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