4
16 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Zook faces first big test against Hurricanes
By Paul Feinstein
For the Daily
No.1 MIAMI (FLA.) AT No. 6 FLORIDA - SAT-
URDAY 5 P.M. ABC: The game of the week, if not
the game of the year, takes place in Gainesville
as No. 1 Miami brings its national championship
and the nation's longest winning streak (23
games) into The Swamp to face No. 6 Flordia.
This game appears to have all the makings of an
instant classic. The teams last
met in the 2000 Sugar Bowl ACROSS THFE
with Miami walking away AI.TD.N
with a 37-20 victory. Both A
teams are perennial national
championship contenders, and this year is no dif-
ferent. Quite a few things have changed since last
year, though.
The most notable change is the departure of
former Florida head coach Steve "ball coach"
Spurrier, who made the jump to the NFL after
amassing 12 consecutive winning seasons, six
SEC championships and one national champi-
onship with the Gators. His replacement, Ron
Zook, a former NFL assistant specializing in
defense and special teams with the Steelers,
Saints and Chiefs, did well last week as his Gators
cruised to a 51-3 victory over Alabama-Birming-
ham, further proving that any school with a dash
in its name, well, stinks. The Gators coasted as
senior wide receiver Taylor Jacobs set a new
school record for receiving yards in a game with
246 and running back Earnest Graham rushed for
182 yards, making it the first time the Gators ever
had a 200-yard receiver and 150-yard running
back in the same game. All of this, of course,
came against sub-par competition to say the least.
The No. 1 Miami Hurricanes will provide a
more formidable test for Zook and company,
despite the fact that the Hurricanes lost five play-
ers to the first round of the NFL draft including
dominating offensive tackle Bryant "Mount"
McKinnie. But the Hurricanes do return Heisman
Trophy candidate quarterback Ken Dorsey and
much of a defense that won them the title a year
ago. Dorsey will get a big chance to improve his
Heisman hopes, as he goes head to head with last
years runner up, Florida quarterback Rex Gross-
man. The Hurricanes also got off on the right
foot last week with a 63-17 victory over Florida
A&M, knocking A&M from the Top 25 in the
Florida high school rankings. The victory also
somehow lifted the Hurricanes from a tie atop the
national rankings, which immediately had coach-
es all over the country scheduling A&M for years
to come.
This is Zook's first big game as coach and
unlike Ty Willingham at Notre Dame, things
won't turn out so rosy.
Miami 34, Florida 20
ALABAMA AT No. 2 OKLAHOMA - SATURDAY
3:30 P.M. ABC: After Alabama's thrilling 39-34
victory last week over Middle Tennessee State,
Alabama defensive tackle Jarret Johnson had this
to say to ESPN: "It's hard to be special in these
parts, but to be on probation, go undefeated, do
this and do that - it's something the fans will
always remember. They'll always talk about the
Alabama team that was unbeaten on probation."
The probation he refers to, of course, was
levied on the university after recruiting violations
were discovered this summer.
It's unclear what the "this" and "that" is that
he's referring to, but one things for sure, some-
one needs to give Mr. Johnson a schedule. It's
probably not the smartest move to talk about
going undefeated the week before you play at the
No. 2 team in America. Maybe a season worth of
Middle Tennessee States would do the trick, but a
tough SEC schedule and a game at Oklahoma
makes any talk of going undefeated seem ludi-
crous - not to mention stupid.
Oklahoma, just two years removed from a
national championship, has arguably the best
defense in the country and it showed last week in
a 37-0 victory over Tulsa. The score is slightly
misleading though, as Oklahoma only lead 3-0 at
the half. Nonetheless, with the likes of All-Amer-
ica defensive tackle Tommie Harris and an all-
around fast secondary, the defense should carry 4
the load this year. Senior tailback Quentin Griffin
will also be a significant factor as he builds off
of his 237-yard performance against Tulsa.
Oklahoma 38, Alabama 6
FRESNo ST. AT No. 13 OREGON - SATURDAY
3:30 P.M.: This game is a classic matchup of
two teams that have lost their All-American quar-
terbacks. For Fresno State it was David Carr, who
went to the Houston Texans with the No. 1 pick.
For Oregon it was Joey Harrington, who went
No. 3 to the Detroit Lions. Both quarterbacks,
particularly Harrington who saw Oregon finish at
No. 2 last year, and were responsible for their
schools respective revivals. This year, the quar-
terback position at each school is somewhat of a
question mark.
Junior Jason Fife gets the honors of replacing
folk hero Harrington at Oregon. In his first game,
which was a 36-13 win over a tough Mississippi
State team, Fife answered the doubters with three
touchdowns.
Fife is a very solid replacement for Harrington.
Although he doesn't boast quite the pedigree of
his predecessor, he may have more talent around
him, most of that comes in the form of senior
running back Onterrio Smith, who opened the
season with a 124-yard performance.
