The a£idiimwnmg
(1) Nebraska 37, Oklahoma 0
(18) Michigan 31, (2) Ohio State 23
(3) Florida 35, Florida State 24
I(b) ennessee 12, Vanderbilt 7
(9) Texas 21, Baylor 13
(14) Penn State 24, Michigan State 20,
(15) Texas A&M 3, TCU 6
N
Michigan 31,Oo a2
The Ohio
State win is
big - but
not that big
Saturday was an awfully nice
day for a walk -particularly
around 4 p.m.
The sun was shining so brightly, as
brightly as it has since late August,
perhaps. Although it didn't nake for
August-like temperatures, it was as
warm a day as one could ask for after
Thanksgiving.
Lloyd Carr
was all set to go
for a walk
around 4 p.m.
He didn't have
far to go -just
across the
Michigan
Stadium field
DARREN and to the
EVERSON lockerroom -
Darren and he had a
to be Different song in his
heart, most
likely 'The .
Victors.'
Things didn't go as planned, though.
Carr's Wolverines hoisted him upon
their shoulders and carried him off after
their triumph over Ohio State.
No, guys, you shouldn't have -
really.
"We didn't win a championship,"
Carr said, "and that's what that should
be reserved for."
Michigan's destruction of the
Buckeyes is cause for the Wolverines
and their fans to celebrate. But let's not
get carried away.
One victory does not a great season
make, no matter how sweet the
revenge, how unexpected the victory or
how great the opponent was.
See EVERSON, Page 4B
Biakabutuka's 313
yards ruin Ohio
State's title hopes
By Ryan White
Daily Sports Editor
At some point during Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State
contest, somebody should have told Tshimanga Biakabutuka
that he wasn't supposed to be the dominant runner in the
game.
It most likely wouldn't have mattered though. Biakabutuka
probably would have just shrugged and broken off another
20-yard run.
The Wolverine tailback powered his way to a monstrous
313 yards and a touchdown, and led Michigan to a 31-23
upset over the No. 2 Buckeyes in front of 106,288 at Michi-
gan Stadium.
The win ended Ohio State's national championship hopes
and gave Northwestern the outright Big Ten championship.
and a trip to the Rose Bowl. It also earned Michigan (5-3 Big
Ten, 9-3 overall) a trip to the Alamo Bowl Dec. 29 in San
Antonio, Texas.
It was Biakabutuka's best performance in a Michigan}
uniform, and it overshadowed a 105-yard, one-touchdown
game by Ohio State's highly touted Heisman Trophy hope-
ful, Eddie George.
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said that Biakabutuka told him
last week that Biakabutuka wanted to prove he was the best
back in the league, but Biakabutuka gave much of the credit
for doing it to his offensive line.
"I've been playing football for six years and even in higfr
school I never saw holes that big," he said. "Anybody here
could have run through those holes and gained all those
yards."
It was what happened after Biakabutuka got through those
holes that most bothered Ohio State coach John Cooper, who
lost for the sixth time in eight tries against Michigan.
"We didn't wrap up," Cooper said. "Time and time again
we had guys there to make the tackle, but we didn't wrap up.'
Buckeye strong safety Rob Kelley bitterly agreed with his
coach.
"We didn't tackle. I didn't tackle," Kelley said. "I'm sorry
for the seniors, I'm sorry for the fans. I apologize. It was a
disgrace out there today."
But for all of Biakabutuka's heroics, Ohio State (7-1, 11-
1) still had a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.
Michigan's defense had been called on to make game-
saving stops against both Michigan State and Penn State.
Each time the Wolverines fell short and lost the game.
Saturday, however, would be different.
See BUCKEYES, Page 4B
MARKF IEDMAN/Uaily
Michigan tailback Tshimanga Biakabutuka ran through the Ohio State defense to lead the Wolverines to an upset of the No. 2 Buckeyes.
