With a mixture of stifling defense and a surging ground game, the Michigan football team served notice on Saturday afternoon that Pasadena is still a possibility. The Wolverines efficiently dismantled the Wisconsin Badgers, 27-10, before 111,217 fans at Michigan Stadium.
The victory over Wisconsin (6-1 Big Ten, 9-1 overall) cemented the Wolverines alone atop the Big Ten standings for the first time since the end of 1997, and positioned them as masters of their own destiny. With a victory over Ohio State next Saturda
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| WARREN ZINN/Daily Running back Anthony Thomas (32) and quarterback Tom Brady celebrate after Thomas scored a touchdown in the second quarter to help the Michigan football team beat Wisconsin. Thomas scored another touchdown in the same quarter. |
"Now we've got to think about going to the Rose Bowl," said linebacker Sam Sword, who stood at midfield after the game savoring his final home victory.
Sword, who pushed his team-leading tackle total to 96 with 11 Badger wrap-ups, led Michigan's brick-wall defense. The performance was so dominant that, for the eighth straight week, the opposition left the field trembling and devastated, stripped of all confidence.
"Michigan's defense stopped us," Wisconsin offensive lineman Dave Costa said. "They're probably the best defense we've seen."
Despite contentions that the Badgers' opponents weren't of the highest caliber, defensive coordinator Jim Hermmann's crew kept refining its technique.
Wisconsin tailback Ron Dayne, the 260-pound core of the Badger offense, was stuffed time and again by the Wolverines, as the holes he usually pounds through disappeared in rapid succession. Averaging 218.9 rushing yards entering the Michigan game, the Badgers struggled to amass just 58 Saturday.
"The defense did not let Dayne get any big gains," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, who improved his career record against Top 10 teams to 9-0. "He is a big guy and (our defense) did a nice job."
Expected excuses, ranging from a Dayne ear infection to a lack of passing game, poured out of the Wisconsin lockerroom. But according to Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, his team just got whipped.
"I want to take my hat off to Michigan because they played an excellent football game," he said. "We knew going in that they were a good football team and they did nothing to tell me anything different.
"They beat us in all phases of the game."
As the Wisconsin running game disappeared from public view, Michigan's version ran on the conference's best defense as if the teams traded jerseys. Both Clarence Williams and Anthony Thomas rushed for more than 100 yards - the first time that's happened at Michigan since the Baylor game last season.
The Wolverines pushed forward behind their suddenly jelling offensive line, amassing a season-high 257 yards on the ground and running over Wisconsin's undefeated record and Rose Bowl dreams.
In the game's final minutes, as the clock on perfection slipped from their grasp, the Badger faithful were left with only a disheartening "We scored first" chant.
Sure enough, the fear of losing struck Michigan early, when Wisconsin quarterback Mike Samuel stretched the limits of his arm, connecting with wide receiver Chris Chambers for an 80-yard touchdown pass. The catch, a fingertip grab of the highlight variety, came on Wisconsin's first play of its third series and silenced a majority of the "largest crowd watching a football game in America."
Michigan's answer - a nine-play, 58-yard march culminating with a Jerame Tuman end-zone grab - tied the score to end the first quarter and set the stage for the rout.
After patiently watching Williams control the ball in the first quarter with a combination of sweeps and off-tackle runs, Thomas grabbed hold of the second quarter and held on tight.
The first time he touched the ball all day, Thomas decided not to let go. He spotted a hole in the left side of the line and roared through it, accelerating down the Badger sideline for a 65-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead. Thomas added a relatively easy sweep around the right side in the half's last minute, putting the game beyond the reach of Wisconsin's inept offense.
But the first run had fans abuzz. The hole, large enough for a Dayne-sized back to coast through emerged after Michigan fullback Aaron Shea provided the lead block of his life - wiping out three Badgers.
"I've never blocked three guys at once before," said Shea, who was converted form a tight end to a fullback before the season. "But that's my job, to go out there and to block a linebacker or whoever. On that play, I tried to make my self as big as possible, and it worked."
On the day - not just the play - nearly everything Michigan attempted worked with similar efficiency.
As Michigan rush linebacker James Hall said after the game, they have placed themselves "in a position to compete for the Rose Bowl."
11-16-98
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