Michigan Football Night Game history
With the recent announcement of night games being added on the road and home night games being rejected for 2015, I figure I'd take another list from my SuperGuide and put up in a Diary.
The history of Michigan Football night games:
| Date | Opponent | Result | Event/Neutral Site |
| 9/23/1944 | at Marquette | W 14-0 | |
| 9/23/1972 | at #6 UCLA | W 26-9 | |
| 1/1/1976 | #3 Oklahoma | L 6-14 | Orange Bowl |
| 12/28/1979 | North Carolina | L 15-17 | Gator Bowl |
| 12/31/1981 | #19 UCLA | W 33-14 | Bluebonnet Bowl |
| 9/18/1982 | at #20 Notre Dame | L 17-23 | |
| 11/12/1983 | at Minnesota | W 58-10 | |
| 1/2/1984 | #3 Auburn | L 7-9 | Sugar Bowl |
| 12/28/1984 | #1 BYU | L 17-24 | Holiday Bowl |
| 11/16/1985 | at Minnesota | W 48-7 | |
| 10/4/1986 | at Wisconsin | W 34-17 | |
| 11/7/1987 | at Minnesota | W 30-20 | |
| 9/10/1988 | at #13 Notre Dame | L 17-19 | |
| 9/15/1990 | at #1 Notre Dame | L 24-28 | |
| 10/25/1991 | at Minnesota | W 52-6 | |
| 12/30/1994 | #10 Colorado State | W 24-14 | Holiday Bowl |
| 9/16/1995 | at Boston College | W 23-13 | |
| 12/28/1995 | #19 Texas A&M | L 20-22 | Alamo Bowl |
| 10/26/1996 | at Minnesota | W 44-10 | |
| 10/17/1998 | at Northwestern | W 12-6 | |
| 9/18/1999 | at Syracuse | W 18-13 | |
| 1/1/2000 | #5 Alabama | W 35-34 OT | Orange Bowl |
| 11/9/2002 | at Minnesota | W 41-24 | |
| 10/10/2003 | at #17 Minnesota | W 38-35 | |
| 10/2/2005 | at #21 Northwestern | W 33-17 | |
| 12/28/2005 | Nebraska | L 28-32 | Alamo Bowl |
| 9/29/2006 | at Minnesota | W 28-14 | |
| 10/14/2006 | at Penn State | W 17-10 | |
| 10/20/2007 | at Illinois | W 27-17 | |
| 10/10/2009 | at #12 Iowa | L 28-30 | |
| 10/30/2010 | at Penn State | L 31-41 | |
| 9/10/2011 | vs Notre Dame | W 35-31 | Under The Lights |
| 1/3/2012 | #17 Virginia Tech | W 23-20 OT | Sugar Bowl |
| 9/1/2012 | #2 Alabama | L 14-41 | Cowboys Classic |
| 9/22/2012 | at #11 Notre Dame | L 6-13 | |
| 10/27/2012 | at Nebraska | L 9-23 | |
| 9/7/2013 | vs #14 Notre Dame | W 41-30 | Under The Lights II |
| 9/21/2013 | at Connecticut | W 24-21 | |
| 12/28/2013 | Kansas State | L 14-31 | Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl |
| 9/6/2014 | at #16 Notre Dame | L 0-31 | |
| 10/4/2014 | at Rutgers | L 24-26 | |
| 10/11/2014 | vs Penn State | W 18-13 | Under The Lights III |
| 9/3/2015 | at Utah | ||
| 10/3/2015 | at Maryland | ||
| 10/31/2015 | at Minnesota |
Michigan is 25-17 all-time in night games.
- 18-9 in road night games
- 4-8 in neutral site night games
- 3-0 in home night games
Michigan's most common night game opponent is Minnesota. This obviously due to the now-demolished Metrodome. In fact, all but 4 of 13 meetings between the two at the Metrodome were NOT played at night. (sidenote: Michigan never lost once in the Metrodome. 13-0 against the Gophers in that building).
The 1991 and 2003 Michigan-Minnesota games were played on Friday nights due to a Metrodome scheduling conflict with the Minnesota Twins who were in the MLB Playoffs in those years.
Those two Friday night games against Minnesota are Michigan's only two non-Saturday regular season games in the last 98 years. Michigan opens the season on a Thursday night at Utah in their first Thursday regular season game in 110 years.
Here are a few pieces from Michigan's first-ever night game regardless of site, back in 1944 at Marquette when they still fielded a team (via MVictors)
April 25th, 2015 at 12:12 AM ^
A game on that list that stood out was 10/14/06 @ Penn State. My friends were having a party for the Tigers' ALCS game vs. the A's and the Michigan/Penn State game. Turned out that Magglio sent us to the World Series and Alan Branch sent Anthony Morelli into next Tuesday. Safe to say it was a good night.
April 25th, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
I was on a People to People (fun destination conference for nerds in middle school and high school) watching these two games. I watched us fill a entire ward of a hospital with Penn State quarterbacks and then flipped the channel, caught Mags' home run, and went running out into the hall to celebrate the first Tigers world series of my lifetime. Great night in the history of my fandom.
The Tigers/A's game started at 4:30 PM ET (FOX), the U-M/PSU game started at 8:00 PM ET (ABC).
They ALMOST overlapped, but did not. I distinctly recall the Magglio HR being minutes before ABC signed on-the-air for the football game. Per box scores, the time of the baseball game was 3:23, which corresponds with what I remember.
April 26th, 2015 at 10:36 AM ^
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My last pay check was $9500 working 12 hours a week online. My sisters friend has been averaging 15k for months now and she works about 20 hours a week. I can't believe how easy it was once I tried it out. This is what I do... www.jobs-review.com
April 25th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^
29-October-2005 at Northwestern was a prime-time ESPN night game. 33-17 U-M.
Shoot, good find! Thanks.
A few side notes involving some of those night games:
*1972 UCLA - The Bruins QB was actor Mark Harmon (and son of our own Tom Harmon) who got knocked on his ass by the Michigan defense on the second series and had to leave the game with a head injury. UCLA had no answer for Schembechler's running game which racked up nearly 400 yards on the ground. Interviewed before the game, Tom Harmon apologized to Michigan fans and said he was rooting for his son. Michigan won 26-9.
*1986 WISCONSIN - The first ever night game at Camp Randall Stadium. Jim Harbaugh became the first ever Michigan QB to throw for 300 yards in a game.
*1982 NOTRE DAME - The first ever night game at Notre Dame Stadium. The results of the game we can forget, which was a 23-17 loss. Bo losing to Gerry Faust is criminal and embarrassing.
*1990 NOTRE DAME - When the jackass ref pulled out an index card to measure whether or not Michigan had a first down. Only in South Bend.
*1998 NORTHWESTERN - The game with the driving rainstorm, the entire field being nothing but mud and Justin Fargas being our running game.
*2003 MINNESOTA - 21 point 4th quarter comeback with Navarre, Braylon and Chris Perry. The 100th anniversary of the little brown jug.
A slight possible correction on 1989 UCLA. An epic win, yes. Vada Murray recovers the onside kick, JD Carlson kicks the game winner with 1 second left. I was only 9 so I don't remember the start time. But there was daylight when the game started. It might have been night time back in Michigan but not on the west coast.
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