BAR EXAM
Michigan used three individual titles
to hold off Cornell for the Body Bar
Invitational wrestling championship.
PAGE 2B
ALL GOOD THINGS ...
With their careers over, five Michigan
field hockey seniors look back on all
they accomplished as Wolverines.
PAGE 7B
FOOTBALL MEMORIES
Relive the sights of Michigan's 9-2 run to
the Rose Bowl, including dramatic wins
over Minnesota and Michigan State.
PAGE 8B
SPORTS DAY
November 22 ,2004
1B
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By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Editor
COLUMBUS - Before boarding the buses to head back to
Ann Arbor, the Michigan players knew that their bowl fate would
be decided miles away, and that they would not be able to watch as
their holiday plans were being made.
That didn't really matter for the Wolverines. Saturday pre-
sented them with the opportunity to win the Big Ten champion-
ship outright for the second consecutive year and write their own
ticket to Pasadena.
Instead, Michigan was thoroughly outplayed by Ohio State,
losing 37-21, allowing the worst offense in the Big Ten - statisti-
cally speaking - to compile 446 yards of total offense and amass
back-breaking touchdown drives of 99 and 97 yards. It then had
to hope for Iowa to beat Wisconsin for it to receive a bid in this
year's Rose Bowl.
No matter what else would transpire on Saturday, the Wolver-
ines were hurt physically and emotionally.
"I don't think it will ease (the loss) at all," senior captain
David Baas said of Michigan's Rose Bowl prospects. "It's
Michigan-Ohio State."
After Michigan had left for home, Iowa dominated Wis-
consin 30-7 in Iowa City, and the Wolverines earned the
right to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl. Michigan
(7-1 Big Ten, 9-2 overall) shared the conference champion-
ship with Iowa, but received the invitation because it defeated
the Hawkeyes 30-17 in September. If Wisconsin had won, it
would have gone to the Rose Bowl because it owned the tie-
breaker over Michigan, due to its overall record. Wisconsin
and Michigan did not play each other this season.
"We're not feeling sorry for ourselves," Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr said. "We've had an outstanding year."
Like last year, the Wolverines finished the regular season
with two losses, won the Big Ten championship and are going
to the Rose Bowl. But losing against their biggest rival - which
owned a subpar 6-4 record entering the regular-season finale
- put a major cloud over the Wolverines season.
The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry over the years has devel-
oped into the gatekeeper for a trip to Pasadena, and this season
is just the third time ever the loser of the game has gone to the
Rose Bowl.
This is the first time since 1992 that Michigan has gone to the
Rose Bowl without defeating Ohio State. The two schools tied
that year. The only time the Wolverines have headed to the Rose
Bowl after losing to the Buckeyes was in 1982. They went on to
lose to UCLA in Pasadena. Ohio State lost to Michigan in 1996
and went on to defeat Arizona State in the Rose Bowl.
This Michigan team looked like it would not join that group in
the first quarter when it took a 14-7 lead. After Ohio State quar-
terback Troy Smith threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Anthony
Gonzalez over the top of the Michigan defense on the Buckeyes's
first possession, the Wolverines briefly took control of the game.
True freshman quarterback Chad Henne led an 87-yard drive
that he finished by finding Jason Avant in the back corner of the
endzone to tie the game at seven.
After Ohio State went three-and-out, Michigan quickly
scored again when it drove 43 yards in just over two min-
utes. Things still looked positive for the Wolverines minutes
later when they downed a punt at the Ohio State one-yard
line, but it was at that point that the Buckeyes would start
to dominate.
Smith capped off a 99-yard touchdown drive when he snuck
the ball in from the two to tie the game at 14. Ohio State would
then spend nearly the entire second quarter in Michigan's half
of the field. But it scored just six points, earning three points on
two Michigan goalline stands. Although the Wolverines offense
had gone stagnant, they found themselves down by just one pos-
session at halftime.
The game changed when Ohio State freshman Ted Ginn
See BUCKEYES, Page 5B
TONY DING/Daily
Ted Ginn scampers into the endzone after his 82-yard punt return that gave Ohio State a 27-14 lead over Michigan in the third quarter of Saturday's game.
