I
FALLING FAST
The Michigan women's basketball team
fell to Michigan State on Sunday - the
fifth-straight loss for the Wolverines.
PAGE 3B
BIG TEN, BIG TIMES
Daniel Horton is close to returning to
the lineup as Michigan opens the Big
Ten conference season at Iowa tonight.
PAGE 7B
BOWL BONANZA
The Daily breaks down the thrilling
bowl season, and the winners of the sec-
ond annual Ellens are announced.
PAGE 8B
SPORT S VEDNESD
9 January 5, 2005
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The
Horn
supremacy
MICHIGAN 37
RYAN WEINER/Daily
Left: Texas players celebrate after Dusty Mangum kicked a game-winning field goal
with no time left to give the Longhorns a Rose Bowl victory.
Above: Sophomore Steve Breaston looks on in disbelief after the Wolverines' loss.
Breaston set a Rose Bowl record with 315 all-purpose yards.
'M'
unable to stop
Young, drops heartbreaker to
Texas
By Sharad Mattu
Daily Sports Editor
PASADENA, Calif. - When its regular
season ended, Michigan's Achilles heel was
clear. Mobile quarterbacks such as Michi-
gan State's Drew Stanton and Ohio State's
Troy Smith had given the Wolverines fits
with their ability to scramble and throw.
Texas quarterback Vince Young is
made of the same mold, and, since it was
announced on Dec. 5 that Michigan and
Texas would square off in the Rose Bowl,
the Wolverines knew that to win they would
have to contain him.
But in the end, four weeks of preparation
made no difference.
Young put together a performance for
the ages - running for 192 yards and four
touchdowns to go along with 180 yards
passing and a touchdown - and Dusty
Mangum kicked a 37-yard field goal as time
expired to give Texas a 38-37 win.
The ball deflected off safety Ernest
Shazor's elbow and just missed linebacker
Prescott Burgess outstretched arms, but
Mangum was able to eke the ball over the
crossbar.
"We knew this game would come down
to defense," Burgess said. "Defense wins
championships, and we just weren't able to
get the job done."
The defensive struggles overshadowed
a strong showing by Michigan's offense.
The Wolverines were led by senior Bray-
Ion Edwards, who caught 10 passes for 109
yards and three touchdowns and set Michi-
gan's all-time record for career touchdowns
receptions with 39.
Sophomore Steve Breaston, who took
on an increased role because Jason Avant
was out with an injured knee, caught a 50-
yard touchdown pass and consistently gave
Michigan a boost in field position, return-
ing six kickoffs for 221 yards.
"I had a month off instead of a week,"
Breaston said, who missed time with mul-
tiple injuries. "I had time to heal, and it
really paid off."
Quarterback Chad Henne, who finished
the day 18-for-34 for 227 yards and four
touchdowns said: "We had a great game plan
and great preparation coming in here. And
that's what had the offense clicking today."
Michigan held a 31-21 lead entering the
fourth quarter, but Young saved his best for
the final 15 minutes, throwing and running
for a combined 150 yards.
The Wolverines limited Texas running
back Cedric Benson - this year's Doak
Walker Award winner - to just 70 yards
on 23 carries, but Young did just enough to
give Texas the win.
"We put in hours and hours and hours of
preparation for Young, and to lose the game
because of it really hurts," Watson said.
"He's a great player. Great players make
great plays. He made great plays, and we
just didn't."
The final quarter's first score came on
third-and-goal from the 10-yard line, when
Young spun away from a seemingly sure
sack by defensive end Pat Massey and ran
down the right sideline to put the Long-
horns within three.
It was one of 'many third-down conver-
sions for Texas. For the game, the Long-
horns converted 12-of-17, while Michigan
converted just 6-of-14.
After a Michigan field goal extended the
lead to six, Texas struck again in under a
minute to take the lead. After completing
two passes for 46 yards, Young escaped
to the left sideline and sprinted untouched
past six Wolverines to give the Longhorns
a 35-34 lead.
With just five minutes left, Breaston
returned the ensuing kick 52 yards to the
Texas 43-yard line.
From there, Michigan registered one first
down before kicker Garret Rivas booted a
42-yard field goal to give Michigan a 37-35
lead with 3:04 left.
On the deciding drive, Texas relied on
Young and its running game, passing the
ball just once. A 14-yard run by Young gave
the Longhorns the ball at the Michigan 30-
yard line, and Texas ran the ball five more
times to set the stage for Mangum.
Michigan had two timeouts remaining for
the entire drive, but elected to use them back
to back in the final seconds to ice Mangum.
The Rose Bowl marked Texas's first
appearance in a BCS bowl game. After being
excluded in the top four bowl games for years,
the Longhorns vowed to show the country
that their presence was long overdue.
The Wolverines (9-3), on the other hand,
are dealing with their second consecutive
Rose Bowl loss. Last year they lost to co-
national champion Southern Cal 28-14,
but this year's game may have hurt more
because they felt that if they had had just
one more chance on offense, they would
have won.
"I know we would have won this game,"
Edwards said. "We were getting first downs
and pretty much scoring at will. If we had
gotten the ball one more time, we would
have won it."
Icers nipped by
Spartans in GLI
By James V. Dowd and headed back around his net. As
Daily Sports Writer Olson headed for the corner in an
Trojans dominate
Sooners for title
s
1
DETROIT - A single mistake
soured Michigan goaltender Noah
Ruden's memories of the Great Lakes
Invitational.
Despite the 64
saves he made HG .
^%or ... - a n
attempt to clear, Miller wrestled the
puck from him and sent it to Spar-
tans' forward Colton Fretter. Fretter
hammered the puck from the right
circle into a nearly empty net at 9:27
of overtime.
"There was a little skirmish behind
+he not nnr1 /lil wnc wnurkinsr
MIAMI (AP) - Matt Leinart and
his Southern Cal teammates played
to perfection, leaving no doubt about
this national championship.
Even better, they don't have to
share it.
The Heisman Trophy winner threw
a record five touchdown passes and
Southern Cal overwhelmed Okla-
homa 55-19 last night in the Orange
Rwl .asurini the Troians will end
of the BCS title game this season.
The Tigers (13-0) stated their case
with a 16-13 victory over Virginia
Tech in the Sugar Bowl on Monday
night and could have done no worse
than Oklahoma against Southern Cal.
But they can only hope for second
when the final Associated Press poll is
released early Wednesday morning.
"We didn't expect it to be this easy,
but the came went our way from the
1
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49