Games you've been to with bad weather?
Was watching the 1995 Michigan-Purdue 5-0 debacle that was played in a blizzard today and I thought it would be interesting to see what bad weather games MGoBloggers have been to.
The worst I've been at was 2006 vs NW. Michigan should have destroyed northwestern who was having an awful season. The weather really screwed with the passing game.
It was snowing. There was freezing rain. There were gusts of wind at my back. I had a winter coat and rain poncho on and that still didn't help much. Late in the 4th the sun came out much to the delight of the 50K still in the stands.
The game wasn't as close as the score indicated. The defense just stomped northwestern into the ground. I think they forced something like three straight fumbles on northwestern's first 3 drives.
Lloyd Carr was vocal about not being pleased with the student section being pretty much empty.
Would love to hear some accounts from the 1995 PU game or 96 Boston College game which was played in a monsoon in early September.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:42 PM ^
2008 in South Bend and all I remember is that it downpoured the entire 3rd qtr and my buddy and I sat there the entire time to watch Grady fumble inside the 5 with a chance to take the lead.
I don't remember drying for at least 5 or 6 hours after that game was over.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:40 PM ^
ND student section. Not good times.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:44 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 10:23 AM ^
My two memories are:
- At the last minute before leaving home that morning, bringing a ziploc baggie, which saved my phone when we got completely soaked in the second half.
- Being incredibly frustrated that the monsoon hit once our offense started clicking. I still think that if it hadn't started raining, we would have won that game. ND never had anything going on offense other than the one bomb to Tate, and they couldn't stop us when we held onto the ball - it just became impossible to do so in the second half.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:44 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 9:43 PM ^
As a 17 year old townie, I sat though the first half of that Purdue game, spent the second half with my fake ID at Skeeps.
August 26th, 2013 at 10:14 PM ^
I was 9 and sat through the entire game. To this day I know I can get through any bad weather game, based on that one.
August 26th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
August 28th, 2013 at 12:48 AM ^
August 28th, 2013 at 12:50 AM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 6:46 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 9:46 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 10:20 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 3:43 PM ^
I was at this game too. It was just viciously hot. People were collapsing in the stands. The lines were so long for water that they let us dip our hats into huge buckets of ice and water just to help cool off. It was hard to get back to my seat after halftime because people didn't want to leave the tunnels and go back into the sun. Then we lost. However, the fans at UCLA were terrific and accommodating. Very classy.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:47 PM ^
2008 NW, Rich Rod's first year. It snowed and rained and snowed and rained. I stayed for the whole damn thing. It was the worst in person sports experience I've ever had.
There was considerable shrinkage that day, my friends.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:16 PM ^
and I go way back with Michigan football. My wife and I hung around to the bitter end of this debacle for whatever reason I'll never know. 95% of our entire part of the stadium was empty by the end of the game. The guy next to us, who is even more of a fanatic than me was still there too. I think it was kind of a macho thing: "If he's not leaving, neither am I!" By the time I left, I think I had borderline hypothermia. We got back to the car and discovered we were low on gas and had to stop at a station on the way home. Not good. I was shivering while pumping the gas and was worried the nozzle would fall out of my frozen hand. When we got home, we changed clothes, put warm blankets around ourselves, and started pouring the whiskey. At least that numbed the effect of a horrible football game.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:18 PM ^
And for the '06 NW game, which was something Biblical (seriously, I don't know WTF was coming out of the sky that day). I remember quite a few shit weather games in November, but nothing tops those two.
August 27th, 2013 at 8:39 AM ^
The sun came out and got booed after we suffered through torrential rains, sleet and hail.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:55 PM ^
The only "good" part of it was we got to move down to row 5 at halftime on the 50, home side. I love it when the players can actually hear the things I yell.
August 26th, 2013 at 8:33 PM ^
but I did sit through what felt like eighteen inches of snow for Pitt v. Cincinnati 2010, one row up from the Cincinnati bench. It was two days after my 21st and they sell beer in Nippert, so that mitigated the weather and had me loud through the whole thing. Also Dion Lewis rushed for 261 yards and 4TD's after a heartbreaking loss the year before, although Kelly still on the sidelines would have made things much sweeter. That was Dave Wannstedt's last game.
Also the Bearcat got arrested that game. Eventful day.
August 26th, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^
You guys should stop recording, it's not that funny.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:44 AM ^
Seriously some people suck...How is that not funny? Girls.
August 26th, 2013 at 9:21 PM ^
It was my freshman year and it was probably the worst I have ever felt about football or life or ever having toes again. Having grown up doing outdoorsy type things in northern michigan every fall, I thought I would be ready. I used layers (including a poncho and cold gear) and it worked for a while. Then halftime and the sleet came, I am not sure if I have ever been colder or miserable in my life. And the game was awful. We all knew the lose was coming and slowly it did.
