Drive-Thru: Ohio State evens up the Notre Dame series

Pepe Pearson’s 1st half yards: 104; Notre Dame’s 1st half yards: 90
Per user request, I’ve uploaded the 1996 Ohio State-Notre Dame game, the game 60 years following the rematch in South Bend the year after the “Game of the Century”.  This game was much hyped on NBC, and featured live cut-ins by Tom Hanks, host [...]
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Celebrating Thanksgiving with YouTubes

Since I’m kind of bored this Thanksgiving day, with nothing really to do nor any work projects that need my attention, I thought I’d upload another Michigan-related Drive-Thru compilation.  It came down to 1970, 1974, 1987 or 1994.  The first three constitute much more interesting games in the series, but the 1994 game was easier to compile.  So, to celebrate Thanskgiving, I’ve uploaded John Cooper’s first… and sadly penultimate… win over Michigan in 1994.

This game was something of a career make-or-break game for Cooper.  He had received an extension after the 1992 tie, much to the chagrin of several Buckeye fans.  While his 1993 season marked a significant improvement over his previous years at the helm of the Buckeyes, the season ended in a shutout loss at Michigan and a very bleeh win over a 6 win Brigham Young team in the Holiday Bowl.  To make matters worse, the 1994 season was something of a painful one.  The Buckeyes lost early to Washington in Seattle, again lost to Illinois in a second-half collapse in the Horseshoe and, the coup de grace, were routed by Penn State 63-14 in Happy Valley.  Another loss to Michigan would put Cooper’s record against the Wolvereenies at 0-6-1 and make his already hot seat one hot enough for him to spontaneously combust.

The Game started off well enough for the Buckeyes.  They kicked off to Michigan, who drove about 60 yards through the strength of Tyrone Wheatley.  However, they found themselves in a 4th and Inches situation at the fringe of the Buckeyes red zone.  Instead of taking 3 points, Moeller opted to go for it with a pass to the fullback in the flats.  It backfired, giving Ohio State the ball on the turnover on downs.  However, it didn’t take long for an Eddie George fumble to give Michigan the ball back in great field position.  Before his Heisman season in 1995, fumbles were a chronic problem for Eddie George.  Combine his fumble-itis with some of the impatience you can see in his earlier games and you can imagine why the coaching staff, at the time, honestly thought Pepe Pearson would be their tailback for the future (that is: 1995).

Michigan’s offense, in spite of the great field position given to them, went backwards 34 yards.  On 3rd and 44, Michigan went with the draw for a short gain and punted back to Ohio State’s offense.  Ohio State’s offense, a very anemic unit in 1994 in spite of the brilliance of future Pro-Bowler Korey Stringer and professional mainstay Joey Galloway, stalled, setting up a punt.  However, the Scott Terna punt that followed was a gamechanger.  Amani Toomer, Michigan’s punt returner, made a curious decision not to field the ball with a fair catch¹.  Ohio State’s punt team eventually downed the ball within the Michigan 2 yard line.  A few plays later, Todd Collins, Michigan’s QB, tripped over himself in the end zone for a safety.  This safety marks the first real appearance of the LOLverines for this game.  Later in the second half, they would show up in full force to give the game to the Buckeyes.

The kickoff following the safety gave Ohio State a short field.  It didn’t take that long for Ohio State to capitalize.  After marching deep into the Michigan red zone, Bobby Hoying ran a poorly executed bootleg keeper into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.  The Buckeyes had taken a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Bill Young, pictured to the left, had held Michigan in check through the first half.  After Michigan’s ensuing drive went nowhere, the Buckeyes received the ball back.  On this drive, the Buckeyes found themselves in that gray area between punting and going for it on 4th down.  With the down and distance 4th and 5, Hoying connected with Joey Galloway to extend the chains.  However, on 3rd and goal later in that drive, Hoying overshot a wide-open Galloway in the end zone.  The Buckeyes settled for a field goal and a 12-0 lead.

Michigan’s ensuing drive was cause for consternation for the Buckeye faithful.  It had seemed that Michigan’s offensive coordinator had finally found something he liked in Bill Young’s defensive schemes.  A bootleg fake-stretch play to Tyrone Wheatley freed up Amani Toomer deep down field for an enormous gain early into the drive.  With it, Michigan had moved from their own 30 yard line to the Ohio State 11 yard line.  Fortunately, Bill Young’s unit held, forcing Michigan to settle for a field goal to cut into the deficit.  The 12-3 scoreline eventually carried over into the intermission.  Ohio State led by virtue of the game-changing punt by Terna and the safety gift by Todd Collins.  Failing that, they were outplayed in most statistical areas in spite of the brilliant play from the defense.

