'M' rediscovers running game

By Jim Rose

Daily Sports Editor

It wasn't exactly pretty. But it sure wasn't as ugly as the first two weeks.

It was head-down, chin-strap-buckled, cleats-digging, smash-mouth football for a while on Saturday, and that meant only one thing: Michigan was once again running the ball.

Even if it was only against Eastern Michigan, the Wolverines were doing things - offensively, at least - the way coach Lloyd Carr likes them to be done. The defense's performance is another story (literally, it's another story, on Page 7B), but at least the Michigan offense was in old form on Saturday..

MARGARET MYERS/Daily Michigan running back Anthony Thomas, last year's Big Ten freshman of the year, returned to form on Saturday, racking up 117 yards on 15 carries. Thomas set the tone for the game early, running for 69 yards and a score on Michigan's first possession against the Eagles.

Anthony Thomas wasted no time, taking the first snap 36 yards, and three carries later, he punched into the end zone for a 7-0 Michigan lead that never got any smaller.

It was the start of an afternoon that saw the Wolverines run up and down the field to the tune of 237 yards on the ground - almost double their season output to that point.

And regardless of who the opposition was, Carr was happy to finally be able to pound an opponent into the ground - without taking the ball off of the ground.

"We blocked up front much better than we have," Carr said. "As a result, we were able to run the ball with some success."

Michigan's offensive line manhandled the overmatched Eagles, creating gaping holes that several Michigan runners took advantage of throughout the afternoon. Five different Wolverines carried the ball at least five times.

Most notably, however, Anthony Thomas looked like the best back on the field.

Thomas, who expended more energy running in from the sidelines than he did running from potential tacklers in Michigan's two losses, broke loose against Eastern. After a combined total of 46 yards against Notre Dame and Syracuse, he racked up more than that on the first play from scrimmage against Eastern, rambling 51 yards on the first snap of the game. All told, he racked up 117 yards on 15 carries against the Eagles and looked, for the most part, like the Big Ten freshman of the year that he was not too long ago.

Perhaps most impressive, at least according to Carr, was the manner in which Thomas accumulated his yards. On several occasions, he picked up extra yardage after absorbing initial contact - something few Michigan backs had done in the first two games.

"I was very happy about that," Thomas said. "I'm a big guy, and I always want to make yards after contact. That's one of the things I've been working on in practice."

With Thomas running hard, the Wolverines started the game off with the aforementioned 69-yard charge down the field that consisted of four plays. In no time at all (61 seconds, actually), Michigan had the lead. And upon getting the ball back, via an Andre Weathers interception, the Wolverines added to their lead - on the ground, of course. Six straight plays were rushes, the last one being another Thomas score.

With a two-touchdown lead after less than six minutes, Michigan had even less reason to throw the ball. It was a fact not lost on quarterback Tom Brady.

"We put some points on the board early," he said. "We kept playing hard, and we were able to put the nail in the coffin instead of letting them hang around."

After averaging more than 40 pass attempts in their first two games - due largely to the fact that they had to play catch-up for much of each contest - the Wolverines attempted just 25 passes against the Eagles.

After Thomas, four backs - Justin Fargas, Ray Jackson, Clarence Williams and Walter Cross - combined to run for 120 yards on 24 carries.

09-21-98