The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - October 25, 2004 - 5B f~le~al~tis teend tto ba'baWrite u ~o 0 1 a t °°t f at sob t 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