Blue stands no chance in Pasadena
COLUMBUS - All season long,
national media and college football
fanat-
ics everywhere
have collectively
blasted the BCS
for giving the
depleted Big East
an automatic bid.
Everyone pos-
sessed an opinion GENNARO FILICE
on the situation, Nuthin' But a
and most folks 'G' Thang
outside of Bos-
ton, Pittsburgh and Morgantown, W.V.,
shared similar thoughts:
Without Miami and Virginia Tech, the
conference is no better than the MAC or
the Mountain West.
The Big East winner will serve as a sac-
rificial lamb in whichever bowl it attends.
Give the Big East bid to an at-large
team.
Nowhere were these assertions more
prevalent than in Big Ten country and
- prior to Michigan State's victory over
Wisconsin - in Ann Arbor, specifically.
The Maize and Blue faithful com-
plained about possibly going undefeated in
the Big Ten only to earn a winter vacation
in central Florida. Wolverines supporters
placed blame on two factors for this poten-
tial misfortune: Utah (the Mountain West
champion snatching an at-large bid) and
the Big East winner.
Now that Wisconsin has handed the
Wolverines a second consecutive Rose
Bowl bid, this is all insignificant, and
Michigan fans can stop worrying about
missing out on a BCS game because the
Big East champion received a BCS spot it
didn't deserve. But enthusiasts of the Big
Ten champions must prepare for what they
swore awaited the Big East winners: A
New Year's Day embarrassment.
Besides the Big East, the Big Ten is the
worst of the six major conferences in col-
lege football. The SEC, Big 12 and Pac-10
all boast at least one legitimate national-
title contender. The new ACC isn't as
good as many thought it would be at the
beginning of the year, but it's still deeper
than the Big Ten. Many Big Ten teams are
still a year away from really contending on
the national scene, and two of the teams
that were supposed to pace the conference
- Purdue and Minnesota - highly under-
achieved. This is how Michigan earned
another trip to the Rose Bowl, where it
holds an 8-10 all-time mark.
The 2004 Wolverines are not an out-
standing team - they didn't dominate
the Big Ten conference, they survived it.
See FILICE, Page 5B
Icers overcome sluggish
start to sweep Spartans
0 MEN'S SOCCGR
'M' zips on, courtesy
of Sterba's first goal
V By Jake Rosenwasser
Daily Sports Writer
As the teams spilled out onto the ice for
warmups, Michigan goalie Al Montoya and
Michigan State goalie Dominic Vicari settled into
identical stretches about five
feet from each other on either
side of the red line. The for-
mer teammates on the U.S. National Junior Team
talked a bit as they prepared for the game.
But they had no idea what they were about to
Aft enonn+er Turina the first nerind Michian and
with the Spartans since 1992.
With eight minutes remaining in the second
period on Saturday, Nystrom followed his line-
mates - freshmen Chad Kolarik and senior
Jason Ryznar - into the Michigan State zone.
Nystrom took a drop pass from Ryznar, who was
skating down the left side, and shot it past Vicari
for the game-winner.
"Unbelievable," Michigan coach Red Beren-
son said. "I think everyone expected a close game
and a low-scoring game between these two teams
and these two goalies."
Was it clAe9 Ahsolutelv Neither team ever
By Jamie Josephson
Daily Sports Writer
Before the Michigan men's soc-
cer team took on Akron in the first
round of the NCAA Tournament on
Friday, junior Ryan Sterba made fun
of a tape of onef
of junior Adam McGA
Bruh's post-goal
celebrations in the Wolverines'
locker room. After Sterba labeled-
Bruh's celebration as not being "un
perfect time, as it propelled Michigan
into the second round of the tourna-
ment against Indiana. Ironically,
Bruh tallied the assist on the goal.
"As soon as (Bruh) got the ball,
their defense really keyed in on him,"
Sterba said. "I took off with my head
down and ran for five yards. The ball
was right in my stride. It was a per-
fect pass."
The Wolverines will take on the
second-seeded and defending NCAA
chamnion Hoosiers in Bloomington
I wo m - m
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