Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 15

POETS Steve Klein Sports Editor 377-1071 Lansing State Journal Wednesday, Jan. 2 1991 Page 1C Twin victories make MSU deserve a 2nd look ANALYSIS Tuesday's bowls Gator Bowl: Michigan 35, Ole Miss 3 Hall of Fame Bowl: Clem-son 30, Illinois 0 Citrus Bowl: Georgia Tech 45, Nebraska 21 Cotton Bowl: Miami, Fla. 46, Texas 3 Fiesta Bowl: Louisville 34, Alabama 7 Rose Bowl: Washington 46, Iowa 34 Orange Bowl: Colorado 10, Notre Dame 9 Sugar Bowl: Tennessee 23, Virginia 22 See stories. Pages 4C, 5C Grbac and USCs Marinovich. And they did that with help from interceptions by free safety Mike Iaquaniello.

And after each game, the same feelings were evident euphoria for Coach George Perles' underdog players and disbelief and whining from the opponents, dubbed the University of Moaners and University of Spoiled Children. If MSU had lost either game to what was probably a superior team, an 8-3-1 season would have been remembered as another 12-pack of frustration instead of the second-best year since 1966. Let's take a final look at the Big Ten quad-champions and a peek at the 1991 Spartans: See MSU. Page 3C Din each game, MSU had a dramatic goal-line stand in the first half, stopping the Wolverines on four cracks off the right side and forcing a fumble by Trojan quarterback Todd Marinovich on a fourth-down keeper. In each game, the opponent missed a field goal, passed up another kick of less than 20 yards and lost on a boot by Spartan kicker John Langeloh an extra-point at U-M and a 52-yard field goal against USC.

In each game, MSU had a memorable touchdown run by tailback Hyland Hickson but allowed its only three-digit rushing days of the season 162 yards by Wolverine Jon Vaughn and 125 yards by Trojan Mazio Royster. In each game, the Spartans had to contain tall, gangly quarterbacks in U-M's Elvis answering with a touchdown and managing tie at half time. It yielded its only 10 points the third quarter all year a disputed touchdown by the Wolverines and a field goal "by the Trojans. And it went up by seven the fourth period, then withstood a final thrust. Din each game, the Spartans benefitted from a crucial, controversial call in the end zone.

At U-M, obvious pass interference was missed on the decisive two-point conversion try. Against USC, a fumble into the end zone was ruled a touchback and not a touchdown. No. 1 Colorado clips Notre 10 Dame, By JACK EBUNG Lansing State Journal EL PASO, Texas The similarities in Michigan State's two best football triumphs of 1990 were impossible to ignore. The Spartans beat Michigan by a point, 28- MppM un uci.

10 aim cugcu Southern Cal by one, 17- JOHN HANCOCK BOWL 16, the 57th John Hancock Bowl Monday afternoon. But the wins had a great deal more in com- 1 mon than just the final margin. I In each game, MSU trailed 7-0 before 1 Wolverines rout Ole Miss, 35-3 By BOB WOJNOWSKI Gannett News Service JACKSONVILLE, Fla. In other games, in other situations, Michigan had flashed hints of greater glory and bigger promises. But for every question answered, another always was posed.

On Tuesday in the Gator Bowl, all questions finally were answered, all promises finally fulfilled, all weapons finally fired. Striking with phenomenal fury and deadly diversity, the Wolverines wound up a season of early disappointment in a package of awe, routing 15th-ranked Mississippi, 35-3, before 68,927 in the 46th annual Gator Bowl. In one afternoon against out-manned Mississippi, Michigan showed how good it could have been and how good it might be next season, at the same time possibly showing how good it really is. In winning their sixth straight game after three bitter early-season losses by an aggregate of six points and their first bowl under Gary Moeller, the Wolverines (9-3) gained a school-record 715 yards, virtually splitting their attack between the ground (391) and the air (324). It was an uncommon display of fireworks for a team so accustomed to fizzling in bowls.

But ii was not uncommon for Moeller, who led Michigan to a 28-24 Hall of Fame Bowl victory in 1988 while Bo Schembechler recovered from heart surgery. "In bowl games, Coach Moeller knows there's no way you can be conservative," quarterback Elvis Grbac said after tying a school record with four touchdown passes, while completing 16 of 25 for 296 yards, third-highest yardage total in school history. "We balanced up the offense, that's what did it. We wanted to show the nation we can really play. This was a special game, and you have to do special things." Moeller, in his first season as head coach at Michigan after serv- See U-M.

