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 --- --- --- ----------------- - -- g: 1 g A! i: i i:;:; ab) 7,rbig iga n2 Owo °e yn ~Michigan 21 Woes, then Rose wi Varsit head west es ite blowout oss S 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 P i