. # i'"°. Thursday October 21, 2004 sports.michigandaily. com sports@michigandaily.com SPORTS 9A" Astros and Cards, ready for spotlight CHRIS BURKE Michigan's Jeremy LeSeur (21) sacks Purdue's Kyle Orton during Michigan's 31-3 route of the Boilermakers last season. Desperate Purdue set to face Blue By Chris Burke Daily Sports Editor Purdue was just moments away from seriously thrusting itself into the national championship race. Last Satur- day, the then-fifth-ranked Boilermakers had a defense that was stifling No. 10 Wisconsin and a composed Heisman front-runner in quarterback Kyle Orton protecting a 17-7 lead midway through the fourth quarter. And then the Boilermakers lost it all. Wisconsin marched down the field for a quick touchdown to cut the lead to 17- 14, and then the seemingly-untouchable Orton made a huge mistake. Running a naked bootleg with two-and-a-half minutes left in the game, Orton was hit and fumbled. Scott Starks picked up the loose ball and sprinted 40 yards for a touchdown that eventually gave the Badgers a stunning victory. "I think after the game, (Orton) was not a happy camper," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said at his Tuesday press confer- ence. "My opinion as a coach is that if you lose easy, you lose often." So now, No. 12 Purdue (2-1 Big Ten, 5-1 overall) finds itself in desperation mode - and that only makes things that much harder for No. 13 Michigan (4-0, 6-1) when the Wolverines head to West Lafayette for a colossal Big Ten showdown on Saturday. "Anytime you lose, it's hard to bounce back," said Michigan linebacker Scott McClintock about Purdue's loss to Wis- consin. "I'm sure they're going to be ready to get that taste out of their mouths." Last year's result will also fuel the Boilermakers' emotions this time around. Purdue entered Michigan Sta- dium ranked No. 10 in the nation, only to suffer a 31-3 embarrassment at the hands of the Wolverines. In that game, Michigan completely suffocated Orton and the Purdue offense, notching three turnovers and seven sacks. It's an effort that the Wolverines will have to repeat this year against a Boilermaker offense that is averaging just under 38 points a game - tops in the Big Ten conference and ninth in the country. That offense is led by the duo of Orton and wide receiver Taylor Stubblefied, who has 38 catches for 608 yards and 11 touchdowns this year. "It's going to be a great challenge - probably the greatest challenge that we've seen so far this year," Michigan defensive back Leon Hall said. "They have a lot of good receivers, so we're going to have to have the (cornerbacks) step up for this game. "We need to have career games to come out with a win." The mindset on the other side of the ball is a similar one. With last year's massacre fresh in their memories, the Boilermakers are well aware of what Michigan - specifically Michigan's defense - is capable of. "They're great athletes - physical, big and they really make a lot of plays," said Orton of Michigan's defense. "The best part of their defense is the secondary, and they do such a good job of coming up and disrupting the routes early." Purdue also has to worry about the emergence of Michigan's running game - including last week's perfor- mance when freshmen Mike Hart and Max Martin combined for more than 300 yards on the ground as Michigan defeated Illinois 30-19. That ground attack, combined with the Wolverines' talent and depth at wide receiver, means that Michigan's defense won't be the only one with its hands full heading into Saturday. "I think that (Michigan is) a much more dangerous team today than (it) was a month ago," Tiller said. "The reason for that is (Hart). I thought that a month ago, they were more one-dimen- sional than they are today. As a result, I think a month ago, you could load up on the pass game and now you can't. "They're the best team on both sides of the ball in the conference, and we look forward to the game." Purdue's loss to Wisconsin last week means that the Boilermakers are behind the eight-ball when it comes to the race for the Rose Bowl - especially with the Badgers holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Purdue. Still, if the Boilermakers win out, they'd be a near- certainty for a BCS game. The same goes for Michigan, which is tied with the Badgers for first in the conference. Regardless, Saturday's game is one of the Big Ten's biggest this season. "We have to really bounce back in a big way, and this would be a great way to do it, by beating Michigan at home," Orton said. Goin' to