Page 4C Jerrod second a in in By MIKE LOPRESTI Gannett News Service MIAMI Colorado, hanging on the edge, did what it came to do. Today the Buffaloes find out if it was enough. The No. 1 Buffaloes, ovecoming the injury of quarterback Darian Hagan and helped by a Notre Dame team ravaged by mistakes, slipped by the Irish 10-9 Tuesday night in the Orange Bowl, and now look to the voters for the final decision. Colorado slid by on the narrowest of margins.

A blocked Notre Dame extra-point try in the first half. A clipping penalty that nullified Ragib Ismail's 91 -yard punt return for a touchdown with 43 seconds left in the game. Ronnie Bradford's block of a PAT attempt in the first half was the difference for the game, and maybe the national championship. "I think you have to give our defense a lot of credit for holding a team like that to nine points," Colorado coach Bill McCartney said. "We've come back all year, and we feel great right now.

"I can't put into words. We showed a lot of grit on both sides of the ball. I believe historically when you're number one and you beat a team like Notre Dame you deserve to be number one." Hagan went out of the game late in the first half with a serious knee injury, and who should ride to the rescue but Charles Johnson, the man who scored the touchdown on the fifth down at Missouri. The Colorado offense came alive with Johnson in the second half, if only for a little while. Co-MVP for the game, he was 5-for-6 for 80 yards.

Rick Mirer, suffering one of his worst games as Irish quarterback, was 13-for-31 with 3 interceptions. Craig Hentrich had made 73 straight before Bradford roared in unblocked from the right end to Press the Associated Bunch of Michigan flies over the goal line and Mississippi linebacker Pete Harris in quarter of the Gator Bowl. The Wolverines beat Mississippi, 35-3. Buffaloes look like champs Lansing State Journal Colorado appeared to lock down the No. 1 spot Tuesday, despite Georgia Tech's big win.

The Yellow Jackets, the tion's only unbeaten team at' 11-0-1, made an emphatic statement with a 45-21 blitzing of Nebraska in the Florida Citrus Bowl. Also helping No. 2 Georgia Tech's case were the other Atlantic Coast Conference teams in bowl play. Clemson blew out Illinois and Virginia just missed beating Tennessee Tuesday, North Carolina State beat Southern Mississippi in the All American Bowl, and Maryland tied Lousiana Tech in the Independence Bowl. But the Buffaloes entered the Orange Bowl as the nation's No.

1 team, and their win over the fifth-ranked Irish did little to change that block the PAT in the second period that would haunt the Irish the rest of the game. And then there was the yellow flag that suffocated them. Ismail's brilliant dash through the Colorado special teams perhaps his last moment of stardom for Notre Dame if he goes to the National Football League appeared to have given the Orange Bowl one of its most dramatic last-minute victories ever. Then everyone noticed the flag back by the Notre Dame 30. "That return by Rocket Ismail was one of the greatest things I've ever seen," Holtz said.

"I don't know if the clip had anything to do with the run. I hope it did." Vincent, 52, became ill on Thanksgiving had entered the. hospital Dec. 13 with what doctors first diagnosed as pneumonia and pleurisy. Doctors later determined the symptoms were caused by an abcess on his spleen due to the infection, and removed the spleen on Dec.

18. "I'm glad to be home. I have-to work on getting my strength back," said Vincent, who also lives in Greenwich. The commissioner said he will work at home for the next few weeks. SCORECARD NHL 3C Washington 4, New Jersey 3 Basketball 3C Michigan State will find it difficult to match last season's school-record 28 wins.

With 1 8 conference games and as many as six possible NCAA tournament contests left, the Spartans can lose only three games and still tie that mark. NFL 3C The New Orleans Saints, at 8-8. only the second .500 team ever to qualify for postseason action, go to Chicago for a first-round playoff game with the Bears on Sunday. The Saints beat the L. A.

Rams 20-17 Monday night. Tennis 6C Sweden's Magnus Larsson upset top-seeded Boris Becker in' the first round of the Australian Hardcourt championships. Iowa rally falls short in Rose Bowl, 46-34 Baseball commissioner released from hospital half, then scored on a 20-yard run in the third quarter. He connected again with Bailey for Washington's final touchdown. The Huskies' defense, led by Mincy, linebacker Donald Jones and tackle Steve Emt-man, limited Rodgers to 15-for-34 passing for 196 yards, although most came in the Hawk-eyes' 20-point fourth quarter.

He was intercepted three times. Iowa, which shared the Big Ten title with Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan, closed to 10-7 on Nick Bell's 15-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. But Washington then reeled off 23 straight points. Iowa made the game interesting in the closing minutes with two late touchdowns after James began substituting freely. Washington coach Don James said.

