Anyone recall the 1995 Purdue-UM game?
Caught this video today, in which some "unusual" scores are highlighted, and one of the games highlighted here (in all of its glory, in terms of quality) is Purdue vs. Michigan at the Big House in 1995.
This was my second Michigan game in person, ever (my first one was in 1993), and wow...did I pick a "fine" one to attend. I've attended some pretty darn shitty weather games since then (those two semi-recent NW games come to mind, as well as ND last year), but I'm not so sure I've ever been as cold at Michigan Stadium as I was on that particular day.
Was anyone else here at this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEemppdY1lY
Michigan-Purdue segment starts at 2:47, but the entire video is sorta interesting, too.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
5-0 Michigan! Great baseball or hockey score. Not there but one of my all-time favorite games to watch, and in the comfort of home.
October 29th, 2020 at 4:11 PM ^
I was there - it was the only Michigan game I have ever left early. It was such terrible weather and the game was not great.
IIRC, pretty much the whole game was played between Purdue's goal line and 40 yard line but we just couldn't punch it in.
October 29th, 2020 at 4:54 PM ^
Ditto...only game I ever left early. Made it through the first half, and I decided to keep my feet rather than stay for the second half.
October 29th, 2020 at 7:15 PM ^
You did not earn your inaugural fan endurance badge then. That game is really what defines the badge. The others in the group are 2008 Northwestern (I was at that one...holy shit was it cold, windy, and wet/snowy) and 2014 Utah (weather delay. Those who remained/returned after the weather delay to watch that beating earned one for sure). There may be a couple more but those are the ones I remember.
October 30th, 2020 at 3:07 AM ^
Those two games were not comparable.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
This wasnt the Will Carr fumble game was it?
October 29th, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
1996 was the Will Carr fumble fiasco. Ended up losing 9-3.....
October 29th, 2020 at 3:48 PM ^
I remember my Dad going ballistic because the play was designed for a bit of a cut as opposed to a straight line run like The Fridge used to do. Keith Jackson said "Ol Will doesn't miss the dinner bell very much". Run him straight ahead!
October 29th, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
No. That was ‘96. Unfortunate too, because he was a fantastic DT.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:21 PM ^
I also watch that Cfb highlight channel.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:21 PM ^
2019 ND was like being at the beach compared to 1995 Purdue. I recall it well, and will likely never forget. I'd guess less than 50% attendance in the stands. I recall I had this oversized coat that two of us were able to fit into to stay warm. I would categorize the precipitation that day as "mixed". Left at halftime.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
"2019 ND was like being at the beach compared to 1995 Purdue."
Yup.
That.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:22 PM ^
yep, pretty sure that was parents' weekend as well. Absolutely miserable. think my parents and I left at halftime.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
I had my little brother up visiting. He wasn’t even into football to begin with. We also left at halftime. Brutal day.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:22 PM ^
This game lives in MGoBlog lore.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:24 PM ^
Oh hell yes. Remember driving to the game from GR and thinking, wtf are we doing out in this shitty weather. Freezing rain and sleet and ice made for treacherous driving conditions. Nonetheless we made it to AA safely and stayed for the whole game. Best 5-0 win I've ever seen ??
October 29th, 2020 at 2:24 PM ^
What's forgotten is that the following year, the teams combined to more than double their point output from the '95 game with Michigan losing to Purdue by a score of 9-3!
October 29th, 2020 at 2:27 PM ^
This game is simultaneously obscure (no, not really) and famous (yes, absolutely) on this site for some reason. If the score had been 6-0 you'd never hear about it.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
My memory of this game: a buddy of mine who was in town from Europe wanted to attend a Michigan football game, and he had no problem getting a single ticket at game time. Couldn't get anyone to go with him.
After the game and a close brush with hypothermia, he retreated to my family room for a couple of beers, some hot soup, and a lengthy nap to recover in front of the fireplace.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:30 PM ^
I was 8 months old so I wasn't there but I've watched highlights because I saw the score some time ago and shocked that a score so ugly could have happened in 1995 and not in 1915. It was very cold and snow/rainy that definitely contributed from what I could tell
October 29th, 2020 at 2:31 PM ^
Oh yeah, I was there. That was the coldest I have ever been at a game.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:32 PM ^
Love the comments, everyone. Certainly, a game for the "ages." Or, well...something like that, anyway!
