The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 25, 2004 - 5B
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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 I headed off to West Lafayette, which,
before this weekend, was my least favorite town in the
Big Ten (I've been to all of them except for Iowa City).
Unfortunately, this week did little to change that.
" The epicenter of the campus nightlife at Purdue is
the strip of bars that align State Street. By far the most
famous of the establishments is Harry's Chocolate Shop,
which has been at its current location since 1919 and is
right below the current residence of quarterback Kyle
Orton. Although the place started as the first soda foun-
tain in West Lafayette, there weren't too many people
drinking Coke. The place also featured a help yourself
popcorn machine. Harry's is
most famous for all the mem-
orabilia it sells with the
slogan "Go Ugly Early."
The phrase apparently A
means that a guy down
on his luck should talk
with the ugly girls at
the beginning of the eve-
ning instead of trying after
he has been rejected by the
good looking ones (another
bar nearby has a sign outside
that read "No Uglys Allowed").
While I don't know for sure, I'm
guessing the phrase stems from the large engineering
presence at Purdue. It was clear that it was a male-domi-
nated campus. This was most evident in the late-night
burrito line, which at one point featured 24 guys and
Bob takes some tree popcorn at Harry's Chocolate Shop.
just one girl. That can't all be attributed to the place's
freaky mural featuring burrito-headed basketball play-
ers in bizarre poses.
" After recent trips to Bloomington and Champaign,
the campus bar scene here seemed pretty tame. I don't
want to sound too derogatory, but the one thing I noticed
was that the town seemed much more blue-collar than
any other place I have been to this year. I could defi-
nitely tell that I wasn't on Main Street in Ann Arbor. But
ironically, a colleague of mine was denied access from
two bars for wearing sweatpants.
- Other than what was shown on television, the most
amusing part of Saturday's game was the Captain Planet-
style introduction shown before Purdue took the field.
It started with a spaceship featuring a Michigan logo
crashing near the field, and a gigantic robot walking
out. This prompts Purdue coach Joe Tiller to hold up his
special ring, creating a light that could be seen all over
campus. Orton and his friends came to the rescue. If you
want to learn more, make sure to check out the "Jumbo
Heroes" trading cards available by the Purdue athletic
department. But I'm sure that these people were much
bigger heroes three weeks ago.
Bob Hunt wanted everyone to know what he did with
his weekend instead of studying for his accounting test
tomorrow. He can be reached at bobhunt@umich.edu.
I At3a.m., Bob decided not to "Go Ugly Early."
Xhie Midiiga 0alR
STAFF PICKS
Predictions against the
spread for 10/23/04
Michigan (+4.5) at Purdue
Illinois (+17) at Minnesota
Indiana (+13.5) at Ohio State
Iowa (+2.5) at Penn State
Northwestern (+12) at Wisconsin
Boston College (+7) at Notre Dame
"Texas (-2.5) at Texas Tech
Alabama (+7) at Tennessee
Georgia (-8) at Arkansas
Miami (-7.5) at North Carolina State
Washington (+34) at Souithern Cal.
Florida State (-13.5) at Wake Forest
Oklahoma State (+3.5) at Missouri
Colorado (+20) at Texas A&M
Fresno State (+9.5) at Boise State
Best bet
Chris
Burke
Gennaro
Filce
Bob
Hunt
Sharad
Mattu
Michigan
Minnesota
Indiana
Penn State
Northwestern
Boston College
Texas Tech
Tennessee
Georgia
North Carolina State
Southern Cal.
Wake Forest
Missouri
Colorado
Boise State
Minnesota
Michigan
Minnesota
Ohio State
Iowa
Wisconsin
Notre Dame
Texas Tech
Tennessee
Georgia
North Carolina State
Washington
Florida State
Missouri
Colorado
Boise State
Tennessee
Michigan
Illinois
Ohio State
Penn State
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Texas
Tennessee
Georgia
Miami
Southern Cal.
