4B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, October 23, 1995 WICHIGAN 4, INDIANA 17 52 Mirckian's engine runs well after Carr's tune-up LOOMINGTON - If this coaching thing doesn't work GAME STATISTICS out, Lloyd Carr might want to try his hand as an auto mechanic. Judging by the tune-up the Michi- PASSING gan coach gave his offense for Saturday's game against Indiana, he Player C-A Yds TD int just might be good at it. Griese 14-214 127 2 0 Two weeks ago, in a 19-13 loss to Toomer 1-1 37 0 0 Northwestern, the Wolverines' offense ran like a Dodge Dart in a Biakabutuka 0-1 0 0 0 Viper body. J. Carr 1-1 0 0 0 It looked fast and sleek, but it just Totals 16-24 172 2 0 didn't go anywhere. Saturday, however, in the cold Indiana weather, RUSHING the story was Player Att Yds Avg Lg TD different, Michigan - Biakabutuka16 111 6.9 47 0 opened up its Howard 10 65 6.5 13 0 playbook, threw Floyd 12 45 3.8 9 0 in a new goal-s line formation; Hayes 2 22 11.0 15 0 and proved there Davis 5 2 0.4 2 1 was still life left RYAN 1.CCrr 1 (-)3 (-)3.0 (-)3 0 in an offense that WHITE J.Car14 days earlier White on C.Williams 3 (-)5 (-)1.7 2 0 had looked ready Target Totals 49 237 4.8 47 1 for the scrap heap. "I just felt after watching North- RECEIVING western that we needed to play to our Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD strengths," Carr said. "Those strengths Howard 5 28 5.6 12 0 are the defense, the offensive line and the running game." Tuman 3 22 7.3 12 1 Everyone knew about the defense. Toomer 3 53 17.6 38 1 The much maligned Wolverine unit of Campbell 2 25 12.5 22 0 a year ago has been the team's sparkplug much of this season. Biakabutuka 1 3 3.0 3 0 But as the defense led Michigan to its Totals 16 172 10.7 38 2 first five wins by making big stops and causing even bigger turnovers, every- one, including the players, knew that the PUNTING offense would have to step it up. Player No. Yds Avg Lg They knew there would be a game DeLong 7 272 38.9 46 where the defense wouldn't get the turnovers, and they were right. Totals 7 272 38.9 46 Northwestern turned the ball over just once, which the offense couldn't PUNT RETURNS capitalize on, and the Wolverines lost. It was time to make some changes, Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD and here is where Carr deserves Toomer 2 59 29.5 56 1 credit. Totals 2 59 29.5 56 1 He saw there was a problem, and he set out to fix it. Change is a quality that his KICKOFF RETURNS predecessors as Michigan's head Player No. Yds Avg Lg TD coach were not always willing to embrace. Toomer 2 26 13.0 14 0 Too often in the past, the philoso- Hayes 1 20 20 20 0 phy seemed to be, if it doesn't work, Totals 3 46 15.3 20 0 keep trying. Carr took the stance, "It's not working. How can we improve it?" DEFENSE Michigan was going to run the Player Solo Ast Tot ball, the Wolverines are always layer going to run the ball, but they found King 9 2 11 ways to open up the offense at the Irons 5 3 8 right times. They spread the Hoosiers out with a W. Carr 6 1 couple of reverses and seemed intent Copenhaver 5 0 5 on having as many players as possible Steele 3 3 6 throw the ball. Amani Toomer hit his receiving partner Mercury Hayes with a 37- yard pass. Later Tshimanga Biakabutuka threw an incompletion. Why not? With quarterback Brian Griese still nursing a bit of a sore shoulder, have someone else do the passing. "I thought (offensive coordinator) Fred Jackson and the rest of our staff did a good job finding a way to exploit our big play guys," Carr said. But Michigan's biggest problem hadn't been getting the ball in position to score, but scoring itself. Carr, and the rest of the coaching staff, found a solution for that problem as well - William Carr. The 6-foot, 285 pound nose tackle moved to the offensive side of the ball to block in goal line situations. The Wolverines began working on the formation after the loss to the Wildcats and used it for the first time in the first quarter against the Hoosiers. The play didn't work then, but in the second quarter, it did. The result was a two-yard Ed Davis touchdown run. While the coaches should be praised, Griese's contribution in