Rotten to the core: Blue drops a pair in the Big Apple
Top guards dominate NIT, but . ,s Arizona, Georgia Tech
Arizona's unknowns prevail hand Michigan defeats
By Michael Rosenberg
Daily Editor in Chief
NEW YORK - In the nation's largest city,
where people take basketball almost as seriously
as they take themselves, a good guard is more
highly valued than a good bagel. In last week's
Preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden, the
citizens of Gotham were treated to a few of the
best young guards in the nation.
Georgetown brought sophomore Allen Iverson,
who only averaged 21 points per game last season.
For Georgia Tech, freshman Stephon Marbury is
the man. Not much is expected of Marbury, other
than immediate superstardom. Michigan brought
its own young guard: Louis Bullock, who is not as
ballyhooed as Iverson or Marbury but is a better
shooter than either.
Arizona? The Wildcats had to counter this ter-
rific threesome with the unheralded Miles Simon
and Reggie Geary.
Naturally, Arizona won the tournament.
Iverson had to settle for winning the
tournament's Most Valuable Player award. The
MVP balloting could not have been close -
Iverson ran away with it, literally. Possibly the
quickest player in the nation, Iverson scored 40
cooks Minute Rice in 30 seconds. The knock on
Iverson is that he plays out of control. That may be
true, but he makes other players lose control too,
which is why he was the Big East's Defensive
Player of the Year last season.
Besides, if he tries to do too much, that's fine
with Georgetown coach John Thompson. The
veteran coach was dumbfounded when asked if
Iverson took too many shots (27) against Arizona.
"What would you propose we do?" Thompson
asked his interviewer. "That's what you call a go-
to guy. You go to him. He's got enormous stamina
for a guy that size with that athletic ability."
As good as Iverson was, Marbury was the clear
crowd favorite. In truth, Georgia Tech didn't
really bring Marbury to New York. The Brooklyn
native is only on loan from the Big Apple, which
considers him to be one of its own and probably
always will. Marbury is the best guard to come out
of New York since Kenny Anderson, a former
Yellow Jacket and current NBA All-Star.
This year's tournament drew a Preseason NIT-
record crowd of 28,198 over the two nights, and
approximately 28,174 of those came to see
Marbury. He didn't shy away from the attention.
In the first half against Georgetown Wednesday,
By Michael Rosenberg
Daily Editor in Chief
NEW YORK - Steve Fisher felt a
range of emotions during last week's
Preseason NIT. Unfortunately for him,
none of those emotions were good.
"I'm more embarrassed than I am
angry," said the Michigan men's bas-
ketball coach Friday night. "After the
Arizona game, I was angry."
The source of his embarrassment was
a 77-62 pasting at the hands of Georgia
Tech in the NIT consolation game Fri-
day night at Madison Square Garden.
That came two days after the Wolver-
ines lost to Arizona, 86-79, in the semi-
finals. Arizona beat Georgetown, 91-
81, to take the title.
Michigan very nearly beat the Wild-
cats. The Wolverines were down by
two with under a minute left when Ari-
zona missed a shot. The rebound rico-
cheted offtwo Michigan players before
settling in the hands of Arizona center
Joe Blair, who hit a layup and was
fouled. Blair's ensuing free throw gave
The Wolverines were effectively fin-
ished. They had lost to Arizona for the
third straight year.
Michigan's loss to Georgia Tech
wasn't nearly so maddening, mainly
because it wasn't nearly so close. The
Wolverines blew a 38-32 halftime lead
in the first five minutes of the second
half. They managed to keep it close for
a little while longer - they cut the
deficit to two with 8:28 remaining -
but the Yellow Jackets ran away with
the victory. Georgia Tech scored 20 of
the game's final 26 points.
But while the games against the Wild-
cats and Yellow Jackets were different,
Michigan guard Louis Bullock saw them
as a cause and effect.
"I don't think we were really up for
the (Georgia Tech) game after the loss
to Arizona," Bullock said. "That is who
we wanted to play. That was a tough
loss. I don't think we came out too
focused (Friday)."
That lack of focus was a key for
Michigan. Another key was this: One
F
A.._..l. 'l . Lf . t , L w.. l w L.......ttwLw.1 w..i ww.:asa aww3wiw ac