About as inspiring as any writing could be at this moment..

please turn your TV off Ace. This might summon the Gods of 2004 to EL, and we all shall bow to you for your great sacrifice.

I'll never forget how I watched that game. I had to work during it, but my parents were taping it for me. I told my boss not to tell me anything, as he was checking the score. He did a bad job of hiding Michigan's performance as I clocked out during the 4th quarter. When I got home the game was not over yet. What was happening? "Just wait" my mother said, with a much happier expression than my boss. Eventually I was allowed to watch the tape, and I cheered deep into the night as the rest of my family slept. It was amazing.

For the past half decade, michigan football has been little more than a disappointment. And I feel badly for the new generations of students passing through the school. They'll never get to experience games like Phillip Brabbs coming through in the clutch, or games like Braylonfest.

This has not been a traditional MSU - Mich week for me. I have not been reading mgoblog daily nor am I doing anything of note for the game... but I will be watching with hope that we can pull one of the bigger upsets of the season. I was at Braylonfest and stayed until the end and I will  be damned if I wouldn't turn on todays game and watch it with hope that Michigan can win.

I was in the stands with my wife (LSA '92), her sisters and their husbands. The youngest sister was an MSU grad. The middle sister didn't care about sports and her husband, who was from New England, didn't care about college football. The calls to "let's just leave" got louder and louder over the course of the game, but I braved increasing crankiness from the rest of them because you just Don't. Leave. Games. Early.

Until UTL1, that game was at the top of the "Amazing sports moments for which I was present" list.

The storyline was made to order—the alleged greatest college football team in history, one that could challenge the Baltimore Colts, teacher vs. disciple, Woody vs Bo—but the reality was that going into that game Michigan was a damn good football team playing excellent ball in all phases of the game. Not to mention they were led by a soon-to-be-legendary coach.

That's why I think a win in East Lansing today would actually be—in pure, on-the-field football terms—a bigger upset win for Michigan. The apparent gulf in coaching and talent between MSU and UM in 2014 is significantly wider and deeper than the gulf between OSU and UM in 1969.

We've played like crap all year against teams with a pulse, our only wins are against weak teams at home, our coaching staff from top to bottom seems all too often like it doesn't have any idea what it's doing, and we haven't beaten a team with a winning record on the road since Hoke got here.

Unless a long list of improbable things happen today—Michigan wins the turnover battle, develops a semblance of a running game, protects Devin, clamps down on MSU's receivers, and actually sacks Cook in key third down situations—today's game will be the death knell for Hoke's tenure here.

If we win, we'll have the most conflicted and confused fanbase in the country.

I stayed to the end that day.  Not because I was a glutton for punishment but because under Carr, we always had a really good 2-minute offense.  Carr's losses often followed a pattern of our regular offensive scheme being held in check for three quarters and us falling behind double digits, followed by him unleashing the offense and watching it desperately rally but fall a little short (1999 MSU being a prime example).  Sometimes the comeback made it all the way, as in 2003 Minnesota.  I knew we'd come back on this day, but just didn't know if we'd have enough time.  Once we got the onside kick I knew it.

I miss that feeling.  We've got to get back to having a top-notch passing game.  I don't care what offense we run or what our QB is like, but we've got to have an offense that can quickly move the ball down the field through the air.  I don't think you can be a championship team without that.

We stayed until the end that day. My husband was in shorts and a polo shirt, no jacket. I told him to put his arms inside his shirt, I wasn't going anywhere. I never left a game early before that, and I won't now either. Even if we have no chance of coming back, our team deserves to look up in the stands and still see maize-clad fanatics cheering like crazy and loudly for them. The way I see it, these young men committed to play football for my University. They practice, they sweat, they bleed, they work hard every day. Sometimes they fall short. But if they are willing to give all of that to my University, I am willing to give them my time, attention, and enthusiasm. Go Blue!

Well done Ace.

Go Blue, my friends.

is we have nothing to look forward to next season especially if Hoke stays. We don't have a QB that can take charge and more than likely Funchess will be gone.

 A coaching change will ingnite renewed interest but given the talent at the skilled positions I don't see a substantial improvement. There will be more dark days ahead.

I went to the '04 game and left in the 4th when we were down 17. Maybe the biggest mistake of my sporting life. I'm still upset about it.

cause it was warm at kickoff and because 19 year olds are stupid. When State went up 27-10, my housemate's dad offered to buy us a steak from The Chop House, so my freezing cold ass left the game early (first and last time I ever did that). We had literally just crossed Hoover when we heard the first roar. I'm a geniunely slow runner but I hauled ass so fast to the Union and sat and ate Wendy's and watched us win on those tiny TVs in the Union basement and nearly cried (out of both happiness and self-hatred).

That's my story.

The first game I left early was this year. In South Bend.

I hope it's the last.

I stayed til the glorious end that day. My dad and I have had season tix since '92, when I was 7, and have very rarely left a game early. We were about to leave. My dad went to the top of the stadium and watched on the tv by the concession stands. As he left I told him, "1 more drive. If we don't score here we'll go." So I moved over to the by now 1/4 empty student section. I was a student at the time, not a UM but at IU, still I felt much more at home among peers. I've always played sports and I'm a very superstitious guy (used to wear a 4 leaf clover under my baseball hat every game for luck even through high school, never stepped on the line as I went out to the field, etc.). So I felt like maybe I could change the mojo by moving to a different seat and changing my hat around. (Which totally worked btw, I won us that game! Not Braylon turning super human! /s) I'll never forget jumping up and down, screaming, high fiving everyone in sight, and hugging a few of the people near me as Braylon pulled down 6 after 6. I think that game is still the most exciting game I've been to at The Big House. OSU '97 was more satisfying, '95 Virginia was a great ending, '05 Penn state was a incredible, but at no point in those games did I feel like all hope was lost. That's what made '04 MSU incredible. We came back from the depths to pull their heart out with our hands.

I went to this game and stayed to the end and glad I did. It was the best ever trip to Michigan Stadium for me... I caught one of MSU's extra point kicks that day. And of course, turned toward the top of the stadium and heaved the ball as far up as it could go. It eventually went over the edge as was (is?) custom at the time.

Braylon Edwards sure had a way of making Chad Henne look good (Chad's freshman year iirc). Reminds me of Megatron: just get it close.

I took my little brother to the game. He went to State. It was beautiful. I will always remember him saying "Oh no, oh no" when we got the on-sided kick. He knew what was coming.

I didn't even care that I got pulled over on the way back to my friend's place in Albion after that game.  The cop asked us why we were laughing and so happy when he walked up to the window.  I told him with the straightest face I could that we had made an amazing decision about an hour earlier to stay in Ann Arbor.

Pretty sure he must have been an MSU fan.

Not only was I at the whole game, but when down by 17 with about 7 minutes left, I leaned and said to my Dad (Sparty) and said "I need a 'Minnesota' here", referring to the 24 pt 4th qtr comeback. I had no idea I'd get my wish. What an amazing game.

Oh, and a buddy of mine had rented an RV that weekend, so we did a nice amount of partying in A2, both Friday and Saturday night.

I heard loud cheers crossing into Pioneer, and then more as I entered the woods. Then as I entered my car in the subdivision a roar.

Nm

That was the last game I ever saw with both of my parents. Mom died two years later and dad 5 years after that. What a game to go to and stay for to the end. I will always have that memory looking at my dad's eyes and my mom with that sly grin on her face: we got them Sparties one more time.