4 Re TS¢dlgan Btilg SORTS mganday.com/sports TTUESDAY OCTOBER 30, 2001 10 4 . M' prepares for big game after big win JON SCHWARTZ By Arun Gopal Daily Sports Writer Let the insults begin. Now that Michigan has had time to savor Saturday's heart-stopping 32-26 win at Iowa, the Wolverines (and their fans) can turn their attention to the annual intrastate grudge match against Michigan State. Michigan' at 1I What used to be a relatively one- sided rivalry has evened out a bit in recent years. Michigan has lost Saturday, 3:30 p. three of its last four - games in East Lansing. The latest set- back was a 34-31 loss two years ago when - in the span of three hours - the Wolverines' defense made Plaxico Burress into a first-round NFL draft pick. This year's edition of the Spartans has similar big-play ability. Sopho- more receiver Charles Rogers has game-breaking speed (as evidenced by his 22.4 yards-per-catch average) and junioltailback T.J. Duckett is one of the conference's top runners. These two have Michigan coach Lloyd Carr concerned, to say the least. "There's been a lot of talk about that Michigan defense, and the truth is, we're going to find out this week what that defense is all about," Carr said at yesterday's media luncheon. "I think we're going to play the most talented, explosive offensive football team we've seen this year." WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?: Anyone .m., who has grown up in Michigan knows how intense the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is. Unlike some of college football's other storied rivalries (e.g. Miami- Florida State, Alabama-Auburn) the feud between the Wolverines and the Spartans extends beyond the football field. ichigan State Michigan and Michigan State compete at any- thing and every- thing, which makes this one of the most Spartan stadium all-encompassing rivalries in the nation. Defensive tackle Dave Pearson, a Brighton native, has been immersed in the tussle between the Wolverines and Spartans since childhood. It would be an understatement to say that he is eagerly anticipating Saturday's contest. "We get really excited to play this game," Pearson said. "I'm looking for- ward to playing in it. I got a chance to play in it a little bit last year, and it was a great experience. Hopefully, I'll get to contribute a little more this year." BCS? WHAT BCS?: Proponents of the Bowl Championship Series claim that all of the controversy it creates is proof that it works. In fairness, college football fans around the country do get quite intrigued by the weekly BCS poll. Numerous websites offer projections - which are updated weekly - on which teams will be playing in the four BCS bowls. I MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily Michigan linebacker Larry Foote (17) and his Wolverine defense are getting geared up for this weekend's game against rival Michigan State. Michigan is ranked fourth in the lat- est BCS poll, behind Nebraska, Okla- homa and Miami (Fla.). While this might be cause for some Michigan fans to start dreaming of Pasadena, the Wolverines themselves claim to be paying no attention at all to the BCS. "Now, at this time of year, it doesn't really matter where you are," defensive end Shantee Orr said. "The only thing that matters is in the end. We have to just focus on one game at a time, and the results will just take care of them- selves." MAGNANIMOUS MR. FOOTE: Senior linebacker Larry Foote was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for Rivalry-week strategy makes for a dull scene his 15-tackle, three-sack performance against Iowa. Following the game, in typically humble fashion, Foote deflected praise toward the front four. Foote acknowl- edged that without the tremendous pressure exerted by the linemen, he wouldn't have had so many opportuni- ties to make plays against the Hawkeyes. This unselfish gesture didn't go unnoticed by the defensive line. "We get excited for anybody that has a great day like Larry Foote had," Pearson said. "For him to give the defensive line some credit, that's a great thing." he balcony at my apartment last, * year looked out over Michigan's football practice field. It was always fun to sit out with a beer and check out what coach Lloyd Carr was working on for the upcoming game. Of course, the location had its draw- backs - I can assure you that there's nothing worse than waking up to music blasting from the field to get players ready for crowd noise. "Who Let the Dogs Out" was an awful song -don't even get me started on how much I hated it after it served as my alarm clock at 8 a.m. every morning during 'orthwestern week. Too bad the season was over when finals rolled around in April; I could have used an alarm then. My neighbors and I heard anecdotes about Carr going from apartment to apartment before the season, making it very clear that practices were not to be watched. We never believed it - Carr may be a divinity around Ann Arbor, but he wasn't going to tell us what we could and couldn't watch from the pri- vacy of our own homes. So when an assistant