. "You coverage, Page 68
work hard enough for 65 minutes. It
was frustrating enough the way the penalties were going, but let's
just get this game over with and each take our tie."
The highly-anticipated matchup was more indicative of each
team's special teams than anything else, with eight of the 10 goals
being on the power play - including all five of North Dakota's
tallies.
"With all of the penalties, you couldn't really get a good flow
in the game," Fighting Sioux defenseman Travis Roche. "It was
basically their snipers against our snipers."
Each team's special teams units consumed a great amount of
ice time, restricting the ability of coaches to use all of their lines
in unison, which did not play into Michigan's strength of four bal-
anced lines competing five on five.
But it also gave the Wolverines a chance to improve on
See TOURNEY, Page 6B
DANA LINNANE/Daily
The Drew that won - Brees - passed for 286 yards and completed 32-of-44 passes with one touchdown on Saturday.
Goodwill lets Purdue back, -
By Stephanie Offen
Daily Sports Editor
WEST LAFAYETTE - It seemed
like a script.
From Drew Henson's perfectly execut-
ed first drive to Travis Dorsch's second-
chance field goal, Saturday's 32-31 loss
to Purdue is one for the history books.
Dorsch, an inconsistent field goal
kicker at best, was handed a second
chance to save the game for Purdue by
the Michigan offense.
With only two minutes left in the
game and his team down by two points,
Dorsch - six for nine this season, and
three missed field goals in Purdue's Out-
back Bowl loss last season - missed
again.
After Purdue quarterback Drew Brees
brought the Boilermakers within two
after being down by 18 at the half, he
led the Boilermakers to field-goal posi-
tion on Michigan's 15-yard line.
The game rested on Dorsch. But the
kicker missed the uprights wide left and
handed the opportunity back to the
Wolverines on their own 20-yard line.
Henson tried to waste the clock with
two ineffective running plays, only to
lose a yard on the two attempts. And
Henson had a third-and-11 staring him
in the face.
"I had to throw on third-and-I I " Hen-
son said. "If we make that play, we win
the game."
No play was made.
Instead, theI1 I-yard pass to Marquise
Walker sailed over his head and only 30
seconds had been taken off the clock.
Michigan was forced to punt.
The Boilermakers, who missed only
one third down conversion all day, had
no problem driving down the field once
again. Brees led his team 44 yards in a
minute and a half, putting Dorsch right
back where he was before - with the
ball on the 15-yard line.
But this time there were only four sec-
onds left on the clock, no time for more
chances.
As 68,340 very skeptical eyes looked
down on the inconsistent kicker, Dorsch
See LOSS, Page 4B
Indiana demolishes 'M' soccer
NCAA's biggest power teaches Blue hard lesson
NORMAN NG/Daily
Marie Spaccarotella (6) and the Michigan women's soccer
team dropped a tight match to Michigan State yesterday.
Spartans coolof
women's soccer
By Sam Duwe
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Yesterday's women's soccer game was
as close as most of the fans were to the second stages of
hypothermia.
But thanks to a lucky goal in the second half, Michigan State
defeated Michigan in a cold andtblustery afternoon,1s-0.
Michigan was plagued with the same problem it has experi-
enced all year - the inability to put the ball into the net.
"We had a lot of chances," sophomore forward Abby Crump-
ton said. "We knew this game was
MICHIGAN STATE 1 going to be rough, some of us came
out to play, but not all of us, not the
MICHIGAN 0 whole team."
With more than double the shots
on goal than Michigan State, Michigan's shots were over the
net, wide, blocked or stolen. But they didn't go in.
"We're good in the cold, we're good on the road," senior cap-
tain Kacy Beitel said. "We just weren't good today."
It's the same story with all of Michigan's losses this year.
With a solid defense, it's the offense that is sporadic, producing
either mass amounts of goals or none at all.
So as the sun tried to peek out behind the dark cloud cover, the
first half ticked by, scoreless. It wasn't until 17 minutes left in the
second half before the potential overtime threat was lifted. Michi-
gan State scored on a header in front of the net, causing an erup-
David Moss
ily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON - The
Michigan men's soccer team was
dealt a dose of reality yesterday
INDIANA 7
MICHIGAN 0
after -
noon in
the form
of a 7-0
a Ctirn
with high hopes.
Those hopes quickly faded as
the Hoosiers jumped all over
Michigan from the start. Five min-
utes into the game, Indiana for-
ward Tyler Hawley split two
Wolverines and was taken down
inside the box. Senior Matt Fun-
denberger converted the penalty
for a 1-0 lead.
"It's an intimidating environ-
ment to come into," Michigan
coach Steve Burns said. "They
have a tremendous homefield
advantage and they use it by going
for the jugular right away."
Midway through the first half,
Fundenberger struck again after
And from that point, the rout
was on.
Minutes later midfielder
Michael Bock added another,
flicking a ball past Geldres' out-
stretched arms for the Hoosiers
third goal.
Still in the first half, Funden-
berger completed his hat-trick with
a powerful header off a great cross
from Josh Rife.
But Indiana saved their best for
last. With just minutes remaining
in the first half, sophomore mid-
fielder Pat Noonan embarked on a
spectacular run, leaving Michigan
defenders Kevin Taylor and J.J.
Kern in the dust, and fed forward
the hands of the Hoosiers.
It might have been too much to
ask for the young Wolverines, in
their inaugural varsity season, to
compete with the two-time defend-
ing national champions in their
backyard.
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