Another Bo (Derek) Inspires Michigan to a ‘10’ Over Ohio State

Woody and Bo gave pep talks before the big game between Ohio State and Michigan.

Not Hayes and Schembechler.

Hayes and Derek.

This may or may not explain why Michigan was the more inspired team Saturday. The Wolverines were nearly picture perfect in front of 106,102 fans at Michigan Stadium, beating their Big Ten arch-enemies, 27-17, behind Jim Harbaugh’s three touchdown passes.

With a record of 9-1-1, they are headed for the Fiesta Bowl, which Coach Bo Schembechler said “is as close as I could get to Pasadena on New Year’s Day.”

Iowa, which beat Michigan earlier in the season on a last-second field goal, earned the trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Michigan had to settle for a Fiesta date at Tempe, Ariz., against Nebraska, but you will not hear a peep of complaint out of Bo. “I’ve enjoyed this year as much as any year I’ve ever coached,” he said.

The last few days were particularly enjoyable. The Michigan coach’s friend and namesake, Bo Derek, stopped in Michigan to pick up a custom-made Lincoln Continental at a local auto plant. The Schembechlers invited her to their home for dinner, and she also dropped by Thursday’s practice.

Derek really didn’t do much except pose for Polaroids with the players. Harbaugh taped his to his locker. “To see her was pretty impressive,” the quarterback said. “Although she did look kind of nervous around so many big guys. It’s probably because she’s so short. Oooh. Maybe I’d better not say that.”

Schembechler merely struck his most dashing and debonair pose after Saturday’s game and said of his friendship with the other Bo: “Hey, some’s got it and some ain’t.” In Columbus, Ohio, Woody Hayes, the former football coach of Ohio State, came by in a wheelchair Friday to address the Buckeyes before they left for Ann Arbor. “Everything you do has got to be perfect,” the 72-year-old Hayes encouraged the team.

Alas, on a 10 scale, the Buckeyes were only about a seven. They could have gone to the Rose Bowl if they had beaten Michigan and if Iowa had lost. Instead, the Buckeyes wound up fourth in the Big Ten, behind Illinois as well, and will take their 8-3 season record to the Florida Citrus Bowl Dec. 28 at Orlando.

Keith Byars, the injury-ridden running back who entered the season as a top Heisman Trophy candidate, picked up 37 yards Saturday and finished the season with just 210 yards rushing. Ohio State did have its chances. It led, 10-3, in the second quarter, and almost added three points more when kicker Rich Spangler came up short on a 61-yard field goal by just a couple of feet.

After falling behind, 20-10, the Buckeyes struck back in the fourth quarter with a 36-yard, alley-oop touchdown pass from Jim Karsatos to Cris Carter. But Michigan, with Schembechler permitting an uncharacteristic wide-open attack, put the game in the bag with the second-longest pass play in the school’s history, a 77-yard bomb from Harbaugh to freshman John Kolesar, who grew up in Ohio.

Harbaugh’s third scoring pass of the day gave him 18 for the year, breaking Rick Leach’s single-season school record. The 27 points the Wolverines scored were the most they have scored against Ohio State since 1946.

The only difficult job Schembechler had preparing his team for the game was in disciplining two of his players, kickers Mike Gilette (placekicks) and Rick Sutkiewicz (kickoffs), for off-the-field infractions. He suspended them for the game--something Ohio State Coach Earle Bruce had to do with two of his players the previous week before the Wisconsin game.

Bruce’s players had been suspended for having alcoholic beverages in their rooms. Schembechler refused to say why his kickers were punished. He told reporters: “I don’t think you have a right to know that any more than the guy on the street does.”

Pat Moons, a senior who never tried a field goal for Michigan before, tried three of them Saturday and was successful twice, from 34 and 38 yards. He was perfect three times on extra points.

But it was Harbaugh who was really impressive in this game. He threw 19 passes; three were incomplete. In his last three games, the 6-3, 204-pound senior from Palo Alto completed 41 of 50 for 706 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Harbaugh called the win over Ohio State the greatest day of his life and said he had a special feeling about Michigan’s success after the abuse the team took concerning last season, when the team had its worst record ever under Schembechler.

“After being 6-6, I’ll never forget what it took to get us back to respectability,” said Harbaugh, who was a redshirt one season and will return for one more year. “Before this season started, nobody gave us any respect. The Big Ten coaches didn’t, the polls didn’t and the media certainly didn’t. That was kind of our battle cry this year--get Michigan’s respect back.”

Harbaugh’s game-clinching touchdown pass was a thing of beauty, and one he hardly saw. Ohio State called a strong-safety blitz that left the quarterback flat on his back after the ball was released.

Kolesar, the very fast flanker who outran cornerback William White to score on the 77-yard play, nearly didn’t see the ball himself, because one of his contact lenses flipped up in his eye just as he was looking up for the ball. The freshman was so proud of himself, because: “I sort of saved some of my moves for this game. I waited for just the perfect time and then I showed White a move I’ve never shown anybody before. Then Jim threw it right on the money.”

“That was the big play,” Ohio State Coach Earle Bruce said. “That was the play that beat us. But Michigan made big plays throughout the game. That’s a real good football team.”

Schembechler could not have agreed more.

“Anytime you’re playing on New Year’s Day, you’ve got a good ballclub,” he said. “If you’re not playing on New Year’s Day, you don’t really have a good team.”

Schembechler has not done very well on any day after the regular season. He is 2-10 in bowl games. When asked if beating Ohio State was as good as winning a bowl, he said: “Absolutely.” Then, after a long pause, he added: “Why wouldn’t I say that? Have you ever checked my record in bowls?”