1977 Rose Bowl Game on Youtube - No 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 USC
The 1977 Rose Bowl game has been posted to Youtube today.
USC 10-1 vs. Michigan 10-1.
Michigan's only loss was 14-16 at Purdue.
USC's only loss was 25-46 to Missouri
Great game with tons of great stars on both sides.
USC tailback Ricky Bell (42), quarterback Vince Evans (8), FB Mosi Tatupu (36), Charles White (12) and DB Dennis Thurman (7). Bell got knocked out of the game at 7 minute mark by DB Jimmy Bolden (22). Jack Harbaugh coached the UM secondary in 1976.
Michigan fullback/tailback Rob Lytle (41), tailback Harlan Huckleby (25), wingback Jim Smith (37), quarterback Rick Leach (7) and All American OG Mark Donahue (60), OT Bill Dufek (73) OT Mike Kenn (78) and C Walt Downing (72) and more.
Michigan ran the option I offense, and I believe featured the top scoring and rushing offense in the nation that year, a feat Michigan football has not repeated since.
Curt Gowdy did a great job, per usual, but I'm pretty sure color analyst and former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Don Meredith was stoned and drunk during this NBC broadcast. That's the 70s for you.
Some eerie foreshadowing: Charles White fumbles the ball at the 1 hour 12 minute mark. It's recovered by Michigan at the 7 yard line by DL Mo Morton (77). White had an otherwise impressive game. Two great defenses.
It was hard-hitting defensive games like these that probably impressed John Robinson the most about Bo and his teams.
Bless you. I've been wanting to see this again (don't ask me why). One of the great Michigan teams of all time.
I was there with the Marching Band - it was a great trip and a great game with a sad outcome. The next Rose Bowl against Washington was equally frustrating.
Back in those days, my old man used to love to give his teenage son shit for Bo's stubborn adherence to the "three yards and a cloud of dust" offense. All it would take was "When is that coach of yours gonna learn that there's this thing called the forward pass?", and I'd leave the room. (Better that than admit he was right.)
With Harbaugh, we will be back in the Rose Bowl hunt, if not the NC.
Considering the Rose Bowl is pretty much meaningless at this point unless it's part of the playoffs, I'd be shooting for the playoffs.
Ummm, the Rose Bowl will always have meaning for BIG schools.
Why? This isn't the 70s. If you're not playing in the playoffs what is the point? It's just another Bowl Game.
You're right man, the Rose Bowl is exactly like the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
Because there wasn't a lot of research or information about concussions back then.
This 1977 article in SI sort of blew things open the next year.
http://www.si.com/vault/1978/08/14/822885/an-unfolding-tragedy-as-footb…
Pretty effed up that it took decades before rules changes were made to address concussion issues (miss plays when helmet comes off, extra med attention in cases of helmet trauma, game ejection for helmet first/spearing tackling).
Interesting point about high schools and liability issues, as well as the lack of ambulances to attend weekend football games. I've not attended a high school football without an ambulance being present.
Wow, that 1978 article reads like it could have been written today. While I was reading, I kept looking to see if I was still in the '78 article or if I was back to modern commentary.
but didn't believe they could do anything substantial to address it.
Bear in mind like 90% of college football at that time was trying to gain yards running the veer or wishbone, so their 5'11", 180 lbs quarterbacks and tailbacks were getting annihilated on the option by 6'5"240 - 260 lbs defensive ends lineman (big for that time) and hard hitting safeties like Dennis Thurman, Dwight Hicks and Ronnie Lott. Tons of fun. The remark that No. 1 ranked Texas was operating the wishbone in 1977 with like their 4th or 5th string QB Randy McEachern comes to mind. It's a nothing short of a freaking miracle that Rick Leach even managed to start 48 games in a Michigan uniform.
1. California governor Jerry Brown - just like today
2. Coach Joe Paterno, "who is widely respected for his honorable approach to the game." - that is not just like today.
Good article, M-Dog is right in that much of it could be written today.
I find it interesting that the unadjusted dollar price of a top-of-the-line helmet is not that different. Described as "costing up to $100." The high-end ones these days cost $150-$250. Not that big of a shift in 36+ years.
in the 1976 Orange Bowl loss to Oklahoma according to reporter Bill Dwyre:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OSohAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jn4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3693%2C869483
UM team physician at the time, Dr. Gerald O'Connor said this to the press:
I want to believe him . . . but given all we know now, I'm not sure I do.
sharpened pencils into my eyes then breaking them off while they're still in the sockets.
Just one of a seemingly endless string of heartbreakingly close bowl game losses under Bo. It's too bad for him that the very worst conference matchups he could have gotten were with the PAC10, esp. USC. If Bo's teams had been playing the Big 8 or SEC or SWC champs in the Orange or Cotton or Sugar Bowls on New Year's Day instead of the Rose Bowl, he'd have had a fistful of bowl game victories and very possibly a NC by 1980.
Great team from my freshman year at Michigan, but I'd rather not watch that heartbreaker again. Instead, I'll remember being in Columbus watching Michigan win 22-0 that season. Much happier memory. Put that sucker on YouTube!
I swear to god, if Bo had been willing to throw tha ball on third and short only about a half-dozen key times in his career, he would have won several more Rose Bowls and a National Championship.
That would have helped too.
Why the ref's did not go to the monitor...
nevermind.
For everybody who thinks our "maize" used to be a golden-mustardy yellow, watch the video and compare the color to USC's yellow.
Our maize has always been a bright yellow, very much like today.
but this 1977 Rose Bowl game might be the first football game where the Michigan football players had their surnames printed on the back of the jersey.
Source: http://mvictors.com/uniform-timeline/
The 76-77 season. The year Michigan football stold my heart. Also the first of three straight years of Rose Bowl losses. As soon as the game concluded my mom would yell, "Your Christmas vacation is over, school starts tomorrow so get to bed!" It seems it happened exactly this way each of those three years. Talk about a double dong punch to a 10 year old.
heartbreaker
In the parking lot after the game a USC fan handed me a "Muck Fishigan" pin. I don't know why, but I still have it.
because you want to continue to be reminded that the next gracious humble USC fan you meet will be the first.
Just like the USC fan that told me to go back to Ann Arbor, ese. Class.