"The Game That Change College Football" - UM vs Northwestern, 2000
For those of you who have a subscription to The Athletic, and want a punch to the testicles on a Thursday morning, this is a great write-up about the 2000 UM vs Northwestern game.
To be honest, I don't really remember that game. I am sure I watched it, but I really have no recollection of it. Reading some of Lloyd Carr's quotes though, it is no wonder Michigan struggled against spread offenses for so long.
Carr: We did not have the ability to simulate as fast as Northwestern got to the line of scrimmage and snapped the ball [emphasis mine]. A lot of times the defenses had trouble getting the right players into the game. They created problems that you could not solve without some rule changes.
...
Carr: You know you’ve got some problems that you can only solve with having your offense keep the ball and score every time they get it because you were facing something that you weren’t prepared for, that anybody I know felt like they were prepared for [emphasis mine]. You had to bear with it and outscore them. At halftime I told them, “Look, there’s no answer for this except we can force some turnovers, but we’re gonna try to do a couple things in terms of our substitutions because we’re really getting hurt there.”
...
[Gary] Danielson: I don’t think Michigan made any changes in defense at all. They lined up the way they used to line up [emphasis mine]. They didn’t put anybody over the slots. They gave Zak a lot of easy throws. I was just like, “Whoa, they didn’t really prepare for this game at all.”
This game followed a bye week where Michigan had two weeks to prepare for Northwestern. Carr's comment about not having the ability to simulate Northwestern is baffling to me. With all the resources and players on Michigan's roster, they had no ability to simulate Northwestern. I think they had the ability to, but chose not to. To me, this was a perfect embodiment of Lloyd Carr's mindset: we are going to run what we always run, no matter what the other team does.
Despite that, Michigan was in position to win the game, and Northwestern needed a flukey play to win it. Despite the end result, it's a great read and well done.
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October 15th, 2020 at 10:46 AM ^
A show I grew up watching because it was my dad's favorite. When they (parents) visited me for the first time in the DC area, I took them to the National Museum of American History - he was elatedly ecstatic to behold Archie's green recliner.
For some reason, it's difficult to find reruns on TV these days...
October 15th, 2020 at 4:58 PM ^
Some shows don't date well.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
Remember when our biggest gripe was losing the odd clunker to a B1G also-ran?
Those were the days indeed.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:54 AM ^
I scheduled my Kellogg interview to take place the day before this game. Thursday I drove in from Farmington Hills and stayed at my brother’s place as he lived in Lincoln Park at the time. Friday I put on my awkward suit and tie and grabbed the purple line for Evanston.
The interview was a disaster. After her first question about my “extracurricular activities” during college I almost got up, handed her the $180 application fee check, and walked out. It would have saved us both time.
After watching that ugly loss we were walking out of the stadium and a drunk NW undergrad got in my face and yelled, “WE’RE SMARTER THAN YOU AND BETTER AT FOOTBALL!”. I had no rebuttle. We just walked back to the purple line with our heads down.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:57 AM ^
Rebuttle rebuttal?
October 15th, 2020 at 9:59 AM ^
"Didn't get into Kellogg, you say?"
October 15th, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
Ahhh, that’s why I didn’t get in. It’s also probably why I didn’t get into LS&A and to settle on engineering school.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:02 AM ^
"After her first question about my “extracurricular activities” during college I almost got up, handed her the $180 application fee check, and walked out."
There's an inside joke here that's completely escaping me. Could the MBAs on the board help? :)
October 15th, 2020 at 10:02 AM ^
I live in Evanston and used to drive my kid to school on Sheridan Rd which is the main thoroughfare on campus. In the winter, students would dart across the street during rush hour between lights, sometimes in near zero visibility snow. So to that point about being smarter.....
October 15th, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
I spent 2 years in that area (2004-2006). I actually lived in the Sheridan apartments just inside the Chicago city limits. We overlooked the cemetery that sits right on the lake front there. Hard to believe we paid under $700 a month for an apartment that had a Lake Michigan beach as a back yard.
It was a fun, although brief, adventure living there. Lots of parking tickets. haha
October 15th, 2020 at 2:18 PM ^
Hey, good thing you don't live there anymore because if there was ever a zombie apocalypse, all those dead corpse could wake up....oye.
A good friend of mine and his wife lived right on the lake in Evanston with an awesome view of the lake from their apartment it was pretty cool.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
Kellogg is good at cereal but they suck at academics so screw them
October 15th, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^
I’ll never forget this game. (Though I cannot remember if we were sitting together? My dad was with my group, secretly rooting for Northwestern despite wearing Michigan gear as he lived just down the street and had season tickets in various years.)
When Damien Anderson dropped the sure game-clinching pass, I deliriously shouted over and over again, “No Heisman for Damien Anderson.” A few plays later, I had to give Anthony Thomas the same treatment.
I swear Epstein had the leg to make the game-tying kick. That game deserved overtime if ever there was one that did.
ANYWAY, on the way out a Northwestern fan got in my face and said, “Hahahha, go back to Lansing!”
October 15th, 2020 at 3:48 PM ^
Yep, this is one of the most memorable games of my Michigan fandom. Impossible to forget that Damien Anderson and Anthony Thomas fumble sequence and the fact it was a Big 12 score-on-every-possession game before the big 12 was doing that.
I was a freshman watching on the fourth floor of Markley screaming up and down the halls with half the dorm every time someone scored. It was crazy to watch Michigan get lit up like that at a time when Michigans defenses were completely dominant.
October 16th, 2020 at 1:22 PM ^
A-Train fumbled but Anderson dropped a very catchable pass, not a fumble.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:55 AM ^
Dong punch Thursday?
October 15th, 2020 at 9:57 AM ^
One of my biggest regrets was not going to Evanston for this game with some friends. Instead, I had to watch it on our 27" TV in south quad.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
Taylor House? We watched the 'Miracle on Ice' in the lounge there.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:57 AM ^
I remember that game for the death by a thousand Damien Anderson carries that it was.
October 15th, 2020 at 9:58 AM ^
Lloyd was a great coach. He also seemed to subscribe to some kind of constitution that looked at spread offenses, running QB’s, substitution games (started by Tiller), using tempo, etc as somehow cheating or a dishonorable way to gain an advantage. That’s why I want to barf everytime I hear Lloyd era guys talk about “expectation for the position”, as if as long as you play your position well, strategy and game plans somehow don’t matter. The Lloyd era was good for one L every year (yes, besides 97) from what looked like a lack of gameplan or being prepared for things their opponents did frequently.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
20 years later and we’re still clueless to that fact you’re not going to stop teams that have great passing attacks that will push the envelope with tempo yet we continue to make no efforts to replicate it ourselves offensively.
October 15th, 2020 at 3:19 PM ^
This is the key takeaway from this thread. If I'm Minnesota, I try to do a lot of this against us this year.
October 15th, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^
Its communist football...
October 15th, 2020 at 10:00 AM ^
"... problems that you can only solve with having your offense keep the ball ..."
Yes, Lloyd, because a touchdown resulting from a long, manly, punch-the-opponent-in-the-mouth drive somehow results in more points than one scored through a bunch of short passes (and utilizing the basketball-on-grass approach that is most certainly not manly).
As the OP suggests, that was the Schembechler regime (which included Carr to some degree but Moeller not as much) in a nutshell. Occasional mind-bending losses when you have superior firepower, rarely [1] any mind-bending wins when you're outgunned ...
[1] I'm not forgetting the mid-'90s OSU upsets. Unfortunately those always trailed seasons with mind-bending losses. As well, OSU wasn't in complete Death Star mode then. There wasn't the disparity in talent that exists today.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
I really liked Lloyd as our coach. But I always wonder what Michigan would have been with Moeller. He seemed to be much more ok with using the pass and modernizing the offense. Lloyd got the National Championship, but I think Michigan could have had possibly more success under Moeller.
I was always frustrated when Lloyd would finally unleash the offense in a bowl game (Brady's huge night against Bama comes to mind, and obviously 2007 Florida), not because I didn't love seeing them play like that in a bowl, but because I know I could have seen a version of this all year.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:51 AM ^
The NFL talent across the board in the 90s and 2000s was fun to watch, but it makes me want to puke to think what we could have done going five wide with those receivers all the time.
October 15th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
Moeller was, indeed, more wide open in general. But when push came to shove, he was every bit as stubbornly conservative as Bo and Lloyd could ever be. When the game was tight, he went into an offensive shell and reverted to what he grew up with - 3 yards and a cloud of dust.
Witness the 1991 game against FSU. Moeller ran the ball 44 times in what quickly became a shootout. Most of those runs were in the 2nd half, when he tried to slow down the game instead of continuing to score points. That was so very frustrating to watch...
October 15th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
When the game was tight, he went into an offensive shell ...
I can think of one famous time he didn't: the 1988 Hall of Fame Bowl, when Mo stood in for Bo, who was recovering from heart surgery. Late in the 4th, down by 4, 4th and 3, Mo skipped the run for first down and instead called for the Demetrious Brown to John Kolesar pass, which resulted in the game-winning TD.
I always thought it was a good thing that Bo was watching in the Cardiac Care unit. That play call could've given him a coronary. It nearly did to me.
October 15th, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
The pass from Elvis to Desmond in a tight ND game certainly was not “going into a shell.”
October 15th, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
Good Lord, I had forgotten about that call! While still in the Navy, I drove from Charleston to Tampa specifically to attend my first ever bowl game. Found a ~decent seat way up on the 20 yd line, or so, with a bunch of locals that just wanted to watch a good game. That TD play was right in front of us, and the reaction was like sitting in the student section!
