The Last Time We Played a Post-Season Game in Houston, It Went Well

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on January 3rd, 2024 at 7:18 PM

Haven't seen this angle posted yet, but the last time we played a post-season game in Houston, it went well. And there are a LOT of similarities to this year's game.

It was the 1981 Bluebonnet Bowl at the Houston Astrodome, played on Dec. 31, 1981. The game was previously known as the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, but by this time, it was just the Bluebonnet Bowl. I was a senior at Michigan at the time and I went to the game. One of the things I remember most about the experience is that the movie "Urban Cowboy" had just come out, so we went to the Gilley's cowboy bar featured in the film and rode the mechanical bull. It was awesome. We had subs. Here are some facts and similarities between now and then:

• We played a Pac-12 team (UCLA then, Washington now).

• We played the same Pac-12 team in the following regular season.

• Our previous bowl game was a win in the Rose Bowl.

• Oh, and we WON THE GAME. We beat UCLA in the Bluebonnet Bowl, 33-14. Butch Woolfolk was the MVP in his last Michigan game ever and Anthony Carter also played well. This was the season we started out at No. 1 and then lost to Wisconsin, so it was a nice way to finish things off.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this was the last time we've played any game in Houston, right?

The other thing I remember is that everybody back home bitched and moaned about the telecast - the game was broadcast on Channel 62 and some rinky-dink production outfit had the rights to the game, and it was apparently awful. Terrible camera angles throughout.

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Double-D

January 3rd, 2024 at 8:00 PM ^

I was in Nashville with a good buddy and he had a customer that was a complete arrogant asshole. We were in a place with a mechanical bull.

I was so sick of this AA so when it was his turn I went up to the operator and told him the dude coming up is a complete dick here is $20 give him a ride.

So operator said you got it and swung the bull just a little bit and bumped AA just a touch. AA stopped and glared at the operator. Big mistake. The rest of what I witnessed was a spectacular laugh fest and total shit show and the entire bar was in celebration. 

Joined: 12/21/2013

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SalvatoreQuattro

January 3rd, 2024 at 7:30 PM ^

Michigan won their last national title by beating a team from the state of Washington that had a strong armed QB with a pass first offense and a solid, but not great defense.

Joined: 11/30/2010

MGoPoints: 78884

Ike Pond

January 3rd, 2024 at 7:55 PM ^

Yep, great memories from that trip.  I do remember going to Gilley’s and getting thrown off the bull a few days before the game which was awesome as well—Michigan’s second bowl victory of the 1981 calendar year.  We played “Coming to America” at halftime, blew the roof off the Astrodome and got a standing O coming off the field. I was in rank 8 trumpets that year.  I treasure those memories.

Joined: 10/13/2009

MGoPoints: 2325

bweldon

January 3rd, 2024 at 7:58 PM ^

That is correct Michigan played in 2 bowls in 1981 and won them both.  I was lucky enough to go to the game and also got to meet AC at the team hotel and went to dinner with Bubba Paris, Ed Muranski, and John Wangler who was a grad assistant that year I believe.

 

Joined: 05/09/2015

MGoPoints: 1325

KSmooth

January 3rd, 2024 at 7:59 PM ^

You can check out highlights here, courtesy of Wolverine Historian.

The broadcaster was some sketchy outfit called "Miz-Lou".  Coverage was okay I guess but maybe relied on closeups a little too much.  Main problem was crappy reception -- for some reason we never got Channel 62 very well in my neighborhood.

You'll never guess who wound up doing the color commentary...

Joined: 11/14/2009

MGoPoints: 3783

meechigan

January 3rd, 2024 at 8:38 PM ^

This was the first bowl game memory I have. I was 8 and my dad had joined the staff the year before. I remember they had a rodeo as one of the activities and there was a cow chip throwing contest that a few of the players were asked to participate in. Stefan Humphries was my favorite player from that team and the announcer loved to pronounce Ali Haji-Sheikh’s name.

Joined: 03/24/2010

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Craig Dunaway

January 3rd, 2024 at 8:50 PM ^

Wow. What a hoot. I remember this game for Gilley’s and for the fact two guys who had been exiled from the team a couple of years prior returned and made some really nice plays. Ben Needham played a great game on defense and BJ Dickey got a chance to close out the game at QB. It was a happy moment when BJ, a great guy who got banged up and lost the starting job to John Wangler in ‘79, scored a late TD. 

Joined: 04/20/2015

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umchicago

January 3rd, 2024 at 9:03 PM ^

We've played Hou a couple times at home since then. I remember an early 90s game when we crushed them like 60-3 against QB Klingler. They ran up the score on a BIG earlier in the season, so MO decided to make them pay.

Joined: 02/05/2009

MGoPoints: 33628

leftrare

January 3rd, 2024 at 10:11 PM ^

Did anybody else besides me watch that game at the bar that is now Scorekeepers?  I want to say it was Doolies but I also know that was the name of a bar in East Lansing around the same time.  
 

Also, I believe the same bar where a few years later, Griese did some bad things to the property and lost some playing time because of it. All of which is to say I’m old. 
 

Anyway, Butch was my hero at the time.and Wangler-to-Carter was the signature of the team. Also a phenomenal Defense.  

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 3213

Amaizing Blue

January 3rd, 2024 at 10:36 PM ^

Dooley's in the 80's is now Scorekeepers-or Skeeps, as the kids say.  For an 18 year old kid in 1982, Dooley's combined a relaxed attitude to checking ID's with cheap beer...and that made it the best place ever!  I did hear that the relaxed attitude toward checking ID's is one of the main reasons they had to sell out, but that isn't my problem.

Joined: 12/02/2013

MGoPoints: 9145

Amaizing Blue

January 3rd, 2024 at 10:32 PM ^

This meant we won two bowl games in one calendar year, at a time when winning bowl games was a mark of distinction for your program.  My dad, who was a dentist, made a display for his office that involved roses and a stick of butter, which hung around (no pun intended) for 5 years or so.  It was awesome, don't judge.

Joined: 12/02/2013

MGoPoints: 9145