Brunell was voted the player of the game in the highest-scoring game in the 77-year history of the nation's oldest bowl. "I'm disappointed we lost the game, but I'm proud of our comeback in the second half," Iowa coach Hayden Fry said. The Huskies set the tone for the 1991 Rose Bowl with a couple of big plays in the first half Andy Mason blocked an Iowa punt and Dana Hall picked up the ball and ran 27 yards for a touchdown, and Charles Mincy returned an interception of a pass by Rodgers 37 yards for another touchdown. Brunell, with 444 yards the Huskies' second-leading rusher this season behind tailback Greg Lewis, scored on a 5-yard run and threw 22 yards to Bailey for another TD in the first healthy Hawk means to MSU Associated Press PASADENA, Calif. Mark Brunell is a versatile quarterback who can pass, run the option and just run.

Brunell, a left-handed sophomore, displayed his many talents Tuesday by rushing for two touchdowns and throwing for two more, both to Mario Bailey, as No. 8 Washington beat No. 17 Iowa 46-34 in the Rose Bowl. The Huskies' defense and special teams also contributed big plays for Washington (10-2), which took command with a 33-7 lead in the first half, then fought off a desperate fourth-quarter rally by the Hawkeyes (8-4) that made the final score more respectable. "Brunell had a great year.

With his speed and quickness, he showed what he can do for us; he'll keep getting better with experience," Now you know EL PASO, Texas He was a forgotten player for most of the week before Monday's John Hancock Bowl. Southern Cal just wishes it could forget about him now. Michigan State flanker Courtney Hawkins made the Trojan defenders dizzy with his receptions, his runs after those catches and his stunning runbacks of kickoffs and punts in a 17-16 Spartan triumph. In the process, he answered the question some out-of-touch fans had asked since the end of September, "Whatever happened to MSU's great receiver the preseason All-American?" That's an easy one to answer. "The Hawk" was flying high one evening in a win over Rutgers, then crashed to the turf at Giants Stadium and bounced on his wing.

And when his right collarbone snapped like a chicken bone the week before the Big Ten opener, so did MSU's Rose Bowl chances. With Hawkins in street clothes, the Spartans' reshaped receiving corps caught a case of the dropsies and little else, missing seven simple chances in the last 20 minutes Associated Press tPW OKfc.fc.IN- WICH, Conn. Baseball Fay Vincent was discharged Monday from Greenwich Hospital, two weeks after Vincent surgery to remove his infected spleen. Which brings us to some admissions and at least one apology from a part-time prognosticator. True, I predicted a one-point Spartan win, a big game for Hawkins and another Trojan-killing kick by John Langeloh.

But I also called for a 30-completion effort by USC quarterback Todd Marinovich, a monster game by Trojan flanker Gary Wellman, questioned the MSU secondary again and said the Spartans had to blitz to win. Ouch. And that doesn't include my dumbest statement of the week a comment to MSU Sports Information Director Ken Hoffman about the folly of pushing Hawkins and tailback Tico Duckett for the 1991 Heisman Trophy. If Tim Brown can win the award and Ismail-can contend, why not a Spartan with 70 catches for 1,250 yards and another 1,000 from kick returns? He'd get some votes from the folks in Texas and Southern California. Jack Ebling is a member of the Lansing State Journal sports staff.

1 how much a JACK EBUNG of a 12-7 loss to Iowa. Two weeks later, after a 28-27 upset at Michigan, George Perles' club was punch-less again in a 15-13 setback at Illinois. It's fair to guess that Hawkins might iive caught at least one of those passes against the Hawkeyes and loosened up the in-your-huddle defense of the Fighting Illini. With a healthy No. 5 for all 12 games, the Spartans would probably have been in Pasadena, Tuesday as the league's sacrificial offering to Washington, a team that slapped USC, 31-0.

Instead, MSU spent a week in West Texas before completing its tic-tac-toe string of wins over the Trojans, with Hawkins the game's MVP the most versatile, most vibrant and most valuable player in Sun Bowl Stadium. The Flint flash had six grabs for 106 yards, including a sweet, midair swipe that gained 41 and a pivot-and-prance 21-yarder for his first TD catch of the year. Just as impressive was his acceleration on a 57-yard kickoff return and a 65-yard punt runback that was nullified by a clip. Instead of being tentative and trying to outfake the air, Hawkins burst through the first wave of tacklers on both runs and showed what fresh legs can do. He looked more like his close friend, Pro Bowl receiver Andre Rison, than ever before but with an interest in academics, too.

Hawkins probably won't be a Playboy All-American again. Not with Rocket Ismail of Notre Dame, Desmond Howard of Michigan and other deserving candidates around. Just don't be surprised if Hawkins has more catches, more yardage and as much impact as any all-purpose player in the nation next year..