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Show 16 The Monday, 10. November 1997 Daily Utah Chronicle JJUDGIEIMEIMTI Nebraska Falls After Narrow Road Victory V. .son - - Lions Tamed - By Michigan's Fiesty Defense Associated Press by Danielle Rumore Michigan Daily Sports Editor These days, winning isn't everything in college football at least as far as the No. 1 ranking is concerned. For the third time this season, the No. 1 team won but still fell out of the top spot, replaced by a team which won more convinc- 1 ingly. On Saturday's Judgment Day, the only verdict delivered was dissatisfaction with overNebraska's thrilling 45-3time victory over Missouri. Combined with dominating W-sK- UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -Chants of "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!" bellowed from the winners' locker room after yesterday's game, as silence and disappointment seeped from the Penn State side. The game between undefeated Michigan and Penn State for control of the Big Ten was anticipated to be the best matchup in the country, but sometimes expectations fall short of X $ so-call- 8 wins by Michigan-34- -8 State-a- nd Florida State reality. yF&i over Penn 20-over 3 Behind a dominant offensive line and stellar defensive performance, No. 4 Michigan Big Ten, overall) rolled to a convincing 34-victory over No. 2 Penn State in front of a record crowd of 97,498 at Beaver Stadium Saturday night. The victory, Michigan's first over Penn State in three tries, made the Wolverines the lone undefeated team in the Big Ten, gave them the lead in the Rose Bowl race and sent them to No. 1 in the AP Poll for the first time ' Cornhuskers (9-0- ) needed a last-secon- (4-- 1 lie? f f i . I f ' 29-0- Edward frompage 13 g top-ranke- d 1 if f v 6 Photo Courtesy Ryan Soderlin, Daily Nebraskan Nebraska's Scott Frost scores a touchdown as Missouri linebacker Al Sterling rags him down during the first half. the Wolverines would play the Pac-1champion in the Rose on Jan. 1, and Nebraska and Florida State would meet in the Orange on Jan. 2. The question is, will Michigan remain No. 1, Florida State No. 2 and Nebraska No. 3? Elsewhere in the Top 25, it was: No. 4 Ohio State 31, Minnesota 3; No. 5 Tennessee 44, Southern Mississippi 20; No. 10 Kansas State 48, Kansas 16; No. 11 LSU 27, Alabama 0; No. 12 Honda 20, Vanderbilt 7; Oregon 31, No. 13 14 No. Washington 28; State 77, Washington Southwestern Louisiana 7; No. 15 Arizona State 28, California 21; No. 18 Texas A&M 38, Baylor 10; No. 19 (tie) Virginia Tech 27, Miami 25; No. 19 (tie) Purdue 22, Michigan isn't surprising. Glance at the top 25 on this page. Notice the teams you don't see: Alabama, Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Colorado, Miami, Utah (just kidding). These programs are usually national title contenders, but this year they probably won't even qualify for a bowl game-n- ot even the Poulen 6. PeraiSt. 7-- 1 7.G6oreia 8.North Carolina 7- -1 8- - 9. UOA 7- -2 10. Kansas St. 8- -1 11.1SU 72 72 0 a Here's scary thought: Nebraska scored its game-tyintouchdown in the same end zone infamous five of Colorado's downs. The Buffaloes went on to win the national championship Weedeater Independence Bowl. Look at the teams you usually when they probably shouldn't see: have. Wouldn't it be a little ironic don't Georgia, North if Nebraska accomplished the Carolina, Purdue, Oklahoma State, same thing? You're saying, not Mississippi State and Missouri. It appears that the NCAA's likely. Well, what were the odds of Missouri forcing the scholarship cutbacks are starting to team in the country into overtime? pay off. There's more parody in But if you sit back and look at college football than I can ever recall. How else do you explain college football as a whole, whatever happens, the rest of the season Missouri almost beating Nebraska? " ' State 21; No. 21 Boston College 13; 20, Syracuse. No. 23 Wisconsin 13, No. 22 Iowa-10- ; and No. 24 Oklahoma State 30, Oklahoma 7. Florida St. 20, North Carolina 3 At Chapel Hill, N.C., the Seminoles ) had nine sacks, and Thad Busby threw two' TD passes as the Tar Heels fell to teams. against "We played relentless like we (9-0- top-fiv- e knew we were capable of," linebacker Daryl Bush said. "We let up at times in the last couple of weeks, but that doesn't happen in games like this." North Carolina 9-- 0 2.flor&St.(23) 4.0hioSt. 5.femessM 0 9-- 0 9-- 1 M 12. Florida 13. Washington H Washington 9-- 12-ya- e "roundup" on page $1,; 7-- 2 9-- 1 t IS. Arizona St. 7-- 2 16. Auburn 7-- 2 17. Mississippi St. 18. Texas AAM 6- 74 M.Pimfe 7- - l!.KAlbdi 72 73 21.$yrscKi 22.