Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 57

Detroit ifrce tyxess Sports SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1975 In This Section Sports on Television Page 3 The Inside of Sports Page 6 Outdoors with, pre Page 8 SECTION KICK COMES WITH 9 SECONDS TO PLAY U-M Tied by 19 I ate rieia 1 Stanford's Passing Is Deadly A HtSlililiiilllBIl BY CURT SYLVESTER Fre9 Press Sports Writer ANN ARBOR -j- Quarterback Mike Cordova steadfastly stuck to his passing game and Mike Langford erased two Michigan leads with fourth-quarter field goals Saturday as Stanford put a 19-19 smudge on the Wolverines' early-season glow. In after Langford kicked the 33-yarder to square accounts with only nine seconds left in the game, you'd have iV SV lf'h thought Stanford actually had pulled off the upset it worked so hard for. "I heard they had us down by 27 points and we're playing at Michigan's home field, which is worth another seven or 10," grinned Stan-f coach Jack, Christiansen. "Heck, I feel like a winner." And, conversely, you know how the Wolverines felt regardless of the 19-19 on the scoreboard as the iiillliiil FOR THE WOLVERINES, there was extremely little to remind them of the brilliance that had characterized their victory in the season-opener at Wisconsin just a week earlier. Fullback Rob Lytle gained 113 yards, all the hard way, but Stanford had the U-M option perfectly figured.

Every time Gordon Bell took a pitch from Leach, he had Stanford safety Gerald Wilson hammering him to the ground. With Bell limited to only 64 yards after his season-opening 210, Leach had to put the ball into the air 17 times. He completed six (five to Smith) for 14S yards and the Wolverines finished with an impressive 467 yards in total offense. But except for Leach's 48-yard bomb to Smith as the clock ran out in the first half, the Wolverines always had to abandon their drives for field goals from Wood 27 and 29-yarders in the first half, followed by the 32 and 42-yarders later. "We moved the ball well between the 20s and then can't push it in from there," assessed Schembechler.

"That's the crux of our problem. We just don't have the same line we started the season with that's not an excuse, it's a fact." The Wolverines played Saturday 'without two of their regular linemen guard Mark Donahue and tackle Steve King, making it difficult to punch out the yardage in critical "I THINK STANFORD'S defense is better than last year," said Bo, "but I'm not convinced our offense is as good as it was then. Our line is very Schembechler said that Leach's performance "was about the same as the rest of the team good enough to tie but not good enough to win. You play to win." The tie deprived Schembechler of his 100th career coaching victory, but kept U-M's unbeaten string of home games alive at 36. Under the it was hardly a cause for I ff 1 26flyf i 'fftx sirs! w.

crowd of 92,304 glumly exited Michigan Stadium. "If we could have just caught a couple of those interceptions, we would have been all right," mused U-M coach Bo Schembechler. But, except for one steal by safety Jim Pickens and another by wolfman Don Dufek, the Wolverines had very little success in getting between Cordova and his intended receivers, And since the Stanford junior quarterback who just coincidentally wears Jim Plunkett's old No. 16 threw the football 44 times, U-M was in trouble. IM ALL, CORDOVA completed 24 passes, including a 25-yarder which was deflected by a U-M player, according to officials and caught for a TD by center Todd Anderson in the fourth quarter.

Anderson's touchdown tied the game at 13-13 and turned it into a nerve-tingling field goal match between U-M's Bobby Wood and Stanford's Langford for the final six minutes. Wood kicked a 32-yarder and, several Cordova passes later, Langford answered from 40 yards out, tying it again at 16-16 with 3:41 left to play. Devich's interception and a clutch 21-yard pass from freshman quarterback Rick Leach to wingback Jim Smith set up Wood for a 42-yarder with 1:36 to go, putting U-M up, 19-16. But in a style disturbingly similar to the one which cost U-M a 13-12 Rose Bowl loss to Stanford nearly four years ago, Cordova drove the Cardinals from their own 43-yard line to the U-M two, setting up Langford's game-winning kick. Strangely enough, that kick could have won again for Stanford except for the fact that Langford missed the extra point after Stanford's first touchdown.

