25th Anniversary of “The Hit”
Yes, this is the 25th anniversary of the 1997 football National Champions, but given this is Michigan-Penn State week, I’d like to recognize the 25th anniversary of what has come to be known as “The Hit”.
I was a senior and graduated that year, and I clearly remember the hype for this game. Michigan was deemed the underdog, but came out in such convincing fashion against Penn State. This is the game that really showcased them to the college football world that they were contenders that year.
But it was this hit that I will always remember. Dadrian Taylor’s hit on Bob Stephenson. The final box score shows Taylor with one solo tackle in the game, and Stephenson with one catch for 19 yards. This was the play where both occurred and ended both football careers.
Fun fact: this was Taylor’s last football game. In that same game, Michigan ran out the clock and the victory with their backup QB; Tom Brady.
Thank you Dadrian for putting your heart and soul into Michigan football, and Go Blue!
Link to The Hit below:
October 11th, 2022 at 10:12 PM ^
I knew Dadrian in undergrad. I met him at orientation along with Tom Brady. Always was a good dude. Did not let the hit define him.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:14 PM ^
I was in the stadium for that game. The crowd was just getting into the game after PSU's horrible start. They got a first down, and that was a big play heading down the sideline. The crowd was screaming, and then just silent. That hit was felt everywhere in the stadium, and we all knew someone was injured. We didn't know the extent for some time, but we knew it hurt. 90,000 people stopped cheering after that play, and never had anything to cheer about the rest of the game.
Aside from that hit, that was most glorious game I've ever witnessed in person!
October 11th, 2022 at 10:58 PM ^
It felt like that hit ended the game for Penn State.
Most devastating hit I have seen watching Michigan Football.
October 12th, 2022 at 8:33 AM ^
This was my first ever college football game I attended in person. I was young but also remember this hit.
We sat on the opposite sideline way up in the nosebleeds and you could absolutely hear it way up there.
The stadium became silent once everyone knew what happened. It was scary. Glad UM won but that play definitely stuck with me for a while.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
I remember watching that game and was talking to a buddy on the phone who was also watching the game. We both almost dropped our phones when that hit happened. It brought snot to my nose
October 11th, 2022 at 10:17 PM ^
Don't know if that's a "fun" fact...but an interesting tidbit.
That will always be the biggest hit in college football history for me. In part because of what it meant.
That hit happened, right on the PSU sideline, and the game was over from that point forward. Michigan went on to DOMINATE, that game.
It's the only game of the '97 season that I still watch from beginning to end.
That day was called "Judgement Day." I can still hear John Saunders in the studio, the ABC lead-in music, it was fucking intense. So much was on the line that day and Michigan did what it did with the entire nation watching. Man, I just remember how incredibly locked in I was on that game and on all games that weekend.
Same weekend as the illegal Nebraska play against Mizzou, IIRC.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:24 PM ^
Also remember the next game was at Wisconsin. We didn't play nearly as well. It felt like a punt fest and took huge game swinging plays to pull out a win in Madison and get to the OSU game undefeated.
The OSU game, I remember Woodson fighting with Boston, I barely remember the return (minus all the highlights since, but I vividly remember the pick in the endzone and the shimmy shake Woodson did with the big shoulder pads.
Most of all, I remember the rose in the mouth and the feeling like Charles was going to win the Heisman Trophy that year.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:29 PM ^
I’ve only run on the field twice after a game; last year against OSU and after the ‘97 OSU game. The day after that game, a few classmates and I walked to the field and had a field goal kicking contest. The field had rose petals all over the grass. That and the blank scoreboard with Ohio State’s nameplate still on it made it such a surreal experience.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:25 AM ^
Throwback screen from Streets to Griese in that Wisconsin game, if I'm not mistaken. Great play.
October 12th, 2022 at 7:09 AM ^
It was Woodson to Griese! Griese was one yard short of giving Charles a TD pass to go with his TD runs, receptions and punt return.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:34 AM ^
I was at that Wisconsin game. Honestly hardly remember anything about it besides it being cold and getting hit in the head with a snowball. I was completely sober too, just too damn long ago.
October 12th, 2022 at 6:29 PM ^
@BlueWolverine02, I had the same remembrances: 1) Cold, 2) Getting hit by snowballs, 3) Cold, 4) the throwback to Griese and 5) Cold. Not much else other than we won.