Saturday's win should not be overlooked. The sophomore, starting only his third game, caught the brunt of the heat for the Northwestern loss -- a loss that he played three quarters of with a bruised shoulder. He didn't know whether or not he would even play against the Hoosiers until after warmups. Nonetheless, he came in and completed 14-of-21 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. He said he had something to prove after his last performance, and he did it. He proved he can lead the team, and he can throw the ball. This offense still has a ways to go, though. For starters, Michigan is still committing too many penalties. The offense collected six of the Wolver- ines' 10 flags, including three false starts and two holding calls. These are the kind of things that killed Michigan against Northwest- ern. Fortunately for the Wolverines, Indiana was good enough to take advantage of the mistakes. Still, it was a much better perfor- mance than we've seen this season. In spite of fact that it was against the Hoosiers, who look every bit the worst team in the Big Ten, it was a good win for Michigan ,and it was good rebound from a tough loss. The Wolverines' offense finally started Saturday. Now we'll see if it has the power to drive Michigan back to Pasadena. -Rvan White can be reachedovere- mnail at targetumich.edu. Michigan had more to celebrate against Indiana than it did two weeks ago against Nodnsem. MARK FRIEDMAN/ Daily Griese steps up, overcomes injury Thompson Sword Winters Blackwell Simmons Woodson Bolach Springer Campbell Feazell Feely B. Williams Elston Howell Taylor Bowens 4 By Ryan White Daily Sports Editor BLOOMINGTON-Michigan foot- ball coach Lloyd Carr kept the secret of who was going to start at quarterback Saturday against Indiana so well even he didn't know. Okay, it wasn't as much a secret as it was simply not knowing if Brian Griese would be ready to play. Carr held out until after the pregame warmups to decide whether Griese or senior Jason Carr would start the game for the Wolverines. Griese had started the last two games for Michigan, stepping in for redshirt freshman Scott Dreisbach who is out with a thumb injury. He led the Wolverines to a 38-19 win over Miami (Ohio) Sept. 30 in his first start. However, he got banged up in his second start when he bruised his shoulder in the first 'quarter Griese of the Wolver- ines' 19-13 loss to Northwestern Oct. 7 Griese didn't practice at all during Michigan's off week, and threw only lightly during the week leading up to the contest against the Hoosiers. Furthermore, the Wolverines' train- ers didn't want Griese throwing on Fri- day. Carr, however, was not simply con- cerned with Griese risking further in- jury. "I was very concerned because the thing that beat us two weeks ago was turnovers and I was determined not to let that happen again," he said. So Carr decided to wait as long as possible to make the decision. "I didn't know (Griese was starting) until he walked out on the field," said receiver Amani Toomer, who caught a touchdown pass in the game. In the end, Carr thought Griese threw the ball well enough before the game to give him the start. It payed off. Griese completed 14 of his 21 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. "The shoulder felt good," Griese said. "I was concerned whether it was Wildcats st Associated Press Northwestern clinched its first win- ning season in 24 years and the 11th- ranked Wildcats qualified for a bowl berth, using seven Wisconsin turnovers to rout the 24th-ranked Badgers, 35-0, Saturday. Northwestern (4-0 Big Ten, 6-1 over- all) got its first shutout since 1986, ensured its first winning season since going 7-4 in 1971 and earned the mini- mum number of victories to go to a bowl, all on a damp, chilly afternoon. Thousands ofpurple-clad Northwest- ern students and fans, who've suffered for decades, mobbed the field after the final play in a homecoming celebration at a school known more for academics than athletic success. The Wildcats don't want just any bowl, not with a 4-0 record in the Big Ten. They're aiming for Pasadena, where in 1949 the school made its only postseason appearance, beating Cali- fornia in the Rose Bowl. Northwestern, which has also beaten Notre Dame and Michigan this season. avenged 46-14 and 53-14 I think ir .z. . anyone in this ,-.