The third quarter was a nailbiting affair for Ohio State fans.  The Buckeyes began with the ball, but went 3 and out.  The would continue to go 3 and out for the remainder of the quarter.  Michigan, on the other hand, racked up 94 yards of offense in the quarter to Ohio State’s 10 total yards.  While Michigan continued to dominate possession, Ohio State’s offense couldn’t muster a first down.  Michigan’s first drive of the second half resulted in a field goal to halve the Buckeye lead.  Michigan’s next offensive series after that played out just like the first of the half.  With the clock rolling over into the final quarter of play, Michigan had the ball, the momentum, and were looking to take the lead.

However, Michigan’s offense did sputter again, setting up another field goal try for the Wolvereenies.  With momentum clearly on Michigan’s side, Marlon Kerner — special teams superhero for the Buckeyes — made the play of the game.  A high snap by the LOLverines on the try was all the delay Kerner needed to spike the ball and spike it backwards.  Mike Vrabel was in pursuit of the live ball, hoping for a scoop and score.  Vrabel, however, was not able to come up with it, but Kerner’s authoritative block not only denied Michigan 3 points, and not only turned momentum back to the Buckeyes, but also flipped field position.  Ohio State’s offense now had the ball within the Michigan half of the field.  They made good on Kerner’s efforts as only that 1994 offense could: by getting at least 3 points out of it.  Ohio State now had a 15-6 lead with about 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter, good enough to extend their lead back to a two-score cushion.

The LOLverines now woke up.  On the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Todd Collins found the waiting arms of the pass rush by Luke Fickell, the consensus scariest dude currently on the Buckeye coaching staff, who tipped the Collins pass to himself for the interception.  Unlike the last gamechanging play by Kerner, the Buckeye offense plowed ahead with Eddie George, then an impatient banger between tackles, for a touchdown.  The score was now 22-6, with about 10 minutes left.

Michigan’s next drive went a long way in making that the final score of the game.  Michigan’s offense took what the Buckeye defense gave them, eventually getting into the Buckeye red zone.  However, the LOLverine offense went backwards after that.  As you’ll see, on a 3rd and 23 play, Michigan’s left tackle flinched while a Michigan receiver was in motion, upending him.  As it turned out, the left tackle was flagged for a false start, and not an unnecessary roughness penalty against his own teammate.  3rd and 23 became 3rd and 28.  3rd and 28 became 4th and 28.  4th and 28 became a turnover on downs.  With about 5 minutes left, the Buckeyes were feeling it.

Ohio State ran out the next 4 minutes, exhausting Michigan’s timeouts in the process.  Michigan was set to get the ball back with about one minute and 30 seconds left, down 16 points, but the LOLverine special teams roughed the punter.  Now, the Buckeye offense could ice the game away, celebrate their first victory over Michigan in Columbus in 10 years (sigh…), and prepare to face the loser of the SEC Championship game in the Citrus Bowl.  That happened to be Alabama that year, and, sadly, I think you know what happened.  Fucking Jay Barker².

Still, for all the static John Cooper got at Ohio State, it was rewarding to see him feel so relieved after this game.  He deserved the free ride he got as time expired; it’s just unfortunate he couldn’t beat them more often.

Two other things of note about this game:

• First, it was Gary Moeller’s first loss in November as head coach at Michigan.  He was undefeated in November for 5 years to that point.
• Second, Ohio State set a team record for sacks this game, breaking a mark set in 1991.  Musburger and Vermeil didn’t say how much the Buckeyes tallied in this game.  However, the Buckeye pass rush was excellent this game.

Without any further ado, the game can be seen below.

1. He would eventually repeat this later in the game.
2. He does campus promotions all the time at the University of Alabama, maybe I should make time to find him and demand an apology for that game.

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It’s officially Michigan Week

Bring it on, bitches!

Ohio State, fresh off a 30-20 win at Illinois, now gets to focus on That Team Up North without looking past anybody. The Buckeyes return home for their final regular season game at 9-2, while TTUN comes to Columbus at 3-8.

