98 Rose Bowl on BTN right now.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:06 PM ^
I was at that game, but at 11 years old couldn't quite fully comprehend the magnitude of the situation. It was still an unbelievable experience. Even ate at Lawry's the night before haha.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:08 PM ^
I didn't appreciate what I had back then, but now I do. Whenever I get sad, I just look up "Charles Woodson '97 interception Michigan State," "Charles Woodson punt return," or "Charles Woodson Rose Bowl" on youtube, and all is better.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:12 PM ^
I think they should change the title to the Big Ten's greatest game. I can't believe how long ago this was.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^
A great day in the history of humanity
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:05 PM ^
Fred Jackson
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:23 PM ^
More specifically,I was working at Target that day as a cart attendant. We kept sneaking in to Best Buy to see bits of the game. I still have not seen the whole game.
I missed most of the games that year because I was always working. That makes 97' bittersweet to me.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:23 PM ^
Was 8 years old when this went down. I have very vague memories of watching it in the same living room i'm sitting in right now. But god damn do i wish i could have appreciated it more back in the day.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:06 PM ^
I am old
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^
Dude, I hate to break it to you; but you've been in the ground for 4 years!
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:39 PM ^
This will always be a special game to me. Not just for the obvious reasons. This was the last Michigan game my dad and I saw together before he passed away. He watched it all, and not because he wanted to but because I wanted to. He was no Michigan fan by any stretch of the imagination, but he knew I was. He knew it was an important game for UofM, and what it would mean to me if UofM won.
And we did, and I believe it was the one time my dad was happy about a Michigan victory. I will always be thankful for that.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
and thanks for sharing a special memory. I lost my dad last year and I'm still pouring through all the good memories, hoping to hold onto them.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:45 PM ^
I was almost 14, and my dad, an MSU grad who was living in Belleville at the time, took me to a neighbors and watched the whole game with like 15 UM fans, including me. Obviously. He always gives me crap when UM loses, but even back in the '88-'89 season, when I can first remember becoming a fan (If you can call it that when you are 4) he supported me.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:26 PM ^
I didn't do it.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^
is it me or does the Michigan players look big and more NFL type players compared to players these days. I know Rich Rod likes smaller more athletic players but damn our players looked big back then.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:40 PM ^
but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that most of the starters on the 97 team were upperclassmen. Give it another year and our young guys that are freshmen and sophomores now will look much bigger.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:48 PM ^
I was thinking the same thing watching the current teams preview on BTN. To me they seemed kind of small when I caught video in '08 and '09, but this years team looks a little more Michiganesque.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:56 PM ^
and ignores the offensive interference. I never noticed that before, but the 40yd pass with 9 sec left should have been called back as offensive interference, and the ref never threw the flag... held it in his hand.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:09 PM ^
My wife and I were both at the game when this non-call happened and I remembering screaming for a flag only to be told by WASU fans around us that nothing happened. As far as I'm concerned, the clock management at the end of the game barely made up for it.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 AM ^
But it was readily apparent from the Stadium that the Refs knowingly biffed this call.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:56 PM ^
Woodson gets shoved down to the ground with the ball in the air, right in front of the official. How did that not get flagged? If that had been flagged, WSU probably wouldn't have even gained a first down and we probably would have won an undisputed title (the coaches' vote was 32-30 for Nebraska).
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:00 PM ^
Best part: The official HOLDING THE FLAG IN HIS HAND. And then discretely putting it back into his pocket.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:09 PM ^
Obviously I uploaded that game and it's amazing that the WSU fans that drop by to comment on the video still complain about the 1 second but make no mention of the push off on Woodson.
Without that gift from the official, Woodson either intercepts the ball ending the game or WSU is penalized back inside their own 10 yard line having to go 90 yards in 15 seconds against the best defense in college football.
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^
Even 12 years later I still have no idea what to make of the clock at the end of the game... But... I'll take it.
Bar none the best Fall of my entire life. That team was as special as it gets.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^
There was a timekeeping error, but it occurred before the play. The real goof was that the clock was stopped for too long before the play. If the officials had started the clock when the ball was set, as they should have (WSU had gained a first down inbounds), the clock would have expired without any play at all. WSU was fortunate to get the snap off and should have had a play ready.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:21 PM ^
Well, yeah, I think the problem had to do with the TV clock being different from the field clock (which makes all the difference), but if you go by what's on the TV, the spike happens with 1 second left, and the clock keeps going.
Whatever. Trophy in the case, legends made, Crouch whine-fest and everything.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:15 AM ^
Being bias and all. But the clock is supposed to start when the ref places the ball and signals, not when it's snapped, and you just can't place, signal, snap, spike in a second, and have a second up there.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:03 PM ^
Bias is the noun.
Biased is the adjective.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^
I was at that game with my best friend and my dad (who lives in SoCal and works on Colorado Blvd in Pasadena). I am looking at a photo of my dad and I holding up the #1 Finger while I type this.
Truth be told, I was more excited and emotional after beating Ohio State at the Big House than I was after the Rose Bowl. The good thing was, my dad flew in from Cali for that game too.
What a great season, full of fantastic memories.
National Champions, baby!
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:38 PM ^
I remember I was one of two dudes that was 21 at the time and could rent a car, so I was the one driving around six 20-year-old females (the other car had two dudes and two women) the whole week. God, I was a tool back then; I refused to buy for them because I was all against alcohol and shit at the time. I wish I could do THAT over.
Anyhow, the game itself was probably the scariest game I've ever been to in my life. We were almost down 14 early if it wasn't for the Woodson INT, and the shit at the end was really wild. On the offensive PI no-call, I thought Leaf got sacked (I never saw the ball leave his hand), so I was cheering like crazy and everybody was giving me dirty looks until I realized what happened. And I remember the day after when we were watching Sportscenter and found out Nebraska won the coaches' poll; I doubt I've felt more cheated in my entire life.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:45 PM ^
Coming downstairs on January 3 to find my dad sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands, where he had been all night waiting for the Coaches' Poll to be released on ESPN, to learn Nebraska had been voted #1 is still one of the most disappointing moments of my entire life. We must have sat there for an hour completely out of it.
And my dad's senior year at UM was 1973. the 10-10 tie against Ohio State and the jobber AD vote. Guy can't catch a break.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
Hearing the talking heads, and the pollsters talk, and it looked like it was going to happen. But it was like...no, they've never done this before...they can't start now.... And damned if they didn't do it.
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
Brian had a great game. Even his dad said so.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:14 PM ^
Shortly after Keith Jackson's "retirement," he remarked that this was one of his 3 all time favorite games that he ever broadcast.
And he went to WSU!
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:19 AM ^
But he made very little secret that if he had a favorite program (that mattered at least), it was Michigan. He loved Bo, the history, the whole do things the right way ethic. And Lloyd et al carried it along. Keith was at many a practice for Michigan, and gave preseason speeches to the team, about the history of the Stadium and all.
And it didn't hurt that his partner had a bit of a rooting interest in that game, either.... ;-)
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:16 PM ^
Just thought I would pass along the best tv schedule I've found for every college football game on television.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 PM ^
RoboHenne vs the Staties on BTN now.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:13 AM ^
I feel a little bad for you. Because it probably became an expected thing for you, but more so, after all the near miss chances and almost 50 years of not quite getting over the hump (though I wasn't around anywhere near that much either)...but at least a little suffering...made it all the sweeter.