&J 23 Yccm3 4-- -2 2 Pf 1,723 4 1,693 3 1,623 I 1,496 7 1,342 1,314 1,248 1,200 1,125 995 966 898 873 865 615 473 418 404 4C4 272 1. Horid3SH26) 2. Wdupn20) 3. Nebraska (16) 4. Ohio St 8 5,1me$$e 1 : , 1 8-- 1 7-- 2 7-- 2 7-- 2 13. Washington $t 7-- 2 14, Washington 7-- 2 7-- 2 7-- 16.A8burn 19 RVirgimakb 21 18.&xasAiM 23 19. Syracuse 25 1 7-- M.'hnb : . ' 2J.lCUdao$t " ftlowi 23. Sl 0 9-- 7.Georgi 17. 3 1.9 9-- ,24.V;scK! 1 8 7 3 9 10 5 96T 11 12 935 869 13 828 .15 758 ' 6 : !16 ,15.ArizonaSt 15 22 0 1 JlKtSU llflorida 16 2 4 9-- 1 9. North Carolina 10. UCU i3 Pvs 1,505 1,493 1,459 1,312 1,310 1,130 1,069 1,066 1,064 ,6.?8i$t tamai$l;'v-W.- ' 14 Pis 9-- 0' 7-- 10 11 Rk 7-- 5 tr 25 ESPN Top Pis 1477 had just ) nine total yards in the first half. Nebraska 45, Missouri 38 (OT) The Huskers avoided the upset when Frost's pass into the end zone was knocked out of Shevin Wiggins' hands but rico-se- AP Top 25 Rk (8-1- 2 587 486 18 "7-- 2 ,405 21 7-- 3 372 318 335 19 7--2 ,7-2- : 72 4-- 2 .8--2. '25.1&!siSt''.'M 17 ' 291 271 .2C6 133 . 1, 7-- since 1990. 4 0. 16-1- 5 f ' - d fluke play to score a touchdown and force overtime-- . Then Scott Frost ran 12 yards for the winning score. But Nebraska fell two places to No. 3. Now, Penn State has company. Twice this season, the Nittany Lions won but fell to No. 2. On. Sept. 20, Penn State beat but was replaced Louisville 57-2at No. 1 by Florida, which beat Tennessee 33-2On Oct. 18, a win over Minnesota allowed Nebraska, which beat Texas Tech , to move to No.' 1. Huskers defensive tackle Jason Peter understands what's going on. "Michigan beat up on Penn State pretty bad," Peter said. "We got ourselves in this jam, and hopefully we can get ourselves out of it." Says Michigan running back Chris Howard: "It's hard to say if we're the best team in the country, but right now we're at the top of our game." Tar Heels coach Mack Brown thinks the Seminoles are pretty good, too. "They play like that the rest of the way, they'll win the national championship," he said. With three weeks to go in the season, the Orange and Rose bowls are still waiting to see which one ends up with a national title game. Next year, that won't be a problem when the Rose joins the bowl alliance. For now, though, the possibilities are intriguing. If all three teams finish with perfect records, 0 8 Cornhuskers North Carolina-t- he are out as top dog, with Michigan No. 1 in the AP writers' poll and Florida State No. 1 in the coaches' poll. At the Mo., Columbia, 9-- (6-- 0 24 23 14 22 4 :( 17 "Honesdy, it wasn't easy. It was a matter of preparation," Michigan safety Marcus Ray said. "You watch our offensive line, the guys up front-th- ey dominated. If our offense continues to play like that, we'll be very, very successful." Michigan dominated the Nittany Lions from the opening drive to the end of the game, due in large part to a renewed offense. The Wolverines cut down on the turnovers and penalties which have ailed them through-- , out the season to turn in their best offensive performance to date. "It was the best performance we. had at Michigan in a long time," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. Brian Michigan quarterback Griese, who paced the Wolverines with short pass patterns, passed for 151 yards and two touchdowns while running backs Chris Howard and Anthony Thomas and fullback Chris Hoyd combined to add finesse and power to the rushing attack. In total, the three backs accounted for 195 of the Wolverines 265 rushing yards and added two touchdowns. But the story of the day was again Michigan's defense, which entered the game ranked No. 1 in the nation. Saturday, with the exception of a touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, the defense entirely shut down Penn State's usually potent offense. Penn State came in averaging 240.7 yards rushing and 223.9 yards passing. The Lions were eighth nationally in total offense (464.6 yards per game) and ninth in scoring offense (37.3 points). At the head State's success was its star tailback Curtis Enis, who entered the game averaging 118.6 yards rushing. The Wolverines held the Lions to 101 yards on the ground and 68 yards passing. Enis carried the bulk of the load to gain 103 yards rushing; the rest of. the team had minus 2 yards on the ground. Enis had just 35 yards at halftime as Michigan raced to a 24--0 lead, the Liops' biggest deficit at home ever under Penn State coach Joe Patcmo. The defense ratded Penn State quarterback Mike McQucary all day, four saclung hinv- - twice in plays of Penh State's first drive. He was sacked a total of five times, n half-tim- e the-firs- t see "Michigan" on page 1 7 . |
