"Best plays of the decade" candidates so far?

Submitted by Hannibal. on

Usually as a pre-season ritural, I go back into the mgoblog archives and find some of my favorite articles.  I re-read the "best and worst of the decade' article from 2010 recently, and I was wondering, which plays from 2010-2015 will probably show up on a "best of" and "worst of" list come 2020? 

"Best of" -- I'm thinking...

Denard's 90-yarder against Notre Dame

Denard completing a long pass to Junior Hemmingway with a guy draped around his leg.

Jeremy Gallon cloaking device

Jehu Chesson goes bowling for Domers

Jehu Chesson sets the Florida DB's pants on fire

Deveon Smith teleporting through the pile of bodies to run for a TD against BYU

Stuffing Minnesota on the 1-yard line at the end of the 2015 game.

Hopefully, many more to come in the next four years.  Denard deserves so much more but you can only have so many 50+ yard runs on the list.


"Worst of", unfortunately, has a lot of candidates...

That horrible pass play against PSU in 2010 where J.T. Floyd gets completely turned around

Gardner's pick six against ND

Gardner's pick six against Akron

Gardner's QB sneak fumble against UConn

The 10-man punt TD against Utah

2015 MSU -- duh

The failed 2-point conversion against OSU

Vincent Smith's pass getting intercepted by ND

The failed 4th down conversion against MSU in the trash tornado game. 

The South Carolina QB spinning out of a Jibreel Black sack attempt that would have put South Carolina into third and very long. 

 

What else could be on the list when all is said and done?

 

mGrowOld

August 16th, 2016 at 11:12 AM ^

27 for 27 game.

FYI - if you are really bored sometime go look up the open game thread for that abomination.  I'm know I was drunk as hell and about as frustrated as a fan could possibly get.  There but the grace of God did i not wake up the next morning needing a fancy new user name cause this one had been banned.

 

stephenrjking

August 16th, 2016 at 12:54 PM ^

Was 2013 PSU the low point of Michigan football, and of this blog? 2014 was actually a worse season, of course, but the meltdown of the Minnesota game that year actually produced tangible results. Yes, there was outrage, but the various outrages were so clear that there was a definable path to change.

2013 was a mess with no tangible signs of hope--we were stuck with Borges, we were stuck with Hoke, we were stuck with DB, and all we could do was rage about it on the board. It was a dark, dark week.

I think that was when voting was broken, too.

ijohnb

August 16th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^

is only one time I can think that may trump both of those in terms of "bad times on the board."  In 2009, we still entertained thoughts ot being a good team under Rich Rod, and still believed to some degree that we were good that year.  We hosted Penn State and got bombed, and then went to Illinois and got blown out in the second half by a terrible team.  People around here were pissed.  Really pissed.

Hannibal.

August 16th, 2016 at 1:33 PM ^

At that point, there was still a little bit of hope, although the troubling signs were definitely there.  The low point that I remember is when Brian wrote his rebuttal to Brady Hoke's comment about the fans being "fickle".  That was late in the dismal 2013 season when we were marching into the OSU game with pretty much everybody expecting another ass kicking.

SpikeFan2016

August 16th, 2016 at 8:32 PM ^

That's what you could say about 2012. Not 2013. 

 

We struggled mightly to beat UConn and Akron, both terrible teams. Yeah our losses were close, but so were our wins. And State and Kansas State absolutely stomped us. And Ohio State in 2013 was definitely the worst OSU team Urban has had. And we still lost at home. 

Saying 2013 is BCS level is a massive stretch. 

 

 

2012 you could say that because we literally had the hardest schedule in the country, barely lost to OSU and ND (the #2 and #3 teams, both away from home), barely lost to a top #15 South Carolina, and only lost to Nebraska bc of an injury. Coaching could have made 2012 very special (besides Alabama, they were always going to beat us). 

MichiganForever

August 16th, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^

I think with a good coach we get Devin Gardner from the back half of 2012. We dont regress on offense, and dont need to start Morris in whatever bowl game we make. I think a healthy confident Gardner with a competant offensive gameplan wins those close games for us. I mean we creamed a decent ND team. That team had talent. Not saying they were BCS level talented but with our schedule that year, a 1 loss team was very possible, and should have been how that team finished with decent coaching.

Now 2012 was definitely a very good team that was just unlucky, however I was always in favor of moving Gardner to QB and having Robinson in the slot. Unpopular but I think the end of the year showed the possibilities of lining up that amount of talent in the backfield. Absolutely criminal game play calling by Borges kept us from beating OSU that year.

stephenrjking

August 16th, 2016 at 11:26 PM ^

I continue to be astonished at people who firmly assert that Michigan was a sure win at Nebraska had Denard only stayed healthy. Obviously, Bellomy was a disaster, and the game was over the moment Denard stepped off of the field.

But since when do we have such confidence in the Hoke-Borges regime to credit them with a probable win on the road in a game that had already been going badly? Home teams were absolutely abominable on the road, and when games started tough they almost never got going, and never against good teams. Remember the Borges visits to MSU? Iowa? Unmitigated disasters. And the Nebraska game looked just like them. And then Denard got hurt.

Now, Michigan wasn't out of the game yet. But do you really see Hoke rallying the troops and Borges making the key adjustments to overcome a good Nebraska team, on the road, at night?

I don't.

SpikeFan2016

August 17th, 2016 at 2:00 AM ^

I guess you're right. But it really did make a massive difference. We had 0% chance when Denard went out in that game. 

