The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, November 20, 1995 - 5B -....A... Pitts proves that it is possible to run against Michigan's line U"U By Scott Burton Daily Sports Writer STATE COLLEGE--Perhaps it's not so strange that someone finally proved it's possible to run against Michigan's defense. After all, the Wolverines play in a conference with the best running-back talent in the nation and something, at sometime, had to give. What is strange, though, is who that someone was. Penn State running back Stephen Pitts, a semi-obscure runner who had rushed for all of 213 yards going into the game, busted loose for 164 yards Saturday. Included in his melee was a 58-yard run late in the fourth quarter that set up the Nittany Lions' game-clinching touchdown. In the process, Pitts did something Saturday that no other feature runner has done this season - rush above his yards per-game average against the Wolverines' defense. Elite talents such as Virginia's Tiki Barber and Purdue's Mike Alstott struggled in their matchups with Michigan, but Pitts ran for a ca- reer- best by more than 25 yards. "You dream of having games like this," Pitts said. It wasn't just Pitts who was able to move the ball against Michigan Satur- day. Five Nittany Lions carried the ball We played hard, but we just didn't execute some of the defenses when we needed to." - Jarrett Irons Michigan linebacker at least once, and Penn State ran for 262 rushing yards in the game, the most the Wolverines have allowed this season. "We played hard, but we just didn't execute some of the defenses when we needed to," Michigan linebacker Jarrett Irons said. Penn State had a lot to do with the Wolverines' lack of execution. The Nittany Lions threw a number of unique running formations at Michigan in an attempt tothrow offthe Wolverine's line. On two consecutive running plays in the second quarter that resulted in 27 yards, Penn State tight end Keith Olsommer shifted on the line, drawing Michigan's defense to his end. Then wide receiver Bobby Engram went in motion away from Olsommer's side and, GAME after the ball was snapped, Penn State's running back followed Engram for big gains. PASSING The Nittany Lions also occasionally utilized a three-back set. Player "They might have been a little con- Griese fused, because we had a couple of I- formations out there and I don't know Totals whether they lined up right a couple of times," quarterback Wally Richardson said. "We were able to get some move- RUSHING ment at the line of scrimmage and stayed Player A on some blocks. That gave our backs the room they needed to get some good yard- B' batu k a age down field." Howard But what truly freed up Penn State's runners was the dominating performance Griese by its offensive line. The blocking unit. Totals maligned throughout the year for medio- cre performances, controlled the line of scrimmage. RECEIVIN Richardson, who has been sacked more than 20 times this season, had superb Player N protection in the pocket, getting sacked Hayes only twice. And the tailbacks had all sorts of time to find holes in the line. Toomer "Obviously, they blocked us well," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "There Riemersm were too many creases. They had too Howard STATISTICS C-A Yds TD Int 24-46 323 24-46 323 1 2 1 2 := ZR= inc. -= =.."W= 3. == = in== .. MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily to-create a little havoc with the collection of snow under their seats. 1hb snow-covered urnafter late fal storm Att Yds Avg Lg TD 26 139 5.3 34, 1 3 4 1.3 5 0 3 0(-)21(-)7.00 32 122 3.8 34 1 G lo. Yds Avg Lg TD 6 132 22.0 38 0 8 128 16.0 23 1 51 actually showed up. 