COLLEGE FOOTBALL / BOWL GAMES REPORT : ROSE

The only Californian on the Michigan roster is quarterback Ken Sollom of Canyon Country. He is a backup to Elvis Grbac but is also the holder on all field-goal and extra-point attempts. Against Ohio State, he completed a shovel pass off a fake field goal that led to Michigan’s first touchdown.

Moeller is opposed to a national football playoff.

“I think controversy over who’s No. 1 is a good thing,” he said. “I like the idea of guys sitting around a table arguing about who’s the best team, whether it’s Miami or Washington or Michigan or whoever. I think that’s a healthy situation.

“And, this way we have many winners instead of just one. It makes more people, especially coaches, happy this way.”

Emtman has received most of the pregame publicity for defensive players, but the Wolverines have a star of their own in Erick Anderson, winner of the Butkus Award as the best collegiate linebacker in the country. Anderson, a 6-foot-2, 234-pound senior, made 97 tackles from his inside linebacker position, 73 of them solo. He also intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble.

In the 1989 Rose Bowl game, Anderson played his best game that season, making 12 tackles and recovering a fumble in a 22-14 victory over USC.

Bo Schembechler, who took 10 Michigan teams to the Rose Bowl before retiring two years ago, has been an attentive spectator at Wolverine practices at Citrus College, but he insists he’s not making any suggestions to Moeller, his former assistant.

“I think Washington is the best team in the country,” he said. “Miami only played two tough teams and barely beat Penn State at home and beat Florida State on a missed field goal.”