coach showed up at my neighbor's door during Michi- gan State week because he had spotted us watching with binoculars, we were a bit taken aback. That's just the way things-go, though. And after Michigan came back and beat Iowa this past weekend, it began again - the Michigan State hysteria. What is Michigan State week? Sim- ply put, it's a state of mass paranoia. It's the feeling that everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of Michigan State players, the knowledge that if you show any confi- dence, your statement will end up on a lockerroom's bulletin board. So it was no surprise to find tight- lipped players holding court at Michi- gan's press conference yesterday. Media members were wowed by such bold statements as Dave Pearson's "there's always a little bit more intensi- ty for this game." Dave, tone it down a bit, man. At least defensive end Shantee Orr was fighting back laughs as he pointed out that "all our emotion and intensity should be the same for each and every game." Well put, Shantee. Michigan players seem to spend this week wearing colorful bracelets embroidered with "W.W.L.S." - "What Would Lloyd Say?" They seem like they're constantly looking over their shoulders, afraid of being honest, but far more afraid of being caught being honest. It's typical rivalry-week strategy. And while it's funny to watch, it does have merit. No Michigan fan will ever forget Ohio State's David Boston claiming before the 1997 matchup that "if our offense and defense are clicking, we should win by two or three touch- downs." Of course, Michigan's defense (particularly Charles Woodson) held Boston to three catches for 68 yards on the day, 56 of those yards coming on one touchdown play as Michigan won 20-14. It was such a harsh beating that Boston should still be sending Wood- son Father's Day cards every June. So yeah, I guess I understand Carr's rationale. But it's impossible not to miss the pageantry of rivalry games, the desire to check message boards to see who's saying what about someone else's mother. Thisis aweek like no other week' This is a week when Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker can be called "great" by the Wolverines. My god, if Smoker's "great," what adjectives are left for Dan Marino or John Elway? Where's the hatred? Where's the drive? Where did the arrogance go? It's a lost art in college football, the ability to make an ass of your opponent before the game, and follow it up on the field. I was waiting for a man in black to show up in the press conference, ready to whisk away any player stupid enough to speak. At least quarterback John Navarre had the guts to put it bluntly. "It's a big game," he said. And these days, if that's not bulletin board material, I don't know what is. Jon Schwartz hopes that he's never again woken up to "YMCA" or "Across the Field." He can be reached at jsz@umich.edu. Times have changed for Michigan's Gallo By Bob Hunt Daily Sports Writer CHAMPAIGN - After a 56th-place finish in last year's Big Ten Championships as a freshman, Lindsey Gallo felt pretty down on herself. After the adjustment from running in high school to running for a nationally ranked team, she lacked confi- dence in her running. But times have changed. Gallo ran well enough for a remarkable seventh- place finish in yesterday's Big Ten Championships, earning first team All-Big Ten honors and leading her team to a remarkable second place finish this past weekend. "This was by far my best collegiate race," Gallo said. Gallo ran the 5-kilometer course in 17:26.4, twenty seconds off her previous record of 17:47, set at the iNotre Dame Invitational earlier this month. This completes an amazing one-year turnaround for Gallo, who ran well at times during the begin- ning of last season, but performed poorly at the big meets, placing 49th at regionals and 225th at nationals. "I was feeling pretty down after freshman year," Gallo said. But after a summer of training hard, Gallo has been the frontrunner for a young Wolverines squad all season long. She led Michigan at the four meets prior to the Big Ten Championships and placed in the top 10 in three of those meets. She had momentum going into the race because the course was similar to Notre Dame, where Michigan had its best race of the season prior to yesterday's astonishing performance. "I felt really confident that I could do well," Gallo said. But a top-seven finish at the Big Ten meet was what she was striving for. "It was my main goal going into the season," Gallo said. But Gallo's season is far from over. She will lead the team into the regional meet just two weeks from now in Terre Haute, Ind. While performing. well at regionals was almost an afterthought for the Wolverines prior to the Big Ten meet, their second- place finish putts them in the running for a berth at the National Championships - and Gallo will be needed to take them there. Northern goalie dominates weekend at Yost - By Seth Klempner Daily Sports Writers Northern Michigan goaltender Craig Kowalski stepped out of the Yost Ice Arena