Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 79

i mg iy h1 i i i i i Today's television highlights: 1:00 p.m. Football: N.Y. Jets at Buffalo 2:00 p.m. Football: Detroit at Green Bay 2:00 p.m. Baseball: Los Angeles at Cincinnati 5:00 p.m.

Football: Dallas at Denver Sunday, Sept. 14, IPSO INSIDE OF SPORTS 8nD scoreboard Complete sports rundown. Page 4. My HORSE RACING 9 OUTDOORS 10 TRAVEL 11-131 i 1. DETROIT FREE PRESS HEWLETT-TO-CARTER PASS WINS IT Whew! Miclii an survives, 1710 LJ By MICK McCABE Free Press Sports Writer ANN ARBOR Maybe the pre-season prognosticators were right after all.

Maybe the University of Michigan is a fourth-place team in the Big Ten. Looking like anything but the typically dominant U-M teams of the 70s, the Wolverines opened their 1980 football season with a very shaky 17-10 win over perennial loser Northwestern. The only thing that looked normal was the usual crowd of more than 100,000 fans. But even they weren't the same as always: They spent much of the second half booing starting quarterback Rich Hewlett. "This was a difficult game to play," said U-M coach Bo Schembechler.

"First of all, everybody expects you to win. Then you're playing with a relatively young team. You've got Notre Dame the week following. And you know they're (Northwestern) a better team than people think. Then you come out and it's pouring down rain." And rain it did it rain, for nearly all the first half.

"The weather was so bad early we didn't want to come out and throw," said Schembechler. "When you play that kind of football and then when you want to throw, you haven't been throwing. I don't ever want to go through a quarter without throwing." ALTHOUGH THE Wolverines didn't pass, they didn't have to early in the game. Mike Trgovac recovered a Northwestern fumble at the Wildcats' 34 on the game's first play from scrimmage to set up Ali Haji-Sheikh's 33-yard field goal. Considering all the trouble U-M had with its kicking game a year ago, it seemed a good omen.

But Northwestern, which did not win a Big Ten game last year and lost its opener to Illinois a week ago, tied the game on Jay Anderson's 35-yard field goal after U-M ended two straight posessions with fumbles. Jim a wiL OaivIitoG The game could nave Deen tiea ai me nan, dui a 10-yaro pm i nenaltv aealnst Northwestern for too manv men on the field I gr II fr ftf 1. A a lirA1.FiiHtiii rJ nllirn TVnt ilnira uunng a u-im pum, nejn a wuivcmuc unvc auvc. mai uuvc ended in the end zone when Hewlett hit Anthony Carter with a 17-yard TD pass. John Wangler, who is coming off knee surgery and lost the starting job Saturday to Hewlett, came off the U-M bench with 1:21 left in the half and moved the Wolverines from their own 20 to Northwestern's 35, but Haji-Sheikh missed a 52-yard field goal as the half ended.

See U-M, Page 6H i-, II CMU runs win slrcak to 20. Page 6H Hatful1 imm mm Rude and heartbreaking: Welcome to the Big Ten CHAMPAIGN, 111. Reporter: "What about Muddy Waters?" Rival coach: "I think the city is doing a fine job of cleaning up the river." Chuckle, chuckle. And so it goes. In Ann Arbor and Columbus and even here in Champaign, where they have enjoyed only one winning fall in the past 15.

Always the jokes, the clever quips, the snide comments whenever the names of Franklin Waters, Michigan State's unlikely 57-year-old rookie coach, and his spunky Spartans are mentioned. Nothing vicious, you understand. Nothing nasty. Just chuckle, chuckle. Abandoned by their last coach and their athletic director, convicted of cheating the last time they fielded a good team, the once-mighty Spartans have become the Edsels of the Big Ten.

When people talk about the power houses in the conference they now speak of Ohio State and Michigan and Indiana and Purdue. When the discussion shifts to the up-and-coming clubs, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin invariably get a call. But one school is rarely mentioned, except maybe in the same breath with Northwestern, that citadel of athletic incompetence. Michigan State? Oh yeah, they're still in the league, too. Yawn.

MSU right on schedule? Nobody, except maybe Muddy Waters and Mrs. Muddy, expected the Spartans to do much of anything this fall. Many predicted they would be lucky to win more than one game. So, you might say after Saturday afternoon's heartbreaking 20-17 loss to the Illini, Michigan State is right on schedule. It was Waters' debut in the big leagues, after a lifetime at Hillsdale and Saginaw Valley State.

