16 - The Michigan Daily - Kickoff '95 - Thursday; September 7, 1995
I . - 4 It 4 Z '. # i - " " I I . . I , , I a 9 , , - i 4 , . i , T
Ss
Michigan 18, Virginia 17
Final Statistics
. . , .
TBeMichiganDucly-
Biakabutuka continues legacy of 'Wol V
f
A
PASSING
Player C-A
Dreisbach 27-52
PASSING
Yds TD Int
372 2 2
Player
Groh
Sherman
C-A Yds TD
16-25 138 0
3-4 53 0
Int
0
0
RUSHING
Player Att
Biaka. 7
Yds
36
13
Avg
4.7:
2.2
LgTD
20 0
5 0
Howard
6
RECEIVING
RUSHING
Player Att Yds
T. Barber12113
K. Brooks18 64
RECEIVING
Player No. Yds
Neely 6 73
Owen 2 35
Avg
9.4
3.6
LgTD
81 1
15 0
By Antoine Pitts
Michigan has been blessed with
many good running backs over the years.
This season
is no excep-
tion.
With
Tyrone
Wheatley
off running
now in the
NFL, the
Wolverines
have quite a
gap to fill. In
Slakabutuka his place
starts junior
All-America candidate Tshimanga
Biakabutuka. Last season, Biakabutuka
ran for 6.2 yards per carry and scored
seven touchdowns.
When Biakabutuka needs to be
rested or is out due to injury, there are
plenty of good candidates to carry the ball
for him.
Ed Davis, who has backed up Michi-
gan tailbacks from Ricky Powers to
Wheatley, returns for another season.
Davis has proven to be a valuable addi-
tion off the bench whenever the Wolver-
ines need him.
Sophomore Chris Howard and fresh-
man Clarence Williams will also carry the
ball for Michigan.
At fullback, the Wolverines have a
couple of players converted from other
positions in sophomore Chris Floyd and
junior George Howell.
"He's a guy that came to Michigan as
a highly touted tailback," coach Lloyd
Carr said. "He's got the size, he's an ex-
cellent blocker and he seems very ex-
cited about the move because he wants to
play."
Howell previously was a linebacker
for the Wolverines.
"He gives us a heavy duty blocking
back," Carr said. "He does a good job
catching the ball. He is a factor in
there."
The Wolverines were left low af full-
back following Jon Ritchie's transfer to
Stanford and Che' Foster leaving a year
early for the NFL Draft.
Michigan's depth at
the Wolverines the abilit
a fullback in some situati
Running bad
Name
T. Blakabutuka
Chris Howard
Ed Davis
Chris Floyd
George Howell
Player No.
Hayes 7
Riemer. 7
PUNTING
Player I
DeLong
Yds
179
Avg LgTD
25.6 43 2
71 10.1 14
0
Avg LgTD
12.2 24 0
17.5 22 0
No. Yds Avg Lg
7 27238.9 48
PUNTING
Player
Brice
MARK FRIEDMADsy
Michigan celebrates its last-second, game-winning touchdown over Virginia, along with the Michigan Stadium fans.
No. Yd:
7 27E
sAvg LE
Offensive line helps
Dreisbach get settled
DEFENSE
Player
Irons
King
Swett
Thompson
Horn
Zenkewicz
Feazell
Ray
639455 'M' leaves Virginia in a Hayes
Ast Tot Receiver's catch with no time left completes Pigskin comeback
spo
1.
Ib
Solo
9
7
7
6
4
4
3
2
Ast
2
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
Tot
11
8
7
7
5
4
4
3
DEFENSE
Player
Farrior
Sharper
Crocker
R. Barber
S. Jones
Harris
London
Sol
lo
9 2 11
8 2 10
6 1 7
5 0 5
4 1 5
4 0 4
3 14
By Ryan White
One could forgive Virginia coach
George Welsh if he sounded a little
like baseball philosopher Yogi Berra
after the Aug. 26 Pigskin Classic at
Michigan Stadium.
"It's never over until it's over, and
it wasn't over," Welsh said.
There wasn't much else Welsh
could say after watching his No. 17
--,
Cavaliers lose a 17-point lead, and then
the game, on the final play of the con-
test.
With four seconds left, and No. 14
Michigan trailing by five, 17-12, Wol-
verine quarterback Scott Dreisbach
connected with receiver Mercury
Hayes, who barely kept a foot in
bounds, for the winning score.
The pass capped a 16-play, 80-yard
drive that consumed the final 2:35 of
the game.
It was an amazing end to what was
the first game for both Lloyd Carr as
coach and Dreisbach at quarterback.