'That's how our fans are," defensive i Terry Killens said. "They back us the way. Rain, sleet, snow-just like . mailman - they're always there for The Penn State student section de- ded to be unruly right from the get go. ess than a half hour after the stadium pened, the first all-out snowball fight opted. The workers had been able to clear all e seats, aisleways and walkways -ound the stadium, but a lot of the snow as packed under the seats. Everyone had a half foot of freshly- acked snow at their feet. Some thought made for excellent ammunition. Snowballs were hurtled at every offi- ;ial and Michigan player possible. Penn State coach Joe Paterno made repeated efforts to stop the snow throw- ng,,losing his voice in the process, but :he snowballs persisted. "F 'was disappointed in the crowd," Paterno said. "It was childish-no need For it. It was not fair to the Michigan kids Michigan has a good football tra- dition and a great tradition and for some >f our kids to act like a bunch of jerks is embarrassing." Paterno was especially worried that the officials would call an unsportsman- likepe'nalty on Penn State, which is a 15-yard infraction. The Nittany Lions' P.A: announcer warned the Beaver Sta- diuin crowd of the possibility of such a NillnOMQG@G3 punishment should their behavior con- tinue. Those concerns were amplified in the face of an incident involving Wolverine receiver Mercury Haye . The senior was running a fade patternin the corner of the endzone and unsuccessfully dove for Brian Griese's pass. When Hayes was getting up, he was pelted in the face by a snow ball, which put him back on the ground for several minutes. The field conditions neccesitated can- celing the pregame and halftime shows of the Penn State Blue and. The band performed its halftime'selections from its seats above the south endzone. BOWLED OVER: Michigan's loss elimi- nates it from any possibility of going to the Citrus Bowl, Jan. 1, which is reserved for the Big Ten's second-place team. The Wolverines still have shot at a third- place finish and an invitation to the Outback Bowl, but would likely have to beat No.2 Ohio State nett weekend to do so. More likely, the Pennytate-Michigan State winner will go to Florida, leaving Michigan a plane ticket to Texas for either the Alamo or Sun(Bowl. WAIT 'TILL WE GET OUR HAYES ON YOU: Despite a few dropped passes Sat- urday, Hayes continued his ascent up Michigan's record books. The senior caught six catches for 132 yards and became onlythe fifth Wolverine to reach 2,000 career receiving yards. In the process, Hayes and fellow wideout Amani Toomer pecame the first classmates in Michigan history to each collect 2,000 career yards. Toomer, who eclipsed the 2,000 mark earlier in the season, had 128 receiving yards Satur- day and has 2,506 for his career. FUMBLING CHANCE : PENN State fumbled away two excellent scoring op- portunities, keeping Michigan within striking distance. In the.second quarter, with Penn State looking to pad a 10-0 lead, fullback Jon Whitman turned the ball over on the Wolverines' 9-yard line. Even more damaging, tailback Curtis Enis and Richardson muffed a handoff at the Wolverines 1-yard line in the fourth quarter. The ball squirted in the end zone and Michigan's Clint Copenhaver recovered for a touchback. Paterno cited those errors as his rea- son for attempting the, fake field goal, rather than running a conventional of- fensive set on fourth down. "I just felt that we hid been screwing around all day out there, putting the ball on the ground and giving them new life," Paterno said. "I said let's see if we can't get rid of this (game), get it over." BO KNOWS TASTELESiS: Former Michi- gan coach Bo Schembechler watched most of Saturday's contest in silence from his sky box. However, two occur- rences prompted loud responses - he groaned after Michigan was flagged for a personal foul late in the first half and chuckled at an airplane tagging along an advertisement forcondoms with the slo- gan, "Sheik: Get some." a6 43 7.16 9 0 3 11 3.67 5 0 1 990 9 0 many big plays." Floyd Totals 24 32313.4538 1 PUNTING Player Peristeris Totals No. Yds Avg Lg 6 215 35.8 44 6 215 35.844 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yds Avg Lg' Toomer 3 3 1.0 4 Totals 3 3 1.0 4 TD 0 0 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yds Toomer 2 52 Avg Lg' 26.0 33 16.0 21 20.0 33 TD 0 0 0 Hayes Totals 3 48 5 100 DEFENSE AP PHOTO Northwestern coach Gary Barnett celebrates after the Wildcats clinched a share of the Big Ten title. Buckeyes and Wldcats continue their quest for Rose Bowl berthi The Associated Press Bobby Hoying passed for two touchdowns before leaving with a con- cussion and Eddie George rushed for 130 yards and two scores as second- ranked Ohio State beat Indiana, 