4B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, November 20, 1995 rI PENN ZTT 7, MICH G1 No time to wallow; Buckeyes are conning Michigan puts loss to Nittany Lions behind as it prepares for No. 2 Ohio State GAME STATISTICS PASSING Player Richardson Totals RUSHING Player Al Pitts 1 Enis 1 Witman 1 Archie Milne Nastasi C-A Yds TDint 17-31 193 2 0 17-31193 2 0 By Antoine Pitts Daily Sports Editor STATE COLLEGE - The Michi- gan football team had no longer than the plane ride home to think about its up- coming opponent Saturday. Talk after the game by Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and the Wolverine players shifted from the tough defeat they had just suffered to the tough game they face ahead. The Wolverines challenge Ohio State in their season finale Saturday and will be trying to stop the Buckeyes from attaining their first berth in the Rose Bowl since 1985. Saturday's 20-17 loss to Penn State will certainly have to be forgotten fast by the Wolverines. "If you sit back and feel sorry for your- self, you're going to be sony," Carr said. Thus far, the month of November - pointed out at the beginning of the sea- son as Michigan's make or break por- tion of the schedule - has been a bust. The Wolverines dropped their first game of the month, 28-25, to intrastate rival Michigan State to knock themselves out of the conference title race. Michigan came back with a 5-0 vic- tory in extreme weather conditions against Purdue last week, but dropping Saturday's game ended any chance of the Wolverines being selected for the Florida Citrus Bowl. "We knew at the beginning of the year that our season would come down to Penn State on the road and Ohio State at home," Carr said. "Not to take any- thing away from Penn State, but we have got to be ready to play better de- fense -Ohio State is the most balanced if you sit back and feel sorry for yourself, you're going to be sorry." -- Lloyd Carr Michigan football coach team in college football." Outback Bowl representatives have not officially ruled Michigan out of the running for their bowl, but the Wolverines will certainly need a win over Ohio State to have any chance of going to Tampa. "It's Ohio State and Michigan," line- backer Jarrett Irons said. "If you can't get up for that game then you shouldn't be playing at Michi n." Two years ago, O io State brought a 9-0-1 record into An Arbor looking for a trip to the Rose Bowl. The Wolverines embarrassed the' Buckeyes, 28-0, and Wisconsin earned thie trip to Pasadena. Ohio State got some revenge with a 22-6 pasting of Mic iigan in Columbus last season to edge t e Wolverines for a spot in the Citrus Bowvl. A win this week would be even wceeter vengeance for the Buckeyes. The Wolverines, on the other hand, can help make up for a season of hurt by keeping Ohio State ooit of the Rose Bowl. A Michigan win woild send Northwest- ern to Pasadena forthe first time since 1949. "I know every individual is going to be ready to play that ',ame," Griese said. tt 7 0 0 5 2 1 Yds 164 38 33 17 4 2 Avg 9.6 3.8 3.3 3.4 2.0 2.0 Richardson4(-)13(-3.3) Totals 49 245 5.0 LgTD 58 0 120 70 100 2 0 2 1 2 0 58 1 LgTD 40 1 18 0 5 0 11 0 13 1 11 0 9 0 40 2 RECEIVING Player No. Engram 5 Olsommer4 Milne 2 Pitts 2 Archie 2 Yds 87 44 9 17 16 11 9 193 Avg 17.4 11.0 4.5 8.5 8.0 11.0 9.0 11.4 Penn State fans couldn't resist the tempai hImtes bet Beaver Stad By Scott Burton and Antoine Pitts Daily Sports Writers STATE COLLEGE - A host of in- mates from local state correctional insti- tutions took over Penn State's Beaver Stadium early Saturday morning. The prisoners were part of the effort to Witman Scott Totals 1 1 17 PUNTING Player Kania Totals No. Yds Avg Lg 5 199 39.846 5199 39.846 1ootbal Notebook remove the nearly 18 inches of snow that buried the stadium earlier this week. A light dusting of snow Friday night meant that all the seats that had been cleared during the week would haveto be swept again, Theentirejobwas PUNT RETURNS Player No.Yds Avg Lg TD Archie 3 3010.0 17 0 Totals 3 3010.017 0 KICKOFF RETURNS Player N4 Pitts Gray Totals DEFENSE Player Collins Filardi Tate Herring Noble Nelson Atkins Killens Miller Penzenik Enis Cleary Fletcher Johnson Flores Totals o.Yds 2 44 1 0 3 44 Avg 22.0 0 14.7 Lg 23 0 23 Solo 5 4 5 4 4 2 2 2 3 3 1 1 1 1 0 38 Ast 8 4 2 3 3 5 4 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 38 TD 0 0 0 Tot 13 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 5 4 2 1 1 1 0 76 TD 0 0 0 PENN STATE Continued from Page lB in their conventional field goal defense, Nastasi was to run the play. Otherwise, Nastasi was to place the ball down for a field goal kick. "There was nothing there but a huge hole," Penn State kicker Brett Conway said. "Joe could have gone through it, come back out and gone through it again." Ironically, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr suspected that the Nittany Lions were going to run a fake on that fourth- down play and was screaming up and down the sidelines forthe Wolverines to be ready. And several Wolverines de- fending on the play said they were pre- pared for the fake. "Some guys were calling it out," Michigan defensive end Jason Horn said. "We were kind of looking for it even. They just hit the right spot." What was doubly unusal about Penn State's clinching touchdown was the manner in which they moved the ball down the field in the first place - on the ground. With the ball on their own 34, Nittany Lions' senior tailback Stephen Pitts busted Michigan's line of scrimmage fora 54-yard jaunt down the left sideline. That run alone was just 19 yards fewer than the average rushing yards per game that the Wolverines