It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years since Michigan’s biggest upset win

So there is hope this year.

I worked for ABC that day and then went back to the Daily to help put together the next day’s sports section. One of my favorite days and nights on earth.

It'll be another 50 years until we beat a good OSU team.

It most certainly NOT has been 50 years since John Navarre, Steve Breaston and Chris Perry scored 31 points in the 4th quarter to beat Marion Barber and the other Golden Gophers 38-35 handing Minnesota their first loss of season and dropping their record to 6-1 while simultaneously handing Michigan the Little Brown Jug

Yes, It Can Happen

https://youtu.be/6BjSoxG1Upk

Look up - look down
Look out - look around
Look up - look down
There's a crazy world outside
We're not about to lose our pride

We are over due for another big upset, shit we are way over due just to beat OSU.

I was 6 and don't remember the game. My first grade teacher was a big fan was very happy and that is the time I got interested in Michigan football as a 1st grader, after the big upset win.

Are we still able to storm the field? 

It can happen again. I'm not optimistic that it'll happen this year, by any stretch of the imagination but this is a nice reminder that crazy shit happens and you never know. A dinged up Justin Fields pushing them to their crappy backup QB. Some timely turnovers that lead to easy points. Catching a break just goddamn once against those assclowns. Things happen.  Fergodsakes Brady Hoke was close to beating Urban Meyer teams. 

Show up, play our asses off, don't beat yourself with mistakes, and pray like hell you catch a couple lucky breaks. Stranger things have happened.

While washing cars at Russ Thomas Auto sales in Flint, I heard Robert Ufer announce a ball game. From that day on I didn't miss a game. He won my heart and I couldn't help but become a Michigan man!  

The day Ohio came to bury Michigan

All wrapped in maize and blue

The words were said, the prayers were read

And everybody cried

But when they closed the coffin

It was someone else inside.  I love it. Great memories

56 years ago today, one of the most traumatic events in American history occurred: the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

On that same day, William Clay Ford purchased the Detroit Lions from the syndicate that had controlled the Lions since 1948. During the 1950s, the Lions won four Western Conference titles, played in the NFL championship game four times, and won three league titles, the last in 1957.

Let’s do it again. Seriously. 

I was there.  It was cold 

Disclaimer:  I was 6.

I still have the program!

How about beating the #1 ranked Miami Hurricanes and Bernie Kosar in 1984?

The season was rough, but that was a great opener.  It was my sophomore year.

I think we do it again this year.  Urban Meyer being gone is a big deal.  Our program wants and needs to win the game more than they do.  Donny B and Joshy G throw the kitchen sink at it and we pull the upset!

Decided to comment here as the comments degenerated quickly. 

The best game ever.  Sat on the 50 and carried in an unsold ticket I could not get $5 for.  Touched the goalpost as it was passed over my head.  My friend Rob Saltzstein, who wrote for the Daily (The Salt Mind) labelled the game "A Titanic, Epic, Struggle".  9 of us own a brick with that logo outside of the stadium to memorialize the game and our days at Michigan.

OSU was favored by 17 IIRC. Crazy, wish I'd been around. Instead my first year as a fan was the very first year completely after the Bo/his assistants eras- Rich Rod's first year. It's been rough guys lol.

This is really long, but it's Bo's own words on that game.  Enjoy.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Only Iowa stood between us and our showdown with Ohio State. We went down to Iowa City, took the ball on our first drive, and marched 77 yards for a touchdown.

We never looked back.  By the final gun, it was Michigan-51 Iowa-6.  An awesome display of football.  “Your guys knocked the tar out of us,” Iowa coach Ray Nagel told me. 

 He should have seen what went on in the locker room afterwards.  Not a single player took off his uniform.  A chant began from the back of the tiny room, and it grew and grew until my ears were ringing.  “BEAT THE BUCKS!  BEAT THE BUCKS! BEAT THE BUCKS!”

 I swear, there was saliva dripping in there.  You could not catch your breath.  “BEAT THE BUCKS!”  I could not calm them down.  I didn’t try.  I joined in the cheer, as eager to defeat my old coach as they were to defeat their arch rivals.  “BEAT THE BUCKS!  BEAT THE BUCKS!”  They were pounding on the walls and slamming chairs.  “BEAT THE BUCKS!”