October 29th, 2020 at 2:32 PM ^
I was there with my younger sister, a last-minute addition after none of my friends wanted to brave the cold. We sat in the endzone for the first half, nearly froze to death, and moved under the press box after halftime. Definitely happy to have that memory, but would never want to do it again.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:34 PM ^
I was at the Mirage Hotel in LV that weekend watching it in the sports book, I was nice and warm and still miserable from watching that game, just glad we won it.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:35 PM ^
I do remember this one:
October 29th, 2020 at 10:23 PM ^
Good gawd...ok...who here was at THAT game?
Fortunately, I was not!
October 29th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
I was there. Favorite game I ever attended, with second place being on my birthday a few years ago at Rutgers when I think as a fan I ran for a couple touchdowns & the Rutgers student I was sitting next to forgot his Rutgers hoody when he left (not sure if it was intentional or not, as the locals were just shell shocked.)
I got there at the start of the second quarter because the roads were that bad. The game itself had me nervous, because with snow & ice you really didn't want to face Mike Alstott. By the 4th quarter I was nicely social distanced, drinking my cold chocolate at about the 40 yard line, 15th row.
Fun football. 5-0
October 29th, 2020 at 2:37 PM ^
As a freshman, 1995 was my first Michigan football fall, and I stayed for every second of this game.
I've never been so cold in my life, before or since.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:39 PM ^
It was nasty. Probably the most uncomfortable game ever from a weather standpoint. Freezing rain/sleet most of the game. IIRC, Lloyd Carr was named our permanent head coach after we won this.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
Yeah vaguely but I more remember the next year when William Fucking Carr fumbled at the goal line. All those 4/5 star backs and you hand it to the minifridge at the goal line. Malpractice
October 29th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
Hell, yes. A couple classmates and I spent the fourth quarter on the 50-yd line about 20 rows up and passing Southern Comfort between us. It was the only way to endure the atrocious weather and painful football.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
My first game, when I was 11. Arrived late 1st quarter, and left sometime around the middle of the 2nd quarter. Windy the whole time, rain turned to sleet; the weather was brutal. I just remember a giant puddle on the sidelines behind one of the teams, and listening on the radio later when someone was tackled into it.
While the 2009 (2008?) game against NW was brutal as well, there was really no contest. Purdue 1995 was the coldest I've been in my entire life.
October 29th, 2020 at 3:02 PM ^
2008 Northwestern had the added angst of watching a team with a losing record and no chance of a bowl (and which went on to lose the game) on top of the weather. But from a pure weather standpoint '95 PU is tough to beat.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:41 PM ^
I was there too- my junior year. It was "parents weekend" if I recall, and my gf and her parents lasted maybe halfway through the first quarter. I stayed because I never leave early. The most miserable big house game of my lifetime, to be sure.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:41 PM ^
Been there, done that. Definitely as cold, miserable, and ugly weather as you can get. The cold crap coming from the skies didn't help. The victory helped warm us afterward. "Cold," though, is defined by me by the 1964 Michigan-Ohio State game in Columbus. A cousin who attended OSU bought tickets for us in the (then) open south end zone area which was filled with bleachers. The air temp was probably below 20 and the wind about the same speed or more. Definitely freezing... feels cold just remembering the lack of feelings in my legs and feet as I tried to exit. The great news was a Michigan win that put us in the Rose Bowl against Oregon State. (The good ol' days?) I'll take that kind of cold any day!
October 29th, 2020 at 2:42 PM ^
Amazed this was 25 years ago. I was there. Many people did not come or left early due to weather.
Brutally cold. The rain-ice and temp drop just seemed to bite thru all winter/rain gear.
I thought I had frostbite on my toes at the end.
If there was ever a game I limped home from as a fan, it was this - - and yet, I knew I had seen something incredibly special. the TOUGH men of MICHIGAN.
Check out Mercury Hayes at the 19:20 mark (thanks WolverineHistorian!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j460bLNZ6To
I saw that live & thought - did he just splash around in that ice water & not freeze to death?
What a win. Go Blue.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:50 PM ^
Embed
Brrr, I get cold just watching this again.
October 29th, 2020 at 8:12 PM ^
After watching this, I see Will Carr got a goal line carry like he did in 1996. Same miserable result. You would think Lloyd would have learned something after it failed in 1995.......