visitors' lockerroom Friday night and into a sea of green and sonorous cheers. The sophomore raised his fist in vic- tory, sending the throng of about 100 Northern fans into a frenzy, prompting a brief chant of 'Kowalski.' He had just done something that had not been done in over 50 years - shut out Michigan in two consecutive appearances in Ann -Arbor. Last February, as a freshman, Kowals- ki stoned all 25 shots he faced to shut out Michigan, a team that would later play in the Frozen Four --2-0. Kowalski followed that performance with a 1-0 overtime shutout of the Wolverines last Friday. In the win, he faced 28 shots, a quarter of which came on the powerplay. But like most superb goaltenders, he received help from his defense, which was able to stop 17 shots from getting through. While not as sharp Saturday night, Kowalski still played well enough to win 5-3 and complete Northern Michi- gan's first sweep of Michigan since 1984. His performance in the two games earned him the title of CCHA Defensive Player of the Week. It is the second time in as many weeks that he has received the honor. What makes the victories sweeter for the goaltender is that he is from neigh- boring Clinton Township and wanted to be a Wolverine growing up. Unfortu- nately for the Michigan coaching staff, had it not been for an off year in the goalie-recruiting cycle, Kowalski would be wearing maize and blue right now. "We've always liked Craig Kowalski," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We essentially recruited him but told him he would play behind Josh Black- burn for two years. At the time he was interested in Michigan and we talked to him. Our staff loved him as a kid and as a goalie." Michigan had three experienced goal- tenders last year and could not have found playing time for the talented recruit. In addition, Michigan had also been recruiting standout goaltender, Jason Bacashihua, who would also have challenged Kowalski for playing time. "He is from down here and would have loved to have come to Michigan, but the recruiting cycle didn't work for him," Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley said. As a freshman last year, Kowalski split time with then-senior goaltender Dan Ragusett from the start of the sea- son. In his rookie year, Kowalski strug- gled to become comfortable winning in just seven out of 18 starts with a 2.73 goals against average. The decision to give the freshman playing time is starting to pay dividends for Comley. With experience under his belt, Kowalski looks like one of the best goalies in the CCHA, with a 1.71 goals against average with a .942 save percent- age. In addition, the sophomore has yet to lose a game in four starts. "It is really important for him to go out and establish himself early and I think he has done that in our games so far," said Northern Michigan senior Chad Theuer. DAYMIIiIULUSflUK/ua 1Oy Michigan's Andy Hrovat will play a key role on the mats this season as the Wolverines are once again expected to compete for a national title. Grappers sights pinned . . on beginning of seson By Eric Chan AURDAY Daily Sports Writer NOW, THERE ARE OVER 180 WAYS TO ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND. All it takes is one weekend a month and as little as two weeks a year to serve in a part-time capacity in the full-time Army. In the U.S. Army Reserve you can pursue your civilian career. Stay close to home and develop your skills while learning new ones. The Reserve offers training in accounting, engineering, electronics, law enforcement, software analysis, medicine and more. The Michigan wrestling team begins preseason action this weekend at the Eastern Michigan Open in Ypsi- lanti. The tournament allows younger wrestlers to experience collegiate level wrestling. Also, the more experienced and varsity wrestlers can shake off the rust of offseason inactivity. At preseason tournaments like the Eastern Michigan Open, the Michigan State Open and the Cliff Keen Invita- tional in Las Vegas, the Wolverines look to gain valuable live-match expe- rience. Michigan's regular season action kicks off Dec. 7 against Michi- gan State in East Lansing. But the Michigan wrestlers don't look at this weekend's tournament as just a warm-up - they want to win. "I'd like to have our team go in there YPSILANTI Who: Michigan at Eastern Michigan Open When: All day Saturday Latest: The Wolverines open their season in Ypsilanti, where competitors will be wrestling as individuals, instead of attached to teams. a disappointing seventh place. Michigan is once again expected to compete for the national title. The Wolverines return all but one of last year's starters -197-pounder Joe DeGain. Alongside Olson, Michigan returns Andy Hrovat, another All- American, who placed fourth at last year's NCAA Championships. Hrovat looked very impressive this summer, winning the 187.25-pound freestyle national crown and taking the silver medal at the Pan Am meet. In late June at the World Team Trials, Hrovat took third to earn a spot on the Find One of Over 180 Ways - R . AW