Today’s game was rather anti-climactic, but any fan of the Buckeyes could see that coming. Ohio State has a long, storied tradition of underachieving in the game before The Game. For example;

• 2007 – Ohio State never got their game plan working, as Illinois tole a big win away from the #1 Buckeyes, 28-21
• 2006 – Ohio State 17, Illinois 10. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Prior to that game, OSU had 7 games of scoring 35 or more points. It was a win, but not at all pretty
• 2004 – A 24-17 loss to Purdue in the final two minutes, one of only two regular-season losses for Troy Smith
• 2003 – A scary overtime win at home against Purdue, 16-13. A missed Purdue FG saved the day.
• 2002 – Overtime win against Illinois (and a serious nail-biter)
• 2001 – A 34-22 loss to Illinois at home, secured by a late INT return for the Illini

Need I go on? We just rarely play well before The Game. The only exception to the rule in Tressel’s tenure is a 48-10 pasting of Northwestern in 2005.

So I expected revenge, but I didn’t think it would be pretty. Still, we looked good enough and got the job done.

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Beanie Wells moved into the #5 slot of all-time rushing leaders at Ohio State, sliding past Pepe Pearson. He cracked the 3,000 yard mark on his first carry, and kept moving all day long. Here’s the current standings;

• #1 – Archie Griffin – 5,529 yards (2,386)
• #2 – Eddie George – 3,768 yards (625)
• #3 – Tim Spencer – 3,553 yards (410)
• #4 – Keith Byars – 3,200 yards (57)
• #5 – Beanie Wells – 3,143 yards

Wells will top 1,000 yards for the season, and move past the legendary Keith Byars against TTUN at home on Saturday, barring injury and any other natural disaster.  Odds are good that he’ll stay at #4 even adding in the bowl game.  Getting another 410 yards against TTUN and a bowl opponent seems unlikely, even if you factor in Wells’ proven ability to rush for over 220 yards against the Wolverines.

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Speaking of Wells, holy f-ing poopbags, did you see him leap four feet in the air to clear an Illinois tackler?  I’ve gotta get video of that posted.  Best hurdle I’ve ever seen.

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Sweet Jesus, are Illinois fans the biggest WATBs you’ve ever seen?  Have you ever heard ANYBODY whine about the refs in a game where they only get flagged four times?  They were still moaning at the end of the game (those that hadn’t abandoned their seats before the game ended, that is).

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Penn State struggled for a half against Indiana, but pulled away in the second half and won 34-7.  This means that their home game next week against Michigan State will determine half of the Big Ten Championship.  Ohio State plays Michigan at Noon, and if the Buckeyes win, they clinch a share of the title.  PSU-MSU is at 330, and if the Bucks win, the Spartans and Lions will do battle for the other share.

Let’s speak hypothetically.

• If Ohio State wins and Michigan State wins, Ohio State goes to the Rose Bowl.
• If Ohio State wins and Penn State wins, Penn State goes to the Rose Bowl
• If Ohio State loses, the winner between MSU and PSU is the outright winner of the Big Ten and goes to the Rose Bowl.

Penn State controls their own destiny.  Both Sparty and the Buckeyes need help.

However, I do believe that Ohio State will secure a BCS Bowl with a win.  More on that after the jump.

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Ohio State stands at #11 in the current BCS Standings.  Ten teams make BCS Bowls. but there are tie-ins involved that could hurt us.

Six teams will guarantee themselves BCS Bowls by winning their conferences.  Let’s make some assumptions here;

• Championship Game – #1 Alabama – #2 Texas Tech
• Big 12 representative – #3 Texas
• Big 10 Representative – #8 Penn State
• SEC representative – #4 Florida
• Pac-10 representative – #6 USC
• Big East representative – #22 Cincinnati
• ACC representative – #24 Wake Forest

This leaves two at-large bids open.  The remaining schools in the Top 14 of the BCS Rankings are;

• #5 Oklahoma
• #7 Utah
• #9 Boise State
• #10 Georgia
• #11 Ohio State
• #12 Missouri
• #13 Oklahoma State
• #14 Ball State

Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma State are ineligible for the BCS, because of the rule only allowing two teams from each conference to play in the big 5 bowl games.  That leaves Utah, Boise State, Ohio State and Ball State as the only possible teams able to get those final two bids.

Utah and Boise State have won BCS bowl games before and will use that in their lobbying efforts.  Ball State can forget it.  No MAC school is getting in, especially in a year when the #5 school will get left out.