It was also the biggest comeback in
the Wolverines' history. The largest
margin Michigan had ever overcome
was 14 points, the last time being in
1981 when they came back from a 21-
7 deficit against Illinois to win 70-21.
With 12:55 to go in the game,
Michigan trailed 17-0 but closed the
gap on a 2-yard Ed Davis run and a 31-
s s
| "
yard touchdown pass to Hayes.
A defensive stop by the Wolverines
late in the fourth quarter led to a Vir-
ginia punt which ended up in the
endzone and set Michigan up for the
winning drive.
"When you've got kids like this,
anything can happen," an exuberant
Carr said. "There wasn't any question
in my mind in the last seven to eight
minutes that they believed they could
When you've got
kids like this, anything
can happen."
- Lloyd Carr
Michigan football coach
win."
And while Carr lost sight of the fi-
nal play, Hayes had his eye on it all the
way, and said he wasn't concerned
about keeping his feet in.
"I just concentrated on the ball and
going up and getting it," he said.
In fact, the toughest part of the final
play for Hayes may have been the cel-
ebration when all of his teammates
piled on top of him.
"I was down there at the bottom
and I was hurting a little," Hayes
joked.
In his first game, Dreisbach, a
redshirt freshman, set Michigan
records in both yardage (372 yards)
and passing attempts (52).
"I have so much confidence in my
receivers," Dreisbach said. "It's like
throwing a rock into the lake, they're
so wide open."
Hayes was named the Pigskin Clas-
sic Most Valuable Player with his
seven catches for 179 yards.
Virginia got its scores on a one-
yard run by quarterback Mike Groh, an
81-yard jaunt by running back Tiki
Barber and 30-yard Rafael Garcia field
goal.
By Scott Burton
Quarterback Scott Dreisbach has
plenty of things to worry about in his
first year of collegiate ball, but the pro-
tection he'll get from his offensive line
is not one of them.
"I have so much confidence that
my offensive line will protect me,"
Dreisbach said after the Virginia game,
in which he was sacked just once.
An impressive performance in-
deed, especially considering one of the.
Wolverines' top trenchmen - senior
Mike Sullivan -- is lost for the season
with back problems. But four other
starters from last year's line return, in-
cluding 6-foot-8, 299-pound monster
Jon Runyan and team co-captain Joe
Marinaro.
"Offensively, the strength of the
team is up front," Carr said. "Joe
Marinaro and all those guys coming
back up front give us the depth that we
need to be a much better offensive
team."
Unfortunately, against Virginia,
the line had some difficulty establish-
ing the running game. The Wolverines
compiled only 52 yards on the ground
on 27 plays for a paltry 1.9 yards per
carry.
Carr dismissed some of the
struggles as being a product of playing
against a tricky, stubborn defense.
However, both coach and player alike
recognize that Michigan can't win un-
less the offensive line can get the run-
ning game going.
"The thing we were concerned
about was our inability to run the foot-
ball," Carr said. "We've got to do a
much better job running the football."
Marinaro, a senior, is perhaps the
anchor to the line. The 6-foot-4 right
guard is coming off a knee injury that
kept him out of three games last sea-
son. But, when healthy, the senior is an
All-American type performer.
So is Runyan, who will return to
Left Tackle after a year at guard in
1994. College Sports listed the junior
as its second-best offensive lineman in
the country and he is a two-time All-
Big Ten selection. The only question is
whether he'll be hampered by off-sea-
son foot surgery.
"I think Jon Runyan, if he comes
back from his foot surgery, is an All-
America candidate," Carr said
Junior center Rod Payne and jun-
ior right tackle Thomas Guynes are
the other two returning starters, al-
though redshirt freshman Jon Jansen
has usurped Guynes in the starting
lineup.
Sophomore Zach Adami and jun-
ior Damon Denson replace the NFL-
departed Trezelle Jenkins at the left
guard spot.
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Name
Jon Runyan
Mark Bolach
Zach Adami
Damon Denson
Rod Payne
Joe Ries
Joe Marinaro
Noah Parker
JohnPartchenko
Jon Jansen
Thomas Guynes
Position
LT
LT
LG
LG
C
C
RG
RG
RG
RT
RT
Yr./EIg
Sr./Jr.
Sr./Jr.
Jr./So.
Jr./Jr.
Sr./Jr.
Jr./So.
Sr./Sr.
So./Fr.
Jr./So.
So./Fr.
Sr./Jr.
Ht.
6-8
6-6
6-5
6-4
64
6-3
64
6.4
6-4
6.7
6-
Wt.
299
287
279
285
2865
286
286
279
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277
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