 “Look at this!” I screamed to Jerry Hanlon over the raucous noise.  “I’ll tell you something.  That bleeping Ohio State better be good – or we’ll kill them.” 

 The next seven days were an explosion of energy and impatience.  The game couldn’t come fast enough.  The whole school was into it, hippies and crew cuts alike.  Do you think they can do it?  No way they can do it – can they?  Only we knew.  But we still had to get through practice.  The weather was terrible.  Cold.  Dreary.  On Tuesday, it snowed so badly, the entire field was covered. 

 “All right, everybody inside the football building except freshmen and coaches,” I said, rubbing my hands together.  I turned to those guys and told them to get some shovels from maintenance. 

 “We are gonna clean this field.”

 Less than a hour later, we were practicing.  Hey, a tornado wouldn’t have stopped us.  We were just days away from our dream.  BEAT THE BUCKS!  Our defense already knew as much about Ohio State as was possible.  Our offense was already patterned after theirs.  Every drill was like running against them.  We were, in essence, about to face our shadow.  Only this time our shadow had arms and legs and a twenty-two game winning streak. 

 “Gentlemen,” I said, during that week, marching amongst them,” Ohio State has the All-American Rex Kern at quarterback.  Moorhead, are you prepared to play better than Rex Kern this Saturday?”

 “Yes, coach!”

 And, gentlemen, Ohio State has the great Jim Otis at fullback.  Craw.  Are you ready to play a better game than the great Jim Otis?”

 “Yes, coach!”

 I had photos of the Ohio State players taped to each of my players’ lockers.  I wanted them to see their rivals every day.  Usually, you can only ask a player to outplay the man he is facing.  But to win on this Saturday – to pull off the upset of the decade in college football – each of us had to perform beyond his Buckeye parallel as well. 

 “Ohio State has the mean and nasty Jack Tatum, the All-American, at defensive back.  Thom Darden, are you prepared to outplay Mr. Tatum?”

 “Yes, coach!”

 Of course, I really didn’t need to ask this of my juniors and seniors.  Most of those guys – Mandich, Dierdorf, Moorhead, Craw, Curtis, Barry Pierson, Cecil Pryor – had been humiliated the year before by Ohio State.  The Buckeyes had been way ahead, and their last touchdown gave them a 48-14 lead.  They went for the two-point conversion for an even 50. 

Football players don’t forget that sort of thing.  If they did, I was going to remind them.  I had “50” taped to every player’s uniform. 

They wore that humiliation all week. 

 By Friday, we could see scarlet and grey in our sleep.  The mood was electric.  We had stayed away from interviews.  We had kept outside distractions to a minimum.  Ohio State was favored by 17 points, and around the country, nobody gave us a chance.  The network wasn’t even sending its first string crew.  Why bother?  It was forgone conclusion that we would lose: not only lose, but be blown out. 

 We went to the hotel that night, and right in the middle of bed check, the power went out.  No heat.  No lights.  I had to run from room to room, throwing blankets on all of my players, trying to urge them to sleep. 

 “Forget the cold,” I said.  “We know what we have to do.  Let’s get some rest now and tomorrow we’ll do it.”

No heat?  No lights?  Was this some kind of an omen?  Around 3 A.M., I finally settled into bed.  My eyes were wide open.  What I hadn’t told anybody was how nervous I was, facing my old coach for the first time.  Was I capable of beating Woody Hayes?  The man who had tortured me the way I was torturing my team?  The man who had taught me everything about football, motivation and success?  I had given each of my players a shadow to out-perform; mine was the man with the square shoulders and the slicked-back hair.  Woody Hayes.  My god.  I was about to fight my football father. 

 The room was black and silent.  I closed my eyes.

 Hurry, morning. 

 Game day.  The parking lot was mobbed with fans.  Maize and blue was everywhere.  We dressed in businesslike fashion, allowing the energy to build, slowly, gradually, because we would need all of it.  I motioned for the players to follow me through the tunnel for our pre-game drills, the first thing we saw when we hit the sunlight was the old man himself.  Boom!  He was standing there, in his traditional white shirt and tie, hands on his hips, warming up his nationally famous team… on OUR side of the field!

 We froze.

