Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 41

Sunday, lan. 3, 1383" SOOT SJHKMJF NBANHL SCOREBOARD OUTDOORS Call with (ports imwk 222-6660 Who said that? Remembering who mouthed the unforgettable words of '87 could earn you two Pistons tickets in a Sunday Soundoff contest. A hint: One of them is at left. Also Inside Sports can be a shield from racial barbs. Terry Foster's column.

The Tigers ought to shape up in '88. Mike Betzold's Tiger Town. CUU's Johnson scores 45 Central Michigan, despite 45 points from Tommie Johnson, lost to Ohio State on a last-second shot. 7E. Sports Phone (scores): 1-976-1313 Complete report, Page 10E.

DETROIT FREE PRESS r-l I II ill i L- 24 28 for Bo TM one 9 Charlie Vincent U-A- I f. v. -0 I If i 4 is -11 I. iT 'jmiix xv.7ah i U-M beats 'Bama in Fame Bawl By TERRY FOSTER Fre Press Sports Writer TAMPA, Fla. They played with Bo in their back pockets.

They played with Bo on their shoulder pads and wristbands, and in the back of their minds. More importantly, though, they played with Bo Schembechler in their hearts. That was how a hard-luck group of football players from the University of Michigan (8-4) won for their coach, who is recovering from heart surgery. Schembechler watched on television at his Ann Arbor home as his team came from behind to defeat Alabama, 28-24, in Saturday's Hall of Fame Bowl before 60,156 at Tampa Stadium. And afterward, a giddy group of Wolverines sang the U-M fight song for their coach over an open phone line.

It was U-M's fourth bowl victory in 15 appearances since Schembechler became coach for the 1969 season. The Wolverines have won two of their last three.bowl games. "I knew I had to catch that pass for Bo," said wide receiver John Kolesar, who snagged a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Demetrius Brown with 47 seconds left in the game and Michigan trailing, 24-21. "It was ust like a rebound in basketball I knew I had to go up and go for it." "This one was for Bo, not Mo," said interim head coach Gary Moeller, who called the gutsy pass play on fourth-and-three. "I knew Bo would want me to give these kids an opportunity to win instead of going for a tie.

I wanted to win this one for Bo." "We had Bo in our back pockets and went from there," said tailback Jamie Morris, who set four individual Hall of Fame bowl records. Many of the players had Schembechler's name written on their shoulder pads and wristbands. See HALL OF FAME, Page 8E Victors hail Bo; Morris cornered. Page 8E. U-M, 'Bama was football at its heart-thumping best TAMPA, Fla.

There were those numbers on the scoreboard anchored above the crowd at Tampa Stadium. Numbers that said the final outcome of the seasons of two storied football schools would be answered in the next 57 seconds. Numbers that said Alabama led Michigan, 24- 21. Numbers that said the Wolverines were facing a last chance: Fourth down, three to go, at Alabama's 20. Numbers that caused a knot in your throat and another in your stomach if you have any feelings at all.

Numbers that made you wonder what Bo Schembechler was thinking back in Ann Arbor. Numbers that made you wonder if his doctors were monitoring his blood pressure. Football is many things to many people. It can teach values or it can corrupt; it can build men or it can create monsters; it can be a joy in the heart or a pain a lot lower. Saturday afternoon was football at its grandest, most glorious, All-American best.

It was, at once, about trying and succeeding, about trying and failing, and about just plain trying. A tie? Who needs that? With 57 seconds left, Gary Moeller Schembechler's surrogate called time out and gathered his team around him. He looked into Jamie Morris eyes. He put his arm around John Kolesar. He asked his team, Bo Schembechler's team, "Do you want to tie this game or do you want to win it?" The roar of 60.Q0Q voices rolled down upon them, but he heard-fle' answer.

"We said we 'warned to win it," said Morris, who ran for 234jyald and three touchdowns. On the other side of the field, a thin young man in crimson, the white No. 3 on the front of his uniform, stood in silence, alone, holding his unused helmet at his side and feeling goose bumps rise on his skin. T.J. Weist, from Bay City, All-Saints, is a senior at Alabama, a 6-foot-3, 168-pound walk-on who never got to play a down.

Ever. But for four seasons he went to practice every day and a few times they let him suit up for games. Let's see, he started counting them. There was the Sun Bowl in 1986, a couple of homecoming games, Notre Dame late this season, and this game. "I want to be around football, maybe be a coach, all my life," he said, explaining the devotion that drove him to stay with a program that promised no rewards.

"The end of this game was unbelievable. When we scored late in the game, it was like the Alabama of Qld." He never got the chance On Jan. 1, 1954, there was an Alabama player Tommy Lewis who, while on the sidelines, became so full of Alabama that he ran onto the field and tackled Rice halfback Dickie Moegle, who was on his way to a Cotton Bowl touchdown. You get the feeling T.J. Weist is that filled with Alabama, too.

But even if the temptation was inside him, he never got the opportunity to do what Lewis did three decades ago. The Wolverines were ready to strike. But they were to strike far from the Alabama bench. They were to strike so far in the deepest reaches of the end zone that Kolesar admitted later he had a concern about staying on the field of play. He didn't have to worry.

