The Michigan Daily - Sports Wednesday - January 9, 1991 - Page 5
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Michigan's Jarrod Bunch steamrolls through the Mississippi defense for a nine-yard rush.
R. Before Michigan's season began Gary Moeller fretted aloud about the
ailback position. After all, both of last year's stars, Tony Boles and Leroy
Hoard were no longer around. Michigan would be faced with using either
;Alen Jefferson(who topped the career 1000 mark with his performance in
the Gator Bowl), Jon Vaughn, or frosh Ricky Powers.
Vaughn showed a national television audience against Notre Dame that
the worries about the tailback slot were a waste of time. He rushed for 201
yards on 22 carries, a 9.1 yard average. The next week, Vaughn bettered
himself, tallying 288 yards against UCLA. He also rushed for over 100
yards against Michigan State (162) and Purdue (139) during the regular
season.
Vaughn was hampered in the closing weeks of the season with a bad
ankle but returned in the Gator Bowl to post an impressive 128 yards
rushing, He received mention on numerous post-season teams.
'All-Big Ten First Team - Media
'Mil-Big Ten First Team - Coaches
-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year - Coaches
-Doak Walker Award Finalist.
OPPONENT ATT YRD AVG TD LONG
BOWL
Continued from page 1
even think to go in that direction...
I'm really happy and I know they are
too.
"They just hung tough as a
group. They're a group that could
have, after 3-3, gone sour, and by
golly that's character.
The first big play of the game,
though, came from Ole Miss' MVP,
Tyron Ashley. With Michigan driv-
ing deep into Rebel territory, Ashley
stole the momentum and the foot-
ball, intercepting a Grbac pass and
returning it 50 yards to the Michigan
33-yard line.
But the Rebels simply could n6t
capitalize, fumbling the ball right
back to the Wolverines. The
turnover was the first of six for Ole
Miss, and set the tone for what was
about to happen.
Despite all the accolades that
Michigan's quarterback, running
backs, and offensive linemen re-
ceived, the true headliner was a small
flanker that literally turned the game
around for Michigan.
On the third play of the Michigan
drive, Grbac went deep to that
flanker, sophomore Desmond.
Howard, who came back to the ball
and danced into the endzone for a 63-
yard touchdown strike and a 7-0 lead.
"I was waiting and waiting for
the ball to get down there," Grbac
said. "He came back for the ball
about five yards and then just ran
away from the defender."
And Howard was far from fin-
ished.
With Michigan clinging to a 14-
3 halftime lead, both teams' early
second half drives stalled and the
Wolverines took over at their own
48-yard line.
On the second play of the drive,
Howard caught a five-yard Grbac
pass cutting left across the field, and
then turned all 68;927 heads in the
stadium and put the game in Michi-
gan's back pocket.
Howard stopped short, spun
around, and sprinted straight down
field, utilizing his 4.4 speed to burn
the entire Rebel defense for a 50-yard
touchdown and an insurmountable
21-3 lead.
"I think he knew the guy was
right on his back pocket and he just
made a nice spin move and he was
gone, right out of the gate," Grbac
said. "I thought he was going to get
tackled somewhere from the other
side, but he just went flying through
about seven defenders and just kept
going."
In all, the flanker grabbed six
passes for 167 yards and totalled 226
all-purpose yards, prompting com-
parisons to Michigan's greatest wide
receiver ever, three-time All-Ameri-
can Anthony Carter.
"It's nice when you've got 21 out
there," Moeller said of Howard.
"Sometimes you throw a five-yard
pass and it turns into a what, 50?
He's an exciting player. If Desmond
Howard keeps his head screwed on
like he should, I thinkhe's in a class
of a lot of other great players and
great wide receivers, and I think you
all know who I'm talking about."
The Wolverines added two touch-
downs in the third quarter to round
out the scoring, and played the sec-
ond team through most of the final
stanza. On defense, sophomore Cor-
win Brown recovered a fumble and
intercepted a pass for Michigan, and
co-captain John Milligan also
recorded a game-high 11 tackles in
his final game as a Wolverine.
Ole Miss could never get started
on offense, its only points stem-
ming from a career-high and Gator
Bowl record 51-yard field goal by
Brain Lee. Both Luke and Shows
could not get the Rebels going as
they shuffled in and out of the game
in the second half. With the stronger
passer' Shows in the game in the
fourth quarter, the three final Missis-
sippi drives resulted in interceptions.
"I think our seniors did a great
job in leading us - especially our
fifth-year guys Dohring, Dingman,
Bunch and Milligan - and all the
regular seniors," Skrepenak said.
"Today, it seemed like everything we
did worked."