 “Hey, Bo,” Mandich said, “he’s on our side!”

 “Yeah,” echoed the other players, “what’s he doing on our side? … Tell him to move, Bo … What’s going on?”

 So it began.  Saturday had finally arrived, and I hadn’t even made it to the sidelines before my old coach attacked.  Damn that son of a gun.  He knew what side of the field he was supposed to be on.  It was a mind game.  I had seen him use it countless times – but never on me!

 “Come on,” I grumbled to my guys, “let’s go.”

 We marched out there and took our spots, and I stepped up to Woody.  “Coach,” I said, trying to disguise the trembling in my gut, “you’re warming up on the wrong end of the field.  You’re supposed to be down at that other end.” 

 Woody stared at me.  I did not blink. 

 “Okay, Bo,” he said, his jaw set.  “Fine.”  He turned and waved.  “Come on, men!  Let’s go.”

 Whew.  I looked back to my players, and they were whooping it up.  They had just seen me send the great Woody Hayes marching downfield.  I don’t know what Woody had hoped to accomplish, but it had just backfired.  We were even more pumped. 

“BEAT THE BUCKS!  BEAT THE BUCKS!”

 How can I describe the feeling in Michigan Stadium that day?  From the moment the band played and we came charging out into the cold air, under the maize and blue banner, there was an electricity that I have never felt in a football game since.  It was as if all of the energy from a season’s worth of tackles and body-slams had just been released.  We could hardly stand still.  The stadium was packed, 103,588 people – at least 30,000 from Ohio State – the largest crowd in Michigan history.  The noise was shocking, deafening; it made you dizzy. 

“Are we getting too high?” my coaches kept asking. 

 “No, let’s get higher,” I said. 

 “Bo, they won’t remember what they’re doing out there!”

 “The hell they won’t!  This is everything!”

 The two teams lined up for the opening kickoff and I glanced across the sidelines at Woody.  He paced up and down in that white shirt, the general, the field master.  I remembered the time I told him I was leaving him to become the head coach at Miami.  “You can’t go,” Woody replied.  “You’ll be head coach here at Ohio State as soon as I retire.  Why do you want to go?” 

 Now I was worse than gone: I was across the sidelines.  I had dragged those young men behind me through the most grueling season of their lives – all for this one November afternoon, this one team, this one game.  Ohio State.  Ohio State.  BEAT THE BUCKS!

“AaaaaaahhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHH” screamed the crowd as we kicked off …

 THE GAME –

 One of the things the Michigan coaching staff had stressed all week was containing Rex Kern.  They knew that Jim Otis was going to get some yardage, but they felt they couldn’t let Kern beat them with his feet.  After Tom Campana returned the opening kickoff to the Buckeye 44-yard line, the philosophy was tested. 

 On the first play from scrimmage, Kern dropped back and then scrambled down the sideline for a 25-yard gain.  It was exactly the kind of play the Michigan coaches were worried about.  Jim Otis then carried the ball three consecutive times for another first down. 

 Ohio State was marching down the field and seemed to be picking up right where they had left off in 1968.  After a penalty backed the Buckeyes up five yards, Kern hit Otis with a pass to the Michigan 11 yard line to set up fourth-and-two.  In subsequent years, Woody was almost assuredly opt for the short field goal in this type of situation early in the game.  But his team was moving the ball on Michigan, and no one had stopped his team all year.  Hayes decided to go for it. 

 Otis rammed into the line but was stuffed by Henry Hill, Mike Taylor, and Brian Healey.  The fired up Wolverine defense stormed off of the field after the stop to an ovation from the Michigan crowd. 

 The Ohio State defense answered the stop by forcing a three-and-out on Michigan’s first possession, and the Wolverines would have to punt from their goal line. 

 Larry Zelina fielded the punt at midfield on the run.  He split the Michigan defenders and broke a tackle by Garvie Craw at the 27-yard line before being knocked out of bounds by punter Mark Werner at the 15.  For the second time in the first few minutes of the game, the Buckeyes were threatening. 

 The Buckeyes didn’t waste the excellent return by Zelina.  Kern hit Jan White for a first down at the Michigan 5-yard line.  Then, on third-and-goal from the 1, Jim Otis dove into the end zone for his 35th career touchdown.  Stan White missed the extra point, but Ohio State was up 6-0.  It looked like they were on their way to their 23rd consecutive victory. 

 Glenn Doughty gave Michigan good field position when he returned the ensuing kickoff to the Wolverine 44-yard line.  On second down, Don Moorhead hit Mike Oldman for 8 yards and Garvie Craw got the first down on the following play.  Moorhead then passed to Jim Mandich for seven yards, and Craw gained another first down with a 5-yard run.  Two plays later, Moorhead again hit Mandich for a nice gain down to the Ohio State 20. 

 “We surprised them,” recalls center Guy Murdock.  “Their defense hadn’t been challenged all year, and we were mixing up our passing and running plays well.  We had them off balance.  And we were knocking them off the ball.”

 The next play gained another first down on a nice wingback counter inside to John Garber for 11 yards.  On first-and-goal from the 9, Don Moorhead ran an option play down to the 3-yard line.  As a true Woody Hayes disciple, Bo then put the offense in a fullback backfield and gave the ball to the fullback.  Garvie Craw smashed into the end zone, carrying two defenders with him as the crowd went crazy.  After Frank Titus kicked the extra point, the score was 7-6 Michigan and the Buckeyes trailed for the first time in the 1969 season. 

 Being behind for the first time since the Rose Bowl didn’t seem to phase the Ohio State offense.  Kern passed to Zelina for one first down, then hit Jan White on a tight end drag route across the middle for a big 28-yard gain down to the Michigan 30.  After Jim Otis plowed forward for a nine-yard run, Kern got another first down on a quarterback keeper. 

 The Buckeyes made it look easy as they marched methodically down the field.  After a fumbled pitch on an option play brought up third-and-fourteen, the first quarter ended. 

 On the first play of the second quarter, Kern and White struck again.  Kern dumped a short pass over the middle to White who raced toward the sideline.  White outran Tom Curtis and a diving Brian Healey to the corner as he scampered into the end zone. 

 “We felt really good about what we were doing up to that point.  But something changed after that.  Bo had those guys so well prepared,” recalls Kern. 

 Stan White kicked the extra point, but Michigan was penalized for being offsides.  Instead of taking a 13-7 lead, Woody felt confident enough with the half-the-distance penalty that he decided to go for two to make up for the previous miss.  Kern rolled out to pass but was chased down by Cecil Pryor and Mike Keller, and sacked. 

 Michigan’s lead had been short-lived as Ohio State went back in front 12-7.  Even though they had given up a touchdown, the momentum seemed to swing to the Michigan defense on that play.  They wouldn’t relinquish it for the rest of the game. 

 The remaining 14:52 of the first half would be one of the most significant and exciting quarters in Michigan football history.  Glenn Doughty had another good return on the ensuing kickoff, and Michigan started their drive on their own 33.  Moorhead continued to keep the Ohio State defense off balance by hitting Bill Harris for a first down to the 44-yard line.  Moorhead and Gabler runs accounted for ten more yards, and Michigan was again in Buckeye territory. 

 Mandich then caught another Moorhead pass at the Ohio State 33 and was belted down by Jack Tatum and Tim Anderson.  “We had a great game plan,” Don Moorhead explains.  “We ran off tackle at them and would then hit Mandich behind their linebackers.  It just all worked beautifully that day.”

 On the next play, Billy Taylor had a magnificent twisting and turning 28-yard run.  One of Michigan’s favorite plays was 55 Draw and it was executed perfectly.  Fullback Garvie Craw chopped down Tatum on the corner and Taylor cut outside.  He broke tackles by Provost and Sensibaugh, stopped on a dime to let another defender run past him, and was finally knocked out of bounds by Mark Debevec on the Buckeye 5.

 The ecstatic Michigan Stadium crowd went crazy, and they got even louder when Craw pounded in for his second touchdown of the day two plays later.  Titus’s extra point was good, and Michigan led a shocked Ohio State team 14-12. 

 The electricity was palpable in the stadium, and the Michigan defense fed off it.  They shut down the Buckeye offense in three plays on the following possession and forced a punt. 