The ball was snapped and in the stands, people rose, up to their tiptoes, peering and craning, trying to see what was going on below them, as Kolesar raced through a sea of crimson jerseys, his back to Demetrius Brown, until he felt it was time to turn. And as he twisted his body, there it was, flying at him through a swirl of arms the tantalizingly twisting oblong that had just left Brown's hand. Sweetly it smacked into his hands and he tumbled to the green, green earth with the ball and the victory in his grasp. "Demetrius threw it like a basketball," Kolesar said later. "I just had to catch it.

Somehow." It was his only catch of a day that had started so glumly for the Wolverines. Alabama didn't let them have the ball for the longest time. In the game's first 14 minutes and 23 seconds, the Tide ran 32 plays and Michigan six. But all Alabama had to show for all that was a 51-yard field goal by Philip Doyle and a 3-0 lead. Then Jamie Morris who dedicated this bowl game to Schembechler, who guided him through the University of Michigan these past four years came to the rescue with runs that shredded Alabama's defense.

In the end, though, it took that pass from STEVEN R. NICKERSONDelroit Free Press Michigan's Jamie Morris celebrates one of his three touchdowns against Alabama Saturday Spartans' Perles gets time to rest Vt) iC.X fcfc-t Detroit Free Press File By JACK SAYLOR Free Press Sports Writer NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. That was some Rose Bowl celebration coach George Perles had after his Spartans' 20-17 victory over Southern Cal. But Perles' hangover consisted of fatigue, and it came 24 hours later than most who celebrated the new year. When the team bus returned to MSU headquarters at the Newporter Resort Friday night, the partying began for most.

Players scurried to their rooms and par-tied into the night. So did an army of alumni and fans who squeezed the Pasadena parade and bowl game into an 18-hour day. In the victory afterglow, Perles' administrative aide Ed Rutherford trooped through the crowded lobby area in a USC baseball cap. Rutherford is no Frank Sinatra, but his singing told the whole story. To the tune of the Southern Cal fight song, he chortled: "Fight on, for old SC; for old SC, they lost by three." See ROSE BOWL, Page 9E Hot Nuggets melt Pistons 151-142 By CLIFTON BROWN Free Press Sports Writer The Denver Nuggets put on an offensive clinic Saturday night that left the Pistons shaking their heads.

Scoring 80 points in the first half, and 71 in the second, the Nuggets wiped out Detroit, 151-142, at the Silverdome. It was the most points Detroit has surrendered this season. It was also Detroit's second straight home loss, the first time that has happened since Feb. 27 and Mar. 4 last season.

"Very discouraging," said Pistons coach Chuck Daly. "You can't give up that many points and expect to win. We gave up too many easy baskets mental mistakes as much as physical. But give Denver credit. They haven't won 18 games up to this point for nothing." Indeed, Denver is the NBA's highest-scoring team and has seven players averaging in double figures.

But Saturday night was an awesome performance even for the Nuggets. They shot 59.6 percent from the field getting 34 points by Alex English, 30 points by former Michigan State star Jay Vincent, and an unexpected 23 points from reserve center Blair Rasmussen. The Pistons countered with an All-Star performance from Isiah Thomas a season-high 40 points and 17 assists. But it wasn't enough. The Nuggets' motion offense had the Pistons gasping for air and looking for answers.

None was forthcoming. Denver buried Detroit with an avalanche of jump shots, lay-ups, and driving baskets that shocked the crowd of 23,746 and sent it home disappointed. Denver had the Silverdome scoreboard flipping like a Christmas Eve cash register. During some See PISTONS, Page 4E Bobby Hebert (left) and Anthony Carter, here as champion Michigan Panthers, today are on opposing teams in the NFC wild-card game. Saints' Hebert won't be cut off from his past NFL playoffs The playoffs start with today's wild-card games; NFC Minnesota (8-7) at New Orleans (12-3), 12:30, CBS (Channel 2 in Detroit).

AFC Seattle (9-6) at Houston (9-6). 4:00, NBC (Channel 4 In Detroit). Details, Pafle 6E. By CURT SYLVESTER Free Press Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS If this is the playoff season, it should be no surprise to find Bobby Hebert, Anthony Carter and Jim Mora on the same football field again. In 1983, Hebert and Carter provided the big offensive punch in the Michigan Panthers' victory over Mora's Philadelphia Stars in the first USFL championship game.

In 1 985, Mora's Stars held off Hebert, Carter and the Oakland Invaders in winning the USFL title. A lot has changed since that final USFL game, but Hebert, Carter and Mora will hold a reunion of sorts when the New Orleans Saints meet the Minnesota Vikings at 12:30 p.m. today in the Superdome in the NFC wild-card playoff game. See NFL PLAYOFFS, Page6E Who's No. Miami, without a doubt, will be national champion on the basis of its 20-14 victory over No.

1 0klahoma in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Eve. But it won't be official until the final rankings are announced later today. Page 9E. Tennessee beat Indiana, 27-22, in the Peach Bowl. Page 9E.

The Spartans make their triumphant re-turn to East Lansing. Page 1A. a 1 Brown to Kolesar to change tnose ominous numbers on the scoreboard and bring Michigan's sea son to such a sveet end..