October 12th, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
That was the greatest season ever...nothing has ever come close to approaching that feeling I had in 1997.
October 12th, 2022 at 6:32 AM ^
The ABC lead in music was the best. The play I remember most from that game was Woodson’s receiving touchdown. And the Missouri-Nebraska ending. Watched both games with a whole bunch of people in my dorm lobby.
Having said that, what happened to Taylor and Stephenson was a horrible tragedy, not a “fun fact.” It's why the targeting rule, for all its imperfections, has improved football.
October 12th, 2022 at 7:02 PM ^
Yeah, unintentionally poorly written on my part. I tried to honor the guy and didn’t even get his name right.
I’ll stick to my day job and posting on threads rather than creating them.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:20 PM ^
I had an orthopedic in training exam that day and after all of us went to a pub in Bethesda to watch the game. I had a junior resident who was a Penn St guy and more than a bit obnoxious so it was doubly good. (The game, not the hit)
October 12th, 2022 at 8:11 PM ^
Had the same exam. Second Saturday of November is still OITE day
October 11th, 2022 at 10:25 PM ^
I was in the stadium that day. It cannot be understated how massive of a collision occurred in that play. Daydrion sacrificed his entire future playing career in that moment.
For those who were too young to experience Judgement Day, the hype was national, and it was off-the-charts.
For the first time in 26 seasons, and just the fourth time in the 62-year history of the Associated Press poll of reporters, four of the five highest-ranked teams will meet on one intensely anticipated day. Michigan (8-0) and Penn State (7-0) will reduce the number of undefeated Big Ten teams to one and produce a leader in the race for a Rose Bowl spot.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:15 AM ^
Who else played that day? NYT is behind a paywall
October 12th, 2022 at 1:33 AM ^
Florida St. vs UNC. Mack Brown had the Heels clicking. IIRC, free shoes u won but in not very convincing fashion and M made a big jump.
October 12th, 2022 at 7:11 AM ^
There were two top-5 matchups. Michigan beat PSU 34-8 (it was 34-0 after three quarters). FSU beat UNC 20-3.
And then - in a surprise - the other top 5 team, Nebraska, was outplayed by Mizzou and needed an illegal kicked ball to score on the last play on regulation to send it to OT.
October 12th, 2022 at 7:59 AM ^
To a man, every PSU fan I encountered and spoke to after the game congrat's us on the win (they knew they were beaten down by the better team) and expressed great anguish and dismay that Nebraska got away with that crap. They were gracious in defeat and wished us the best.
October 12th, 2022 at 10:30 AM ^
Those weren't really PSU fans. They were Pod People.
October 12th, 2022 at 4:12 PM ^
IIRC, Penn State fans were every bit as pissed off as we were that Nebraska got a share of the national championship, because of what happened with PSU in 1994.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:25 PM ^
A hit so vicious, brutal and scary that it ended the careers of both players.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:29 PM ^
Don't need to watch it but I will. Dadrian Taylor gave it all up for us on that play, I will never forget it. I will never forget that game.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:36 PM ^
Daydrion is the spelling, I believe
Best hit I've ever seen in any sport. The consequences were awful, but what a way to go out, and what a metaphor for that game
October 11th, 2022 at 10:38 PM ^
I saw "25 years ago" and thought "was I really 4 when that happened??" Then I realized I was definitely not 4. Holy shit.
October 12th, 2022 at 3:42 AM ^
So true. I was at the game where Woody tore up the yard markers. That was what...ten years ago?
October 12th, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^
I was there too - that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen at a football game and it wasn't part of the game itself. Beginning of the end of Woody.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:40 PM ^
scary to think that it ended taylor’s career, but it could’ve been much, much worse. seems like these kinds of head-down shots are less common, thankfully.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:44 PM ^
Is Dadrian’s hands fencing after the hit? I never noticed it before, but after the Tua incident, it seems very obvious. I, of course, could be wrong.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:52 PM ^
As I recall, Stephenson was knocked out but Taylor wasn't. He describes feeling funny very briefly and "stuck" because Stephenson was out on top of him. He neck started to get sore on the sideline a little later.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
Watched an interview with Taylor and he mentions a "floating" feeling and he remembers the ref telling him repeatedly not to move because Stephenson was unconscious on top of him. He said it felt like minutes but was really only seconds.
Glad to see they both are doing well and have successful careers doing what they enjoy.