The next best part about that game was the walk to the sombrero through the parking lot. When I got close, the UM band was forming up to march in. At the same time, the Bama band was marching around the stadium doing their Roll Tide chant thingy. Uh-huh... As the appointed time came, Michigan struck up the Victors and marched right through the Bama band (which was strung out about 50yds long) into the stadium.
That day was glorious!
EDIT: I must come clean about the band thing - I don't clearly remember if the UM band marched through Bama, marched directly in front of them, or just played the Victors loud enough to drown them out. The most plausible is drowning them out. I want to believe they marched through them, though - but I kind of doubt it. Certainly drowned them out, and may have also marched directly in front of them. Wish I would have been smart enough to immortalize it in photos...
October 16th, 2020 at 1:24 PM ^
0% chance the doctors let Bo watch that game.
October 15th, 2020 at 1:44 PM ^
Oh, I witnessed it alright. I was sitting in Tallahassee with a woman who was a crazed FSU fan. To this day she has never let me forget it.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:48 AM ^
It's still the mindset of Harbaugh...even though we don't huddle anymore we still take forever and a fucking day at the line.
We still can't even run a two minute drill.
October 15th, 2020 at 11:15 AM ^
But Harbaugh at least recognizes his own shortcomings and hires *outside* staff (Gattis, etc.) that can compensate. Lloyd just promoted from within - no change.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:41 PM ^
I agree with this to a point, but will the hiring of Gattis and others change Harbaugh's late-game management? I don't know.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
To be fair we also needed a fluky play to think we'd survive. Damien Anderson dropped a wide open TD on 4th down with over a minute left. In hindsight we probably win if he catches it because no way they stop that Henson offense with that much time.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:08 AM ^
Really? You bring up this game? That A-Train fumble STILL haunts me.
Stan Parrish literally closed his clipboard once he saw Thomas had the first down. Now all he has to do is come down with it, and we can kill the rest of the clock and just go home with an ugly win. And then, for reasons that will never be known, the ball just simply falls out of his hands. Fumble.
I'm just glad that Northwestern has had MANY heartbreaking losses to us since. Yes, I'm bitter and still hold a grudge. But f*** you guys for being handed one of the biggest gift fumbles in football.
Just one week later, that same Northwestern team could only score 17 points in a loss to a 3-9 Iowa team.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
I think my favorite part of the article was toward the end when they recapped the remainder of the season for each team.
Michigan beat Penn State and then Ohio State, also finishing 8-3.
Ah yes, I do remember what that felt like. In a season with a terrible loss like that to Northwestern, UM was still able to beat OSU.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:27 AM ^
Yes. And in THAT game, we were down 9-0 just a few minutes into the game. But I felt no panic in my gut. Just annoyance. As soon as A-Train scored to make it 9-7, I thought to myself, "we got this."
Compare that to now where there's little hope out of the gate. And that missed extra point on our opening drive last year was all but confirmation that it was going to be a disaster of a game.
Well, now I'm depressed.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
Hutchinson's pancake block on the A-Train screen pass touchdown, 30 yards down the field, is probably my favorite block in the history of football.
Henson's second quarter passes to Terrell (one on the sideline, one for the TD) are insane.
The 4th down running play for Henson at the end.
What an amazing game.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:48 AM ^
I don't think Henson's Junior year gets enough respect with the success that Brady had in the NFL.
Brady was by far the better QB the previous two years, and I defended Brady to many Patriot fans back in the day, with stories of his heroics in the fourth quarter against MSU, and his game against Bama, but Henson's Junior year was one of the best QB years I can remember. Yes he was throwing to Terrel, Walker, and Avont, but damn, if he didn't throw all over the field. I still feel robbed not getting to see him play for Michigan as a senior. I think Terrell would have returned, and we would have had one of the best offenses in all of college football.
October 15th, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^
He made a HUGE mistake taking that check from Steinbrenner...
October 15th, 2020 at 11:14 AM ^
Terrell, Walker, and Bellamy. Not Jason Avant.
October 15th, 2020 at 11:23 AM ^
Thanks. Was doing it from memory and that's always a bad idea.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
Bellamy coached my son.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:55 AM ^
As soon as A-Train scored to make it 9-7, I thought to myself, "we got this."
Compare that to now where there's little hope out of the gate. And that missed extra point on our opening drive last year was all but confirmation that it was going to be a disaster of a game.
Ugh. Spot on. Now I'm depressed too.
October 15th, 2020 at 1:02 PM ^
didn't Terrell drop a TD pass that hit him square in the hands in the 4th quarter that would have put us by 16???
October 15th, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
I know this has been said, and I know most fans don’t care, but Harbaugh has faced a National Championship level OSU every single year he’s been here. While that was also the case some years when we had success against OSU, it was not every single year. Don’t @ me, I know it’s Michigan and OSU is the most important game, but let’s have some perspective.
October 15th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
Auburn faces a national championship level Alabama every year too