And his initiation was, indeed, a rough one. Illinois9 final kick boots MSU Hewlett's passes cut through the Ann Arbor soup The rain poured down into Michigan Stadium for nearly the entire first half Saturday, making coach Bo Schembechler and the Wolverines reluctant to put the ball up amid all that moisture. But they got over their fears long enough for quarterback Rich Hewlett' to hit Anthony Carter for 22 yards in the first quarter (above) and for a 17-yard touchdown in the second (left). Northwestern's Roosevelt Groves is the defender. Free Press Photos by ALAN KAMUDA By CHARLIE VINCENT Free Press Sports Writer CHAMPAIGN, Illinois place kicker Mike Bass Saturday afternoon taught the Michigan State Spartans the folly of squandering opportunities.

With one swift swing of his right foot, Bass gave the Illini a 20-1 7 victory and spoiled Muddy Waters' debut as MSU's head coach as the final seconds ticked off the Memorial Stadium clock. The 38-yard field goal touched off pando-monium among the 46,377 assembled in weather that alternated between rain show- But it didn't do a lot for Waters' disposi- ISO. 1 DOESN'T SCARE SYRACUSE tlon. Shaken Buckeyes scramble, 31-21 "It's a helluva lousy start," the coach conceded later. "But it could have been worse.

I'm disappointed, but proud. "Our kids played real well. But we made mistakes, just like we expected." As he paced back and forth in the steamy locker room later, his head bowed, his hands on his hips, I thought for a moment he was going to break down and bawl. He didn't look furious or even angry. Just hurt and a bit bewildered.

As he passed his dejected players, he patted them, one by one, on the shoulder or the backside. No words were exchanged. None were needed. fk IB By JACK SAYL0R Free Press Sports Writer COLUMBUS, Ohio Earle Bruce loves good horses; in fact, he has three thoroughbreds running at Beulah Park. But the stable of potential Secretariats the chubby coach has billeted on the Ohio State campus stumbled coming out of the starting gate Saturday and nearly ran out of the money.

Unranked and unnoticed, Syracuse jolted the Buckeyes with two touchdowns in the first six minutes and had them playing catch-up through nearly all of the season opener before 86,643 semi-disgruntled fans in Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes, top-rated in both wire service polls, didn't get the lead until less than five minutes remained in the third peribd. And it wasn't until the final 1 minutes of the game that they scored a TD to put the squeeze on the Orange, 31-21. ART SCHLICHTER'S running and passing finally overcame the upstart New Yorkers and earned Bruce's Bucks their 12th straight regular-season victory since Woody Hayes was fired for proving you don't have to carry Master Charge to carry clout. Well-experienced from Bruce's first coaching season and a four-touchdown favorite, Ohio State made enough mistakes to turn Bruce's hair entirely gray.

See BUCKEYES, Page 6H NATURALLY, WHAT disappointed Waters did a great deal to lift the spirits around Champaign, where the consensus is that the world in general and the Big Ten in particular are out to thwart the university's athletic program. And their fears appear to have some basis In fact. Dave Wilson, who completed 14 of 22 passes Saturday, is in the middle of a court battle with the Big Ten, which contends he is ineligible to play this season. See MSU, Page 6H Muddy Waters SUMMERS SHINES IJN I3TJI Stormin Tigers bury Cleveland, 7-4 top 20 teams How the top 10 teams In the Associated Press college football poll fared Saturday (records in parentheses): 1 Ohio State (1-0-0) beat Syracuse, 31-21. 2 Alabama (1-0-0) did not play.

3 Pittsburgh (1-0-0) beat Boston Coliege, 14-6. 4 Oklahoma (1-0-0) beat Kentucky, 29-7. 5 USC (1-0-0) beat Tennessee, 20-17. 6 Texas (1-0-0) did not play. 7 Notre Dame (1-0-0) did not play.

8 Nebraska (1-0-0) beat Utah. 55-9. 9 Houston (0-0-0) at Arizona St, night. 10 Florida State (2-0-0) beat Louisville, 52-0. 11 Michigan (1-0-0) beat Northwestern, 17-10.

12 Georgia (2-0-0) beat Texas 42-0. 13 Stanford (2-0-0) beat Tuiane, 19-14. 14 Penn State (1-0-0) did not play. 15 North Carolina (2-0-0) beat Texas Tech, 9-3. 16 Arkansas (0-1-0) did not play.

