the ball with his arm," Moeller noted, instead of using his whole body and sometimes reverted to that habit. Despite the pain, Taylor vowed to give it his best effort against Notre Dame, saying, "I was raised to play football only one way, and that's giving 110 percent." Michigan and Notre Dame entered the season opener as the No.1 and No. 2 ranked teams in college football. Taylor started the game against Notre Dame and completed 5 of 6 passes, including a touchdown, but he left the game after injuring his back. Taylor was replaced with freshman Elvis Grbac in the Notre Dame game. After the loss of Taylor, Schembechler questioned his decision to let the injured Taylor play: "I suppose if I had to do it all over again, I probably should have started Elvis and let the chips fall where they may. To be honest with you, Taylor didn't throw a pass all week. He's got a bad arm right now. But he's a great competitor. He wanted to go. He felt he'd be able to throw the ball all right." Schembechler added, "Michael Taylor is a fifth-year quarterback. He's the leader of our team. Hell's afire, we send him out there with a bad arm. If Michael's healthy, you'll see a difference." Taylor was unable to play in the following four games against UCLA, Maryland, Wisconsin and Michigan State. Grbac performed well as Taylor's replacement, leading to speculation that he might retain the starting job even after Taylor recovered. Coach Schembechler denied there was any controversy, and Taylor returned to the line-up in the fifth game against Iowa. Taylor was impressive in his return, completing 11 of 15 pass attempts, including 2 touchdown passes, and also scored a rushing touchdown as the Wolverines beat the Hawkeyes 26–12. After the game, Taylor said, "I think I did all right. I took what the defense gave me." The following week, Taylor again performed well, completing 11 of 18 pass attempts against Indiana and threw touchdown passes of 18 yards to Greg McMurtry and 43 yards to Derrick Alexander. As Michigan continued to win under Taylor, Schembechler noted, "We've been more productive on offense since Michael came back, because he's so dangerous on the option play. I don't have any problem with Grbac at quarterback, but we're a better team when Taylor's in there. He's a fifth-year senior who makes