42-3. Saturday. Ohio State improved to 11-0 for only the third time in school history and the first time since 1979. The Buckeyes are 7-0 in Big Ten play heading into Saturday's game at Michigan. Hoying, who completed 12 of 17 passes for 203 yards in his final game at Ohio Stadium, sustained a mild concussion midway through the third quarter when hit by Indi- ana outside linebacker Jabar Robinson. Hoying lay motionless on the field for two minutes but was able to walk off the field with help. He did not play again. Hoying was in long enough to set an Ohio State record with 2,737 yards pass- ing this season, breaking Art Schlichter's 1981 mark of 2,551. Indiana fell to 2-8 overall and 0-7 in the Big Ten. Northwestern 23, Purdue 8 Darnell Autry gained a career-high 226 yards as No. 5 Northwestern beat Purdue, 23-8, Saturday to keep its Rose Bowl hopes alive and clinch a share of its first conference title since 1936. Autry, whose previous high was 190 yards earlier this season against Air Force, had a 59-yard carry to set up Northwestern's final touchdown. The carry brought the ball to the 1-yard line, where Steve Schnur scored on a quar- terback sneak. Iowa 33, Wisconsin 20 Junior tailback Sedrick Shaw carried 41 times for 214 yards and three touch- downs Saturday as Iowa snapped a four- game losing streak with a 33-204victory over Wisconsin. Already Iowa's career rushing leader, Shaw broke the season rushing mark Saturday and scored on runs of 7, 1 and 4 yards. His 1,304 yards surpassed Dennis Mosley's record of 1,267 yards set in 1979. The H awkeyes (3-4, 6-4), who outrushed Wisconsin by 294 yards, can earn a bowl bid with a victory against Minnesota next week. Wisconsin (3-4, 4-5), just two sea- sons removed from a Rose Bowl vic- tory, will finish up against Illinois and stay home. Darrell Bevell completed a school-record 35 passes for Wis- consin but he also threw four inter- ceptions, three of them deep in Iowa territory. Illinois 48, Minnesota 14 Illinois' offense finally erupted from a season of doldrums while star lineback- ers Kevin Hardy and Simeon Rice en- joyed big games as the Illini whipped Minnesota, 48-14, Saturday. Illinois (3-4, 5-5) kept its bowl hopes alive with the victory. It finishes the regular season at Wisconsin next Satur- day while Minnesota (1-6, 3-7) is at Iowa. Illinois quarterback Johnny Johnson was inconsistent, with several passes sailing over receivers' heads. But he also threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Running back Robert Holcombe ran for 206 yards and a 29-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Hardy sacked quarterback Cory Sauter at the 27-yard line in the fourth quarter and Rice, a Lombardi Award finalist, scooped up the ball and ran into the end zone for his first collegiate touchdown. Player Irons King Sword Bowens Hankins Winters Zenkewicz W. Carr Steele Thompson Anderson Swett Weathers Campbell Horn Mayes Sanders Copenhaver Solo Ast 6 6 5 4 4 5 7 0 5 1 4 1 3 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 2 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Tot 12 9 9 7 6 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 MICHIGAN SCHEDULE A27 S2 S9 S16 VIRGINIA Illinois Memphis Boston Col. MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily *fans to litter the field with snowballs. S30 MIAMI (OHIO) Big Ten Standings 07 N'WESTERN 18-17 38-14 24-7 23-13 38-19 13-19 34-13 52-17 25-28 5-0 17-27 12:30 g summary: by quarter Michigan Penn State 0 7 0 13 3 4 TOT 3 7 17 0 14 27 Conference second Quarter: Penn State - Conway 49-yard FG (13:15) Penn State - Archie 15-yard pass from Richardson (7:35) Michigan - Toomer 18-yard pass from Griese (1:13) Penn State - Conway 51-yard FG (:12) Team: Northwestern Ohio State Michigan State Michigan Penn State Iowa Illinois .,. -. - .- w 8 7 4 4 4 3 3 L 0 0 2 3 3 4 4 .A 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 .643 .571 .571 .429 .429 A P.A T Pct. All Games 021 Indiana 028 MINNESOTA N4 Michigan St. N11 PURDUE W L< 10 1 110 6 3 8 3 7 3 6 4 5 5 A ,. T 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Pet. .909 1.000 .650 .727 .700 .600 .500 A A N18 N25 Penn State OHIO STATE TEAM STATISTICS MICH PSU First Downs 21 S-1 23 - rl~ 7 '' i