The 1994 Hall of Fame Bowl opened the New Year’s Day bowl festivities with an 11 a.m. kickoff in
unusually wet conditions for the Tampa, Fla., site. By the time the rain subsided and the other New Year’s Day bowl games were set to begin, Michigan was well on its way to a 42-7 trouncing of North Carolina State. Tyrone Wheatley, in his third consecutive tremendous
bowl outing, was named the game’s MVP after compiling 124 rushing yards on 18 carries, including
touchdown runs of 26 and 18 yards.
Michigan opened the scoring early in the second quarter—the first points in what would become
consecutive 21-point quarters. Wheatley took a pitch from Todd Collins on a sweep to the right and blazed down the sidelines for a 21-yard score. On their subsequent possession, the Wolfpack were forced to punt, and Derrick Alexander made N.C. State pay. He
fielded the punt at Michigan’s 21-yard line and burst up the middle of the field unchallenged for a 79-yard
touchdown—the longest punt return in Hall of Fame Bowl history.
The Wolverines put away the game late in the half. Closing a 13-play, 85-yard drive, Collins, on fourth-and-10 from the Wolfpack 31, found Amani Toomer in the right corner of the endzone for a score. The conversion gave the Wolverines a 21-0 lead.
The scoring continued for Michigan in the third quarter, as it strung together two more touchdowns—
on Clarence Thompson’s 43-yard interception return and Wheatley’s 18-yard scoring run—before N.C. State finally broke the shutout with a touchdown of its
own. Wheatley’s score—his sixth bowl touchdown over the past three seasons—was the 35th rushing TD of his career, breaking Rick Leach’s school record for career rushing TDs. It was also Wheatley’s 40th
career touchdown, tying him with Anthony Carter for the most career TDs by a Wolverine. Ricky Powers
closed the game’s scoring with a 16-yard TD run with 3:13 left in the third.
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SCORING
Second Quarter
M Wheatley, 26-yard run (Elezovic kick)
M Alexander, 79-yard punt return (Elezovic kick)
M Toomer, 31-yard pass from T.Collins (Elezovic kick) 21-0
Third Quarter
M Thompson, 43-yard interception return (Elezovic kick), 28-0
M Wheatley, 18-yard run (Elezovic kick)
NCS Fitzgerald, 12-yard pass from Bender (Videtich kick),35-7
M Powers, 16-yard run (Elezovic kick)
Team Stats UM NCS
First Downs 21 18
Net Yards Rushing 265 117
Net Yards Passing 201 195
Total Plays 67 74
Total Yards 466 312
PA/PC/Int 23/12/0 38/19/4
Punts/Avg 6/47.0 6/42.0
Return Yards 155 5
Fumbles/Lost 1/0 4/2
Penalties/Yards 5/35 3/15
Time of Possession 27:29 32:31
Rushing — (M): Wheatley 18-124; E. Davis 7-36; R. Powers 4-33;
Buff 3-26; Biakabutuka 5-22; Foster 2-10; Ritchie 3-9; Collins 1-4;
J. Carr 1-1
(NCS) Downs 13-102; George 3-21; Brown 7-11; Harvey 10-0;
Fitzgerald 1-0; Goines 1-(-5); Bender 1-(-12)
Passing — (M): T. Collins 11-22-189; J. Carr 1-1-12
(NCS): Harvey 13-27-108; Bender 6-10-87; Goines 0-1-0
Receiving — (M): D. Jones 2-65; W. Smith 3-48; Toomer 2-44;
Hayes 2-27; Richards 1-12; E. Davis 2-5
(NCS): Goines 7-72; Downs 4-34; Schultz 2-31; Hinton 2-25;
George 2-16; Futzgerald 1-12; Brown 1-5
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