The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - October 20, 2004 - 5B

. austtondto
 e e4Y
Vey~e a ,je o n e 10~e
VIS ,aly @ i wrra e wtss ef lo)
ftan t thls~ , btW tks)- h oter0
"[ 1 $ Q e abou may t o sorte bl all t
aly _e aoss Sex a

Bob Hunt is not a football player. Actually, he's not much of an athlete
whatsoever. But he is a wannabe soccer hooligan who likes to go on
road trips. As a football writer for The Michigan Daily, Bob will travel
to each Michigan road game and chronicle his experiences.

- This week led me to the heart of the
Land of Lincoln in the connecting towns
of Champaign and Urbana - where the
land is flatter that the table you last played
beer pong on, and the people are counting
down the days until basketball season.
- The core of the University of Illinois
experience is the bars that align Green
Street in the middle of downtown Cham-
paign. What makes these establishments
unique is that you are allowed to enter at
19, and the shape of your stamp may or
may not be checked when you order that
next pitcher. This means that the cam-
pus social scene revolves almost entirely
around the bar. Even the fraternities and
sororities, which constitute a large pres-

the place was almost completely empty.
Did the place just constitute a line? Like
the amount of licks it takes to get to the
center of a tootsie pop, my world may
never know.
" I eventually decided to try Station,
a bar that had a heavy Greek reputation
and was supposedly on the decline. Other
than the rip-off prices ($5 cover and $2
"drafts" of Miller Lite in small, clear
plastic cups), it wasn't too bad - and
the crowd was actually pretty cool. The
only bit of advice I have is that walking
around with a fedora hat can gain you
some additional attention - positive
attention.

" During the football game, other than
the group of students that represented the
"Block I" (the Illinois student section), the
atmosphere wasn't that stellar. Well over
30 minutes before the end of the game, the
line at nearby Assembly Hall was forming
for the annual "Illini Basketball Madness."
Meanwhile, Memorial Stadium was almost
empty by the final whistle.
- After the game, I went to go see this
Mid-day Madness for myself, since I can't
participate in such an activity in Ann Arbor.
There were about 10,000 people there, who
patiently waited well after an hour follow-
ing the football game to watch their men's
team - a consensus pre-season top-10 team
- take the floor for a 3-point contest, a
slam dunk contest and a 10-minute scrim-
mage. After some peer pressure, I bought
an orange shirt and headed down to the
"Orange Krush," which claims to be one
of the best student sections in the country.
No one said a word as I barged down to the
first row. Personally, I think the students at
Wisconsin were better last year. Now, does
anyone want a Deron Williams T-shirt?
Bob Hunt has changed his future career
plans in a result of On the Road. After look-
ing at his fun logo, he decided that he wants
to be a Back to School model for Target. He
can be reached at bobhunt@umich.edu.

STAFF PICKS
Predictions against the
spread for 10/9/04
Michigan (-19) at Illinois
Minnesota (-9.5) at Michigan State
Ohio State (-2) at Iowa
Wisconsin (+6.5) at Purdue
Virginia (+3) at Florida State
Notre Dame (-6.5) at Navy
Arizona State (+10.5) at Southern CaL.
Oklahoma (-20) at Kansas State
Missouri (+14) at Texas
North Carolina State (+3) at Maryland
Arkansas (+13) at Auburn
Stanford (+1) at Washington State
UCLA (+14.5) at Cal
Tennessee (-10) at Mississippi
Boston College (-9.5) at Pittsburgh
Best bet
Weekly record (best bet)
Season record (best bet)

Chris
Burke

Gennaro
Filice

Bob
Hunt

Illinois
Minnesota
Iowa
Wisconsin
Florida State
Navy
Arizona State
Kansas State
Missouri
Maryland
A rkansas
Washington State
UCLA
Mississippi
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
8-7(10)
47-39-2 (4-2)

Michigan
Minnesota
Ohio State
Purdue
Florida State
Navy
Arizona State
Oklahoma
Texas
North Carolina State
Auburn
Stanford
Cal
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
6-9(1.0)
4&3&2 (5-1)