October 30th, 2020 at 9:58 AM ^
Talk about the good old days: Biakabatuka, Griese, Woodson, Hamilton, Toomer, et al. What a team! What a blessing for us Wolverine fans to embrace for 25 years and beyond.... Even though it was incredibly cold that day in Section 3, the result made for wonderful, hilarious memories when thinking about it in the warmth of wherever we may have been at the time.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:43 PM ^
I was a sophomore in the MMB that year. One of the more interesting weather elements from that game was that it was unseasonably warm until about two hours before game time. The band was practicing in shorts in November at 8 AM, because it was nearly 70 degrees that morning. The temperature dropped over 40 degrees in 3 hours.
We had several wipeouts during pregame, and so did the players during the game.
My mother left me a voicemail on my dorm room phone warning me about the approaching cold front, so I had my thermals on. Thanks, Mom!
October 29th, 2020 at 2:54 PM ^
Yep - from a meteorological perspective, that was a fascinating storm. Strong and very tightly wound up low-pressure system, that reached its strongest point right as it was moving over the top of SE Michigan.
Weather maps from that day: http://mp1.met.psu.edu/~fxg1/NARR/1995/us1111.php
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I was in Central Pennsylvania (further east) at the time. It was 75 degrees with a warm breeze blowing throughout the day, which almost never happens in early November. So I went hiking and didn't watch football because of that.
But when the front came through, it came through like CRAZY. Temperature dropped 50 degrees in 2 hours right after sunset, and there was 5 inches of snow on the ground by Sunday AM.
Then, all that cold air set the stage for a big east coast snowstorm mid-next week. Which led to all the snowballs at that Saturday's U-M/PSU game.
October 29th, 2020 at 3:13 PM ^
I was at that UM-PSU game. PSU and UVA fans the friendliest I've ever encountered as a Michigan fan. PSU couldn't get all the snow (18" on Tuesday) out of Beaver Stadium by Saturday, so they pushed a bunch of it up under the bleachers. My feet were literally on ice the entire game and I couldn't feel either of my feet as I walked out--felt like I was walking on two peg legs.
October 29th, 2020 at 4:23 PM ^
Yep, as you said, everyone was basically standing on ice and snow that day. It wasn't overly cold (mid-20s as I recall), but the storm remnants were just packed in everywhere.
Glad you had a good time. The student section was considerably less fun: a literal (snowball and iceball) war zone that day. I left at halftime.
October 29th, 2020 at 4:48 PM ^
I was a first year MMB that year and ended up knocking my rank leader over during the pregame block M foldout (I slipped and kicked my left foot out to gain my balance which hit my rank leader and down he went)
I was laughing for a moment until he jumped back up back to formation and said “you’re challenged.” For MMB folks, I’m sure you can imagine how fast the smile left my face.
Good times!
October 30th, 2020 at 9:46 AM ^
I was also on the field in the band. My hands were frozen coming off the field for pregame. Some of us were in such bad shape (myself included) that they let us use the football team's sideline heaters to thaw out our hands. I couldn't even take my gloves off. Someone else had to do that for me. That season had the worst 3 games for weather in terms of heat and cold. Virginia, Purdue and MSU. Just awful.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:44 PM ^
We were there, before the game it was 65 degrees and sunny, we decided to park at Briarwood and ride the football shuttle over to the stadium.
On the way there the wind started blowing and them the hail and torrential rain came. The deluge turned the field into a mud bowl. No offense all day and a field goal and late safety was it for the day.
The stadium was full when the game started but by the middle of the 3rd Quarter the place was less than half full. When the game ended I'd say there were only 20K fans left.
Nastiest football game (weatherwise) I've ever attended. And yes it was worse weather wise than The MSU O'Korn debacle, the Minny game that had a violent weather swing and the Notre Dame Game last year.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:54 PM ^
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. The weather was warm and then the deep freeze came in.
I remember the Braylonfest MSU game also having a huge temperature drop (from 70-ish at kickoff to about 40 by the overtimes) but fortunately the skies were clear.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:49 PM ^
First season as a student.
That year is a perfect microcosm of Michigan weather. The Pigskin in August was like 98 degrees and stifling. 9 weeks later, it's a wind chill below zero for the Purdue game.
I was so grateful to make it through the entire game with Dozens! of my fellow students by the final gun.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:49 PM ^
Joe Tiller was irritating, but the games against Purdue in the 90s and early 2000s were fun to watch.
October 29th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
That is the worst video quality I've seen in a while. I've seen better WWII video quality.