If we don’t secure the Rose Bowl, we are left to the mercy of the selection committee.  We’ll need to hope that the Fiesta Bowl remembers our massive numbers at previous bowls and how we travel better than any other team, during bowl season.  But if BYU can do us a favor and knock off Utah, we can consider ourselves in.  Maybe Fresno State can help out more and beat Boise State on November 28th?

So, in this order, let me just say….

1. Go Buckeyes
2. Go Spartans
3. Go…..whatever BYU’s mascot is
4. Go Bulldogs

And yes, I know it’s the BYU Cougars.  Did you?

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Ten Things That Will Happen This Weekend: Week 12

It’s been a couple weeks, but I am back and ready for more humiliation with my weekly list of predictions. The last time out I performed pretty miserably, but let me assure you, it was not embarrassment, but rather my life, that got in the way of making these predictions these past two weeks. Things are slowing down, so here I am.

For those who haven’t read this before, or who maybe have forgotten over the past two weeks, each week I make 10 random predictions for the upcoming weekend of college football.

Sometimes the predictions are stat-based, sometimes results-based, but either way they are designed just to make the weekend a little more fun to watch—especially if you’re stuck watching a game you perhaps aren’t that interested in.

Early in the year, I challenged Tim Tebow to a competition: his passing touchdowns vs. my correct predictions. As my predictions have become less accurate, however, Tebow has accumulated a ridiculous lead. With the terrible effort of my last set of predictions, coupled with two weeks off, I have to admit Tebow has an insurmountable lead.

Congratulations, Mr. Tebow. I concede.

Now that that’s out of the way, we can get right to this week’s predictions…so here are Ten Things That Will Happen This Weekend.

1. Revenge will be sweet for USC and Ohio State.

Last year was the Year of the Upset, and come Saturday two major-college programs will get a chance to avenge key losses from a year ago.

Last year, Vegas called Stanford’s upset of USC the biggest college football upset of all time. Lightning will not strike twice. USC’s defense just might outscore Stanford, and Pete Carroll will make it hurt for the Cardinal.

Illinois’ victory over Ohio State last year was not as big as Stanford’s or Appalachian State’s, but it was still pretty important. Ohio State was undefeated and number one in the nation, and Juice Williams and Co. marched in and shocked the Buckeyes. It wasn’t enough to keep Ohio State out of the BCS title game, but it was enough to vault Illinois into the Rose Bowl.

Illinois’ resurgence was a pretty nice story, but with the loss last week to Western Michigan, the story is all but over. The Illibuck trophy will head back to the 614.

2. LSU is going to wish they played Troy earlier in the season.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not predicting Troy to win. I’m just saying LSU is down right now, and Troy’s offense (430 yards per game) may prove a lot trickier to this LSU team than it would have in Week Two, when these teams were supposed to play (before Hurricane Ike postponed the game).

Over the past 10 weeks, Troy’s offense has gotten better, and LSU’s defense has become a little inconsistent. The game is at LSU, which is obviously a huge plus, but Troy will be a thorn in LSU’s side for the better part of this game.

3. Navy will beat Notre Dame.

In his weekly score predictions last week on SI.com, Stewart Mandel picked Boston College to beat Notre Dame, and he provided the following explanation: “Notre Dame is playing a team with a winning record. Enough said.”

While I like Mandel’s philosophy, I feel compelled to provide a little more support for my prediction this week. Here’s some support: Navy rushes the ball for 300 yards per game.

The last/only time Notre Dame has seen a running attack like the one they will see on Saturday was when Javon Ringer strolled through their defense for 201 yards. Navy has a better rushing attack than Michigan State. Sorry, Charlie.

4. Shonn Greene will rush for 100 yards.

Greene is 10/10 this year, rushing for 100+ every time Iowa has hit the field. As Forrest Gump would say, that’s all I have to say about that.

5. Donald Brown will reclaim the title of “nation’s leading rusher.”

Javon Ringer and Michigan State are off this week, so Ringer will have to stay at 1,548 yards for another week. Donald Brown, on the other hand, takes his 1,406 yards into a game against Syracuse, and he looks to be in good shape to reclaim the title he held for the early part of this year.

Syracuse gives up 203 yards per game on the ground, which is music to UConn’s ears. Brown is all the Huskies have had since losing starting quarterback Tyler Lorenzen in Week Five, so look for this game to be a good confidence booster for a UConn team looking for a January bowl game, as well as for a great running back looking for a rushing title.

