Best Seasons in Michigan Football History (Individual)
As I read through this list on ESPN about the "Greatest Individual Seasons in Big Ten History", I started to think about who may have had the best individual single season performances for the Wolverines.
In my lifetime, obviously Charles Woodson is right up there, but there are many others who may make the list. Mike Hart, Chris Perry, Anthony Thomas, Steve Breaston, Braylon Edwards, Tacopants, Lloyd Brady, the list could go on and on.
Therefore, my question to you, MGoCitizens: what are some of the best single season performances by an individual Wolverine over the past 50 years?
Tim B. had a super season in 1995 I think. (not sure but I think it was his junior year?) same year he ran for 300+ on Ohio.
EDIT: had to go check spelling, Tim Biakabutuka.
Any running back that puts up 313 yards against Ohio is fantastic....He hold the highest rushing yard total for a single season that year, with 1818 (better than the A-Train). But most importantly , I was at that Ohio game, and the crowd was going absolutely crazy passing the chant of "Biaka"...."Butuka" back and forth across the Big House
This has significantly more meaning considering Eddie George won the Heisman and was held to 105 yards and one touchdown when TB had triple that a touchdown of his own on the biggest stage and the biggest game. The buckeyes were also ranked #2 when we put that beating down on them. To the Michigan O-Line's credit, you could drive a bus through some of the holes we were opening up.
Henne's freshmen year was pretty good. He had a rating of 132.6, threw for over 2700 yards, 25 TD's, and had 60% completion rating. May not be the best, but those are pretty solid stats for a freshmen.
may have had something to do with those numbers. Though Henne had the arm to make all the throws, I think his freshman year stats were inflated by the awesome receivers of that squad.
I agree with you about the receiving core. You could probably argue however that Henne never really did have a "weak" receiving core at any point in his career. Sure he didn't have Braylon after his freshmen year, but Breaston, Avant, Manningham, etc were no slouches by any means. After looking at his stats I guess I was just a little shocked to see that his freshmen year was his 2nd best year statistically behind his junior year.
Not that it set the reccord books on fire or anything, but it's been a long time since we had a feature back, so it was really nice to see. He had some great moves.
I won't say it, though, because I think his senior season is gonna be even better.
Honestly... Denard 2010. (Note: Been watching games consistently since the early 90's. So not that much of a newcomer. :) )
Honestly:
62.5% completion percentage
2570 Passing Yards (8.8 ypa)
1702 Rushing Yards (6.6 ypc)
328 YPG(!!)
32 Total TDs.
We all know he was the offense last year. I can't think of any other season where we depended so much on a single player, and have that player produce anywhere close to the way Denard did.
2010 Denard vs. the 2007 Heisman trophy winner looks awfully comparable. Tebow obviously wins the head-to-head in all categories but rushing stats, but still. That was one of the best seasons ever in college football.
How did his season end that year by the way-- I cant seem to remember.
| G | Att | Comp | Pct. | Yards | Yards/Att | TD | Int | Rating | Att/G | Yards/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 350 | 234 | 66.9 | 3286 | 9.4 | 32 | 6 | 172.47 | 26.9 | 252.8 |
| G | Att | Yards | Avg. | TD | Att/G | Yards/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 210 | 895 | 4.26 | 23 | 16.15 | 68.85 |
| G | TD | FG | 1XP | 2XP | Safety | Points | Points/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 138 | 10.6 |
| G | Rush Yards | Pass Yards | Plays | Total Yards | Yards/Play | Yards/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 895 | 3286 | 560 | 4181 | 7.5 | 321.6 |
With how hard we hit Tebow that game... he probably doesn't remember how that season ended either.
while an overall disapointment of a season, 2010 denard prolly had one of the better individual performances in my short memory.
Not to state the obvious, but Desmond's Heisman campaign was amazing. I remember watching just thinking that every play should be run to him and he wouldn't ever drop a pass. Grbac to Howard was the whole season that year.
Best receiver ever? A.C.
Best receiver single-season ever? Desmond
It started magically and just wouldn't stop.
It was the highest margin of victory for a Heisman winner, ever. (I think it's 3rd now).
Still think that Tim Biakabatuka's 95 game against Ohio was one of the best performances in a game.
37! carries, 313 yards 8.8 ypc.
(in contrast, Denard had 258 vs Notre Dame including the Longest Run Ever
Chris Perry 2003. 338 carries, over 1,600 yards, 18 TDs, Doak Walker Award, 4th in Heisman, All-American, Big Ten MVP. 51 Carries vs MSU.
