The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - November 3, 2003 - 5B X'S AND (ky e) s Michigan Daily Sports Editor Kyle O'Neill is not a collegiate athlete, nor is he a collegiate coach. But he was a starting wide receiver for his winless team at Garber High School, was third in Bay County in receptions his sen- ior year and claims to know something about the game of football. So each game, we'll let him and his 5-foot-10, 158-pound frame break down why Michigan either succeeded or failed. 3 Observations 1. Chris Perry, Brian Thomp- son and Kevin Dudley should all be receiving major thanks and props from John Navarre and the offensive line. All three laid out to make last- second blocks on Michigan State defenders. Defensive end Greg Taplin talked a good game during the week, but he was taken out of plays repeatedly by Perry, who is 40 pounds lighter than the Spartans' trash-talking lineman. 2. It is amazing how much differ- ence there was between the Spartans and the Wolverines. While it was apparent Michigan State was having a bad case of the drops, there was little doubt that the Spartans were hardly moving the ball at all. Credit the once-again Marlin Jackson-less secondary for stepping up huge in another big game. Jeremy LeSueur was hardly challenged during the game, an obvious show of respect for the senior cornerback who did produce big plays anytime Jeff Smoker decid- ed to go his way. 3. Garrett Rivas missed his first extra point this weekend. Those making a big deal out of it shouldn't. The freshman has been clutch this season and just had a bad kick. Key players: Any offensive Michigan blocker fv.. 01 h d z an Eag Hype-meter Ohio State fans Penn State game last year "Tremendous" - Lloyd's proud You'll be a fine _ Michigan alum Shaking keys on cell phones Well, we'ye done so much ranking of what goes on dur- ing a game, we felt we should rank what the fans do outside of a game, as well. There aren't many who do tailgating better than the Spartans. Surrounding its outdoor tennis courts, hun- dreds of cars are parked, grilling together as a collec- tive unit. Being by the tennis courts, there is hardly any wonder why an occasional tennis ball war doesn't erupt. One occured on Saturday, and thanks to one Michigan State student who decided to dump a shopping cart full of balls on the ground, there was a battle of North tailgaters ver- sus South tailgaters that put the Hatfield-McCoy battle to shame. The only drawback to the afternoon was to watch a drunk Michigan fan blindly throw a glass bottle, hitting a Michigan State fan sitting next to her van. Q A Ask the Football Writers EDITOR'S NOTE: On page 5B of SportsMonday, the foot- ball writers will answer your questions about anything, and we mean anything. E-mail us with questions or just to vent at: askthefootbaUwriters@umich.edu I saw that Michigan- Michigan State tickets were being priced as high as $400, and that there was hardly a ticket available for under $150. What's the deal with that, and were fans wrong to sell that high? - Jeff Quast, Engi- neering senior Jeff, We at the Daily do not condone scalping at any level, but yeah, it was wrong for any fan to sell this game higher than $200. Also, that $200 should have been just an asking price. If someone offered $75 or $100 up front, it should have been accepted. In no way should this game ever be priced higher than Ohio State (which is barely getting over $250 as a maxi- mum). A Michigan State team doing well is more a novelty than something to take advantage of. If you are looking to rip someone off, wait until the Buck- eyes come to town. DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Explanation: It would be pointless to diagram what Michigan did well, as it was straight-up tough- ness and grit that was the "key play" of its win over Michigan State. This game belonged to Michigan's offensive linemen. Any time guards David Bass or Matt Lentz pulled through a hole, Michigan State's linebackers were receiving the hit instead of trying to meet it head on. Tackles Adam Stenavich and Tony Pape had easily their best games of the season against the best pass rush in the nation (in terms of sacks). There really isn't any spectacular reason as to why Michi- gan's offensive line was better than ever, as this line was playing well all season -just not to the standards they had set for themselves. My hat is off to an outsanding job done. Krenzel hurt in comeback over Lions STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Off- balance and falling backward in the cor- ner of the end zone, Michael Jenkins caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Scott McMullen with 1:35 left to lift Ohio State (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 AP) to a 21-20 win over Penn State on Saturday. Lucky catch? "We've been working on that in prac- tice - it's called a fade-jump," McMullen said. "Mike kind of makes a kind of fade, and then a hard jump. Most of the time the defensive player, he does- n't really have his eye on me, so Mike sees the ball. "Mike's 6-foot-5 he's going to make those kinds of plays. I just wanted to get it up to him." With another close victory, Ohio State (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten) kept alive its league title hopes as well as a berth in a Bowl Championship Series game. The loss gave the Nittany Lions (2-7, 0-5) their first five-game losing streak since Joe Paterno came to Penn State as an assistant coach in 1950; he's in his 38th season as head coach. Penn State had a chance to win, but David Kimball's 60-yard field goal try on the final play of the game was just short and wide right. Despite the distance, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was worried. "Did you see his kickoffs? I thought, for sure, if they had the ball across the 50, we were in trouble," Tressel said. "Man, I was glad he got under it." Penn State kicker David Kimball came up wide right in his 60-yard attempt to win the game against the Buckeyes. The Nittany Lions held off Ohio State for most of the game, with Buckeyes' quarterback Craig Krenzel leaving late in the second quarter after a hard hit. But Ohio State, as it has so many times before, eked out another close game on its final possession. McMullen's 20-yard pass to Santonio Holmes put Ohio State at the Penn State 15. The two hooked up on another com- pletion, a five-yarder to the 5, before McMullen turned to Jenkins. - ------------------ - STAFF PICKS Predictions AGAINST THE SPREAD for 11/1/03 No. 11 Michigan (-4) at No. 10 Michigan State No. 12 Nebraska at No. 16 TEXAS (-6) No. 25 Pittsburgh (-1) at Boston College Illinois at No. 13 IowA (-26.5) Indiana at No. 24 Minnesota (-28) Ball State at No. 21 Northern Illinois (-15.5) No. 5 Rorida State (-12) at NOTRE DAME No. 14 Oklahoma State at No. 1OKLAHOMA (-16) No. 4 Georgia (-3) at No. 23 Florida No. 8 Ohio State (-7.5) at PENN STATE Nao- 9Miami (Ra.) -4)at No. 11 Vim;a Tech Courtney Lewis J. Brady McCollough Kyle O'Neill Naweed Sikora Ron Barker Bursley Dining Hall Michigan Nebraska Pittsburgh Iowa Minnesota Northern Illinois Notre Dame Oklahoma Georgia Ohio State Miami Michigan State Nebraska Pittsburgh Illinois Minnesota Northern Illinois Notre Dame Oklahoma State Florida Ohio State Miami Michigan Texas Pittsburgh Illinois Minnesota Ball State Florida State Oklahoma Florida Penn State Virginia Tech Michigan Nebraska Pittsburgh Iowa Indiana Ball State Notre Dame Oklahoma State Florida Ohio State Miami Michigan Texas Boston College Iowa Minnesota Northern Illinois Florida State Oklahoma Georgia Penn State Miami Do you believe in miracles? YES! Scream it from the mountain tops, citizens of Ann Arbor: "THE CELEBRITIES ARE ABOVE .500!" Ron Barker, the Pedro Martinez of serving food, did the unthink- able and posted a 13-5 record to put the Ann Arbor celebrities two games above the .500-mark - something the Detroit Tigers and Lions have only dreamed of the past few seasons. But as the celebrities rise, J. Brady McCollough continues his Joe Smith-esque free fall (Smith visited the Daily this past Thursday ... coincidence? We think not). CoitnmvI, Luis stonned the ... ................... . ..... ................. ................. ... .............. .. ........ . ...................... . i