Hoard Up for MVP, but He’s Crossed Up by Michigan Loss

Leroy Hoard seemed on his way to being named most valuable player of his second consecutive Rose Bowl game Monday until something happened to change the script: USC--not his Michigan team--won, 17-10.

Hoard, who spends as much time getting in and out of Coach Bo Schembechler’s doghouse as he does getting in and out of tacklers’ grasps, gained 142 yards last New Year’s Day when Michigan defeated USC, 22-14.

This year, Hoard gained 108 yards in 17 carries, including one 46-yard cutback in the second quarter on which it seemed every Trojan defender had a shot at him. He also picked up 15 yards catching passes.

The 46-yard run was Hoard’s longest of the season, and, even when he was stopped for short yardage, he had the huge crowd on edge with a slashing style of running.

It was the second consecutive season, covering a stretch of 24 games, in which Hoard was the only back to gain more than 100 yards against the Trojans.

The figures did not impress Hoard, a junior from New Orleans.

“We came out here to win again, and individual stats don’t mean a thing when you don’t win,” Hoard said in the bedlam outside the Michigan dressing room.

“I’d be a whole lot more satisfied if I’d not gained near as many yards and we’d won the game. What makes it all the more disappointing is that we . . . the whole team, everyone of us . . . didn’t play our game. I can’t tell you why, but this wasn’t the real Michigan team out there today.”

There could have been a case for Hoard becoming the third player to win consecutive Rose Bowl MVP honors if the game had ended in a 10-10 tie, but when Ricky Ervins, from Pasadena, scored the winning touchdown with less than two minutes remaining, there was no doubt that Ervins would receive the MVP trophy.

Bob Schloredt in 1960 and 1961 and Charles White in 1979 and 1980 were the only players twice honored. Schloredt was a Washington quarterback, White a USC tailback.

Hoard did not believe that Michigan lost because the team was trying too hard to give Schembechler a victory in his final game. Schembechler, who has coached at Michigan for 21 years and brought 10 teams to the Rose Bowl, announced that he was retiring after Monday’s game.

“Some of the guys may have thought about winning the last one for Bo, but not once the game started. From the second we kicked off (to start the game), all we were concentrating on was winning, period. Not for Bo. Not for anyone. Just to win.

“It wasn’t Bo we let down. We let down ourselves.”

Hoard admitted that one factor in the loss was the USC defense, which he said was quicker and more aggressive than last year.

“A couple of times, I thought I was going to break a big one when I got stopped. They swarmed around the ball more than we expected. Give them credit, they played a tough game, but what hurts is that we didn’t respond with a tough game on our part.”

“We really were sour in the first half when they seemed to have all the momentum, but when we came back and tied them (10-10) in the third quarter, we thought the momentum shifted our way. We were ready to celebrate after the fake punt (when Chris Stapleton ran 24 yards for what appeared to be a first down on the USC 30 with six minutes to play), but when they got the penalty against us it gave the momentum back to them.”

Michigan was detected holding on the play, and Schembechler drew an additional 15-yard penalty for protesting the call too enthusiastically.

Did Hoard feel that one play decided the game?

“Naw, it hurt us, and we never got going again, but it was the whole game that hurt us most. You can’t cry about one play when you had a whole game to do something. We just got beat because, for some reason I can’t understand, we didn’t play our game.”

Hoard, who played much of the year at fullback, was shifted back to tailback after Tony Boles--the Wolverines’ most valuable player--suffered a knee injury in the Minnesota game.

Last year, before his stunning Rose Bowl performance, Hoard spent most of the season in Schembechler’s doghouse. In fact, the Michigan coach forbade the athletic publicity department to use Hoard’s name in the team’s preseason media guide even though it was apparent that he would be a starter.

This year, although his Rose Bowl MVP award got him a prominent place in the 1989 media guide, he still lost favor with his coach from time to time for missing classes, showing up late for practice and not paying attention during lectures.

When Hoard was asked if he felt his showing against the Trojans gave him any added satisfaction in his tenuous relationship with Schembechler, he glowered at his interrogator and snapped:

“There’s no satisfaction in losing, no matter what.”