Full Album Link:

Michigan Football at Nebraska 2023 (Patrick Barron)

Sorry for posting this so late, half my day has been spent driving through Nebraska (and eastern Colorado which is basically just an extension of Nebraska). The other half has been editing photos, so enjoy!

There's something about Michigan vs Nebraska football games that results in some of my favorite photos. Last year's game was the most un-memorable game of the season, but I wrote about Hans Moleman Productions Presents: Man Getting Hit By Football [Helmet].

2021 featured an amazing hurdle and that moment where Daxton Hill did the cool thing, oh wait oh god does that flag give them a first down- oh, no it was after the play, ok (resulting in a Cool Photo).

This year I met my quota five minutes and forty seconds into the game.

First, understand that there is an amount of luck that goes into touchdown photos. I don't know where they're going to run The Touchdown Play, so I'll generally try to pick a corner. If I guess right, it's a home run shot. If I get it wrong, I can usually get an "eh ok" shot. 

Well, as they say, sometimes when you're on...

When you hold down the shutter, the view-finder blinks each time it takes a picture. My camera shoots 20 frames per second so I'm barely seeing what's happening when shooting in machine gun mode, but I have a vague idea of what happened. I didn't look at my photos until they made a touchdown call.

When I finally reviewed my photos I simply made an audible "WHAT." My next thought was "what a beautiful photo that probably won't matter because he probably didn't complete the catch on the way down." But nope, they kicked the extra point and the Nebraska fan who was directly behind me simply said "Michigan, you're the worst." 

I was flattered by the number of people who messaged me in some form asking "DID YOU GET THAT?" I got you, fam. I tweeted a photo from the back of my camera with an honest expletive. 

Later, JJ would scramble for a touchdown run and eat some corn on the cob. 
 

It was such a perfect day for shooting in the first half. Wonderful lighting, a breeze that blew the heat waves away*, and Michigan football was operating like a well-oiled machine. We're always worried about one of those games where everything seems to go wrong (every team has at least one per season). But as I texted my dad, "Oh, this is one of THOSE those games" where everything just seems to go right. I wasn't even thinking about how hot it was, it looked like Michigan wasn't either.

*When the air is hot and still, the heat will cause the air to move enough to ruin photos at long distance. A nice breeze blows these away even if it's a hot day.
 

It's hot out? Not a problem. Windy? Whatever. Away crowd environment? It was rather quiet by the 2nd quarter.
 

This game was just fun. It was fun to shoot, fun to watch, and for the first time this season I even nodded and thought "yeah if they play like this they could win a national championship." Excuse me while I try not to have a panic attack at the thought.
 

The non-conference wasn't exactly the most exciting thing, but this game got me excited for the next few weeks. See you all in Minneapolis.
 

About the Photographer

If you'd like to support us, one of the simplest things you can do is follow us on social media (links just below) where we post way more photos than here. In the offseason I also do a LOT of wildlife/national park photography. While we're not allowed to sell any of our sports photos per our credential agreement (sorry to anyone who reached out asking about one), I sell prints from my adventures which I sell on FineArtAmerica. You can buy prints (or just look at some pretty pictures) here: Patrick Barron Art Collections Or if you'd like, you can simply support me by buying me a coffee!

Social Media Accounts:

Patrick Barron:
Twitter: @BlueBarronPhoto
Instagram: @BlueBarronPhoto
Instagram (BUT WITH BEARS): @BlueBarronPhoto_Wild 

[Sad but friendly Nebraska fans after THE JUMP]

 

Next week: JUGS.