6. Beanie Wells will become the fifth-leading rusher in Ohio State history.

With 2,999 yards in an injury-plagued career, Beanie Wells sits 122 yards behind Pepe Pearson in the statistical hierarchy of Ohio State running backs. Illinois doesn’t have a great rush defense (giving up 142 rushing yards per game), and Beanie has been stellar in his road games this season (168 at Wisconsin, 140 at Michigan State, 140 at Northwestern—note all those teams were ranked when Ohio State played them).

With Ohio State slowly but surely opening up the playbook for Pryor to throw the ball more, Illinois will have to respect the pass just enough to give Beanie some great chances to have another great game.

7. Joe Paterno will increase his lead over Bobby Bowden to two games.

A little background: Three weeks ago, Joe Paterno got his 381st win when Penn State beat Ohio State. Florida State’s victory over Virginia Tech on the same day gave Bowden win number 379, but unfortunately Bowden couldn’t win on Penn State’s bye week, which meant the lead was still only two going into last weekend.

Obviously, Penn State’s loss to Iowa kept JoePa at 381, but Florida State beat Clemson 41-27, slipping Bowden to within only one of Paterno.

This week, Paterno’s lead will go back to two wins. Penn State, still hot and bothered from last week’s debacle, will come out strong and demolish a weak Indiana.

Florida State, on the other hand, plays a Boston College team fresh off their big win over Notre Dame a week ago. Boston College has had a rough season this year, but their wins over Notre Dame and Virginia Tech are proof that BC is a team that can pull off the upset.

8. Boise State will have more scoring drives than Idaho has points.

Boise State can see the BCS waiting for them, and they are not going to let anyone get in between them and their goal, least of all pathetic Idaho. Idaho has the third-worst defense in the nation, allowing 478 yards and 42 points per game.

There’s no point in predicting just a Boise State victory…I need to spice this up a bit. Boise State will so thoroughly dominate Idaho that the Broncos will have more scoring drives than Idaho has points.

I tried a similar prediction in the Penn State-Syracuse game earlier this season, but I am much more confident this time around.

9. Yale will beat Princeton.

I’ve made a lot of bad predictions this year—I’ll be the first to admit it. I am, however, undefeated in Ivy League predictions. Here’s another one. Don’t let me down, Yale.

10. Corso will pick Florida A&M.

The GameDay crew is in Tallahassee this week for the Hampton-Florida A&M game. I don’t know much about these teams, but I do know enough about Corso to think that he really likes the idea of donning a Rattler costume.

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Penn State folds, Buckeyes on track for 4th straight Big Ten title

Unreal.  Not only did the Buckeyes have a game in which SO many things went their way, but the chips kept falling into place well after their Noon game ended.

Ohio State’s complete destruction of 24th-ranked Northwestern wasn’t the end of the day’s joy.  The 45-10 win was a constant afternoon of “did you SEE that?” moments, and then the truly unexpected happened when Penn State was defeated by Iowa 24-23 (seriously?  Iowa?  No, seriously?).

The BBC wanted to see Penn State go all the way after they upended us two weeks ago, but the Lions couldn’t handle the success.  Now the Big Ten (and the automatic BCS bowl bid) are up for grabs.

Michigan State stands alone at the top of the conference with a 6-1 record.  Sparty is off next week before traveling to Penn State in two weeks.

Ohio State and Penn State are now tied for second place at 5-1 each.  The Buckeyes play Illinois next week before coming home to face Michigan.  Both teams are sad sacks right now, as Michigan is 3-7 and Illinois just lost to Western Freaking Michigan.  Penn State goes home for their final two games Indiana and MSU.

The Buckeyes should (I said should, not will, in case karma is listening) win out, which will automatically give them a share of the Big Ten title.  But who will they share it with?  The winner of the Michigan State-PSU game will tell us.  If PSU wins, the Lions get the Rose Bowl bid.  If MSU wins, the Buckeyes go west.

It’s that simple.

But we get nothing if we don’t beat Illinois and Michigan.

By the way, the only path for the Buckeyes to outright win the conference is for Indiana to beat PSU in Happy Valley.  Not.  Gonna.  Happen.