Fresno State finished a surprising 11-3 last
year including upsets over Wisconsin, Oregon
State and Colorado. The Bulldogs lost a close
Silicon Valley Classic to Michigan State despite a
stellar performance from Carr. Carr is being
replaced with junior Jeff Grady. Grady opened
the season with three touchdown passes during a 4
close 23-21 loss to Wisconsin, but suffered a
bruised hip and was unable to play in his teams
16-14 win over San Diego State. Grady should
play in this week's game. If he does, the Bulldogs
may keep it close.
Oregon 26, Fresno St. 19
Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey will get his first chance to demonstrate that he is a
leading Heisman Trophy candidate against No. 6 Florida this Saturday.
Yankees promote Henson to 40-man roster
I
NEW YORK (AP) - Drew Hen-
son could have been studying film
and preparing for his first start as an
NFL quarterback this week.
Instead, the only studying Henson
is doing is watching how his New
York Yankees' teammates prepare
for pennant-race baseball.
"You get to see how major league
baseball players go about their busi-
ness," Henson said yesterday after
being recalled from Triple-A
Columbus. "This is the highlight of
my professional career so far. This
is why I left school."
Henson, one of the top quarter-
backs in the nation at Michigan,
gave up football to sign a $17 mil-
lion, six-year contract with the Yan-
kees in March 2001.
Despite some struggles at the
plate and in the field, Henson does-
n't regret his decision - even as the
football season is about to open.
"I'll always miss playing football
to some respect because I was good
at it and had fun playing it," he said.
"It's an exciting time for me to be
able to do all this and watch my old
teammates."
Henson batted .240 with 18
homers and 65 RBIs in his first full
season at Columbus. But he showed
he has a long way to go to make the
majors, striking out 151 times in
471 at-bats and committing 35
errors at third base.
"Nobody ever said it was going to
be easy," he said: "I never said it
was going to be easy. All I can do is
stay positive and it will all come
together for me."
Yankees manager Joe Torre said
there's no pressure on Henson this
month. The Yankees had hoped he
would be ready to replace Robin
Ventura next season, but Torre
insists this is not a tryout.
"He's not here for us to find out
anything about him," Torre said.
"We just want him to enjoy the
i
i
lifestyle here and the ambiance of
Yankee Stadium."
The one thing Torre hopes Hen-
son can learn is the differences
between the daily grind of baseball
and the weekly pace on football.
"It's a matter of conditioning
mentally for him," Torre said.
"You're allowed to lose 60 games in
baseball. In football, it's not a good
year if you lose more than a few
games. It's a different mentality."
Derek Jeter knows how valuable
this experience can be for Henson.
Jeter spent the final month of the
1995 season watching players like
Don Mattingly and Paul O'Neill.
That experience paid off when Jeter
won the Rookie of the Year award
the next season.
"Just being here and seeing what
the postseason was like helped me
the following season," he said.
JOBS!!!
Fall Term
Apply now
at the Law Library-
non-Law Students
" Law Students
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Minimum pay is
$8.50 per hour!
Apply at the hiring table outside
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underground addition.
AA/EOE
Drew Henson, who left the Wolverines in 2001, was called up by the Yankees to
join their 40-man roster as the Bronx Bombers begin their playoff push.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minneso-
ta's football players took the field yes-
terday afternoon after attending their
first classes of the fall semester, but
their minds were far from the books or
on blocking schemes.
The Golden Gophers, still stunned by
the shooting of teammate Brandon Hall,
practiced for the first time since his
death early Sunday.
"It's been a tough few days around
here," coach Glen Mason said.
The Gophers, who beat Southwest
Texas State 42-0 in their season opener
just a few hours before Hall was shot
outside a downtown dance club, will
practice again today and tomorrow
before traveling south on Friday,
They play Louisiana-Lafayette on
Saturday, but nobody will be worrying
about the Ragin' Cajuns much this
"I haven't even thought about it all
weekend," tight end Ben Utecht said.
"The game disappeared. Everything
disappeared."
A memorial service, open to the pub-
lic, will be held tonight night for Hall at
Williams Arena, and Mason plans to
attend Monday's funeral in Detroit.
The Gophers will wear a No. 71
patch on their jerseys for the rest of the
season and retire Hall's number until
2005, when he would've been sched-
uled to graduate.
As a redshirt freshman and reserve
defensive lineman, Hall didn't have a
significant role on the team. But that
doesn't mean he won't be missed.
"I've never seen a defensive lineman
who smiled so much," said quarterback
and co-captain Asad Abdul-Khaliq.
"Most all of those guys are mean and
tough, but 95 percent of the time he was
the most hilarious guy. You never saw
him sad or upset.
"His future was limitless, man.
He had some of the rawest talent I'd
ever seen."
Police said Hall was with a group of
players who went looking for three men
who allegedly assaulted and robbed
defensive end Damian Haye earlier that
night. A spokesman for the Hennepin
County attorney's office said charges
against the three suspects are likely to
be filed by noon today.
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