- conference is banged up and has a right to complain and cry and make alibis about injuries, certainly it's Indiana. --- Lloyd Carr Michigan coach .* Scoring by quarter Michigan Indiana Scoring Summary: First Quarter: Indiana - Manopoulos 37-yard field goal, 3-0 Drive: 4 plays, 7 yards, 2:08 Michigan - Hamilton 22-yard field goal, 3-3 Drive: 8 plays, 78 yards, 2:35 Michigan - Toomer 56-yard punt return (Hamilton kick), 10-3 Drive : 0 plays, 0 yards, 0:00 Second Quarter: Michigan - Davis 2-yard run (Hamilton kick), 17-3 Drive: 4 plays, 40 yards, 1:41 Michigan - Tuman 2-yard pass from Griese (Hamilton kick), 24-3 Drive: 8 plays, 58 yards, 130 Third Quarter: Michigan --Toomer 3-yard pass from Griese (Hamilton kick), 31-3 Ddve: 13 plays, 88yards, 516 Indiana - Greenlee 9-yard run (Horn kick), 31-10 Drive: 6 plays, 59 yards, 2:57 Fourth Quarter: Michigan - Hamilton 25-yard field goal, 34-10 Drive: 8 plays, 46 yards, 3:06 Indiana - Goode 2-yard pass (Horn kick), 34-17 Drive: 9 plays, 90 yards, 3:16 Attendance: 44,623 ay unbeaten in Big Ten going to go the whole game, but it felt good in warmups, I was throwing the ball well and I was able to go the whole game." Griese's longest pass was a 38-yard toss to Toomer that would have gone for a touchdown if Toomer's momen- tum hadn't carried him out of bounds at the two-yard line. Griese later hit Toomer with a three- yard touchdown strike. He also hit tight end Jerame Tuman in the end zone from two yards out. Most importantly, for the Wolver ines, Griese played much better that he did against the Wildcats when ht completed only 14 of his 34 passes threw two interceptions and fumblec once. "I definitely wanted to prove something (after Northwestern)," Griese said. "I've only played three games and I know the second wasn't very good. So I wanted to prove I could play, but most importantly I wanted to prove that this team has MICHIGAN SCHEDULE AUG. 27 VIRGINIA SEPT. 2 Illinois SEPT. 9 Memphis SEPT. 16 SEPT. 30 OCT. 7 Boston College MIAMI (OHIO) NORTHWESTERN 18-17 38-14 24-7 23-13 38-19 19-13 34-17 3:30 1 p.m. 12:30 OCT. 21 Indiana OCT. 28 MINNESOTA Hoying, playingjust over three quar- ters, completed 20-of-29 passes for 276 yards with one interception. He also hit Rickey Dudley on a 30-yard touch- down pass. Hoying tied his own school record of 19 touchdown passes, set last season. A crowd of 93,111 watched in an intermittent rain as Ohio State improved to 7-0 overall and retained a share of the Big Ten lead at 3-0. Purdue (0-3-1,2-4- 1) lost its third in a row. Eddie George, fourth na- tionally in 1'''T w ith 1 48 y ar ds a ' 96 game, was limited to 104 yards on 23 car-o ries and had a fumble at Games pSlayed the goal ' W. 2U line. He Engram, who came into the game tied for first on the list with Kenny Jackson (1980-83), burned t the. Hawkeyes (2-1, 5-1) for seven catches for 150 yards after being held to two receptions for 39 yards in the first-half. Richardson, a 62-percent passer, was 10-of-24 for 202 yards and an intercep- tion, but his 13-yarder to Engram deep in the left corner ofthe end zone snapped a 27-27 tie with 6:07 remaining. The Nittany Lions rolled up 519 yards on offense, including 317 on the ground, and sacked Matt Sherman eight times. Michigan State 34, Minnesota 31 Hard to believe. The two teams ran a total of 143 plays which produced 1,085 yards. Yet the game boiled down to just two plays. Michigan State was successful on its key play. Minnesota failed at crunch time. The result was a 34-31 victory Saturday for Michigan State and bitter disappointment for the Golden Gophers. The Spartans (2-1-1,4-2-1), who had 605 yards.got their big plavearly in the NOV. 4 NOV. 11 Michigan State PURDUE NOV. 18 Penn State NOV. 25 OHIO STATE Home games in CAPS 12 p.m. 12:30 MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily Michigan sophomore Chris Howard ran the ball 10 times for 65 yards Saturday against Indiana. Big Ten Standings Conference All Games L T : }rei w I _,r_ rl-4. Ut I L i~ct. IV 1 Pct.