Michigan Stats
Rushing
Player Att Yds Ava L TD
Vaughn 15 128 8.5 37 0
Powers 14 112 8.0 44 0
Bunch 11 54 4.9 11 1
Legette 5 54 10.8 24 0
Howard 1 19 19.0 19 0
Washington 3 15 5.0 6 0
Watson 1 5 5.0 5 0
Jefferson 3 4 1.3 3 0
Totals 53 39 7.5 44 1
Passing
Player Att Cmp Yds TD li
Grbac 25 16 296 4 1
Sollom 7 4 28 0 1
Totals 32 2 324 4 2
Receiving
Player No Yds L TD
Howard 6 167 63 2
Alexander 2 50 33 1
Van Dyne 3 32 16 0
Bunch 2 22 15 1
Burch 1 12 12 0
Vaughn 1 10 10 0
Powers 1 8 8 0
Owen 1 9 9 0
Diebolt 1 7 7 0
Johnson 1 7 7 0
Totals 20 324 6 4
Punt Returns
Player t No Yds Lg TD
Howard 2 8 10 0
Totals 2 8 10 0
Tackles
Player So Ast Sck Tot
Milligan 5 6 0 11
Anderson 3 5 1 9
Williams 5 0 0 5
Brown 3 2 0 5
Maloney 3 1 0 4
Davis 2 2 0 4
Key 1 2 1 4
Murray 3 0 0 3
Plate 2 1 0 3
Simpson 2 1 0 3
Hutchinson 2 0 0 2.
Dottin 1 1 0 2
Townsend 1 1 0 2
Evans 0 2 0 2
Stark 1 0 0 1
Alexander 1 0 0 1
Dunlap 1 0 0 1
Osman 0 1 0 1
Wallace 0 1 0 1
Totals 3 Z 2 64
Ole Miss Stats
Rushing
Player Att Yds Ava L TD
Baldwin 8 53 6.6 14 0
Billing 2 6 3.0 3 0
Courtney 1 6 6.0 6 0
Thigpen 6 32 52 13 0
Luke 14 5 OA4 6 0
Shows 5 -9 -1.8 5 0
Totals 36 S 2.6 14 0
Passing
Player AC Cmp Yds TD Int
Luke 11 5 5 0 1
Shows 20 12 150 0 3
Notre Dame
UCLA
Maryland
Wisconsin
Michigan St
Iowa
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Minnesota
Ohio State
Ole Miss
22
32
22
15
26
18
12
25
14
7
201
288
89
94
162
93
91
139
56
28
0
128
9.1
9.0
4.0
6.3
6.2
4.8
7.6
5.6
4.0
4.0
0.00
8.53
0
3
2
1
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
C)
24
63
26
35
42
13
47
35
11
9
7
37
4
15
v.v vvr
Totals 216 1364 6.32 0 63
mm
r r r
-----------------
r
Totals
31 17 215 0 4
Band ends
losing streak,
finishes as winners
Receiving
Player
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After the Gator Bowl's
final score had been posted, Michigan President
James Duderstadt stood on the sideline while the
Michigan Marching band performed its post-game
show. "Today, Michigan clearly has the best
football team in America and clearly the best band.
No question about it."
Whoa. Now let's not get carried away. Let's say
half of Duderstadt's comment is true.
The football team part seems a little
exaggerated. Beating a team ranked 15th which
never defeated a team above par does not
definitely constitute a numero uno ranking.
The band (yes, you are reading correctly)
deserves all the praise in the world.
In fact, it appears their performance may have
impressed Duderstadt more than the football
team's. The prez was asked if "this is the best
performance you've seen this year." It was an
open-ended question meant to refer to the
football team. The president answered otherwise.
"They were just superb," he said. "They work
very hard and there's a tremendous sense of pride
in this band. Year in and year out they do it and
even with new leadership they pick right up."
and blue faithful at a pep rally. It brought a standing
ovation. Previewing their upcoming halftime show
was most enjoyable - seeing Gary Lewis conduct
up-close and personal showed the spirit with which
this man conducts. Quite impressive.
Now, we get to game day. Watching Michigan
make it's block 'M' and Mississippi attempt a cheap
imitation ended any hope of a close Battle of the
Bands competition. Michigan dwarfed the Rebels
in bodies almost 2-1. And the Rebels marched like
a high school band.
At halftime, Ole Miss played Dixie hits, while
Michigan put on the show of its life. The
Wolverines started their show as they started the
season, with the "Theme from the Jetsons." Then
they high-stepped (yes, it's back) to Billy Joel's
"Tell Her About It." It's a modern song (1980's) yet,
it sounds perfect for a marching band - not like
the Miami Sound Machine.~
The band closed with the theme from the movie
Ghost, "Unchained Melody." During the quiet
parts, there was the chance the band could slip
into oblivion. But what a strong closing. The band
all ended up in one long line, blasting the ending.
It was overpowering. Over a month ago, during
No Yds La TD
Roberts 4 67 24 0
Brownlee 4 58 25 0
Owens 3 42 17 0
Baldwin 2 15 12 0
Small 1 25 25 0
Holder 1 11 11 0
Thigpen 1 6 6 0
Courtney 1 3 3 0
Totals 17 215 25 0
Tackles
Player So Ast SCk Tot
Pritchett 5 4 1 10
Ford 5 2 1 8
Ingram 4 4 0 8
Boyd 7 0 0 7
Amos 5 1 0 6
Kent 2 3 1 6
Lester 1 4 1 6
Carter 5 0 0 5
Ashley 4 0 0 4
Mitchell 1 3 0 4
Harris 3 1 0 4
Hancock 0 3 0 3
Cobb 2 1 0 3
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