17 Missouri (1-0-0) beat New Mexico, 47-16. 18 Auburn (1-0-0) beat Texas Christian, 10-7. 19 Washington (1-0-0) beat Air Force, 50-7. 20 Purdue (1-1-0) beat Wisconsin, 12-6. By BRIAN BRAGG Free Press Sports Writer The somber Spartans all knew they had blown it.

Under such distressing circumstances, many coaches and you notice I'm not mentioning any names would slam the locker room door and leave the writers outside cooling their heels for 30 minutes. But Muddy had only been with his team for five minutes Saturday when the door swung open. "Hey, guys, what's up?" he inquired, forcing a halfhearted laugh. Then, without waiting for a reply, he answered his own question. "The ball, that's what's up," he said glumly.

"The ball." Balls bounce, cookies crumble Indeed, it was up and over the goal post with no seconds left on the clock, a 38-yard Illinois field goal. "That's the way the ball bounces," the old man sighed, as he nervously rubbed his hands with a towel. "That's the way the cookie crumbles." Oh well, nobody ever said a man has to be original to be a big-time college coach. "What did you think of your first game in the Big Ten?" one probing pencil pusher wanted to know. CLEVELAND The Tigers clawed back from a 4-0 deficit Saturday, sat out an 81-minute rain delay in the 10th inning and then beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-4, with three unearned runs In the 13th.

Stadium this season and clinched their season series with the Tribe. The Tigers have a 7-1 advantage with five games left between the two clubs, including a doubleheader here Sunday afternoon. THE TIGERS' BULLPEN, one of the club's vulnerable spots all year, did a masterful job in Saturday's marathon, which came to an end exactly five hours an 25 minutes after it began. Righthander Dave Tobik pitched 5 scoreless innings in relief of starter Milt Wilcox; lefty Pat Underwood checked the Indians from the 10th through the 12th; and Dave Rozema met the challenge in the 13th' after Underwood got into trouble. See TIGERS, Page 5H Champ Summers, playing with a heavily bandaged wrist to protect a strained tendon, had three key hits in a 3-for-4 performance.

And second baseman Lou Whitaker, who had begun the afternoon in a 2-for-36 slump, had three hits and drove in three runs his first RBIs since Aug. 19. Mark Fidrych is out of the starting rotation and back on the sidelines after his latest shoulder problem. Story is on Page 5H. The victory kept the Tigers perfect (5-0) at Municipal Danielson will call signals as Lions attack Pacli By CURT SYLVESTER Free Press Sports Writer MILWAUKEE He may have every reason to And, barring unexpected crises, Danielson will run the Lions' offense when they go for season, victory No.

2 in the 2 p.m. Sunday game against the Packers in Milwaukee County Stadium. (The game will be televised on Channel 2 in Detroit.) CLARK SAID defensive end Bubba Baker, who be in other places, doing other things, but quarterback Gary Danielson will start for the Lions against Green Bay Sunday. "It was a helluva lousy start," the coach declared. "But it could have been worse." Somehow, the man managed a small smile.

"We're disappointed," he admitted, "but we're proud. We're not ashamed. I'll tell you that. "We have a lot of patience. And with a little bit of polishing up we can be a lot better football team.

We will be a lot better football team." After Waters had walked away, one of the writers turned to another and cracked: "He's probably going to call the score into the newspapers from force of habit." Chuckle, chuckle. Welcome to the Big Ten, Muddy. joined the team only three days ago after a five-week walkout, is also likely to start. "We'll have to play it by ear from there," Clark said, referring to Baker. "He won't play the whole game." In any event, the game Sunday an important one for both rebuilding teams will be emotional.

In terms of providing spiritual leadership, Danielson and Baker are probably the most important players on the Detroit side. Their presence, considering what has happened in the past week, seems See LIONS, Page 2H No one, including coach Monte Clark, would have blamed him if he had stayed home after the death Thursday night of his infant daughter and the llness of his wife, Kristie, since giving birth Sept. 3. But when the Lions' chartered flight left Detroit the Inside of sports, Page 8: More top road racers are in the run for money. Asa hot dog, the Tigers' Rick Peters is Grade A.

Fifth-ranked USC defeats Tennessee, 20-17. Details are on Page 6H. Metropolitan Airport Saturday afternoon, Danielson was on it. i imfti ll ii 1 f1t frl TSi li VeJhsiW JtnW ll Ei it fci sW 1 tm Mm, Mkm i.