Howard gets all kinds of attention

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - For a defensive back, attention is sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes, it's best just to not have any. Saturday, Todd Howard saw a bit of everything.

For the first twenty minutes of the game, Howard was spectacular. The least-heralded memeber of Michigan's starting secondary - and the only one who didn't start last season - Howard was assigned to cover Syracuse's explosive Quinton Spotwood. And for a quarter and a half, he covered Spotwood better than the Carrier Dome's roof.

Howard dominated the highly-touted receiver, laying into Spotwood with battering-ram hits, twice knocking the ball out of Spotwood's hands and turning apparent catches into incompletions.

"Everyone thinks, with my size, that I'm a cover corner," Howard said. "But I like to hit, too."

LOUIS BROWN/Daily Michigan coach Lloyd Carr insists that he'll stick with his two-quarterback system, despite allowing sophomore Drew Henson to take the lion's share of the snaps against Syracuse.

But after a little bit of good attention, Howard suddenly got plenty of bad, too.

With the ball on his own 42-yard line, Syracuse quarterback Madei Willaims unleashed a bomb to Pat Woodcock. Howard, who was covering Woodcock on the play, thought he had the interception. Both players went up for the ball, inside the five yard line. Woodcock came down with it on the three.

"I don't want to make any excuses," Howard said, "but I lost it in the lights."

Then, two plays later, Williams found Spotwood, Howard's man, wide open in the end zone.

"I read run and it was a pass," Howard explained.

Suddenly, Michigan was trailing, 7-6.

In the second half, Howard and his defensive backmates got virtually no attention, and that's just the way he likes it, thank you very much.

With the exception of one more long pass, the Michigan secondary, which had been under scrutiny of late, clamped down on the Orangmen's explosive receivers, letting the offense eke out the victory.

"We showed today that we're a tough secondary," Howard said. "We can play with these types of receivers."

Status Quo: Michigan coach Lloyd Carr revealed that Tom Brady will start against Wisconsin next week.

When asked why, Carr elaborated by saying, "I like them both."

Does that mean he'll stick with his two-quarterback system?

"Sure," Carr said.

Brady started, but played just one quarter. Sophomore Drew Henson played the final three. Henson engineered an 88-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes of the first half that likely won him the second-half job, but, along with the rest of the Michigan offense, was flaccid in the second half.

"Tom played well in the first quarter, but Drew played his best quarter of football at Michigan in the second quarter," Carr said.

Henson completed 16 of 28 passes for 151 yards and one touchdown, but also threw an interception, Michigan's first turnover of the season. Brady was five-of-10 for 26 yards.

Say What?: Marquise Walker tried to warn his teammates, but apparently, they didn't believe him. Now they know - the Carrier Dome is loud.

"When they scream, it just comes back down," Michigan receiver David Terrell said, pointing to the Dome's roof, trying to say the sound reverberated around the dome. But he had some trouble getting it out.

"I got a headache, I can't even talk straight."

Walker, a Syracuse native who grew up watching the Orange, said he told his teammates how loud it was, but some didn't understand until they experienced it.

It wasn't a major problem for Michigan. The Wolverines suffered just five penalties for 30 yards, and not all were a result of the noise.

"There comes a point where you just can't hear," Carr said. "But it affected both teams. Syracuse had some motion penalties, too."

In fact, the Orangemen appeared to be more affected by the noise. Throughout the game, the Syracuse offense signalled to the crowd to quiet down, so the players could hear each other. On their final drive, with the game on the line, the Orangemen drew an illegal procedure penalty on third-and-eight on the Michigan 13-yard line. Syracuse players again signaled the crowd to quiet down, which it did, but the damage was already done. Now 13 yards shy of the first down and 18 shy of the end zone, Williams threw two incomplete passes on third and fourth downs.

09-20-99