Hail To The Victors: MICHIGAN FOOTBALL '99
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THE D STOPS UW
MADISON, Wis. (Sept. 25) -- Ron Dayne's Heisman Trophy hopes are buried somewhere under a big pile of Michigan defenders. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes and the No. 4 Wolverines' hard-nosed defense held Dayne to zero rushing yards in the second half as Michigan beat 20th-ranked Wisconsin 21-16 Saturday. Michigan (4-0) won its 18th consecutive Big Ten Conference opener with another tenacious performance against a running team. A week after holding Syracuse to 59 rushing yards, Dayne managed zero net yards on eight carries in the second half and twice failed to get critical first downs for the Badgers. Dayne, who did nothing to quiet doubters who say he disappears in big games, finished with 88 rushing yards on 22 attempts. He didn't carry the ball in the last 10 minutes of the game as the Badgers tried to catch up. Wisconsin's last home loss also came to the Wolverines, who have beaten the Badgers three straight times. Brady directed two scoring drives and Michigan scored on a double-reverse while leaning on its imposing defense. An exuberant crowd at Camp Randall Stadium became increasingly quiet as the Badgers' offensive struggles continued in the second half. Michigan made a 10-play, 91-yard drive late in the third quarter that ended when DiAllo Johnson beat double coverage to snare Brady's 23-yard touchdown pass in the end zone with 1:02 left, giving Michigan a 21-9 lead. David Terrell had seven catches for 88 yards, and he also scored on the 45-yard double-reverse in the first quarter. Marquise Walker had five catches for 49 yards, while Brady was 17-of-27 for 217 yards and Drew Henson was 5-of-8. Backup quarterback Brooks Bollinger led Wisconsin on a 10-play, 80-yard in the closing minutes of the game and scored on a 13-yard bootleg with 1:29 left, but Michigan tailback Anthony Thomas recovered the onside kick, and the Wolverines ran out the clock. On fourth-and-1 from the Wolverines' 25 with 11:32 to play, Bollinger pitched to Dayne on the option, but he was swarmed by three Wolverines for a 2-yard loss. Dayne had just 53 yards on 16 carries in Michigan's 27-10 win over Wisconsin last season, the Badgers' only loss of 1998. Wendell Bryant sacked Brady twice to kill Michigan's first two drives of the second half, but Kavanagh threw an interception. Wisconsin linebacker Chris Ghidorzi knocked Brady out of the game on a savage sack with 10:56 left, but a holding penalty on the ensuing punt stranded Wisconsin at its own 25, and the Badgers were forced to punt again. Dayne looked much better when he scored on a 34-yard run with 3:27 left in the second quarter. In typical Dayne fashion, he took two hits at the line of scrimmage before righting himself and running the rest of the way untouched. Wisconsin mistakes aided the Wolverines throughout the game. A personal foul on Badgers defensive lineman John Favret kept Michigan's opening drive alive, and the Wolverines went in for a score. Brady, who was 7-of-7 on the drive, hit fullback Aaron Shea with an 8-yard touchdown pass less than eight minutes into the game. The Wolverines went up 14-0 on a graceful double-reverse shortly before the end of the first quarter. Terrell ran 45 yards for the score with great blocks from Shea and Anthony Thomas. Wisconsin got its first points on a 32-yard field goal by Vitaly Pisetsky early in the second quarter, but the kick came one play after Chris Chambers, blinded by the afternoon sun, dropped a potential touchdown pass in the end zone with no defenders within 20 yards. Chambers, who missed Wisconsin's last two games with a broken hand, had nine catches for 93 yards. -PROPS TO GREG BEACHEM OF THE AP |
My Game Notes
Michigan controlled the tempo early on against UW, with an 8 yd Td touch pass from Brady to Shea, after a 90 yd opening drive, and a 45 yard double reverse to Dave Terrell to make the score 14-0. Michigan has outscored '99 opponents 23-0 in the 1st quarter. Even though teams have crawled back into games, the offensive and offensive output early on leaves teams in deep holes. The offense was outstanding in the first quarter as Brady was 7-7 on the opening drive. At the end of the first quarter Brady's passes began to sail high, forcing receivers out of bounds on 4 plays for incomplete passes. He continued to play poorly until the end of the third quarter when he hit Di Allo Johnson on a 23 yard Td strike, set up by the catch of the year by Marcus Knight who I beleive to be the hero of the drive. Brady's pass was thrown out of bounds, far over Knight and behind him. Knight navigated the ball and immediatly re-positioned himsef to make an over the shoulder Willie Mays type catch. Dave Terrell played another superb game, as he ran 45 yards on the reverse and caught 7 passes for 88 yards, serving as both Henson and Brady's favorite target once again. He caught 4 passes for 35 yards on the opening drive, the most important frive of the game, in which he acted as a blocker/decoy for Shea's TD. On another possible game-breaking play earlier in the 3rd quarter, Terell made a huge msitake. Brady connected with Terrell on a 40-yard pass play to the 23 yard line of UW. DT was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play as he made a gesture to the crowd, moving the ball back to the 38-yard line. Tthe Wolverines were unable to move from there. Not only did UM lose 15 yards, but the momentum as well. Brady went down on 3rd and 10 and UM had to punt. With a 5 point lead Michigan was in need of points. This is where the defense ciomes into play. The Wolverines calmly stopped the Badgers and gave the offense the ball back. Brady then threw the TD to Johnson. More importantly the UM Defense forced 3 punts and a fumble that led to a TD in the first quarter, James Hall blocked a PAT, in the 2nd quarter, James Whitley picked off a pass in the 3rd as UW was driving into UM territory, and in the 4th quarter with the game on the line they forced 3 UW punts and on fourth-and-1 from the Wolverines' 25 with 11:32 to play, UW QB Bollinger pitched to Dayne on the option, but he was swarmed by three Wolverines for a 2-yard loss for the biggest play on the game.
For the 2nd week in a row the Michigan Defense was a major factor in setting up drives for the inconsistant offense. I was also glad to see Marquese Walker come back strong after a weak effort against CUSE last week. He caught 2 balls for 16 yards on the scoring drive in the 3rd. If the other WRS such as Knight, Johnson, and Walker can serve as threat targets as they were today, Michigan can get the ball to their star Terrell even more. The UM receivers covered for the QBS on Saturday as some passes were thrown behind and above them but they managed to make some huge catches in spite of the occasional inaccuracy. Michigan has to establish another runner besides A-Train. Thomas rushed for less than 50 yards and UW knew that UM had no one else. They should give more carries to Cross, as playing time will enable him to succeed, and they should play Freshman BJ Askew who has looked great in practice to add diversity not just yards. This was the main reason for the inconsistant play of Henson/Brady. |
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