Work esterday, you had the most anticipated game in base- ball history. And you had some National League game. So, maybe tonight - now that the Red Sox have completed their Hell's-frozen-over, pigs-are-flying comeback - people will finally turn the television on and watch Houston play St. Louis. What? You forgot about that series? Well, it's time to pay attention because the "other Game 7" is tonight, and the Astros and Cardi- nals have spun a pretty intriguing web of their own - just the sixth National League championship series to go the distance in 20 years, three come-from-behind wins, two walk-off home runs and an extra-inning game. It's been as entertaining of a series as you could possibly ask for and no one's even noticed. Now, to be fair - and before every Yankee or Red Sox fan starts writing furious e-mails to me - the American League series was simply mesmerizing. Obviously, when one of the greatest rivalries in sports history plays a too-ridiculous-to-believe series, then it's worth taking note and watching. But - and it's possible that I just didn't get the memo - when did the National League become the Godfather III of the sporting world? Unless the Cubs or Mets are still alive, or Barry Bonds is batting, no one gives a hoot about what hap- pens in the N.L. I mean, let's just think about the situation that's happened with the Astros' pitching rotation in this series. Roger Clemens was slated to start Game 6 for Houston - a game that could have clinched a World Series berth for the Astros - but instead, the future Hall- of-Famer was benched and Pete Munro (a four-game winner this year) took the mound to save Cle- mens for Game 7. Can you imagine the coverage that would have gotten if Clemens was still pitching in Boston or New York? What if the Yankees had benched Clemens in last year's playoffs and started, oh I don't know, let's say Jeff Weaver? The New York papers would have pub- lished a special section shredding manager Joe Torre. SportsCenter would have relocated to the Yan- kees' bullpen. Not this year. This year, nobody outside of Houston or St. Louis even blinked. Clemens goes from New York to Houston and suddenly it's like that scene in "Back to the Future" when Michael J. Fox starts disappearing - it's as if Clemens barely exists anymore. It's not just Clemens in this series either. As a matter of fact, there are arguably three of the top five play ers in all of baseball this season playing in the National LeagueFe series. It features Carlos Beltraii (whom the Yanks wanted at the trading deadline), Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols and plenty of other. talented players stacked up and down both lineups. It's not like 1998 when San Diego won the N.L. and was a sacrificial lamb for the Yankees:. The winner of tonight's game has a very legitimate shot of winning the World Series. But I guess that's the other thing these epic Red Sox-Yankee play. off matchups do - eliminate any. future discussion of what actually happens in the World Series. Do people remember that the, Yankees had to rally from two games down to beat L.A. in 1978,. Of course not - they remember-4 Bucky Dent's home run that elimi, nated the Red Sox. Ten years from now, do you think people will be talking about Josh Beckett's World Series' clinching performance for Floridwa, last year? Probably not - not . when they could remember Aaroni. Boone's home run that, again, sent the Red Sox home crying. 6 These playoffs battles between. New York and Boston have become so big that they've almost tran- K scended anything else that happens in baseball during those seasons:' Case in point: this is a column e about how good the Astros-Car- dinals series has been and I just talked about the Yankees and Reds Sox for three paragraphs. Or take both series' fifth gam. While Boston and New York a battled for 14 innings on Fox, the Astros and Cardinals were engaged in a spectacular pitcher's duel 1 - with two one-hitters going into. the ninth. Except that game was on FX everywhere except for Houston and St. Louis. That's the same FX that shows reruns of "Cops", "Buffy'the Vampire Slayer" and "Fear Factor" We're not exactly talking about prime coverage here. And so I'm stepping in, right now, to ensure that this situation gets resolved tonight. Chances are that the 2004 World Series won't be as good as either of the league championship series - I honestly don't know how it could be, unless they play a best- of-15 series or every game goes 25 innings. So tonight's game seven is the last chance