 

If he stayed in we have at least a 50% chance. I'd probably put it at 75% honestly. That Nebraska team was not good, especially on defense. And that's the key difference. Defense was Nebraska's huge weakness in 2012 and Denard going out completely elminated their weakness. 

They gave up 70 points (SEVENTY POINTS) less than a month later to a mediocre Wisconsin team that lost to Oregon State, a Penn State team dealing with the immediate fallout of Sandusky and a 6-6 Michigan State team at home. Nebraska also gave up 63 (!!!!) points to Ohio State that year and 24 points to that horrid 2012 MSU offense that we held to 10 points. 

Their defense was crap and was the way to beat them. Denard's injury limited the only viable path to victory. That we scored only 9 points on their crap defense says it all. 

So yes, I do see that team being able to score 24 points on one of the top 3 worst defenses we played all season. We matched up well with Nebraska, but the injury alone elminated that. 

SpikeFan2016

August 16th, 2016 at 5:45 PM ^

Penn State 2013 DEFINITELY needs to be on the worst of list. 

This is an interesting conversation, because I can think of best/worst games easily, but plays are less thought of. 

I've been a fan since I started school in the fall of 2012 and the only 3 negative specific plays that stick out in my mind as horribleness I will never forget:

1) MSU 2015, the "punt" (*shudders*)

2) OSU 2013, the failed two point conversion (*so so sad*)

3) The THREE chances to beat Penn State in 2013 that all failed (*furious*)

 

In terms of best memories of a specific play:

1) 2015 Northwestern, opening kickoff return TD. Probably the loudest I've ever seen the Big House (maybe excepting 2013 ND and some key parts of 2013 OSU). Also, Defense chant at the end was incredible.

2) MSU 2012-winning field goal

3) OSU 2012 (god damn another game we should've won)-That Denard touchdown when he bounced between the two OSU defenders was incredible

3) Florida 2015: Chesson's TD was great, but so was the interception that killed Florida's drive at the end of the first half and really turned the game full speed towards us. 

4) BYU 2015-Smith's teleportation and Darboh's insane catch were both pretty awesome. 

 

Besides UTL II, 2013-2014 are devoid of positive memories for me. 

 

Tater

August 16th, 2016 at 12:21 PM ^

Sadly, Sparty fans will be remiding us of the Sparty Fluke forever.  The ESPN/ABC will play it a lot as their lead-in for the next ten years, like they did the Colorado play.  For that matter, I'm sure we'll see the Colorado play again this year, as if it's the least bit relevant to this year's teams.

Hab

August 16th, 2016 at 2:39 PM ^

Another Chris Perry performance will go a long way.  I will gladly shrug in the face of MSU fans for losing on a fluke play (clock operator game anyone) if it means I get to respond with games like 2003.

DonAZ

August 16th, 2016 at 3:19 PM ^

Sadly, Sparty fans will be remiding us of the Sparty Fluke forever.

Yeah, but if the final scoreboard shows a Michigan victory, who cares?  It's just Sparty relying on "glory days."  They milked 1966 for how long?  Decades.

(I'm reminded of Springsteen's song "Glory Days," which is, while catchy, not a celebration.  It is in fact a biting indictment of people who rely too heavily on what was rather than what is.  History and tradition has its place.  But you can't live on it.)

truferblue22

August 16th, 2016 at 11:03 AM ^

What always annoyed me about this play is that Clowney went through unblocked -- it's not like he tore through Lewan and leaped over Gardner and did a spin move or something before drilling Vince...he just went through unblocked. Of course a guy who is 6'7" is gonna be able to wipe out a dude who's half his size.

A good friend of mine was roommates with Vincent Smith last year and I told him I felt bad for him because it was totally unfair that the play got so big on tv for the reasons above. He actually laughed and thanked me for saying that. As all of us MGoBlogians know, he's a pretty good dude.

WolverineHistorian

August 16th, 2016 at 12:03 PM ^

Didn't Clowney also recover the ball after the hit? For a while, I thought that's why ESPN considered it the greatest play in the history of football. But they rarely ever showed the recovery, just the hit over and over and over from multiple angles.

Like you said, that play gets waaaaaay more credit than it deserves because it was unblocked on a player he towered over. It would be like a QB throwing a TD pass to a receiver while the defense stands on the sidelines for the play. What else did you expect to happen?

ijohnb

August 16th, 2016 at 12:14 PM ^

circumstances surrounding the play made it a bettter play than just the actual hit.  On the previous play we had gotten a "first down" despite the fact that the ball was clearly and unequivically a full two feet short of the marker.  The Clowney hit was the very next play and was poetic justice.  Yes, he did also recover the ball, almost in the same motion as the hit.  I know he was unblocked but it was quite a showing of freakish athletic ability and strength.

Hornsgoblue (not verified)

August 16th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^

Certainly a lot of luck had to happen here including the 49ers having a really bad year and a new AD who knew how to get it done but everything fell into place almost like something you would create in a dream.

stephenrjking

August 16th, 2016 at 12:56 PM ^

The Defense Chant encapsulates the consecutive shutouts and is a unique, special moment in Michigan's football history. Way overshadows anything else in that game, IMO, though those were still exciting moments.

SpikeFan2016

August 16th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^

Agreed. Being in that stadium, the electricity was unmatched. Everyone forgets that Northwestern was actually ranked in the top 15, higher than us, going into that game. It was to be our first "true test" (after Utah, obviously) and we knocked it out of the park.