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Even Broken Play Nets Michigan TD

Even Broken Play Nets Michigan TD image
Parent Issue
Day
28
Month
September
Year
1969
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

EVEN BROKEN PLAY NETS MICHIGAN TD
By Wayne DeNeff

“Great play,” said one sportswriter.
“Great call,” said another.
“Washington was certainly fooled,” said a third.
The fans roared their approval.
The occasion was quarterback Don Moorhead’s first touchdown—a five-yard scamper around his right side when he left all his blockers to score Michigan’s second TD and give the Wolverines a 12-0 lead in the second quarter.
“I hate to tell you guys this,” said Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler to sportswriters in the dressing room after the game, “but that was a broken play. Moorhead was supposed to be coming out on his left side. But he is a quick-thinking kid. He knew he was wrong fast.”
Moorhead, realizing his mistake as he rolled out, turned sharply at about the seven-yard line and bulled into the end zone between defensive end Lee Brock and defensive back Mark McMahon who hit him at about the two-yard line.
“I think we’ll have to put that play in,” said Schembechler. Moorhead laughed but said he wouldn’t run it again unless it became a part of Michigan’s regular plays.
It was that kind of day for Michigan.
A lot of things went right—Moorhead completing 14 of 19 passes, his receivers grabbing everything with sure hands, Glenn Doughty rambling for 191 yards and Barry Pierson and Tom Curtis picking off four interceptions.
It made a pretty good Washington team look bad.
The Wolverines also staged one dandy goal-line stand.
About the only thing marring the afternoon for Michigan fans was another eruption of penalties, costing the Wolverines 59 yards, and an inability to make good on the two-point conversion attempts. After failing to kick the extra point after the first TD because of a bad center snap, Michigan tried three times for two points and failed each time.
The second half turned into a full-scale rout after a rough first half of give and take.
“I’m not trying to run up the score or anything like that,” said Schembechler. “I don’t feel safe on that sideline with 20 or 25 points. All you have to do is pick up the paper,” he continued in reference to the high-scoring games of today in which some teams score 30 points and still lose. “I feel better when we get 40 or 50,” said Schembechler.
Those 45 points against Washington mean Schembechler is going to have to hand out another large batch of gold football decals for the helmets of the offensive team.
Schembechler was reminded that the offensive team also scored a touchdown starting with a first down between the eight and 10-yard line. That’s also good for a gold football head.
“Maybe,” he said, “ we are going to have to make our program tougher. You know, there is just so much room on those helmets.”