Michigan Questions Turn Offensive

They’ve been asked about the weather, what they wanted for Christmas and what it’s like playing with Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson.

But the question most frequently posed to the Michigan Wolverines in the days since they arrived in California for the Rose Bowl is whether they’ve faced an offense that even vaguely resembles Washington State’s high-powered offensive machine.

The short answer is no.

But the Wolverines have seen enough film of the Cougars over the last few weeks to know they’re going to have their hands full, even though they had the country’s top-ranked defense and gave up only 206.9 yards and 8.9 points per game.

“We’ve seen some pretty good offenses, but the Big Ten is different,” nose tackle Rob Renes said. “Because not only do [the Cougars] have great running threats, but at times they have five wideouts with the capability of getting to the end zone.

“We’ve seen different aspects. They’re going to have it all in one package.”

The biggest part of the package is quarterback Ryan Leaf, who finished third in the Heisman voting. “There’s a guy who’s 6-6, 250 pounds,” Renes said with admiration. “We’re probably going to need to have two or three guys tackle him.”

Strong safety Marcus Ray agreed Michigan will face its toughest challenge yet. “They’re totally different from the teams we’ve played. No one had the kind of wide-open offense they do,” he said. “But the coaching staff has done a good job in preparing us.”

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The precise details of how Michigan intends to combat Washington State’s offense remain a mystery. The Wolverines’ practices have been closed to the media and will remain closed when they resume today after a two-day Christmas break. The only difference is they have moved their base to Pasadena and will practice at Citrus College.

“I don’t look at it like we have to do a certain amount of things on the field to beat them,” running back Clarence Williams said. “I don’t like to compare us to Washington State. This is not a comparison thing. We don’t try to match what we do. We try to focus on what we do.”

What they do won’t be much different from what they’ve done all season, players said.

“It’s going to be all effort,” said freshman cornerback James Whitley, who played in all 11 games this season. “We just have to play the same great defense and keep doing the things we’ve been doing.”