October 11th, 2022 at 10:56 PM ^
Fun fact: this was Taylor’s last football game.
Not a fun fact at all. With what we know about head injuries, that hit is uncomfortable to watch. It was bad for both players.
The game was wonderful. The hit is about the least appealing thing about the game for me to remember now.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:27 AM ^
Lighten up Francis
October 12th, 2022 at 12:34 AM ^
I’m not in the habit of celebrating the ending of someone’s career.
On a happier note, looks like Daydrion is doing well, now a high school counselor in Longview, TX.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:27 AM ^
I agree that the OP was poorly written. How could it be a fun fact, and celebrated, that someone sacrificed his career and possibly his brain because we won a football game.
Fortunately players are better educated and rules have changed avoid that kind of hit.
Thank you Steven for posting that Taylor is alright. I was wondering the same thing.
From a “2013” article:
The hit would probably be a penalty today, and the changes to protect players are another reason this hit may never be replicated in college football. Which isn't a bad thing.
Stephenson said he was diagnosed with a grade 3 concussion, and he didn't even get the worst of it. Taylor, a junior at the time, was told when he got back to Ann Arbor that he needed neck fusion surgery and would be in a halo to stabilize his neck. That was the last play for both players.
Showing the pull the game of football has on those who play it, both are still involved in the game that produced such a taxing toll on their bodies. Stephenson coaches little league football, and Taylor coaches in high school. Thankfully neither player suffered an injury that prevented them from living a normal life.
October 12th, 2022 at 11:09 AM ^
Taylor sounds like a true Michigan Man.
https://michigan.rivals.com/news/friday-thoughts-daydrion-taylor-puts-the-hit-in-perspective
October 12th, 2022 at 5:31 AM ^
one. hundred. percent. it’s awful, in every way.
October 11th, 2022 at 11:27 PM ^
Still to this day the hardest hit I've ever seen.
October 11th, 2022 at 11:31 PM ^
A good “15 years later” video by BTN.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:08 AM ^
I remember that hit very well
this is the worst hit I've ever seen, still makes me sick
October 12th, 2022 at 12:11 AM ^
Amazing that it has been 25 years and the guy that called that play on TV is still going strong.
October 12th, 2022 at 2:59 AM ^
This is very good. Subtle and good.
October 12th, 2022 at 12:18 PM ^
No, Bob Griese retired.
October 12th, 2022 at 1:04 AM ^
I mean, 25 years later and you post "The Hit" and damn near everyone reading it knows what you're referring to, that says alot.
This game made me believe that holy shit this team just might do it, Penn State was invincible to some folks then had beaten OSU a couple weeks earlier and rolled everyone but two curious games. Ohio State was great as well.
As I recall the other game that day was Florida State and an upstart North Carolina program. FSU won 20-3.
North Carolina didn't lose again and won their bowl game against Virginia Tech
Florida State lost to Florida wrecking their title hopes, sent them to the Fiesta Bowl where they beat Ohio State. Though that didn't prevent Bowden for lobbying for a title.
Ohio State of course, had one loss, to PSU, before Michigan beat them and then lost to FSU
Penn State had rolled out of the gate, won a tough game with OSU and struggled to beat Wisconsin and NW on consecutive game weeks before before playing Michigan. The kicker was Penn State dropped their final two games after all the hype with an inexplicable 49-14 thrashing in East Lansing who finished 7-5, then lost their bowl game to Florida. MSU had to win that game just to make a bowl game. Then beat Washington in Hawaii
Nebraska of course was thumping everyone, because the Big 12 suuuuccckkkkeeeedddd, stayed clean due to some luck in Columbia, Missouri with their kicked ball touchdown. And won their BS share of the title because of Scott Frost's constant whining to the media.
Great season and the last before the BCS era of college football began.
October 12th, 2022 at 9:52 AM ^
Wasn't it just the coaches who voted Nebraska over Michigan? Not sure what Scott Frost saying anything to the media mattered given they voted Michigan No 1. Was Frost supposed to say "Oh year, Michigan is definitely better than us"?
If anyone was to blame that year, it was the coaches giving a retirement gift to Osborne.
October 12th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
Frost lobbied through media interviews for coaches to vote them number one. Kept saying 'coaches know football'. The gap between UM and Neb was much closer in the coaches poll, so that was the angle Frost took.
Of course we learned later butt hurt Phil Fulmer voted Michigan 8th.