Gary Moeller’s Wolverines gained a share of the Big Ten title in his first season, as U-M met Mississippi in the Gator Bowl. After both teams exchanged early turnovers, Michigan opened the scoring when Elvis Grbac threw deep down the right side of the field to Desmond Howard, for a career-long
63-yard touchdown reception. J.D. Carlson’s extra point gave Michigan a 7-0 lead with 1:04 left in the first quarter.
Mississippi scored its only points of the game in the second quarter when Brian Lee kicked a career-long and Gator Bowl record 51-yard field goal to trim the margin to 7-3.
Following a 32-yard Howard return of the ensuing kickoff, Jon
Vaughn sprinted around left end for a gain of 37 yards and a first down at the Rebel 31. Five plays later, Grbac threw seven yards to Jarrod Bunch for a 14-3 halftime lead. Grbac’s touchdown pass, his 19th of the season, broke Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan single season record for touchdown
passes thrown (18 in 1985).
Early in the third quarter, Grbac threw a screen pass to Howard who eluded the Mississippi defense enroute to a 50-yard touchdown reception and a 21-3 Michigan lead with
10:53 left in the third quarter.
Later in the quarter, Ole Miss quarterback Tom Luke was intercepted by Todd Plate at the Michigan 37. After a three-yard Ricky Powers run and an 11-yard Grbac-to-Howard
completion, the Wolverines had a first down on the Ole Miss 49-yard line. On the next play, Powers blasted up the middle for a gain of 44 yards and a first down at the Rebel five. Bunch pounded into the end zone on the next play, giving
Michigan a comfortable 28-3 lead.
As the third stanza was nearing completion, Grbac connected with Derrick Alexander over the middle for a 33-yard touchdown—Grbac’s fourth of the game, and a Michigan single bowl record. That closed the scoring, giving Michigan a resounding 35-3 win. Offensive linemen Dean Dingman, Tom Dohring, Greg Skrepenak, Matt Elliott and Steve Everitt were named the game’s Most Valuable Players for leading the offense to a Michigan single game record 715 total yards.
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SCORING
First Quarter
M Howard, 63-yard pass from Grbac (Carlson kick)
Second Quarter
MS Lee, 51-yard field goal
M Bunch, 7-yard pass from Grbac (Carlson kick)
Third Quarter
M Howard, 50-yard pass from Grbac (Carlson kick)
M Bunch, 5-yard run (Carlson kick)
M Alexander, 33-yard pass from Grbac (Carlson kick)
Team Stats UM MS
First Downs 35 20
Net Yards Rushing 391 93
Net Yards Passing 324 215
Total Plays 85 67
Total Yards 715 308
PA/PC/Int 32/20/2 31/17/4
Punts-Avg 2-24.5 5-38.0
Return Yards 65 192
Fumbles/Lost 2/1 4/2
Penalties/Yards 6/69 4/49
Rushing — (M): Vaughn, 15-128; Powers, 14-112;
Bunch,11-54; Legette, 5-54; Howard, 1-19;
Washington, 3-15; Watson, 1-5; Jefferson, 3-4
(MS): Baldwin, 8-53; Thigpen, 6-32; Billing, 2-6;
Courtney, 1-6; Luke, 14-5; Shows, 5-(-9)
Passing — (M): Grbac, 16-25-296; Sollom, 4-7-28
(MS): Shows, 12-20-150; Luke, 5-11-65
Receiving — (M): Howard, 6-167; Alexander, 2-50;
VanDyne, 3-32; Bunch, 2-22; Burch, 1-12;
Vaughn, 1-10; Owen, 1-9; Powers, 1-8;
Johnson, 2-7; Diebolt, 1-7
(MS): Roberts, 4-67; Brownlee, 4-58; Owens, 3-42;
Small, 1-25; Baldwin, 2-15; Holder, 1-11;
Thigpen, 1-6; Courtney, 1-3
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