1 HimiHH Michigan O. I U-M Stanford U-M Stanford MIAMI 14 4M54 "til First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards Stanford 21 34-'6 285 24 24-44-2 a-33 0 17 41-352 145 15 -17-l 5-34 3-2 3-15 13-H MSU 13 S6-161 73 65 21 5-31 4-3 7- First Downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards Miami, Ohio Michigan State 72 4 11-51-0 127 .1.3 M5 0 11 0 7 7 0 7 61 Michigan Stan Hill 25 pass from Cordova (kick 0-13 0-14 MSU Jackson 4 run (Nielsen kick). MIAMI Walker 30 pass from Smith (kick failed). MIAMI Carpenter 12 run (Trowbridge failed). Mich Smith 40 pass from Leach (Wood kick).

Mich FO Wood 27. Mich FG Wood 29. Stan T. Anderson, 4 pass from Cordova (Langford kick). Mich FG Wood 32.

Stan FG Langford 40. Mich FG Wood 42. Stan FG Langford 33. A 92,304. UP I Photo KICK).

MSU Gibson yass from Bagger) (Nielsen kick). I A 61,444. i Mike Langford kicks 33-yard FG with 9 seconds left for Stanford's 19-19 tie OA 14-13 MSU Squeezes Past Miami BY CHARLIE VINCENT Free Press Sports Writer EAST LANSING Michigan State's 14-13 victory over Miami of Ohio will not go into the record books as a great artistic success, but Denny Stolz learned a long time ago not to be choosy. "I've learned that when you win one, you take it," the Michigan State coach sighed after his Spartans squeezed Lolich Cuts Bosox Lead to 3V2 tg Pll wy BY JIM HAWKINS past Miami, ending the Redskins 24-game winning streak. "If it's a One-pointer, it's a one-point win.

"We didn't play real well," he admitted. "But they are a good football team; that's why they hadn't been beaten in three years." Saturday, though, before 61,444 Spartan Stadium fans, it was not a matter of which was better, but a matter of which made the fewer "Both teams made mistakes, but they didn't make the major kicking errors we did," Miami coach Dick Crum said afterwards. "When you play like that, you're going to get beat. This was probably the worst football game Miami University has played in seven years." Still it was good enough to stay even with Michigan State until Levi Jackson whirled into the end zone from the four-yard line with just 25 seconds left in the first half. Hans Nielsen's conversion made it 7-0 at intermission.

Baggett, who later in the day broke Eric Allen's all-time total offense record for MSU, picked up 41 yards rushing in that drive and passed to freshman flanker Kirk Gibson for 17 more. The Baggett-to-Gibson combination eventually clicked for the winning touchdown, too, when the freshman beat Miami's Pat McDermott at the Redskins' 12, turning back for the slightly underthrown ball, then racing into the end zone to complete the 56-yard play. The touchdown, and Nielsen's second conversion, wiped out a 13-7 Miami lead, which was the result of a near-disastrous series of offensive bungles by the Spartans. Michigan State's first five offensive plays of the second half resulted in three fumbles, one by Baggett and two by fullback Jim Earley all recovered by Miami, at MSU's 21, 23 and 19. Meanwhile, Miami pulled to within one point on a 30-yard pass from quarterback Sherman Smith to wingback Randy Please turn to Page 4E, Col.

I mistakes. Michigan State's sputtering offense brought boos from the crowd until, midway in the second period, when quarterback Charlie Baggett engineered an 80-yard TD drive after Miami's Norm Trowbridge missed his second of four field-goal tries. Trowbridge missed from 49, 50, 39 and 36 yards and also missed the extra point after Miami's first touchdown, providing MSU with its eventual margin of victory. Bucks Grind Penn 17-9 Free Press Sports Writer The Tigers, not Boston, looked like the team tuning up for the playoffs Saturday afternoon as Mickey Lolich humbled the haughty Red Sox, 5-1, with the help of a dozen hits. The Red Sox loss left them 3'4 games ahead of Baltimore, which won, 5-4 over the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday flight.

And while that loss may have merely delayed the inevitable so far as the Bosox are concerned, it did somewhat reduce the Tigers' chances of being defeated 100 times this sad summer. What's more, it made it Impossible for Lolich to embarrass himself by becoming the first Tiger pitcher in history to lose 20 or more games two years in a row. With one start left, at the most, Lolich (12-18) will have no chance to sink that low. Not that the Mick looked the least bit like a 20-game loser Saturday as he held the Red Sox to six hits. It was only the second win since July 6 for the veteran Tiger lefthander, who is an alarming 2-13 during that stretch.

Surprisingly enough, Lolich has enjoyed more success against the front-running Red Sox than anybody else this year, limiting the division leaders to a mere two runs in 27 innings. BOSTON BARGED ahead, 1-0. in the top half of the first when Juan Beniquez walked and worked his way home on base hits by Dwight Evans and Carlton Fisk. But that was the last time any of the Red Sox got beyond second base as Lolich shut them out on just four hits the rest of the way, retiring the last nine in a row. Johnson, a 248-pound junior fullback, rolled up 107 yards, including 11.

yards that scored the clinching touchdown in the closing minutes. Johnson also scored on a one-yard plunge. Heisman Trophy winner Griffin registered his 23d straight regular-season game of more than 100 ground yards. The senior tailback accounted for 128 yards, but it was his reception that kept the closing touchdown drive alive. Griffin made a circus catch of 23 yards at the Penn State 45.

That reception, linked with an earlier Penn State pass-interference call, kept the march moving. Chris Bahr, the rookie of the year in the professional North American Soccer League this summer, booted field goals of 55, 31 and 25 yards for Penn State." His 55-yarderset an Ohio Stadium record and tied his own school mark. The loss was the first in five meetings with Ohio State and gave the Nittany Lions a 2-1 record this season. Ohio State, posting its 19th straight home victory that equaled the Buckeyes' stadium record, won its second consecutive victory this fall. OHIO STATE SCORED the first two times it had possession and appeared on the way to an easy victory until Penn State adjusted its defense.

The Buckeyes drove 80 yards with the opening kickoff, highlighted by a 49-yard run by wingback Brian Baschnagel to the Nittany Lions' four. Johnson scored from the one. After Bahr's 55-yard field goal, Tom Klaban countered with a 45-yarder for the Buckeyes. After that, Penn State's defense blunted Ohio State for seven straight possessions until Johnson's bullish runs in the clinching touchdown march. Johnson carried seven times for 39 yards in the fourth-quarter drive.

He carried on five of the last six plays. A crowd of 88,093, the second largest in Ohio Stadium history, watched the intersectional battle. Included in the throng were' eight scouts from the Orange, Cotton and Sugar bowls. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Archie Griffin and Pete Johnson, Mr. Inside and Mr.

Outside of third-ranked Ohio State's attack, combined for 235 yards rushing Saturday, helping the Buckeyes shatter a Penn State hex with a 17-9 college football victory over the No. 7-ranked Nittany Lions. How Top 20 Fared Here's how the Top Twenty teams in the Associated Press poll fared this weekend: 1 Oklahoma (2-0-0) trounced Pittsburgh, 46-10. 2 Michigan (1-0-1) tied Stanford, 19-19. 3 Ohio State (2-0-0) tamed Penn State, 17-9.

4 Southern Cal (2-0-0) defeated Oregon 24-7. 5 Missouri (2-0-0) stopped Illinois, 30-20. 6 Nebraska (2-0-0) rolled over Indiana, 45-0. 7 Penn State (1-1-0) lost to Ohio State, 17-9. 8 Texas (2-0-0) rode over Washington, 28-10.

9 Notre Dame (2-0-0) blanked Purdue, 17-0. 10 Tennessee (1-1-0) was dropped by UCLA, 34-28. 11 Texas (2-0-0) embarrassed 39-8. 12 UCLA (2-0-0) mauled Tennessee, 34-28. 13 LSU (0-2-0) lost to Texas 03-8.

14 Alabama (1-1-0) handled Clemson, 56-0. 15 Pittsburgh (1-1-0) lost to Oklahoma, 46-10. 16 Arkansas (1-1-0) was ambushed by Okla. St. 20-13.

17 Arizona (0-0-0) vs. Pacific, night. 18 Arizona St (2-0-0) steamed past TCU, 33-10. 19 Miami, O. (1-1-0) lost to Michigan 14-13.

20 West Virginia (2-0-0) climbed on California, 28-10. AP Photo Meanwhile, the Tigers chose MSU's Mike Dean (82) crunches Miami runner Bob Carpenter Please turn to Page 7E, Col..