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The Big Ten now has six teams eligible for bowl games with a possible 8 teams getting in.  Illinois and Wisconsin have two games each to win one and get in.  Illinois has Ohio State and Northwestern.  I think they blew their bowl bid by losing to a MAC school yesterday.  Wisconsin has Minnesota and Cal Poly left.  Barring another collapse like mid-season, they should get one win there.

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Beanie Wells rushed for 140 yards yesterday, giving him 2,999 yards in his career.  He also went from the 9th-leading rusher in OSU history to the 6th-leading rusher, all in one game.  He passes Antonio Pittman, Michael Wiley and Carlos Snow and looks to move up again at Illinois.

• #1 – Archie Griffin – 5,529 yards (2,530)
• #2 – Eddie George – 3,768 yards (769)
• #3 – Tim Spencer – 3,553 yards (554)
• #4 – Keith Byars – 3,200 yards (201)
• #5 – Pepe Pearson – 3,121 yards (122)
• #6 – Beanie Wells – 2,999 yards

All signs point towards Wells cracking the top 4 by the end of November, should he stay healthy.  Illinois’ defense is average, but Wells should be able to get the 122 yards he needs to take over the #5 slot.  201 total yards in 2 games will put him at #4 over the legendary Keith Byars.  Keep in mind that Wells ran for 229 against Michigan alone last year.

Even with the bowl game, it’d be incredible if he cracked the top 3.  He needs 554 yards to do it.  That’s 185 yards per game.  Possible, but not likely.

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It’s a big, big week/Beanie Wells update

It’s officially Monday morning, which means Penn State week is upon us.

There will be a LOT to say about this week, and the mud will fly all over the place all week long.  For now, all we can say is that Saturday night will see the biggest game in the Shoe since Michigan visited in 2006.

Let me make a not-so-bold prediction right now.  I think the Buckeyes are headed to the Rose Bowl this year.  Here’s why;

• If Ohio State beats Penn State, they will run the table against Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan, sending them west with an 8-0 Big Ten record.  While they’ll climb the charts in the BCS, I do not believe that the BCS will fall our way enough to bypass the Rose and send us to the BCS National Championship.  Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com disagrees and says that back-to-back impressive wins against MSU and PSU would be a big boost to give the Bucks a fourth title shot in 7 years (he does have a point, considering that nobody from the SEC besides Florida looks even remotely like a world-beater this year)
• If Penn State wins this week, we’ll slip into second place in the Big Ten, but running the table will solidify that second-place slot.  Penn State does not have a tough road after the Buckeyes, and I believe a win at The Shoe will eventually boost them into the National Championship.  That sends us to the Rose Bowl (if we win out and stay in the top 14 of the BCS, which will happen at 10-2)

Later this week, we’ll do a trade-off with a PSU blog, and we’ll take a look at a very specific place on the turf at Ohio State.  But for now, this is a “let’s get ready” post.  Go Buckeyes!

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Beanie Wells rushed for 140 yards on Saturday, easily earning himself the MVP of the game (although a lot of players certainly did their part to earn the win).  Here’s his updated standings in the list of All-Time rushing greats at The Ohio State University

• #1 – Archie Griffin – 5,529 yards (2,725)
• #2 – Eddie George – 3,768 yards (964)
• #3 – Tim Spencer – 3,553 yards (749)
• #4 – Keith Byars – 3,200 yards (396)
• #5 – Pepe Pearson – 3,121 yards (317)
• #6 – Carlos Snow – 2,974 yards (170)
• #7 – Michael Wiley – 2,951 yards (147)
• #8 – Antonio Pittman – 2,945 yards (141)
• #9 – Beanie Wells – 2,784 yards

I don’t expect Beanie to crack the Top 8 against Penn State (but if he does, it’s a sure sign that we dominated the Lions), but the following week against Northwestern should send him past Pittman, Wiley and Snow in one fell swoop.  (Of course, provided he stays healthy, knock on wood).

With five games to play (4 regular season, plus the bowl game), an injury-free Wells should rush past Keith Byars into the #4 slot.  He needs a mere 80 yards per game to do that.  Unless he has a couple of games like he did against Michigan last year, he likely won’t see #3.  He needs 150 yards per game to pass Tim Spencer.

As for topping Eddie or Arch, he’ll need a senior season to get there, and I’m not so sure he’ll stick around for that.  If he does, Eddie’s #2 slot would be passed, but I doubt Archie will see his record broken.  151 yards per game for the rest of his career would be an amazing feat.

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