Flashy Burress makes statement on and off field

EAST LANSING - Plaxico Burress accomplished the impossible in Saturday's game. And it wasn't his school-record 255 receiving yards - although that's pretty hard to believe as well.

No, the Spartan receiver's feat was even more impressive than that. He left David Terrell at a loss for words.

After spending the first half playing keep-away from Michigan' smaller defensive backs, the 6-foot-6 Burress found himself lined up across from Terrell - a wide receiver also seeing cornerback duty - early in the third quarter. Having failed to even slow Burress down up to that point, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr desperately hoped that the 6-3 Terrell could match his size and athleticism with Burress.

And at the very least, the chatty Terrell could certainly mix words with the equally talkative Spartan.

DANA LINNANE/Daily Plaxico Burress left Michigan defenders in the dust with his Michigan State-record 255 receiving yards.

Well, Terrell lost on both fronts. He lasted all of two plays in the series, being pulled from the game after Burress beat him on a 17-yard out pattern.

But that wasn't what shut Terrell up. On the previous play, his first of the game against the Spartans' go-to guy, Michigan State ran the ball to Burress' side. As soon as the ball was snapped, Burress exploded at Terrell, sending him stumbling backwards to the turf. Once Terrell was on the ground, Burress pounced on him, holding Terrell down until the play was finished.

And Burress had yet to do the real damage. When Terrell had gotten to his feet, Burress proceeded to give Michigan's newest two-way player quite an earful.

"After I ran over him, I told him, 'You gotta pick one side of the ball or the other,'" Burress said. "You can't play both."

At least not against Burress, he couldn't.

"I said, 'If your coach has that much confidence in you to put you on me, one-on-one, I'm gonna show you,'" Burress said.

Burress had good reason to be sure of himself. He made it clear by the first quarter that he couldn't be stopped, amassing 106 receiving yards in the game's first 15 minutes. He gained 68 yards alone on one play, a flea-flicker on Michigan State's third possession of the game that set up the Spartans' first touchdown.

Spartan quarterback Bill Burke hooked up so often with Burress that each of them re-wrote the Michigan State record book. In addition to Burress' mark, Burke threw for a school-record 400 yards - many of which came in the form of jump balls to his favorite target.

"It's a huge comfort zone when you have such a tall receiver, especially against shorter defensive backs," Burke said. "He can really go up and get the ball, so you have a much larger room for error."

The same cannot be said for the Michigan defensive backs - the 5-10 Todd Howard and the 5-11 James Whitley. If they lost track of the ball for a second, or didn't time their jump correctly, all they saw was a pair of long arms catching the ball a few feet over their head.

"Burress was incredible, and we couldn't find any way to stop him," Carr said. "He's a tough matchup for any secondary."

Not surprisingly, the vocal Burress felt the same way.

"I was out there, hitting my chest, saying 'Hey, come to me every play,'" Burress said.

As dominating as Burress was, the Spartans still had to rely on the wide receiver to seal the game late in the fourth quarter. After Michigan had closed to within three points, 34-31, Burress recovered the Wolverines' onside kick attempt. And four plays later, Burress caught a game-saving pass on third-and-nine with two minutes left in the game and Michigan out of time-outs.

Burke simply downed the ball after that, running out the clock and preserving the Spartans' first victory over Michigan since 1995.

"I went hard to the sideline and tried to keep my feet in," Burress said of the sideline pattern that clinched the game. "When I saw the ref spot the ball, I got a big smile on my face."

Thanks to Burress, a lot of Spartan fans have similar expressions right now.

10-11-99