Big Ten Roundup : Bo, Seeking Blowout, Is Not Content With Michigan Shutout

How much is enough? Apparently 24-0 falls short of Bo Schembechler’s expectations.

The Michigan coach, angered by the fifth-ranked Wolverines’ sluggish shutout of Wisconsin Saturday at Ann Arbor, Mich., closed the door to the locker room and refused to let players speak with reporters.

“The players have nothing to say,” Schembechler said.

Michigan’s offense, scoreless in the first half, got touchdowns on its first two possessions in the third quarter of its Big Ten opener.

The Wolverines were booed by the crowd of 104,097 as it left the field at halftime.

“If I had been sitting up there, I would have done exactly the same thing,” Schembechler said. “There’s a certain level of performance that’s expected at Michigan. When we don’t play at that level, we have to pay the consequences.

“That was the worst 24-point victory we’ve ever had.”

Michigan, with its third successive win, improved to 3-1. The Badgers fell to 1-3.

Several players, pausing outside the locker-room door, said Schembechler blasted them at halftime.

“Bo really chewed us out,” quarterback Elvis Grbac said.

Strong safety Tripp Welborne said: “Bo was upset and he had a right to be upset. He wanted to come in and totally dominate this team. But, we got into a dogfight.”

Michigan, which couldn’t advance beyond the Wisconsin 44 in the first half, led, 7-0, at halftime because Lance Dottin returned an intercepted pass 22 yards for a touchdown with 11:08 to play in the second quarter.

“I thought Wisconsin played very well,” Schembechler said. “Really, well enough to win the game. They outhustled us, outhit us. Frankly, they should have won this game. But, fortunately for us, we prevailed.

“We’re not celebrating. I couldn’t really see anything in there that impressed me.”

Grbac threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Walker in the third quarter, and Tony Boles ran 46 yards for another score. A 33-yard field goal by J.D. Carlson with 4:19 remaining closed out the scoring.

Michigan State 17, Iowa 14--After watching his football team tie three games last season, Iowa Coach Hayden Fry wasn’t about to settle for another.

Fry passed up a potential game-tying field goal in the final minute at Iowa City, Iowa, but his gamble backfired. Under pressure from defensive tackle Travis Davis, Hawkeye quarterback Matt Rodgers threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal at the Michigan State 10 with 29 seconds left and the 24th-ranked Spartans escaped with a victory.

Iowa rallied after Michigan State had taken a 17-7 lead in the third quarter behind freshman running back Tico Duckett, who carried 30 times for 175 yards, scored one touchdown and set up another.

Both teams are now 2-2 overall.

Illinois 34, Ohio State 14--Howard Griffith ran for two touchdowns and receiver Steve Williams threw a 34-yard scoring pass to receiver Mike Bellamy as the No. 18 Illini won their Big Ten opener at Champaign, Ill.

Griffith scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter, then ran five yards for a touchdown in the third quarter as the Illini (3-1 and 1-0) pulled away.

Ohio State (2-2 and 0-1) scored on a seven-yard run by Carlos Snow and a 66-yard punt return by Jeff Graham.

Indiana 43, Northwestern 11--Anthony Thompson rushed for 178 yards and a school-record five touchdowns as the Hoosiers (3-1) beat the Wildcats (0-4) in a conference opener at Bloomington, Ind. Thompson also ran for a two-point conversion, giving him a Big Ten-record 32 points.

Minnesota 35, Purdue 15--Marcus Evans, replacing injured Darrell Thompson, ran 32 times for 102 yards and his first collegiate touchdown as the Gophers ended a nine-game Big Ten winless streak with a victory at Minneapolis in the conference opener for both teams.

The Gophers (3-1) are 2-11-2 in their last 15 conference games. They last won a Big Ten game when they beat Wisconsin, 22-19, in their 10th game of the 1987 season. Their last home conference victory came against Northwestern in the fifth game of the 1987 season.

Thompson, Minnesota’s leading rusher with 3,805 yards, left the game with a sprained right knee with about six minutes to play in the first quarter.