had been allowing going into Saturday's contest. However, Michigan was not beaten at the line of scrimmage for just that play, but for most of the game. "I did not expect Penn State to run the ball as well as they did," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "When you give up that many yards rushing, you're going to have a hard time winning." Penn State, utilizing a tandem of five backs, rushed for 262 yards on the game, by far the most any opponent has rushed for against Michigan this season. Pitts, who going into the game had rushed for more than 100 yards once in his career, tallied 166 yards. "I was running for days out there," Pitts said. "(The offensive line) was opening these big holes and I got into the open field." Michigan (4-3 Big Ten, 8-3 overall) also defied conventional wisdom in its offensive scheme, moving the ball effeciently in the air but struggling on the ground. Michigan's 122 net rushing yards on the game were a season low but Brian Griese's 323 passing yards amounted to the Wolverines' second- highest passing total this season. However, both facets of the Wol- verines' offense came together in what, at the time, was their most crucial series of the game. Down, 20-10, in the middle of the fourth quarter, Michi- gan drove the ball 73 yards on six plays for a touchdown. On that drive, Griese completed passes of 20, 7, 12 and 18 yards while Tshimanga Biakabutuka capped the drive with a 18-yard touchdown run. The rest ofthe day belonged to Griese, the much beleaguered sophomore, who just a week earlier threw for 101 yards. He completed 24-of-46 passes and ac- counted for 14 of Michigan's 21 first downs. Griese also manufactured Michigan's first touchdown tof the day, driving Michigan 91 yards in only 1:57 late in the second quarter. His 18-yard pin- point touchdown T ass to Amani Toomer brought Michigan within three, 10-7. The day could h ave been even more glorious for Griese, and Michigan, if not for a couple cif dropped passes by Mercury Hayes. On a Michigan drive subsequent to Peein State's fake field goal, Griese seemingly connected with Hayes on a thirdi-down play that would have given the Wolverines first-down yardage. Hwev'er, Hayes dropped the ball. Hayes also dropped a touchdown pass in the second quartier before Griese con- nected with Toonm'r four plays later. "It was a ball ithat Mercury would normally catch,'? Carr said. "In this type of game, you have to make those plays. Anytime he drops passes, that's not something you normally see." Griese was pressed into prominent duty because Penn S tate opened up a 10- 0 lead in the gecolPd quarter, after a Conway 49-yard f5eld goal and a 13- yard touchdown ,pass from Wally Richardson to Mike Archie. Yet even after Giese responded with his touchdown pass to Toomer, Penn State was quick torecapture the momen- tum of the first half,. With only 1:13 do work with in the second quarter, the Nittany Lions moved the ball 31 yards, aided in part by a personal foul call against Michigan. That set up Conway's 5 -yard field goal - his career-high - giving Penn State a 13-7 halftime lead. finishedj ust three hours before game timge.. "This snow really could have caused some problems for us today," quarter- back Penn State Wally Richardson said.- "Everybody who assisted with the sta- dium effort, the parking lots, the fans,-- I thank them very much," Penn State officials had anticipated not having its normal allotment of park- ing for the game. They warned fans. to, try to use satellite lots and.shuttle buses.- As it turned out, the officials may have overcompensated - several lots close,, to the stadium went unused because everyone had parked somewhere else, Of the 96,677 tickets sold, Penn State officials estimated that around 80,000 MARK FRIEC Amani Toomer tiptoes on the sideline to make a catch in Michigan's 27-17 loss at Penn State Saturday. Toomer caught eight passes for 128 yards on the day. INTERCEPTIONS Player No. Filardi 1 Herring Totals 1 2 Yds 0 0 0 PENN STATE SCHEDULE S9 S16 S23 S30 07 014 021 028 N4 N18 N25 TEXAS TECH TEMPLE vs. Rutgers WISCONSIN OHIO STATE at Purdue at Iowa INDIANA at N'western MICHIGAN at Mich. St. 24-23 66-14 59-34 9-17 25-28 26-23 41-27 45-21 10-21 27-17 3:30 PITTS Continued from Page 1A ship-bound Buckeyes from Ohio State come to Ann Arbor. If you easily get squeamish, you might not want to watch this game. The Buckeyes will allow the Wolverines to continue something that has become a new Michigan tradition - the four-loss season. Not since 1965-67 haveuthe Wolver- ines dropped at least four games in three consecutive seasons, but Michigan is primed to do it this year. You hear about how everybody gets up for Ohio State. There's something special about it. It's like no other game throughout the season. If a team can't get up for Michi- gan State when the Rose Bowl is still on the line, for Penn State when you're still in the running for the Citrus Bowl, how is a team magi- cally going to get up for Ohio State? Joe Paterno's protest of a penalty promptI I With Penn quarter, the yard line. Aft in the endzoi goal on fourt However, h into the end point, Penn On the play fake or simp ing POIA Mtate nursing a 20-17 lead late in the fourth Jittany Lions drove down to Michigan's eight- kr three unsuccessful attempts to put the ball e, Penn State seemingly lined up for a field i down. >lder Joe Nastasi took the snap and walked one untouched for a touchdown. After the extra Mtate had an insurmountable 27-17 lead. j Nastasi had the option of either running the fV placing the ball down for a Brett Conway 1 = a 'C h ., . .i>:.. . u _: :, ..,, .:.:... ..h-. ::::._: