Change one play
A friend linked this brief article on Facebook, and I thought it might be a fun offseason hypothetical to kick around for a bit. The gist of the article is, if you could change one single play in the history of sports, what would it be?
For me, there are two close contenders. First, have us make that late field goal against OSU in the year of the tie & subsequent illegal "vote". Bo then gets the best shot he'd ever have at a national crown. Second, I'd say change the ruling on the goal review from the UMD National Championship loss in hockey back in 2011. Shawn Hunwick gets his crown, and the greatest underdog story in sports history has its perfection completion.
What do you guys think?
http://deadspin.com/if-you-could-change-the-outcome-of-one-play-which-w…
I am still pissed at the whole body of officiating in that title game. UM was roundly fucked by the refs that day. The Burke block is the poster for the inept/corrupt/terrible officiating. That game stands out to me as the worst officiating I have ever witnessed in any sport.
I will also say the 4 second 1 second UM v MSU in E. Landfill.
about Sparty Bob but really, that play did not make a whole lot of difference in terms of that team or the program. We stunk that year (yes I know we were ranked high but it was quite clear that we weren't all that) and played like crap. We deserved to lose that game.
Goal called back in 2011 against Duluth... heartbreaking
This isn't my number 1 choice, BUT....
PITCH THE BALL TO BREASTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To this day it is still the gold standard for me as the most piss poor example of officiating. Herbstriet in disbelief saying, "This is the worst officiating I have ever seen" to himself always sticks out in my mind.
That and watching Ecker just run out of bounds like he had no clue where he was.
I was there, sitting in the opposite end zone. To this day, I've never seen a replay that accurately captures just how chaotic it looked in person. The camera doesn't fully capture just how many fucking people were on the field while the play was still going on. Sun Belt refs ran right by us to get out of the stadium, IIRC. Total chaos, but par for the course that night.
Deshawn Sims' tip in at the horn vs. Sparty would have been great, but not program changing or anything. The App St. FG could have made a remarkable difference in the direction of the program.
Yep, I think that's the one I would go with too. We've never been quite right since that play.
2013 vs OSU... Devin Gardner hits the receiver and Michigan wins 'The Game' on a last-second 2pt conversion. He still probably lays down for a while to rest his broken everything, but he'd be happy about it.
I thought of this one too, but the nasty little problem is that changing that play might mean Hoke is still employed here. Which then means, guess who isn't employed here?
That's fair, but it feels like Devin really deserved that win for soldiering through the game (and the season) the way he did. That was a great edition of the rivalry either way, but it would have been that much sweeter to get the win.
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You assume that Michigan beating OSU would change nothing about last year. And...I'm not so sure. For one, does Hoke really fire Borges after that season if the OSU game ends in a W? And if Borges isn't fired, what does that mean for the 2014 season?
Hard to argue that game wasn't a masterpiece for Borges sans the 2-pt conversion play. I really believe it was Brandon who forced Hoke to fire Borges that offseason. Of course, given that Gardner wasn't able to play in the bowl game they probably would have crapped the bed against K-state anyway. The question is, would that have been enough to get Borges fired? I'm thinking probably not, since ruining Meyer's perfection at OSU would have been nirvana. The bowl game would have been a pass instead of a final test.
For all the flak Borges gets on this site (not undeservedly), his offense did manage to put up decent numbers for most of the ho-hum games. Unlike Nuss's offense, which was just atrocious all around. I honestly think with Borges they could have gone 8-4 and maybe even 9-3. Minus the guaranteed losses to ND, MSU, and OSU, the schedule was fairly light. Gardner and Borges clearly had some semblence of chemistry. Consider he went from 9.7 ypa in 2012 to 8.6 2013, then dropped to 6.7 in 2014. I don't think that's simply due to the loss of Gallon, but I could be wrong.
With Borges in the mix for 2014, would the ND curb-stomping have still happened? I say it's probably still a loss but not the utter anihilation it was under Nuss. So I really think it would come down to Gardner's performance in the Utah/Minnesota games. Bottom line is, if the Morris Incident, the student anti-Brandon rally, and email-gate had never happened, I doubt Brandon would have been canned.
Michael Hart tripping on the turf when sprinting to tie the game against Ohio State at 28-all in 2006. Instead we kicked an FG to trail by 28-24
Everyone wants to rant about Crable's hit, but Michigan got a makeup PI flag on the very next drive when Henne missed Manningham on 4th down. The killing plays in that game were the 50 yard TD runs by OSU RBs, the 1st being the most damaging IMO when a UM defender ran into a ref.
It's not blocked. We win.
Dennis Dixon was on pace to win the Heisman that year, they had some studs. Lloyd could never defend the mobile QB. I bet the game would be a whole lot closer though. App St. kinda beat us twice.
I'm sure. That game reminded me of getting smacked by Florida State in '91: we were not remotely prepared for that kind of speed.
I believe we used more than 1 kicker that year, and I had to search the roster to find out Jason Gingell was kicking.
Not as impactful as some of the others but would've been niced to see Kordell Stewart picked off.
How about John Navarre's prayer final throw in 2002 UM-OSU is caught for a touchdown, ruining OSU's perfect season and possibly putting us in the rose bowl?
That is a really good one. Alternatively, Braylon Edwards scored a TD for Michigan that was waved off due to PI.
No national title for Ohio State.
Like others, the one that sticks out to me if I look back through the last ten years or so is the late hit on Crable (as in, create a situation where he's not in a position to make such a hit) - to me, that completely changed the complexion of that game and at the worst possible moment really.
Going further back, maybe Webber's fateful TO, if only to see how that game may have turned out without it. This one is purely intellectual curiosity now, but when it happened, I still remember a room full of people shouting, "DAMNIT!"
For selfish reasons, I want John Navarre to find someone in the end zone in 2002 against OSU. I spent the next several months as the only UM fan in an Indiana High School suddenly full of Buckeye fans.
DON'T PITCH TO BIG PAPI!!!!
So, an IBB with the bases loaded? Interesting.
How about never pitching to Nelson Cruz?
RESULT:
Michigan wins outright Big Ten title. Ohio finishes 9-2 (lost earlier to MSU) and stays home.
No. 1 Oklahoma is on probation in 1974 because Switzer = cheater, so no bowl game for the Sooners.
New Year's Day January 1, 2 1975
Sugar Bowl
No. 2 ranked Alabama loses to Notre Dame 11-13. Irish lost earlier to USC (e.g. infamous Anthony Davis and Trojan comeback-to-blowout game 55-24).
Rose Bowl
No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 5 9-1-1 USC
Tight game, but Michigan wins 20-18 for national title led by Sr. QB Dennis Franklin and a great defense.
Michigan>USC>Notre Dame>Alabama. Michigan is only undefeated team besides Oklahoma and Miami (OH). Michigan wins first national title since 1948.
the desmond no PI only becasue no one had until you
but the other key contenders were covered as well
Let that field goal in...
The ball hanging on the rim against Indiana. If that fell, we would have had THREE Big Ten Championships in a row. That's bragging rights, big time. That might have been the game of the year in the Big Ten in 2013.
1985. #1 Iowa kicks a last second FG to beat #2 Michigan 12-10.
We win that game and we have a legit shot at the National Championship. That defense was disgusting.
But...
The Howard no call in the endzone...cheap
The Colorado Hail Mary...knock the ball down
The App St. play...of course
The Crable hit...derp
The Tyler Ecker non-pitch...argh
The Gardner 2-point conversion vs. OSU...run a fucking pick route! If it's called offensive PI then settle for OT!!!
The Morris hit...still infuriating
The Morgan put back vs. IU...brink of history
The clean/not clean Burke block on Siva...bullshit
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with a close third to trey burke's block. all three were potential national title screw ups by refs.
a lot of people mention the webber play, but i give dean smith more credit than that. he had a few fouls to give and it would have been very difficult to get any kind of quality shot in those final seconds.
Possibly as good as "Theband is on the field."
THROW THE GOD DAMN MOTHER@!$%#&*$%#^ BALL TO STEVE MUTHERFU&$#@!%@ BREASTON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLEXBPwF9_g
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