The Michigan Daily - SportsThursday - January 4, 2001 - 5B CITRUS BOWL VISUALS r _ F P,1005' D'VDAZD ABOVE: Auburn quarterback Ben Leard is crushed by Michigan defenders. Leard returned the favor by penetrating the Michigan defense for 394 yards. BELOW: Defensive lineman Eric Wilson (94) and linebacker Victor Hobson are pumped after a crucial stop. I,, ; / ' Z ,< ar *o / :.,,, - p [law~ GAME PROGRESSION FIRST QUARTER: Auburn won the toss and elected to receive. The Tigers were forced to punt on their first series. Michigan moved the ball well, but a Rob Pate sack of Drew Henson stalled the drive. Hayden Epstein's 40-yard field goal was no good. After another three-and-out by Auburn, the Wolverines went back to work. A screen to Anthony Thomas and a 20-yard Thomas rush set up a 31-yard touchdown pass from Henson to Terrell off a flea flicker. Terrell out jumped two defenders to come down with the ball. Michigan 7, Auburn 0 SECOND QUARTER: The Tigers responded with a grind-it-out, 80-yard, 16-play touchdown drive. Ben Leard's 19- yard pass on 3rd-and-8 to Roriney Daniels was good for the score. The drive took 7:10. Michigan 7, Auburn 7 Michigan punted and Auburn punched it in again. Two recep- tions by Clifton Robinson of 32 and 20 yards were huge on the drive. The latter was the touch- down catch. Auburn 14, Michigan 7 Michigan's offense quickly kick- started. After a 23-yard reception earlier in the drive. B.J. Askew got his due, grabbing a four-yard' touchdown pass from Henson. That capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:23. Michigan 14, Auburn 14 The Wolverines forced a punt but Ron Bellamy fumbled it away. Auburn pressed to take the lead but Julius Curry read Leard per- fectly for an interception at the Michigan 15. His return set the Wolverines up nicely at its 46. From there, it was Thomas' time. His 11-yard touchdown run was the record-breaker. Michigan 21, Auburn 14 THIRD QUARTER: The Tigers stopped Michigan on its first drive and began to move the football. An 18-yard pass to Robinson on 3rd-and-13 kept the drive alive. On 4th-and-2 from the Michigan 32, Leard's pass was tipped and DeWayne Patmon came down with it. A 32-yard pass to Terrell on the ensuing drive kept things moving for Thomas, who scored his sec- ond touchdown of the day on a 25-yard run. Thomas broke through the line and no one from the secondary was around to stop him. Michigan 28, Auburn 14 Its back against the wall, Auburn responded. Leard exploited Michigan's cornerbacks again with a 47-yard pass to Daniels. A 12-yard run by Rudi Johnson punched it in. Michigan 28, Auburn 21 Aided by a 52-yard pass to Terrell, Michigan moved into scor- ing position. This time a holding penalty stalled things. Epstein converted a 41-yard field goal to make it a two-possession 9AMo Michigan 31, Auburn 21 FOURTH QUARTER: Big pass plays from Leard to Marcel Willis put Auburn in Michigan territory again. A penalty hurt the cause, and Auburn had to settle for a field-goal try. But the usually reliable Damon Duval was partially blocked from 40 yards out. The Wolverines burned some clock before punting to Auburn with 3:53 remaining. The Tigers moved quickly, and Leard found Deande Green for a 21-yard strike with 2:26 left. The lead was now three. Michigan 31, Auburn 28 ing onside kick. Auburn had two timeouts, but a key quarterback draw by Henson gave Michigan the first down it needed to kill the clock. Final: Michigan 31, Auburn 28 20 SAO RSL...............S....S....... ........ 2000 SEASON RESULTUS JESSICA JOHNSON/Daly FOUR IN A ROW: Sports Illustrated calls the Michigan coaching position one of the easiest in college football. But despite an 8-3 season, Lloyd Carr has taken the Wolverines to four-straight bowl games, and won all of them. He is the first coach in Michigan history to do so. L i 1 / THE 2000 SEASON - PROMISE, FRUSTRATION, SATISFACTION NAVARRE IN, HENSON OUT A week and a half before the season start- ed and no one knew the name of Michigan's backup quarterback. All eyes focused on Drew Henson, Michigan's "Golden Boy." But a wrong step in practice left Henson with a broken foot and Navarre with an opportunity of a lifetime. And after a 42-7 win over Bowiing Green and a 38-7 victory over Rice, people took notice of Michigan's new leader. NO ESCAPE FROM L.A.' A trip to the Rose Bowl wasn't enough incentive for Navarre and the third-ranked Wolverines to hold on to a 10-point half- time lead. After Hayden Epstein missed two field goals and an extra point in the 23- 20 loss, he lost field-goal and extra-point kicking duties to Jeff Del Verne. Running back Justin Fargas was moved from run- ning back to defensive back after the loss. TRACKING THE TRAIN'S RECORDS Anthony Thomas finished his Michigan career as strong as ever at the Citrus Bowl. It was only a year ago that Thomas contemplated leaving the Wolverines for the NFL. Now he holds almost every running back record at Michigan. Along with racking up 4.472 career rushing yards to pass Jamie Morris for a Michigan season-rushing record. Anthony Thomas added a few more accolades this season: " Modern-era school record for career scoring (336 points), School record for career touchdowns (56). Two Citrus Bowl MVP awards, the first Michigan player in 