ROSE BOWL NOTES : Taylor Finally Can Play in Pasadena

Playing in the Rose Bowl is not a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many Michigan players. The Wolverines are familiar with the place, having played USC last Jan. 2 in the Rose Bowl game and meeting UCLA in a regular-season game Sept. 23.

For quarterback Michael Taylor, though, it’s a goal he has been striving for the past two years.

Taylor had a hand injury and couldn’t play a year ago when the Wolverines beat the Trojans, 22-14. He could only watch as his backup, Demetrius Brown, made some of the big plays to beat USC.

With Brown academically ineligible, Taylor, a senior, was the starting quarterback again at the outset of the past season. However, he hurt his back in the opening game against Notre Dame and was sidelined for four games, including the UCLA game.

In his absence, freshman Elvis Grbac gained valuable experience.

Now Taylor is ready for his Rose Bowl debut, fulfilling a season-long goal.

“It was great to see your team win,” said Taylor referring to the last Rose Bowl game, “and I was happy for them. At the same time, I wanted to be part of that victory so bad. I wanted it so much that I dedicated myself to one single goal this season: to get to the Rose Bowl.”

Taylor, an option-type quarterback, is a threat as a runner and passer. He has completed 62.7% of his passes for 966 yards with only three interceptions.

It’s assumed that a key element of Michigan’s game plan today would be containing Todd Marinovich, USC’s redshirt freshman quarterback who has completed 61.2% of his passes for 2,400 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.

However, Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler didn’t give a high defensive priority to USC’s Rodney Peete, an experienced quarterback, in the last Rose Bowl game.

In his book, “Bo,” with Mitch Albom, Schembechler said:

“Before the Rose Bowl game all the talk was about USC’s fine quarterback, Rodney Peete. I told our defense, ‘Forget Rodney Peete. Just forget him. If you don’t stop the USC rushing attack, we don’t have a chance. Stop the rush and you’ll take care of Peete.’

“We stopped the rush. We won the game.”

USC gained only 138 yards on the ground against Michigan compared with a season average of 208.2.

Greg Skrepenak, Michigan’s sophomore offensive tackle, will be the largest man on the field today, standing 6-foot-8 and weighing a listed 322 pounds.

Skrepenak said he eats four to six meals a day with the late-night pizza snacks his downfall in any weight-control effort.

“I eat everything,” he told the Detroit News. “There’s really nothing I won’t eat. Maybe there are some little things I won’t eat, but if there are, I don’t don’t know what they are.”

Skrepenak, who is only 19, has the distinction of being the biggest player ever to play for Michigan.

His father, Gregory, weighs 250 pounds and said of his son, “With the stuff he puts in his body, he should weigh 400 pounds. At least, since he went to college I haven’t had to replace the hinges on the refrigerator.”

Skrepenak is a mild-mannered athlete, but Michigan tailback Leroy Hoard has warned opponents not to underestimate him.

“If he puts his mind to it on every play, Greg can crush anything in front of him,” Hoard said.

Notes

If it’s a close game today, Michigan free safety Vada Murray could be a handy man. He has blocked four placement kicks this season, two point-after touchdown attempts and two field-goal attempts. It was Murray who recovered an onside kick late in the UCLA game, leading to Michigan’s winning field goal. . . . USC is the only Pacific 10 school that has a winning record in the Rose Bowl based on a minimum of at least two appearances. The Trojans are 18-8. Michigan has a 6-7 record in the Rose Bowl, and the Big Ten narrowly trails the Pac-10, 22-21, in the all-time series at Pasadena. . . . USC has lost in its last four bowl appearances, Aloha (1985), Citrus (1987) and Rose (1988, 1989). . . . . . . USC finished the regular season 8-2-1, 6-0-1 in conference. Michigan was 10-1, 8-0 in the Big Ten, the Wolverines’ only loss coming in their season opener against Notre Dame. . . . Linebacker Junior Seau, still hurting from a separated shoulder suffered in the UCLA game, will be about 90% to 95% today, according to USC Coach Larry Smith. . . . Trojan offensive lineman Pat Harlow will miss the game because of a herniated disk. That will require surgery later this week that will sideline Harlow an additional three months.