'Love That Mandich,' Says Schembechler

"No," said Bo Schembechler, "I can't forgive Jim Mandich for throwing that ball into the stands.
"It was a bad play."
Then there was a long pause while sportswriters waited for the Michigan coach's next words and his serious expression changed to a broad grin.
"But I love that guy," he exclaimed.
And what football coach wouldn't love the Michigan captain who yesterday had a lot to do with the 31-20 victory over Purdue by grabbing 10 passes for 156 yards, scoring one touchdown, setting up two others and giving another fine blocking exhibition.
"We couldn't stop that Mandich from getting the big third-down play," said Purdue Coach Jack Mollenkopf.
In his exuberance over scoring Michigan's fourth and final touchdown, Mandich threw the football way over his head and it landed in the stands - an automatic 15-yard penalty was assessed against Michigan on the kickoff which followed.
"Our defense played well - tenaciously," said Schembechler. "There were times in the second half when I thought we might have played too conservatively on offense but our defense kept up its good work."
The Michigan coach said "we did a good job deep on Mike Phipps (Purdue quarterback) and he had to go to his outlet people. We would like to have caught him a little more but he is quicker than most people give him credit for. He's excellent."
Schembechler and defensive coach Jim Young made a vehement protest on Purdue's first touchdown drive when the Wolverines were penalized for an illegal substitution.
Halfback Stan Brown had just made a brilliant catch, after falling down, on a pass from Phipps which carried the Boilermakers from the Michigan 18 to the four. The play followed a five-yard loss by Purdue.
Michigan defensive end Cecil Pryor was hurt near the line of scrimmage on the pass play and middle guard Henry Hill came to his assistance. When Hill ran back to the huddle he apparently was regarded as an illegal substitute by the officials who penalized Michigan to the two-yard line giving the Boilermakers a first down.
"It was a mistake," said Schembechler. "It was a big play. I couldn't get an explanation from anybody."
Apparently the officials also had called a delay-of-game penalty against the Boilermakers at the time but the illegal substitution penalty took precedence over the delay of game infraction.
Both Schembechler and Young ran onto the field to argue with referee Dwight Wilkey but it only resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the Wolverines, giving Purdue the ball on the one. From there, Phipps fell into the end zone on a sneak.