1969 UM-Ohio Game: BTN 11pm AKA now
Awesome!
thanks for this.. i've never seen this game before...
Brain...numbing...
...Spring conditioning for the coming season.
Is this Michigan week on the BTN? What's with all the great wins? Not that I'm complaining but I'm not used to this...after a decade of abuse from ESPN Classic.
I was at that game, and I never get tired of watching it. I know I sound like a wistful old man here, and that's because I AM a wistful old man, but bear with me.
Michigan had been 4-6 in '65, 6-4 in '66, 4-6 my freshman year of '67, but had gone 8-2 in '68, only to have their throats stepped on by OSU in The Game (hmmm...this run of mediocrity, including 1-3 against OSU, before changing coaches has kind of a familiar ring to it these days).
As an aside, one of my close friends at UM was a tight end under Bump, and when Bo came in he was among the many who left the team. I remember him saying, "This new guy is just out of his mind, I'm not going through that." How wrong was he!
I have distinct memories of the Bucks moving the ball well against us in the second half with Jim Otis, and the fear that they'd take control of the game welling up in the stadium; you could feel it. Then the joy and relief that came with the interceptions would spread. Rinse. Repeat.
OSU hadn't lost in two years, and were #1, and as the realization dawned on the student section that we were in fact going to win, the excitement was like no other game I've ever attended.
I got a lump in my throat thinking about Mandich as I watched last night, too.
One final observation: Am I the only one who looks at these tall, relatively stately guys lumbering down the field, and thinks that today's players are a lot faster and more athletic?
Today's players are more athletic. But then, everything's changed. For example, how many folks had a clue about the guys being recruited before they showed up back then. BTW, I worked for ABC during the '69 game. The ABC crew seemed every bit as excited as the Michigan fans!