Michigan
Minnesota
Iowa
Purdue
Virginia
Notre Dame
Southern Cal.
Oklahoma
Texas
Maryland
Auburn
Stanford
UCLA
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
Stanford
42-44-2(3-3)

Sharad
Mattu
Michigan
Michigan State
Iowa
Wisconsin
Virginia
Navy
Southern Cal.
Kansas State
Texas
Maryland
Auburn
Stanford
Cal
Mississippi
Pittsburgh
Texas
1-5 (0-1)
47-39-2 (3-3)

Adam Lowenstein
Big Ten Burrito
lUlinois
Minnesota
Ohio State
Purdue
Florida State
Notre Dame
Southern Cal.
Kansas State
Missouri'
Maryland
Auburn
Washington StatE
UCLA_
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
Notre Dame
47 ($-0)
47-39-2 (51)

Filice struggles with
picks, health after run
After going a remarkable 20-8 the
past two weeks, Gennaro Filice
knew struggles were bound to
happen. And they did. He's just
happy he kept his best bet run
rolling. If you see him on campus,
. stay away. /es's been sick for a.
while, and it's contagious.
As for celeb Adam Lowenstein, he
did well, but if he stopped wasting
time trying to come up with
funny ads to put in the Daily, and
watched some more football, he'd
have done a lot better.
With Fice slowing down, Chris
Burke, Sharad Mattu and the celebs
all moved within one game.
Thanks to peer pressure, Mattu
missed his best bet for the second
consecutive week. He was set
to pick Michigan State, knowing
e that Minnesota has a history of
collapsing the week after playing the
Wolverines, but was mocked for an
hour and chickened out.
As for Bob Hunt, let's just say he
needs to focus less on On the Road
and watch some football games. His
picks aren't just bad - sometimes,
he doesn't seem to care.


Beutjer benched
after Blue defeat

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Jon
Beutjer is out as Illinois' starting
quarterback, but who will replace
him at Minnesota Saturday won't
be decided until later in the week,
coach Ron Turner said Monday.
Chris Pazan, Brad Bower and
Tim Brasic will compete in practice
for the chance to start against the
Gophers, the coach said.
"We just feel they deserve a shot
at it," said Turner, whose coach-
ing future is the subject of growing
speculation.
Beutjer, a senior who has start-
ed 20 games in three seasons, was
benched after a poor second-half
against 14th-ranked Michigan on
Saturday. He led the Illini to two
first-half touchdowns, but threw his
first three interceptions of the season
as a 17-10 halftime lead vanished.
"The second half, I feel like offen-
sively we stopped ourselves. That's
something that really hurt us all
year," Beutjersaid after Saturday's
loss. "I feel like we've stopped our-
selves so much."

his decision on Sunday.
"Jon was disappointed, of course,"
Turner said. "Hopefully, we'll make
a decision on who gives us the best
chance to win and that young man
will go out there and play great foot-
ball and we won't have to talk about
this again."
Beutjer has started six games this
season and is 92-for-157 for 926
yards and six touchdowns. He missed
the Sept. 18 game after bruising his
sternum against UCLA the preced-
ing week.
Bower, a redshirt freshman, played
the second half of the 35-17 loss to
UCLA and started against Western
Michigan, leading the Illini to a 30-
27 comeback win. Bower also played
briefly against Wisconsin on Oct. 4,
and is 24-for-43 for 321 yards and
one touchdown in three games.
Pazan, a sophomore, relieved
Bower against Wisconsin and
replaced Beutjer in the third quar-
ter the following week at Michigan
State. He is 12-for-21 for 115 yards
and one touchdown.

TONY DING/Daily

Michigan fan Jake Ruud - who halls from Chicago - taunts members of the Illinois student section on Saturday.

I. HEINT

stop the runner the Michigan offensive line jokingly
olc "Mid t'"

The freshman runner, however, has yet to go through
the rionrs nf acmnletes eason Anvtime anvone asks