Zee ftli jn tt1&Il iPORTS michigandaiiy.com /sports FRIDAY OCTOBER 5, 2001 4w. Sad days in Happy oePa's Penn State not good enough for Blue Valley Paterno won't catch Bryant this weekend By Jeff Phillips Daily Sports Editor At 0-3, Penn State has equaled its worst start in the Joe Patemo era. The Nittany Lions have lost to Miami (Fla.), Wisconsin and Iowa and the games haven't really been that close - the teams were just better than Penn State. The next five games -- including the Michigan game this Saturday -- are against teams equal to or better than Wis- consin or Iowa. Penn State needs to find an advantage, but with one of the least talented teams in a long time, it just may not have any. MICHIGAN RUSH OFFENSE VS. PENN STATE RUSH DEFENSE: Walter Cross stepped up admirably in tailback Chris Perry's absence and B.J. Askew contin- ues to prove that he can be the go-to guy in the Michigan offense. Penn State has been sieve-like in allowing over 200 yards of rushing per game, including 320 yards to Wisconsin in its second game of the season. The Nittany Lions have shown very little ability to stop any kind of ground attack and are allowing 4.4 yards per carry. Edge: Michigan MICHIGAN PASS OFFENSE VS. PENN STATE PASS DEFENSE: Against Illinois, *wide receiver Ron Bellamy finally showed the play that was expected of him as he caught his first touchdown of the season. He should continue to com- plement Marquise Walker, who is having a career season thus far. Penn State is allowing nearly the same amount of yards in the air that it is on the ground, to total over 450 yards of offense allowed per game. Perhaps the most, telling statistic is that the opponents are completing 65 percent of their passes against the Nittany Lions. Edge: Michigan PENN STATE RUSH OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN RUSH DEFENSE: When one thinks of a recent Penn State rushing attack, he or she thinks of Ki-Jana Carter, Curtis Enis or Blair Thomas. Eric McCoo was expected to join these Penn State greats, but thus far not lived up to expectations. They are averaging a miniscule 46 yards per game and have been held well under that in their last two. Penn State also has yet to score a rushing touch- down. Simply put, Michigan has completely shut down every rushing attack it has faced. Larry Foote and company are allowing under 60 yards per game with their exceptional speed and anticipation. Edge: Michigan PENN STATE PASS OFFENSE VS. MICHIGAN PASS DEFENSE: All three of Penn State's touchdowns have come in the air. Redshirt freshman Zack Mills has replaced Matt Senneca as the starter, and is showing that there is hope for a Penn State passing game in the future - but not necessarily in the present. Wide receiver Bryant Johnson is clear- ly the number one target in the-"attack, accounting for nearly half of the yardage. He's also scored two touchdowns so far this year. The Michigan defense is allowing 270 By Raphael Goodstein Daily Sports Editor It's understandable why every- one's a little agitated in Happy Val- ley. The Nittany Lions (0-2 Big Ten, 0-3 overall) haven't started 0-4 in the last 115 years, and with so much attention on Joe Paterno's quest to to tie Bear Bryant's Division I-A record of 323 wins, it appears the team is cracking. After Penn State's 24-18 loss to Iowa, Paterno was asked if he's see- ing improvement. He responded, "I feel better about this one then about the first two - if you can feel good about getting licked." Then when askedabout Bryant's record, he simply sighed, stood up, and left. End of press conference. So what do the Nittany Lions think about this? "He's one win away from tying one of the greatest records in college football, and we're pretty much just messing around right now. We want to go out there and see if we can get that win for him," lineman Chris McKelvy said. And to think, it was only a year and a half ago that Penn State was ranked No. 2 in the country and was talking about the national title. It was once assumed that Joe Paterno would own the record, but with a tough schedule still ahead and with Florida State's Bobby Bowden trailing by only four wins, it now looks like Paterno might never see the record. Meanwhile, everything's hunky dory for Michigan, Penn State's opponent this week. The Wolverines handled then-No. 22 Illinois 45-20 last week and are talking about another Big Ten title and a BCS bid. "We've got goals ahead of us to achieve," junior safety Julius Curry said. "Once the Big Ten starts we have to take our play to another level. We have to show everyone from the start that we're in the race." Said sophomore quarterback John Navarre: "You're a team playing Penn State and this is Michigan. Penn State is going to play us tough, they always have. They're gonna come out and play us hard. That's what we're expecting and that's what we're going to prepare for." That might be what Michigan's preparing for, but in reality, this is a game that, on paper, should be Michigan's easiest game in the Big Ten. The Lions doesn't have the team speed that Penn State teams of the past have had, nor do they appear to have the senior leadership to carry it through these tough times. The offense is averaging only 10 points per game this year, and the defense is giving up 25. For a school nicknamed "Linebacker U," that's not good. The Nittany Lions have only 138 yards rushing this year - total. That's an average of only 46 yards per game. Michigan's front seven is as good as any in the country, so this trend probably will continue. "The defenses are stacking the line because they know they have a solid running game," linebacker Victor Hobson said. "They're taking away plays. Penn State hasn't played a weak schedule at all,.those are good teams they've played. The best is yet to come from them." - The Associated Press