to pay some atten- tion to something other than the Yankees-Red Sox series for at least one day. Because - as good as that Yan- kees-Red Sox series was - this other one has turned out to be pret- ty good, too. And it'd be a shame if everyone missed it. Chris Burke thought for sure Tony Clark was going to hit a series-end- ing home run in game six and can be reached at chrisbur@umich.edu Icers leave Yost behind, bit thle road for Lake Superior tonight By Ryan Sosin Daily Sports Writer The Michigan hockey team still has one No. 1 ranking under its belt - thanks to the CCHA pre- season polls - and it is looking to hold on to it a little longer than it did - its USCHO ranking. Tonight's game at TON Lake Superior State will open confer- ence play and will give the Wolverines Mich another crack at life away from Yost.k Last season, Michigan struggled Time:7 through the road portion of the sched- ule, failing to secure a win in any of its T A last four CCHA away games. The team narrowly clinched the CCHA regular - season title before losing in the post- season tournament. "This team has to play better on the road than it did last year," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. Despite needing to build off of last season's struggles, Berenson was quick to point to the pres- ent issues facing his hockey club. "We can't worry about what happened last year," Berenson said. "Our emphasis is on how we are playing." Along with last year's road woes, Michigan has struggled this season to play solid hockey for an entire game. Even in the team's two wins, soft goals and turnovers were a prevalent problem. Junior Andrew Ebbet noted that the team hadn't played up to its potential for a full 60 minutes before Saturday. "I think that was the push we needed," Ebbet said. Easing into the schedule is not an option for Mich- igan. The Lakers are 0-2, but both of their losses If grit r. were one-goal defeats away from home. With Mich- igan State not making the trip to Sault Ste. Marie, tonight's matchup could prove to be the biggest home game of the season for Lake Superior. "Lake Superior will be a hard working, close check- ing, physical team," Berenson said. "They are not going to be pushed off the puck." Aff Michigan does have some things going for it. The Wolverines are 6- nat.. 0 against the Lakers in the last three orState seasons, meaning that not one member 5 p. on the Michigan roster has lost a game to Lake Superior. "The nonconference games are real- ;.int ly important," Berenson said. "But they - - don't show up right now - they show up in your win-loss record at the end of the season. This is when the standings start." NYSTROM AT CENTER: Senior captain Eric Nystrom looked close to 100-percent during his first two games of the season. After sitting out the Lefty McFadden Tournament and most of the captain's practices with a rib injury, Nystrom returned to the Wolverines' lineup on Friday. Along with getting himself back into action, Nys- trom was also adapting to a new position. A winger all his career, Nystrom has become the center between senior Jason Ryznar and sophomore Mike Brown. "It was good to get back out there," Nystrom said on Friday. "It will take a few games to get back into game shape." Nystrom's ice time didn't indicate that Berenson was holding him back. The feisty forward played significant time on special teams and scored two RYAN WEINER/Daily. Junior Andrew Ebbett handles the puck. goals on the weekend. "You don't really feel it - you just go out there and throw the body around," Nystrom said. "Any- thing to get the team going." ANOTHER DROP: Michigan fell to No. 4 in the USCHO rankings after Friday's 4-4 tie with New Hampshire. The Wolverines were ranked No. 1 to open the season, but weak showings on back-to-back Fridays dropped the Wolverines down three spots. nternship opportunity Be a Display Advertising Account Executive for The Michigan Daily for Winter 2005 Sell Advertising toslocal and national businesses Manage your own account territory Earn money working with a student-run organization Flexible hours that work around your class schedule Management opportunities available a 40 .r Showdown in Texas coming this weekend By H. Jose Bosch this season and he'll face a Red Raider Daily Sports Writer defense that has allowed 142.2 rushing Kansas (1-2, 3-3) at No. 2 Oklahoma (3-0,6-0) - 1p.m. --e- - +,,,]--d .,+ ~t Adam Barmann has thrown for 1,212 yards, 11 touchdowns and six mass meeting: Tuesday Oct.26 at 5pm in the Student Publications Buiildingi (420 Mavnard) I