 Mike Sensibaugh boomed a punt that came into Barry Pierson’s hands at the Michigan 38.  Pierson shot through the first wave of defenders and was off to the races.  He set up blocks downfield as he wound his way through Ohio State territory before he was finally brought down at the 3-yard line by Sensibaugh and Bruce Jankowski. 

 It wasn’t Pierson’s first long return of the year, but it was the biggest.  “We had actually had about five or six long returns like that earlier in the year,” Pierson remembers.  “Back then, the first wave of defenders didn’t come down under control and one move would often help you break free.  After I got past them, my teammates did a great job blocking downfield.  I just followed them.  It couldn’t have come at a better time.”

 ABC broadcaster Bill Fleming commented on the reaction of the crowd: “Michigan Stadium is in absolute bedlam!”

Two plays later,  Moorhead faked to Craw, who was swallowed up by the Ohio State defense, and ran into the end zone.  After Titus made his third extra point of the day, Michigan led 21-12. 

 Jerry Hanlon was Michigan’s offensive line coach that day.  “You could tell that Ohio State was shocked,” said Hanlon.  “They hadn’t really been tested all year and usually, by this point in the game, they had already knocked out their opponents.  But our players were taking it to them.”

 Even though they were in an incredibly hostile stadium and in the unfamiliar position of being behind, the Buckeyes fought back.  After the kickoff, three straight runs by Kern gave Ohio State a first down near midfield.  Jim Otis then ripped off a great 25-yard run on a fullback drive play and, just like that, the Buckeyes were at the Michigan 27. 

 After a short run by Leo Hayden, Rex Kern was flushed from the pocket and sacked back at the 36 by Pete Newell.  On third down, Kern’s pass fell incomplete and a promising Ohio State drive was stopped. 

 As the punt team entered the game, a fired up Michigan defensive unit left the field celebrating to another thunderous ovation.  This would be the final trip into Michigan territory for the Buckeyes until the final moments of the game. 

 The Wolverine offense took over at their 20-yard line and continued to attack the vaunted Ohio State defense.  Craw and Moorhead gained a total of eight yards on the first two plays, and then Moorhead ran the option for twelve more and a first down.  Michigan continued to mix quick hitting runs by Craw and Taylor with option keepers by Moorhead, and moved the ball down to the Ohio State 34. 

 “We had to run right at them,” Bo recalls.  “They were too fast to run away from.  A lot of teams would stay away from Tatum’s side, but he’ll hunt you down if you do that.  We ran and passed right at him.”

 On third-and-eight from the 34, Moorhead rolled right and fired a pass to a wide open Jim Mandich who raced down to the Buckeye 8-yard line.  The Buckeye defense stiffened from there.  Michigan faced fourth-and-goal from the 3.  Bo Schembechler felt that his team had a firm grasp on the momentum of the game and decided to go for the jugular.  Instead of kicking the field goal, Michigan went for it.

 Don Moorhead dropped back and rifled a pass into Mandich’s hands in the middle of the end zone for a touchdown.  The crowd and the Wolverine players all celebrated as no one noticed there had been a flag on the play.  The touchdown was called back and with fourth-and-goal from the 8, Bo decided to kick the field goal.  Tim Killian split the uprights, and Michigan had a 24-12 lead. 

 The teams traded interceptions in the final minute of the first half as Kern threw two and Moorhead threw one.  Kern’s second interception was a Hail Mary on the final play of the first half.  As the Michigan team roared into the locker room, the Ohio State players were in shock but were eager to rebound in the second half.  No team had scored 24 points on the Buckeyes all season, and Michigan had that at half time. 

 George Chaump remembers what went on in the Ohio State locker room.  “There was no panicking or heads down.  We coached and made adjustments, confident that we would come back and win the game.  We were only down by twelve points.  We felt that if we could regroup at half time, we would come out on top.”

The scene inside the Michigan locker room was much more animated.  “The players were sky high,” Bo said.  “The coaches were screaming and players were beating on each other.  My defensive coordinator, Jim Young, was a very reserved guy.  But as he was diagramming plays in front of the team, he began pounding the blackboard over and over again, saying louder and louder, ‘They … will …not … score …again!  Gentlemen, I promise you they … WILL (pound!) NOT (pound!) SCORE (pound!) AGAIN!” 

