48 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, September 11, 1994 AMCHIGAN 24, MEMPHIS7 1 F GAME STATISTICS Woodson sett bis secondai les into role PASSING Player C-A Yds Dreisbachl3-21162 Griese 0-1 0 Totals 13-22.162 TD Int 0 0 0 0 0 0 RUSHING Player Att Yds Avg Lg TD B'batuka25 143 5.7 20 2 Davis 13 70 5.4 12 1 Floyd Howard 8 24 3.0 8 0 4 9 2.3 6 0 By Ryan White Daily Sports Editor The 1995 Michigan football media guide lists Charles Woodson as both a defensive back and running back. Don't expect tc see him taking a handoff from quarterback Scott Dreisbach, though. Through three games this season, Woodson, a true freshman, has proven himself more the.n ready to make an immediate impact in the Wolverines' secondary. Saturday againast Memphis, Woodson made his first career interception. In the middle of the first quarter, with the Tigers facing a second-and- 19 on their own 25, quarterback Ber- nard Oden tried to pass to receiver Chancy Carr. Woodson caught the pass and was tripped up at thle 20-yard line. It appeared that Woodson had ripped the ball straight;out of Carr's hands, but Woodson thought otherwise. "I had it all the way," he said. "I just kind of bumped (Carr) out of the way." Woodson came out of Ross High School in Fremont, Ohio with almost enough accolades to fill Michigan Sta- dium. SuperPrep listed him as the No. 3 overall prospect in the Midwest. He was also on the BlueChip Illustrated's Dream Team as the No. 2 defensive back. With those; kind of credentials and the losses of Ty Law to the NFL and Deion Johnson to graduation, Michigan coaches expected Woodson to play some. But no one could have expected him to start or play the way he has. No one, that is, except Woodson. "That's what I'm used to," he said. Through three games, Woodson has made 10 tackles (nine solo). He recov- ered a fumble that set up a touchdown against Illinois and his interception Sat- urday setup the Wolverines' first touch- down. Still, he was quick to spread the praise around the entire defense. "Coming in with (the veterans), they were real hungry to play,"11e said. "Play- ing with these guys has helped me a lot and I thank them for bringing out the best in me." Regardless of where the praise is placed, Woodson is part of a rejuve nated secondary which bore an unfair amount of the blame for what went wrong last season. Again, as if knowing where he stands as a freshman on a veteran team, Woodson is quick to credit the rest of Michigan's defense. "You have to credit what we do to those guys on the defensive line," be said. "They're playing great football." So is Woodson. Michigan fans are already comparing him to Law, who wasa first-roundpick in last June's NFL draft. And Michigan has to be excited be- cause he should only continue to gel better as he gains experience the rest of the season. The Wolverines should also forget about having him run the ball. Dreisbach 4(-)21(-)5.3 0 0 Hayes 1 4 4.0 4 0 Howell 1 1 1.0 0 0 C. W'iamsl (-)2(-)2.0 0 0 Totals 57 228 4.0 20 3 RECEIVING Player No. Yds Hayes 5 98, Richards 3 21 Toomer 2 18 Avg LgTD 19.6 58 0 7.0 8 0 9.0 12 0 Memphis quarterback Bernard Oden is sacked by a host of Michigan defenders. The Wolverine defense recorded three sacks on the afternoon. I JOE WESTRATE/Daily B'field 1 10 10.0 10 A. W'iamsl 8 8.0 8 0 PUI1N .0StrugglingMemphis opts for Pr ING No. Yds Avg new offensive attack in 1995 DeLong 415338.353 Peristeris Totals 2 74 37.0 42 6 22737.853 By Scott Burton Daily Sports Writer When Memphis coach Rip Scherer took over the Memphis football team this year, he wasn't too thrilled about the Tigers' offensive attack. There were PUNT RETURNS Player Hayes Totals No. Yds Avg Lg TD 1 1 1.0 1 0 some quality skill 1 11.0 1 0 KICKOFF RETURNS PlayerNo. Yds C. W'ms1 17 Avg 17.0 12.0 14.5 Lg 17 12 17 jootba TD Notebook 0 0 players around, but overall, they just didn't possess an effective offensive scheme. So Scherer made some adjustments to the Tigers' of- fense, including the implementation of an I-formation and the use of the op- tion play. He also made Hayes Totals 1 2 12 29 trailer more than a few times. Meanwhile, the two backs respon- sible for making the I-Formation click - Spaulding and fullback Darrius Blevins - couldn't get anything going on the ground. Of course, even Scherer and most of the Memphis football team were willing to concede that the size and speed of Michigan's defense had something to do with Memphis' offensive struggles. Not only did the Wolverines outsize the Tigers in most of the man-on-man matchups, but Michigan coach Lloyd Carr often also stacked the Wolverines' seven-man front with an additional safety. "I think