PASADENA, Calif. - Consider, for a moment, the Michigan offense as a slow drip, boring and monotonous, yet consistent, and Washington State's a busted water main, uncontrollable, unpredictable and potentially fatal.
The two contrasting styles made for a river-ting ... er, riveting finale in the Rose Bowl.
With an eight-point lead and the ball with 7:25 left on the clock, Michigan embarked on a drive from its own 19-yard line that allowed the clock drip, drip, drip away, like torture for the Washington State offense, boiling on its sideline.
Michigan was able to milk 6:56 off the clock, relying heavily on tremendous execution on third downs. The Wolverines converted four such opportunities on the drive, a sharp turn from the first half, when they failed to hit paydirt on five third down
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| WARREN ZINN/Daily Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf said he felt helpless watching Michigan's offense eat almost seven minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter. |
"We really had to keep the Washington State offense off the field," Michigan tailback Chris Howard said. "We had to eat as much clock as possible."
The first such opportunity on this drive, however, proved to be the most crucial. With 11 yards needed to move the chains, Michigan quarterback Brian Griese, operating out of the shotgun position, could not find an open target. So the stone-footed senior took off, making 11 yards seem like 11 miles. But when he smelled the first-down marker, Griese dove and made it by a matter of inches.
Had Griese not made the first down, Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf would have had the ball with excellent field position and nearly six minutes left, plenty of time to meticulously march over the tiring Michigan secondary for the winning score. But Leaf and his corps of talented targets would have to wait.
Three plays later and seven yards away from the red marker, Charles Woodson kept Michigan alive taking a wide lateral pass at the left sideline, faked a pass downfield to Chris Howard and surged ahead eight yards.
"That's Big Ten football," Leaf said of the lengthy drive. "They grinded it out when they needed to."
A 13-yard completion to Russell Shaw on third and six, followed by a seven-yard strike to Woodson three plays later, where he bowled over the Cougars' Duane Stewart at the first-down marker, and Michigan appeared more feline than Wolverine, earning one new life after another. In fact, these two third-down conversions capped a streak of nine consecutive by Michigan in the second half.
"I felt strongly that we had to use a lot of time," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "Just imagine if we hadn't have gotten those first downs."
Michigan didn't have to imagine because it became a reality in the game's final minute. With 39 ticks on the clock and the ball at the Washington State 30, Michigan lined up for an apparent 47-yard field goal, but faked it and Jay Feely dropped a pooch punt down on the Cougars' seven-yard line.
Ninety-three yards from victory with no timeouts, Washington State seemed left for dead. But Michigan could ill-afford to not recall another five-point lead some three years ago.
Remember 26-21? You know, 64 yards away, two seconds on the clock? The Wolverines sure do.
Colorado, a name as evil to Michigan as Satan's is to the Bible, was elbowing its way to the front of the Wolverines' minds. As much as they tried to block out the image, it almost seemed as if Kordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook were back to haunt Michigan, this time in crimson.
"You're talking to a guy who was on the field the day Colorado threw that pass and broke Michigan's heart," Carr said. "So I know anything can happen."
But for a moment it seemed anything would even be a stretch for the Cougars. Incompletions on the first two plays left 16 seconds on the clock.
Then Leaf uncorked a bomb down the right sideline to Nian Taylor, who appeared to shove Woodson out of the way before snagging the pass. The official standing right next to the players actually removed the penalty flag from his back pocket, but instead of dropping it, let it sit in his hand as he saw Taylor come down with the reception.
Tick, tick, tick.
Leaf and his offense ran downfield to line up. Nine seconds remained. He fired a dart over the middle to tight end Love Jefferson, whose lateral to a streaking Jason Clayton brought the ball down to the Michigan 16-yard line.
Tick, tick, tick.
Two seconds remained and Leaf looked to stop the clock with one second left by spiking the ball. But after the teams lined up and the clock started, Leaf cocked his head up and looked up at referee Dick Burleson for the go-ahead. That glitch probably cost the Cougars the one second that would have set up as dramatic a finish as one could hope.
Leaf took the snap and one quick step before spiking the ball. But when he looked up at the clock, it showed a trio of zeroes. Time had run out on the Cougars.
"With two seconds left," Leaf said, "you don't want to put the ball in the hands of the referee. But I don't blame them at all."
Carr, on the other hand, was probably the first person on the field from either sideline.
"Even when we ran onto the field, I wasn't sure what was going to happen," Carr said. "I was hoping that if there was any doubt in (the officials') minds, they would forget about it because there would be too many people to kick off the field."
01-07-98
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