However, I am glad I stayed until the bitter cold end because it really can never get worse
August 26th, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^
I wasn't an MGoBlog reader then, but when I came across Brian's write-up, it was just pitch perfect: http://mgoblog.com/content/perverse-joy-abject-stupidity
After the game I had to drive through the snow for 5 hours back to Toronto. That was awful, too.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:47 PM ^
2008 - It was either Northwestern or Toledo, I can't remember. It was cold and rained the entire time. The weather plus the crushing ineffectiveness of the offense made for my absolute worst experience inside of Michigan Stadium, and that includes App State in 2007.
August 26th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 6:49 PM ^
November 16, 1968 - RoJo with 347 yards vs. Wisconsin. Fans vs. rain, sleet, snow, and a driving wind. I've never been that cold since - I'm not as skinny and the clothing is much better.
August 26th, 2013 at 10:53 PM ^
There are only three games that really stand out, weather-wise in my lifetime.
- 1968 vs.Wisconsin. As mentioned, the famed 347-yard rushing performance by Ron Johnson who didn't even play late in the game. I was there; it was the worst dicomfort I have ever experienced in Michigan Stadium. Maybe it was because I was so young, or maybe wasn't properly dressed for it. But it was really bad. Rain, sleet, snow, sleet, more rain. Everybody I've ever known who was at that '68 game thinks it was the worst they've ever seen.
- The 1995 Purdue 5-0 game. I missed that game. If it was worse than '68, in the view of somebody who was there for both, then I'd concede the issue. I'm sure that it was terrible.
- 2011 vs. Westrern. The lightning game. I think the fact that it was the unprecedented called-off game says it all. I was angry with the way the whole thing was handled at the time. But driving home after the game there was ferocious lighting all around us in every direction. What else could have been done? It was a freak lightning storm. I hope I never see another one like it ever again on a football Saturday. At least we got in a round of golf in the morning before the game.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:49 PM ^
All the games I've been to have been fantastic weather, and I missed last year's Illinois game because I was in Boston. Probably the "worst" I've been to was the first game of my freshman year, 2011 vs Western which got called in the third quarter. And hell, we were cheering when it started pouring because it was so damn hot. So, it wasn't even that bad.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:19 PM ^
2011 Western wasn't even that bad, just rain and thunder.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:49 PM ^
2008 northwestern. in 3 years when michigan is elite and people on message boards tell me that i'm a bandwagon fan, i will point to 3-9.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^
2007 Ohio State - wasn't super cold (40s) but it was rainy and the team had like 90 yards of total offense. Most miserable damn game I've ever been to.
August 26th, 2013 at 10:13 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 11:01 PM ^
2007 Oregon was pretty bad, as far as a miserable game experience goes. The weather was great though.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^
1996 vs. BC. Rain was so hard it was tough to see where the steps leading out of the stadium were.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:01 PM ^
As I recall, the worst part about this rain was that there was barely any wind to go with it, so it was muggy, stagnant and most of the second half was spent with this piercing, painful rain falling almost straight down. This would rank right up there for me.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:38 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 7:39 PM ^
I went to that game with a friend. I wasn't prepared for weather, and was wearing glasses--by the third quarter I basically couldn't see. There was absolutely nothing dry to clean my glasses with, and every inch of my body was soaked. Easily the wettest I have ever been without actually swimming.
If I recall correctly the worst of the rain actually came around halftime; I remember that some of the worst stuff missed the players. The clouds were so dark that the one light that ABC had set up in the southwest corner was inadequate to illuminate the field.
It was a weird time period. That was the same month of the "HuronCane," a tropical cyclone-like weather depression centered over Lake Huron.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:54 PM ^
one of the most awesomely unusual weather events ever. It occurred the weekend before the BC/U-M rain game.
August 26th, 2013 at 9:50 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
Junior in HS at the time. Soaking wet, and just happy to be there! I actually thought what I was wearing was waterproof...lol
August 26th, 2013 at 11:19 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 6:51 PM ^
I was at this game: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=262520130
First rain delay in Michigan Stadium history. Carson Butler leads Michigan in receiving. Mister Simpson and Jason Forcier both get PT.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:00 PM ^
Brian Kelly was Central Michigan's coach that day. How the times change.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:52 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 6:54 PM ^
2011 Western Michigan game, first game of the Brady Hoke era, game got cancelled at the end of the third.
August 26th, 2013 at 7:43 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 6:55 PM ^
I'm tempted to say the 1950 Snow Bowl v. Ohio, but that would be a blatant lie (although my father attended - four years before my birth).
Does it count if I watched it online?
Thought not.
August 26th, 2013 at 6:57 PM ^
I was at the 5-0 Purdue game and it was worse than the TV gives it credit for.
Was also at the BC game, that was ok since it was warm, much like the Western game a couple years ago.
There was a Northwestern game that was really shitty in the RR era. Actually walked over to Crisler to warm up since it was open and was showing the game on the screen. Just cold, sleet, and very ugly.
I forgot what year it was but Michigan was cursed by rain one year where there were a few games played in a downpour. There was a turnover fest in Iowa, mudbowl @ NW and another game or two.
Those are the ones I remember.