contributed to this report. F"L EMPHOT A crying shame: Times are bad at Penn State. Joe Paterno feels better about his team's loss to Iowa this weekend, even though it got "licked." yards passing per game to such potent passing attacks as Illinois and Western Michigan, but has not yet been broken. Edge: Michigan INTANGIBLES: If Penn State has an advantage, it is that the game is being played in the newly expanded Beaver Stadium. But it hasn't helped the Nittany Lions that much, as they have already lost to Wisconsin and Miami (Fla.) at home. Edge: Michigan PREDICTION: Penn State has yet so show that it can compete with the top teams in the Big Ten. Patemo could, of course, tie Bear Bryant's all-time wins record this game, but he had the opportu- nity the past two games against weaker competition and his team has yet to come through him. This Saturday should be no different. Michigan 35, Penn State 10 P ROCRASTINAT[ON STATION MC-H I EAN 35 Before every football game this sea- son, Daily football writers Jeff Phillips and Jon Schwartz will take the week- end's matchup to the Playstation 2. For this week's matchup, coach Phillips led the home Nittany Lions and coach Schwartz took the helm for the Wolverines again. PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES: Michigan head coach Jon Schwartz: That was pitiful. My team couldn't do did- ley. The players sucked, the team sucked, the fans sucked -. Throw it to TE No. 85 one more time ... You guys just lost the national champi- onship.. At least we tried to play a game of foot- W all. Coach Phillips thinks that running 1 he same play all game is enough to make up for losing 76-28 (that's right, 76-28) last weekend.. RB No. 23 was not very good. Neither was CB No. 3 or No. 21. Nobody on my team knew how to play except for the tight ends ... Coach Phillips tries to bring me down, but here's what he doesn't understand: I have a greater sense of responsibility that he can't possibly fathom. He weeps for Ilinois and he curses Michigan. He has that luxury - the luxury of not knowing what I know, that the loss to Michigan, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque, and incom- prehensible to him, saves lives. He does- n't want the truth because deep down in places he doesn't talk about on game- days, he wants me on that field - he NEEDS me on that field ... I thought that TE No.81 really estab- lished -imself today as an offensive force. Penn State head coach Jeff Phillips: QB No. 4 isn't the most talented or quick or'strong but he got the job done. He. stood up well to the Michigan blitz. He also was pretty good at finding the same ,receiver on the same play after the no huddle The two-point conversion we scored when we were up by 24 really sent a message to Michigan. That message was, "We can score a two-point conversion." Play of the game -- With the score at 24-7 with two seconds left in the first half, Michigan TE No. 81 pitched to RB No. 23 who took the ball all the way to the 3-yard line before being tackled from behind. Player of the game - Penn State's TE No. 85. He was an unstoppable force in the game, catching 13 pass- es for 236 yards and 3 touchdown. Michigan key stats Passing: QB No. 16- 15-of-31, 327 yards passing, 4 TDs, 1 int Rushing: RB No. 23 - 12 carries, 56 yards, 2 TDs Receiving: TE No. 81 -4 recep- tions, 111 yards, 1 TD Defense: LB No. 51 - 2 sacks, 8 tackles Penn State key stats Passing: QB No. 4- 16-of-33, 318 yards passing, 5 TDs Rushing: RB No. 8 - 15 carries, 47 yards, 2 TDs Receiving: TE No. 85 - 13 recep- tions, 236 yards, 3 TDs Defense: LE No. 96 - 3 sacks, 6 tackles 'ii II s LI* STAFF PICKS 1t4:. WEE 4 samcn~oNs ALL PICKS MADE AGAINST THE SPREAD. Raphael Arun Jeff Jon HOME TEAMS IN CAPS. Goodstein Gopal Phillips Schwartz . -. N N.. WISCONSIN (14) vs. Indiana Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin OHIO STATE (-3) vs. Northwestern Northwestern Ohio State Northwestern Northwestern TExAS (-3) vs. Oklahoma Texas Oklahoma Oklahoma . Oklahoma h.: t.. ... 'MIAMI (FLA.) (-50) vs. Troy State Miami (Fla.) Miami (Fla.) Miami (Fla.) Miami (Fla.) WA~~1r~~T~r~~ i~ ~~ . ~1, ff t lNY uit~ NNN~' Florida (-13.5) at LouISIANA STATE Florida Louisiana State Louisiana State Florida NOTRE DAME (-6.5) vs. Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Notre Dame Notre Dame Notre Dame :.. ... .. .! ..w: ...:::.:.....NNN .NN .. . N 'N.........:. Oregon (-5) at ARIZONA Oregon.......Arizona Oregon Oregon Best bet Michigan Purdue Northwestern Notre Dame Record last week (Best bets) Record to date (Best bets) 7-8 (0-1) 30-15 (2-1) 5-10 (0-1) 23-22 (2-1) 7-8 (0-1) 25-20 (2-1) 6-9 (1-0) 26-19 (3-0) ... .... ........ ................. ... ........ .... ....... ........... .... .... .... ............. ... ... ...... ......... . .... ....... .......... ............. ...................... .......... .................. ........ ..... .......... ............. ........... ......... .......... ... . ..... .. .... D E N : ::::::.,%W.H M . ............. AP. . .... .... ....... .... .............. SOF MIC I6 AN life sciences, values, and society LIFE SCIENCES X 6A Job Fair 2001 Exploring New & Important Developments A Public Lecture Series moderated by Rebecca Eisenberg. JD. Law School r I 10/7 David Burke, Ph.D., Department of Human Genetics The Human Genome Project, Evolution and Health 10/14 Randoph Nesse, M.D., Department of Psychiatry Darwinan Medcine: Why kvt the Body Better Designed! 1021 Randolph Nesse, M.D. is Depression an Evolved Adaptationt 10/28 Terry Robinson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology The Psychology and Neurobiology of Addiction 11/4 Terry Robinson, Ph.D. How Drugs Change the Brain: Thursday& Friday e October 4 & 5 Michigan 'Union Connect with 80+ organizations from across the country (different organizations each day!) i