1939: Tom Harmon – 2nd
1940: Tom Harmon – 1st
1947: Bob Chappius – 2nd
1964: Bob Timberlake – 4th
1976: Rob Lytle – 3rd
1978: Rick Leach – 3rd
1982: Anthony Carter – 4th
1986: Jim Harbaugh – 3rd
1991: Desmond Howard – 1st
1997: Charles Woodson – 1st
2003: Chris Perry – 4th
2006: Mike Hart – 5th
Rob Lytle should have won it in '76. I am forgetting details but I remember wondering how he lost it.
I will never forget his 51 carry game against MSU that year.
I saw that game live. After the game was over, some Spartan fan nearby had the temerity to complain about the refereeing in the game and that was the only reason MSU had lost. I suggested that the Spartan defense should've tried to find a way to stop the run. The guy muttered some obscenity at me and stormed off.
That was a pretty miserable day weather-wise, IIRC; probably complemented the mood in East Lansing well. I watched from my futon in South Quad, just being amazed how Perry would take FOREVER to get up from the pile, limp back to the huddle looking like a shell of a man, but then, somehow, he would perk up right before the snap and plow ahead for 4 more yards. No way he could move the next day.
It was 27-10 with like 11 minutes left. And still a 2 touchdown game with like 6 left. It was only a defensive TD at the end that even made it close. They WOULD have had to stop the run...the fact that we kept the ball for 4 of the last 5 minutes says they couldn't do it any better at the end than the beginning or middle.
back in '00.
| Season Rushing Top 20 'Net Yards' | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Name | Att | Yd+ | Yd- | Net Yd | Yd/Att | TD | Lng | Season |
| 1 | Tshimanga Biakabutuka | 303 | 1891 | 73 | 1818 | 6.0 | 12 | 60 | 1995 |
| 2 | Anthony Thomas | 319 | 1776 | 43 | 1733 | 5.4 | 18 | 68 | 2000 |
Good enough for #2 on the list.
But people forget how many yards he had on the season. It was an impressive year.
Do field goal kickers count? (If you can kick at Michigan, they should.)
In 1994, Remy Hamilton kicked 22 of 26 FG's for a success rate of 84.6%
In the last several years, we've been lucky if a kicker could make 30% of his FG kicks.
That was until we started motivating our kickers with brunettes.
I was at that ND game in 1994 when he kicked the game winner in South Bend. I was sitting next to my uncle who is a huge ND fan. Hamilton crushed many Irish fans souls that day.
After that game, ND really went on a noticable decline with its program. I'm not saying that made-kick caused it, but before that game, ND was still sitting on the top of the college football world after coming off an excellent '93 season. After that game, ND started to drop further and further down the list of elite programs.
Ron Johnson in 1968. 1391 Yards in a 10 game, no bowl season. Included 347 yards against Wisconsin. Finished 6th in the Heisman voting.
Hasn't the Mathlete looked at this with PAN/WPA? If not, that might be a good place to start.
I was a young kid just learning about the game, but I remember it seeming like every other carry he was breaking tackles and ankles. 1703 yards rushing, 6.0 ypc, 14 TDs including 234 yards and 3 TDs against Alabama in the Hall of Fame Bowl (now the Outback Bowl).
I know its hard to quantify excellence for a position like offensive tackle, other than being the 1st player taken in the NFL draft, but Jake was one of the most dominant lineman I've ever seen in college football in 2007. His performance was, to me, the equivolent to Woodson in that it was just shut down, lights out, forget about it for the other team in attacking at his position.
who won the Heisman in 1976, the same year Pitt won the NC. You might have heard of him. He was pretty good.
Mike Hart's 2004 season. I was at the game vs san diego state in 2004 where he first started getting some eyeballs popping out. Mike Hart will always be one of my all-time favorite Wolverines.
Chad Henne's 2004 season was incredible as well, he was the first true freshman QB to start at Michigan since Rick Leach.
Anthony Carter - 1980. All-American as a sophomore, on a team that predominately ran. I think he had 14 TDs, returned punts and kickoffs.
Rob Lytle - 1976. Set a school record at the time of over 1400 yards. I think he was 2nd or 3rd for the Heisman.
Jake Long - 2007. Protected Henne and opened massive holes for Mike Hart.
How about a few more guys from the defensive side? Lamarr Woodley, and a player many posters are too young to remember, Ron Simkins. The only difficulty here is that they each had multiple great seasons, making it difficult to single one out just one year.
http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fballam/aasimpki.htm