everybody in defensive foot- ball is looking at ways of getting the eighth man into the defense," Carr said. "Against an option team, it does give you an extra guy. I thought (defensive coordinator) Greg (Mattison) mixed that extremely well today." "We had a very good plan I thought in terms of the option - some things we did at the line of scrimmage in certain situations that I thought the kids were extremely well prepared and executed very well." PENALTIES NOT GOOD: Penalties hadn't been a scourge of the Wolverines in their first two games. However, against Memphis, Michigan committed six pen- alties for 53 yards including several that stalled offensive drives. On the Wolverines opening drive, Mercury Hayes took a reverse hand- off from Tshimanga Biakabutuka and streaked 67 yards for an apparent touch- down. However, a holding penalty ne- gated the play. On a Michigan drive in the third quar- ter, the Wolverines drove the ball to the Memphis 10-yard line. However, an- other holding penalty brought the ball back to the 17. After quarterback Scott Dreisbach was sacked for a 10-yard loss, Remy Hamilton was unable to boot a 45-yard field goal. TOOMER INJURED: Amani Toomer hasn't quite matched the numbers that made him Michigan'smostheraldedwid receiver going into the season. In 199 Toomer collected a Michigan single-sea- son high 1,096 yards. This year, Toomer has caught eight passes for 83 yards. In Saturday's contest, Toomer bruised his shoulder in the first half and didn't dress for the second half. Lloyd Carr wasn't sure whether Toomer's injury would keep him out of any further games. MEN OF STEELE: Defensive end Glen Steele, who last year was a defensive tackle, sat out most of Saturday's contest with the flu. Redshirt freshman and con- vertedlinebackerRasheed Simmons took his place in the lineup, and as far as Carr could tell, did a decent job. "Obviously, he must of done a good job because we didn't miss much in there," Carr said. Simmons collected a career-high six tackles, including two for losses. DEFENSE Player Irons Horn Simmons Swett Feazell Copenhaver King Woodson Z enkewicz W. Carr Elston Ray Sanders Sword Winters Bowens Hankins Huff Mayes Taylor Steele Thompson Solo 7 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 Ast 5 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 3 2 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Tot 12 7 6 6 5 4 4 3 3 5 4 4 3 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 some personnel changes, replacing pro- jected starting quarterback Joe Borich with the quicker Bernard Oden and featuring tailback Quitman Spaulding in the backfield in place of 1994 starter Frank Fletcher. Although the tinkering might improve the Tigers in the long run (they averaged 14.8 points in 1994), it didn't help Mem- phis much in Saturday's 24-7 loss to Michigan. Not only didn't the offense produce any points, but it managed a measly 96 yards of total offense. The option attack - which depends on a coordination between the quarter- back and the tailback - looked shaky, as Oden collided with his lineman or Saban' S debi Associated Press Just like last year, Lawrence Phillips and Brook Berringer came to Nebraska's rescue Saturday after starting quarterback Tommie Frazier was hurt. The second-ranked Cornhuskers were leading Michigan State by only three points when Frazier left the game with a bruised thigh early in the sec- ond quarter. But Berringer came in to direct the offense and Phillips put on a sensational rushing display to lead the Cornhuskers to a 50-10 victory. Phillips ran for 206 yards and four touchdowns, and Berringer provided a steady hand at quarterback as the defending national champions spoiled Nick Saban's debut as Michigan State coach. "I'm a senior now, so I can't get nervous," Berringer said. "There was no problem going in. It's a tough situation going in cold, but I just kept my head in the game and knew what was going on." Lit ruined by leg, said he thought he would be ready for next week's game against Ari- zona State. However, Nebraska coach Tom Osborne was more cautious. "This could be a two-week or three- week thing, or it could be a two-day or three-day thing," Osborne said. "We'll have to wait to see about him." Notre Dame 35, Purdue 28 Just seconds after Purdue tied the game in the fourth -quarter, Notre Dame tailback Randy Kinder rushed 52 yards for a touchdown and the 25th-ranked Irish escaped with a 35- 28 victory Saturday. Coach Lou Holtz got his 200th col- lege vic- tory, mak- ing him the 15th coach to reach that mile- Dmundnn stone. INTERCEPTIONS Player Woodson Swett Totals No. Yds 1 2 1 0 2 2 TD 0 0 0 MICHIGAN SCHED ULE , m