The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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"We have a lousy offense," he groused. "We're going to have to run the ball every play." Such talk represented pure Bo, Taylor noted. "A lot of that was fluff from Bo," Tay- lor offered. "He was a master psychiatrist, psychologist. He would say things like that to worry us, put it on our mind, to make us work harder. He always knew he had a team. "He just wanted us to get better and better. He figured out ways. Saying things like that, he always made us work harder." Taylor found out the hard way that Schem- bechler wasn't going to go soft on anyone, especially younger players who needed a swift kick in the ego. "Up until Ohio State my senior year, I was the worst running back that he ever coached," Taylor noted, laughing. "I heard that a thou- sand times. After my sophomore year, I'm saying, 'What's this man talking about?' "By senior year, myself and the Mellow Men [Taylor's African-American room- mates], we all knew him very well. We all knew what to expect from him. I said to him, 'You mean, I'm the BEST running back you ever coached.' He'd say, 'AHHHHH Taylor, get out of here. I'm not going to have any prima donnas on my team.' "By then, we were comfortable enough to kid with him and say something back, when he made those comments. But the first year or two, we didn't know if he was really serious or not." He might have been serious about his quar- terbacks for 1971. Motivationally minded or not, Schembechler knew he wasn't looking at Tom Brady or Joe Montana behind center. Darden, a sure-tackling, wideout-blasting defensive back, tended to agree. He knew Slade could run the option and that Kevin Casey could throw the ball a little, but the Wolverines weren't going to be slinging it all over the yard. "The biggest problem we had is that we didn't have a quarterback that could throw the ball," Darden said. "The only guy that could throw, consistently and accurately, was Kevin Casey. "Bo's offense, you've got to run the option. But you've got to be able to throw off that option. Tom Slade, God rest his soul, was a running quarterback. He was not accurate at all throwing the football. The ball would come off his hand and you wouldn't know where the ball was going." Given Michigan's defense and abil- ity to run wild on the opposition, it didn't look like that shortcom- ing would matter. "People weren't worked up that we didn't have a passer, or didn't pass," Rosiek recalled. "We just came out and ran the ball down their throats, and played great defense every week." Hot Start To The Season That's certainly what happened to begin the campaign. Michigan opened at Northwest- ern's Dyche Stadium, in front of 42,272 fans. The Wildcats weren't well respected in many minds in the pre-Pat Fitzgerald days, but this crew figured to be the toughest out prior to Ohio State. It unfolded precisely that way. Talented end Bo Rather paced the Wolverines in a 21-6 victory, scoring on an 18-yard end around and pouncing on a blocked field goal for another touchdown. Tay- lor provided the third TD on a 28-carry, 105- yard afternoon and Michigan put down a team that wound up second in the Big Ten at 6-3. After the Big Ten opener, Michigan's non- conference trio of foes looked like three blind mice. The Wolverines rolled 56-0 over Virginia at home, piling up 33 first downs and 562 yards. Fullback "Easy Ed" Shuttlesworth led the attack with 107 yards and two touchdowns, while Taylor tacked on 89 yards and a pair of scores. Virginia managed 77 yards in 48 plays, throwing more interceptions (three) than pass completions (one). The Wolverines didn't let up when UCLA rolled into town, beating back the Bruins 38-0. Fritz Seyferth, Shuttlesworth and Rather all scored first-half touchdowns, the latter on a Casey TD toss. Darden raced back late with a 92-yard interception-return touchdown, bring- ing 90,000 in Michigan Stadium to their feet. UCLA head coach Pepper Rodgers said afterward: "I've never had a team dominated the way we were today." A week later, Navy could relate. Some 68,168 in Michigan Stadium saw the Wol- verines complete the non-conference no-no with a 46-0 triumph. The Midshipmen sank with 71 yards and only three first downs, while no fewer than 14 ball carriers helped create Michigan's 428 yards of offense. Backup QB Larry Cipa tossed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Mike Oldham, and U-M nailed down its third straight shutout for the first time since 1948. "We'd been with Bo for three years, and we knew what we had," Taylor stressed. "We just knew we could not get big-headed, and go out there and play the best football we could play, and not make mistakes. "That was always key with Bo Schem- bechler — don't make mistakes. We knew we had a good team, and the coaches made sure we didn't get the big head." Michigan's defense made sure opponents didn't get anything. Darden pointed to a cou- ple of essentials — a fantastic linebacking corps, led by All-American Mike Taylor, and a fanatical adherence to drilling fundamentals. If it was worth doing, it was worth perfect- ing, in Schembechler's mind. "We had great linebackers," Darden as- sured. "In the 5-2 defense, you really had to have linebackers who would hit and tackle, put pressure on the quarterback. "You also had to have guys in the sec- ondary who would tackle. Back then, most teams ran the ball. They only passed the ball when they had to. Our secondary really drilled on getting a head in front, wrapping our arms and bringing a ball carrier down. "We did that in practice every day. We hit each other. If you practice it over and over again, you're going to become accomplished in it." You're also going to give opponents head- Tackle Jim Brandstatter was part of an offensive line that paved the way for a dominant U-M rush- ing attack that averaged 332.0 rushing yards per game in 1971. PHOTO COURTESY BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY 26 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW