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Early deficit fatal as Wolverines again get thorn, not Rose

Early Deficit Fatal As Wolverines Again Get Thorn, Not Rose By Phil Pierson PASADENA, Calif. - So what's new? It's happened before. In fact, it seems to happen every time the University of Michigan goes to the Rose Bowl. This time it was the University of Washing. ton that upset Michigan by outplaying the Wolverines in almost every aspect of the game for 3½ quarters. Never in Coach Bo Schembechler's nine seasons had Michigan faced a deficit like the 24-0 margin Washington built in the third quarter of the 64th Rose Bowl football game Monday afternoon. Just like they did during the regular season, the Wolverines battled back from adversity. Unfortunately, they ran out of time before the job was finished. Instead of possibly coming home with a 28-27 victory, Michigan was saddled with its fourth straight Rose Bowl defeat, 27-20, before 105,312 fans. Thus, Schembechler failed to break the frustrating pattern that has seen his team lose its final game in all nine of his seasons in Ann Arbor. Michigan, co-champion in the Big Ten Conference, ended with a 10-2 record while Washington, which was a 14-point underdog coming 1 in as the Pacific Eight Conference king, closed at 8-4 for Coach Don James. The Wolverines came close to pulling it out, but as assistant coach Jerry Hanlon said, "It just wasn't meant to be for us." It nearly was. Behind the brilliant passing of Flint quarterback Rick Leach, the Wolverines rallied for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and were driving for another when disaster, which seems to follow them in these games like voodoo, struck again. It was Washington linebacker Michael Jackson who stuck the pin in the doll. Desperately racing against the clock, Leach guided the Wolverines from their 42-yard line to a first down on the Washington 8 with 1:28 remaining. The momentum, which belonged exclusively to Washington for the first 35 minutes, had shifted because of the Wolverines' determined surge. Jackson killed it with another of the big plays that Washington made throughout the contest. Leach lofted a short toss to tailback Stanley Edwards who was open in the right flat. The ball landed in Edwards' hands but bounced onto his shoulder as he was falling. Jackson raced over to cover Edwards and as they went down the Husky linebacker pulled the ball away for an interception. "I lost sight of it," Edwards said. "I didn't know where it was. Jackson saw it and took it away from me." Michigan had one more chance in the closing seconds as its defense, which had been riddled earlier, forced Washington to punt from the 12 and the Wolverines took possession on the Husky 48. There were 44 seconds left. On second down Leach overthrew Edwards See Wolverines, page 2C

Article from 03 Jan 1978The Grand Rapids Press(Grand Rapids, MI)

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