 Michigan’s first drive of the second half started at their own 28-yard line, and they picked up where they had left off before halftime.  The Wolverines picked up three first downs and were again in OSU territory as they continued to mix strong runs with Moorhead’s passing.  The drive was finally stopped by the Ohio State defense at the 30 where Tim Killian attempted a 47-yard field goal.  The kick was short of the goal line, but the Michigan players downed the ball on the OSU 2-yard line.  The Buckeyes moved the ball from the shadow of their own goal posts but were unable to sustain the drive as both teams traded punts on their ensuing possessions. 

 Ohio State than took over at their own 21-yard line and disaster struck.  Henry Hill fought through a double-team block and hit Kern just as he was releasing a pass.  The ball sailed high into the air and was picked off by Barry Pierson at the OSU 27.  In what would be a recurring theme during the second half, the OSU defense rose to the occasion after a turnover gave the ball to Michigan in scoring position.  The Wolverines were unable to generate a first down, and Killian missed a 43-yard field goal. 

 On their next possession, the Buckeyes were victimized by Barry Pierson yet again.  Kern lofted a third-down pass deep over the middle, and Pierson snatched it out of the air at the Michigan 28.  Pierson returned the interception all the way back to the Ohio State 35-yard line. 

 “Bo kept telling us all week that he knew what they were going to do,” Pierson explains.  “He told us that if they put a man in motion or lined up in a certain formation, that this or that would happen.  It really hit home to us when that’s exactly what they did.  We were so confident because Bo had them down cold.” 

 Following the interception, the Michigan offense could only generate one first down, and Killian against missed a field goal attempt. 

 As the fourth quarter got under way, the Buckeyes again started at their own 20 following a missed field goal.  After three runs by Jim Otis netted one first down, the OSU offense then faced a fourth-and-two from it’s own 42. 

 With 13 minutes left in the game, Woody Hayes decided that he needed to go for it instead of punting the ball back to Michigan.  From the fullhouse backfield, Kern faked a hand-off to Otis, then ran left.  Pete Newell fought off a block, shot into the backfield, and tackled Kern for a loss. 

The Michigan defense celebrated wildly as they ran off the field to a thunderous ovation from their fans.  The Michigan Stadium crowd was sensing that a huge upset was approaching if Ohio State couldn’t so something very quickly. 

 After the big stop, Michigan took possession at the Buckeye 40-yard line.  The Wolverines were able to eat time off the clock by getting two first downs.  The second one came on a 7-yard pass from Moorhead to Mike Oldham on a fourth-and-six play.  The OSU defense eventually stiffened and stuffed Garvie Craw on a fourth-and-one from the OSU 10.  This kept Ohio State in the game.  But now the clock was definitely becoming a factor. 

 The Michigan defense again rose up and forced a three-and-out by Ohio State.  “Bo had them ready to play,” Rex Kern recalls.  “It almost seemed like they were in our huddle and knew exactly what we were going to do.”

 Following a bad bounce on the punt, the Wolverines again started a drive deep in OSU territory.  For the second straight time, the Ohio State defense again rose to the occasion and stopped Garvie Craw on a fourth-and-one play to get the ball back for their offense with under seven minutes left in the game.

 At this point, Woody decided to make a change at quarterback.  Ron Maciejowski was brought in to try to breathe life into an Ohio State offense that was grasping its last breath.  If the Buckeyes were going to come back to win the game, it had to be now. 

 Maciejowski scrambled for one first down.  But two plays later, Barry Pierson struck again.  The Buckeye backup committed the cardinal sin of throwing late over the middle, and Pierson made him pay.  Pierson’s third interception gave Michigan the ball at their own 47-yard line. 

 With only 6:01 remaining, the Wolverines wanted to keep the clock running.  Glenn Doughty ripped off runs of 11 and 12 yards, and set UM up in Ohio State territory yet again.  For the sixth time in the second half, the Ohio State defense stiffened as Michigan approached scoring range.  Once again, Tim Killian missed a field goal. 

 The Buckeyes took over at the 20 with only 3:12 left to play  Truly, it was now or never.

