M Starts Rugged Drills For Purdue Game

M STARTS RUGGED DRILLS FOR PURDUE GAME
Wolverines To Face Top Quarterback
By Wayne DeNeff

There probably isn’t anything wrong with the Michigan football team that some old-fashioned smash, dash and crash won’t cure.
And that was the practice program laid out by Coach Bo Schembechler for today, Wednesday and Thursday as the Wolverines seek to come back strong from the 40-17 loss to Missouri.
“Let’s just say practice will be a little more exuberant,” Schembechler said in reference to what is certain to be a rugged week of drills.
It was obvious to one and all that the Wolverines weren’t quite ready—physically and mentally—for that rough afternoon of football which Missouri was prepared to dish out.
Now that they’ve found out what the world is like among the excellent football teams, they’re expected to come back and give Purdue’s Boilermakers a solid test when the Big Ten season opens here on Saturday.
Like Missouri, Purdue is unbeaten, untied and ranked ninth in both the Associated Press and United Press International polls as it gets ready for its 21st meeting with the Wolverines in a series dating back to 1894.
It will take maximum effort in the fundamentals of blocking and tackling as well as perfect execution to subdue the invaders from West Lafayette who year in and year out under Coach Jack Mollenkopf have ranked just slightly below Ohio State in the won-lost columns.
Purdue has an outstanding offensive team, piloting by Mike Phipps, the coolest quarterback ever to direct the attack at a school which has been noted over the last couple of decades for its outstanding quarterbacks.
With Stanford leading, 35-21, last Saturday, Phipps went to work, hitting for two scores through the air and passing for the two-point conversion which gave the Boilermakers the 36-35 win.
Phipps set two club records as he threw five touchdown passes and gained 429 yards through the air (28 completions of 39 attempts).
Phipps’ three-game statistics are impressive: Fifty-one completions in 83 attempts for 928 yards and 10 touchdowns.
It’s a season’s work for many good quarterbacks.
Schembechler isn’t pushing any panic buttons as a result of the lop-sided loss to the Tigers from the Big East, a conference which enhanced its prestige immensely by wiping out four Big Ten teams by a combined score of 160-58.
The Wolverines aren’t in need of any drastic regrouping, says Schembechler, just a sharpening up of the offense which had rolled up 87 points before colliding with the eager Tigers.
“It was an offensive team blunder,” Schembechler said of the loss to the team now ranked sixth by UPI. “I won’t make wholesale changes.”
Mainly, it was the offensive blocking which broke down against the Tigers and that represents one half of what this game of blocking and tackling is all about.
Quarterback Don Moorhead wasn’t getting time to execute his faints and fakes, nor time to zero in on his receivers so his average dipped to seven completions in 19 attempts.
Michigan has five men on the injured list but all except middle guard Al Francis are expected to be ready to play against the Boilermakers.
Francis suffered a knee injury in practice a week ago and his situation remains doubtful.
Tailback Glenn Doughty has a sprained ankle. His practice activity will be limited but he should be quite a bit better by Saturday.
Offense tackle Jack Harpring has a shoulder bruise which is causing him considerable discomfort.
Offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf and second string tailback Bill Taylor have hip injuries but are expected to play.