We Owned Penn State: Retrospective Part II
Part II, obviously. Here is part I, covering 2002-2007.
1997 - Judgment Day
THE SETUP: #1 Penn State and #5 Michigan are both undefeated heading into the game; Penn State has a three-game win streak against the Wolverines in their fourth year as a Big Ten school. Will Michigan ever beat the Nittany Lions again?
WHAT WENT DOWN: Michigan launched a nuclear bomb, obliterating Penn State from the opening snap. Glenn Steele sacks Mike McQueary on the first snap and that sets the tone. Michigan is up 10-0 in the first quarter when Daydrion Taylor delivers one of the most violent hits in college football history:
That was the end of Taylor's career.
Michigan goes up 24-0 at halftime, wins 34-8, and claims #1 in the polls the next week.
IN THE AFTERMATH, PENN STATE FANS WHINE ABOUT: Missing the national championship game in 1994.
1998 – Shutout The First
THE SETUP: Michigan has recovered from their season opening humiliations against the option to win six straight; Penn State enters 6-1 with the lone loss coming to Ohio State.
WHAT WENT DOWN: Not much of interest. Michigan shuts Penn State out 27-0; with Michigan up 10-0 at the beginning of the first quarter Penn State gets the ball down to the one, goes for it on fourth and goal, and gets stoned.
With a minute left in the first half, Michigan hits a big screen to Anthony Thomas, then throws a fade to Tai Streets for a touchdown, and that's all she wrote.
(Wolverine Historian highlights.)
IN THE AFTERMATH, PENN STATE FANS WHINE ABOUT: Their short yardage package.
1999 - Brady
THE SETUP: Penn State was undefeated until the week before, when they lost 24-23 to Minnesota; this was the high-water mark of the Mason era. Meanwhile, Michigan rolls into town at 7-2. It's David Terrell and Tom Brady versus Lavar Arrington and company.
WHAT WENT DOWN: This was the game with the famous transcontinental play where Brady left the field, faking an injury, and Henson came in to throw a screen to Johnson. Said screen was backwards; Johnson threw it back, and Michigan got 30 yards on an eventual touchdown drive.
Early in the third, Tom Brady would hit Marcus Knight running wide open on a post route, putting Michigan up 17-7. Penn State then ran off 20 straight points, leaving Michigan down ten points with just under six minutes left in the game. It was at this point Tom Brady started his rise to supermodel-nailing All-American ubermensch:
And with that, Michigan was in Penn State's head.
IN THE AFTERMATH, PENN STATE FANS WHINE ABOUT: This is the game that really set some of the nuts on BWI off, most famously "MarshCreek," who dedicates about a month of his life every year to parsing Michigan's last two drives frame by frame. Apparently, Michigan was holding on every play.
2000 – They're Bad Now?
THE SETUP: No one expects this game to be particularly competitive, as Penn State enters with a 4-6 record and a loss to Toledo (albeit a Toledo team that would go 10-1). Michigan is just 6-3 and is coming off the 54-51 loss to Northwestern, but Penn State is bad, man.
WHAT WENT DOWN: It's close until late in the second half, when Michigan puts together a touchdown drive and immediately picks off Penn State, getting the ball at the 20; Michigan takes a 17-3 lead to the locker room.
A throwback screen puts Michigan up 27-3 early in the fourth, and that's all.
(Wolverine Historian highlights)
IN THE AFTERMATH, PENN STATE FANS WHINE ABOUT: Not going to a bowl game. Michigan would never do that!
2001 – What-Evah
THE SETUP: Penn State starts off 0-3 in one of the strangest schedules I've ever seen: the opener is a Miami team that would go undefeated, then there are two byes before Wisconsin. Anyway, no one expects much out of Penn State going up against Michigan, 3-1 with their only loss that fluke-fest against Washington.
WHAT WENT DOWN: No one got much out of Penn State, as they were shut out 20-0. Michigan opened with four Epstein field goal attempts, the first of which was an unsuccessful fake and the fourth of which was missed, before getting a touchdown right before the half; Zach Mills was sacked a jillion times and Penn State never threatenened to score.
(Wolverine Historian highlights.)
IN THE AFTERMATH, PENN STATE FANS WHINE ABOUT: The direction of the program: this is the second consecutive losing season for them.
During the judgement day highlights you can watch on the crawl the evolution of a potential upset--#1 Nebraska losing to an unranked Missouri. Wonder how that one turned out?
Give it to Wheatley!
Man that judgment day thing was hilarious. The two big games turned out to be total blowouts (FSU clobbering UNC was the other) and the only one that turned out epic was the kickball game.
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
To this day, that D.Taylor hit is still as awesome and vicious as I remember.
He knocked the fuck out their 275-lb TE
Go Blue
Brian -- I think you skipped some of the seminal events of this period in Penn State poaching:
1997: In the Aftermath, Penn State fans whine about: Not being invited to the party at Lee Bollinger's house.
1998: If I recall correctly, Penn State missed their chance at that 4th and 1, which would have put them in the game, with the end of a quarter. They then had to come back and run that play facing North, right up close to the student section. Penn State also missed an easy field goal in '98 in that end. I remember seeing the kicker looking right at us instead of the ball. '98 was a loud year in the Big House (I guess we hoped if we screamed loud enough that stupid Halo would fall off).
1999: I can see why someone would think we were holding. That was the year the entire offensive line got injured. Those drives were about the only time Brady wasn't under immediate pressure all year, even with A-Train keeping things soft. I also think both Arrington and Brown got dinged up in that game. Both were playing two steps slow the next week when T.J. Duckett (in his starting debut) and MSU trounced the Lions to end a No. 1 season on a 3-game losing streak and an Alamo Bowl.
2000: Continuing the tradition of 1998 (and 2007), there's nothing like a good ol'fashioned team that plays good ol'fashioned football to beat on after getting slashed by spread/option teams.
2001: Aftermath: I could be wrong, but wasn't it after this game that the Michigan Every Three Weekly came out with Lloyd Carr's secret playbook (including such hits as "Epstein Misses a Field Goal" and "Don't Let Us Stop You On Your Way to the End Zone."
This team is under construction. We thank you for your patience.
were absolute beasts with Jenson, Backus, Runyan, etc all playing in the NFL.
Runyan was well gone by then. I believe his last year was '95.
Jansen's last year was '97.
We did have a lot of NFL linemen back then. Backus, Hutchinson, Mo Williams, etc.
Chicago, IL
I remember the hit too. Like yesterday. If I'm not mistaken the PSU player also never played again. You don't really forget a hit that ends the careers of both players.
As for that play where you pretend to poorly execute a screen pass then throw it back to a wide open quarterback.....man I miss that play. That was always a fun play and we used it a lot. Charles Woodson just missed throwing for a touchdown doing that when Griese was run out of bounds at the one, which was the only thing keeping #2 from accounting for a touchdown in basically all possible ways that season.
Blogging the once-resurgent Virginia Cavaliers at http://fromoldvirginia.blogspot.com.
can we get another LB/DT with the last name Steele, i think it's about time.
Not to mention Irons. So, so awesome.
No question, Jim.
Swett.
Ok, maybe not.
Thanks for the Daydrion Taylor video. This remains the hardest hit I've ever seen pro or college. The video actually doesn't do it justice.
I remember that hit. I've never seen a ball carrier hit like that, before or after. I only wish Taylor had kept his head up, wouldn't have changed the impact any, but may have saved his career.
As an aside, I had just started dating a girl that happened to be a PSU fan. Needless to say, I was very happy with the outcome.
Daydrion Taylor.