 On third down, Maciejowski threw a perfect strike downfield to Dick Kuhn who had streaked past the UM defensive backs.  Perhaps personifying the day for Ohio State, the pass went right through Kuhn’s hands and fell incomplete.  On fourth down, Woody called for a fake punt and Mike Sensibaugh hit a wide-open Larry Zelina for a first down to the OSU 38.  Maciejowski then hit Dick Kuhn down the middle for another first down at the Michigan 33.  On the next play, Cecil Pryor and Pete Newell continued their harassment of the Ohio State quarterbacks by sacking Maciejowski back at the UM 41.  Undeterred, Maciejowski found Ray Gillian for a first down at the Michigan 22. 

 But the hopes for a miracle rally were squashed on the next play when Thom Darden intercepted the sixth Buckeye pass of the day and returned it to the OSU 33.  Michigan tried to run out the remainder of the clock.  But Ohio State was able to stop it with timeouts and got the ball back after a punt with 29 seconds to go. 

 Fittingly, Ohio State’s final play was a fumble by Maciejowski that was recovered by Cecil Pryor.  It was the seventh and final turnover forced by the Michigan defense. 

 As the Michigan offense took the field to run out the final few seconds, the Wolverine sideline turned into pandemonium.  As Moorhead took a knee to end the game, the crowd counted down the final seconds.  When the clock hit zero, the Michigan players hoisted Schembechler on their shoulders and gave him a victory ride to midfield.  There, he met his mentor. 

 Woody shook his hand and said, “Congratulations.”

Fans stormed the field and the ecstatic Michigan players were lost in a sea of celebration.  ABC broadcaster Bill Fleming said: “There it is!  What has to be the upset of the century!”  His partner Lee Grosscup added, “I have never seen a team so emotionally up for a game as this Michigan team was today.”

Both teams were mobbed as they tried to make it into the tunnel.  Players, coaches, trainers, fans, and police officers formed a logjam at the tunnel entrance.  Michigan captain Jim Mandich was carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates with tears streaming down his face.  “The game was the signature event of my life,” Mandich would later say. 

As euphoria reigned in the Michigan locker room, dejection settled in on the Ohio State team.  “We were in shock,” says Tom Campana.  “They were just ready to play.  Frankly, they were much more ready than we were.”

In what would have to pass for a post game press conference, Woody Hayes met with reporters outside the locker room for 30 seconds after the game.  “All good things must come to an end and that’s what happened today.  We got outplayed, outcoached, and outpunched,” said Hayes.  After a few more remarks, Woody made his way through the barrage of reporters and closed the door. 

Michigan fullback Garvie Craw summed up his teammates’ feelings by proclaiming to the press: “This is the greatest victory in the history of the world!”

Barry Pierson was one of many heroes that day by intercepting three passes, returning a punt 60 yards, and playing great in run support.  “I was just one guy in the group of guys that all did their job.  It was special.  It’s hard to explain, but I had an electric feeling after that game that literally lasted for two weeks.”

Much like Columbus the previous year, the partying in Ann Arbor lasted well into the night. 

Garry Moeller recalls just how important the game was to the Michigan program.  “It just changed everything.  It legitimized what we were doing and changed the course of the program.  It also brought back the rivalry.  It was going to be a clash of titans from now on.”

Bo agrees.  “That set the table.  There would be no more bad facilities or hanging our clothes on nails.  That win ushered in a new era of Michigan football that we are still enjoying today.  You can trace it all back to November 22, 1969.”

A few days after the game, the Michigan team took care of the final piece of unfinished business at its annual football banquet.  The game ball from the victory was given to former coach Bump Elliot.  “With everything that happened, it felt really good to give Bump that game ball and I know the players loved it,” Bo remembers.  “I just have so much respect for that 1969 team.  They could have quit on me when I came in.  I was so hard on them, but they didn’t complain.  They did what we asked of them and still loved their former coach Bump Elliot.  That was special.” 

After Woody Hayes left coaching in 1978, a banquet was held for all his former players and staff.  Bo was chosen to speak as the representative for Hayes’ assistant coaches.  As Hayes was speaking, he began to talk about which was his greatest team at Ohio State.  After considering it, he chose the 1969 team.  He went on to discuss how much talent they had, how good the defense was, and what good chemistry and leadership they possessed.  He then paused, look down the dais, and said, “Damn you, Bo!  You will NEVER win a bigger game than that one.”

Woody was right.