Florida State
Missouri
Colorado
Fresno State
Fresno State
Michigan
Minnesota
Ohio State
Iowa
Northwestern
Boston College
Texas Tech
Tennessee
Arkansas
North Carolina State
Washington
Wake Forest
Oklahoma State
Colorado
Fresno State
Iowa
Jenny Wu
SakeBombs Depot
Michigan
Minnesota
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Notre Dame
Texas
Tennessee
Georgia
Miami
Washington
Florida State
M issouri
Colorado
Fresno State
Michigan
7-71(1-0)
54-4&3 (6-1)
Jenny Wu, bad with
numbers, but does ok
Before Saturday's games, we
were worried Jenny Wu would fare
horribly. First, we had to explain
what point spreads are. Then, she
picked 12 favorites anyway. But
maybe she's just pretending to
be bad with numbers. Or maybe.
she was too busy selling Boone's
Farm to girls getting ready to grind
the night away at Phi Psi. Anyway,
Sharad Mattu was pretty giddy
at around 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Michigan gutted out the 'W,' and
(more importantly) he was 8-1-4
at the time. Fortawhile, he was
even dreaming of the no-hitter.
But Mattu is happy to be ahead,
though he was even happier when
he obliterated a deer on 1-94 on the
way back to Ann Arbor.
GennarokFlice lost the lead this
week, and clearly needs to pay
more attention to games outside
the Big Ten. And Chris Burke can't
believe he picked Indiana. But his
Minnesota best bet turned around
pretty well.
As for Bob Hunt, who cares? Like
we pointed out last week, he sure
doesn't. Just look at those picks.
Weekly record (best bet) 7-7-1(1-0) 6-81((>1) 6-1((-.) 9-51(-0)
Season record (best bet) 54-46-3 (5-2) 54-46-3 (5.2) 48-52-3 (3-4) 56-44-3 (4-3)
vrs eeems imse wi kic
By Gennaro Filice
Daily Sports Editor
After missing a 38-yard field
goal attempt and having a 32-yard-
er blocked, it's hard to believe that
kicker Garrett Rivas had a smile on
his face at the end of the day. But the
sophomore earned the postgame grin
by nailing a 35-yarder with 2:45 left
to give Michigan arguably its biggest
road win since 2000. And he did it
with the same cool
calmness that he
displayed in beat-
ing Minnesota with 0
one year ago.
"To be honest
with you, I just
treated it like any other kick," Rivas
said. "The uprights are the same dis-
tance apart. It doesn't matter where
you're at - the wind may be blowing
or not - but you've still got to hit it
whenever the game's on the line.
"I came here to have the game on
my shoulders and I was ready for it.
I played that kick through my mind a
million times."
The Tampa, Fla., native made
mount a desperation drive. But a
huge hit by Michigan junior safety
Ernest Shazor on freshman receiver
Dorien Bryant jarred the ball loose
and Michigan cornerback Leon Hall
dove on the loose pigskin to put the
game away.
"I was actually right by the ball,"
Rivas said. "And I saw that tley were
going to call replay, but I had seen
that (Hall) was clearly in bounds.
That sealed the game for us and
that's when it all set in."
It has been an up-and-down year for
Rivas, who is 13-for-18 in field goals
and 20-for-24 in PATs. But the sopho-
more proved his savvy under high
strain by hitting his second game-
winner at Michigan on Saturday.
"I knew he was going to make it,"
senior cornerback Marlin Jackson
said. "Rivas has been clutch. He's
always been clutch since he's been
here and he just showed it again."
GIVE IT UP FOR GABE: Michigan
defensive tackle Gabe Watson con-
tinued to embarrass offensive line-
men on Saturday. Although the
junior recorded just three tackles
- including one for a four-yard loss
- his contributions proved huge for
BOILERS
Continued from page 1B
got a favorable matchup in running back
Brandon Jones against linebacker Scott
McClintock. Orton lobbed a deep pass to
Jones, and Jones streaked untouched into
the endzone to give Purdue a 14-10 lead
with 4:25 left in the third quarter.
But if Kyle Orton's Heisman hopes
were breathing faintly after last week's
loss to the Badgers, they have to be lifeless
after his lackluster showing on Saturday.
Orton finished just 14-of-30 passing for
213 yards, one touchdown and one inter-
ception on the day. Facing a stiff pass rush
all game, Orton was sacked three times
and committed a fumble.
But even when Orton had time to throw,
his receivers had difficulty getting open.
Taylor Stubblefield, who leads the nation
with 11 touchdown catches and is the Big
Ten's all-time leading receiver, was held to
just one catch for 10 yards by cornerback
Marlin Jackson.
But until Michigan's final offensive
drive, its extraordinary defensive effort
wouldn't have been enough.
"We've been through every situation,"
Henne'said. "We came back and won
against Minnesota. We've been down a
couple times and came back."
I
Mo