55 years to be named a bowl MVP twice'. i Four-straight bowl victories in his career, the first time the Wolverines have won four-straight bowl games. Finished career with 924 carries and 55 rushing touchdowns. Coming into the Citrus Bowl, Thomas already held the record for career rushing touchdowns: KOAv i y2arz Sen ibr trib leave.s mark on Varsity RETURN OF DREW After sitting on the sidelines for three weeks, Henson returned late in the first half against Illinois. After a 14-point k deficit early in the second, half, Henson led the Wolverines back to a 35-31 vic- tory. The quarterback continued his win- nigways in Michigan's lowest-scoring victory of the season, a 13-10 win over Wisconsin. -KNOCKED DOWN BUT UP AGAINg 0 Travis Dorsch had two chances to send the Wolverines home with a loss from Purdue. He made the second. After Michigan took a 28-10 lead in the first half, it suffered a devastating 32-31 last-second loss. But the Wolverines bounced back the next two weeks with shutouts of Indiana and Michigan State at home. SEASON LOW BIG TEN CHAMPIONS Purdue and Northwestern suff season upsets to give the Wol share of the Big Ten title if they No. 12 Ohio State. In Michiga impressive victory of the sea Wolverines' 38-26 victory sent the Citrus Bowl and John Coopert with a 2-10-1 record agai It only took four days to make Michigan's debacle at Northwestern an ESPN classic. Damien Anderson almost took the role of scapegoat when he dropped a touchdown pass with three-min- utes to go and a two-point deficit. But just a few plays later, Anthony Thomas took over that role, as he fumbled, setting up a touchdown for the 54-51 victory. ered late- verines a defeated n's most k< son, the N4 them to to Tampa nst the - OFFEN Continued from Page 18 record at Michigan before halftime of the Citrus Bowl. He broke the record while scoring Michigan s go-ahead touchdown at the end of the second quarter. Thomas and Michigan never looked back. With that touchdown and the many records he broke while scoring it, Thomas proved worthy of so much more than a second Citrus Bowl MVP award. In his four years. he became a motivation for success for the entire team. The ever-modest running back did- n't even realize he had broken the rushing record with the touchdown. He wasn't the only one. "I didn't realize he broke the record because the statistics on the score- board were lower because of the times I got sacked," Henson joked. "But when I found out I went over the sidelines and shook his hand... I told him how much fun it was to play with him." But one can be sure that H utchinson and Backus knew exactly when the record was broken. In the words of Thomas, "the offen- sive line bragged about the record all season." Hutchinson admitted that the .-,-nr art n f-th.a tho ffe- Backus' names won't also be listed next to that record in the history books. Most don't remember the names of Jamie Morris' blockers, and sadly, in 20 years. the same will hap- pen for Hutchinson and Backus. But they know what they have accomplished. This is a memory for themselves and their teammates, "It was special that he was untouched walking into the endzone," Hutchinson said. "That is something that we will always remember." There is no doubt that a loss of Terrell and Henson would devastate next season's offensive statistics. But the loss of three individuals will hurt the entire team's morale. Fans may not remember the two offensive linemen but Thomas will - and that's all that matters. "I don't know a lot, but I do know this." Carr said. "It is a team game and those guys up front blocked hard- er than they would if they were just doing it for themselves." Those three added something to Michigan football that is often forgot- ten with flashy touchdowns and large contracts - teamwork. Thomas' record will be a constant reminder of that. - Stephanie Offen can be r'eached at soffen(4 umich.edu. Date Sept. 2 Sept. 9 Sept. 16 Sept. 23 Sept. 30 Oct. 7 Oct. 14 Oct. 21 Nov. 4 Nov. 11 Nov. 18 Jan. 1 H OW THE AP TOP 25 FARED Associated Press Poll final regular-season rankings. Games updated through January 4. 'M' 2001 SCHEDULE 1. Oklahoma 2. Miami (Fla.) 3. Florida State 4. washington 5. Oregon State 6. Virginia Tech 7. Florida 8. Oregon 9. Nebraska 10. Notre Dame 11. Kansas State 19 Tr2,, beat No. 3 Florida State 132 beat No. 7 Florida 37-20 lost to No. 1 Oklahoma 13-2 beat No. 14 Purdue 34-24 beat No. 10 Notre Dame 41-9 beat No. 16 Clemson 41-20 lost to No. 2 Miami 37-20 beat No. 12 Texas 35-30 beat No. 18 Northwestern 60-17 lost to No. 5 Oregon State 41-9 beat No. 21 Tennessee 35-21 ils toNo.n 8 Oregnn 3-3 Orange Bowl Sugar Bowl Orange Bowl Rose Bowl Fiesta Bowl Gator Bowl Sugar Bowl Holiday Bowl Alamo Bowl Fiesta Bowl Cotton Bowl Holiday Bowl Date Sept. 1 Sept. 8 Sept. 15 Sept. 22 Oct. 6 Oct. 13 Oct. 27 Nov. 3 Nov. 10 Nov. 17 Nov. 24 Opoonent MIAMI (OHIO) at washington WESTERN MICHIGAN ILLNols at Penn State PURDUE (HC) at Iowa at Michigan State MINNESOTA at wisconsin OHio STATE Opponent Time-TV/Result BOWLING GREEN W, 42-7 RICE W, 38-7 at UCLA L, 23-20 at Illinois W, 35-31 'WISCONSIN W, 13-10 at Purdue L,"32-31 x INANa - W 58-0 MICHIGAN STATE W, 14-0 at Northwestern L, 54-51 PENN STATE W, 33-11 at Ohio State - W, 38-26 Auburn W, 31-28 I