The last time we won on a goal line stand

Submitted by WolverineHistorian on

Before last night, our last goal line stand for a victory came against Illinois in 1982.  (I don't think M00N counts...or at least it shouldn't because that game...ugh.)

It was November 6, 1982.  A record crowd at Memorial Stadium of 75,256 showed up and they were, Steve Smith said at the time, the most hostile crowd he had ever played in front of.  The previous season, Michigan won this game 70-21 at the big house.  The Illini had not defeated Blue in 15 years.  It had been 25 years since they won this matchup in Champaign.  They were hungry for a win.  Michigan needed this win to remain alone atop the Big Ten standings with 2 weeks left in the season. 

The refs screwed Michigan numerous times.  The most notable examples were when Jerry Burgei clearly intercepted a pass that was ruled incomplete.  Also, an Illini defender shoved Larry Ricks face first into the bench several feet out of bounds after the play was dead.  When Bo screamed at the ref for a flag, the ref threw the flag on Bo instead, the penalty pushed Michigan out of field goal range and we were forced to punt. 

Illinois came up with a goal line stand of their own earlier in this game.  Michigan had a 4th & goal from the 1 yard line in the first quarter.  Bo decided to go for it to try and go up 14-3 but Larry Ricks was stuffed about an inch short of the goal line. 

Here, on 4th & goal from the 2 and 27 seconds left in the game, Illinois tried a running play, which left Keith Jackson in shock.

Watch the final 1:21 of the game here.  (Embed on the first reply)

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Honk if Ufer M…

November 1st, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^

Number 3 was Marion Body shakin' his booty.

Body was a key figure in the infamous Harry Oliver 51 yard field goal "miracle" where the wind stopped so he could kick us to death.

The only reason he got the chance to make the kick was because the ND qb tried to throw a hail Mary for a first down that went straight up in the air like a punt and Body positioned himself right behind the ND receiver who was waiting for the rainbow to drop down to him, and timed a hit in the back to make the tackle and knock the ball out. However they called interference as if he hit him too soon, which he didn't, but he could've easily just stepped in front and broken up the pass.

It still took another miracle to set up the miracle kick though.

They still had to get into field goal range and get out of bounds to stop the clock with no TO's left so they threw and down and out to ... Tony Brown? Some All-American tight end anyway, but he totally fucked up and tried to go up field and get more yards instead of going out of bounds. He would've been tackled in bounds and the clock would've run out, except the Michigan DB slipped and fell instead of making the tackle which gave the TE time to realize his mistake and run out of bounds after all. That allowed the winning kick on the next play as time expired. :(

I hope the guy who fell wasn't Body also, but I don't remember.

I was sitting right where the interference happened, somewhere around the 40 or 45 I think. That was the first of my current 3 game losing streak in South Bend, but my first game there was the Leach 3 TD passes in the 2nd half vs. Montana, coming back from down 14-7 at halftime to win 28-14 in the renewal of the series after 35 years or so. I sat right on the field in the back of the end zone in that one in these special bleachers they set up to handle the record demand. It makes up for the losses!

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M-Dog

November 1st, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^

That goal line stand essentially won us the Big Ten and a trip to the Rose Bowl.  Ohio State played one less Big Ten game than us that year, and they had already lost to Wisconsin in the rain at home.  

By the time of The Game, we already had the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl trip already locked up because we had beaten Illinois and an inept Purdue the week later.

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PinballPete

November 1st, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^

It looks like it was the end of the third quarter since they appear to have switched sides for 4th down. It probably won the game but since the finish was 21-13 and it wasn't the end of the game its not quite the same. Still a memorable moment. I knew exactly what you were talking about. Skip to about the 5:00 mark to watch. 

 

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getsome

November 1st, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^

not many wolverines since jarrett irons have filled gaps like that.  fun to watch that tackling machine.  one of many great michigan players who never really made it happen in the pros but played solid college ball for 4 years.

and not sure who 94 is but he made a nice play on 4th down - similar to maurice hurst making it happen last night.

totally forgot jon ritchie started at m before transferring to stanford

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M-Dog

November 1st, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^

He should have learned his lesson from the 1979 Sugar Bowl againt Alabama . . . also stuffed 4 straight times.  Cost him a National Championhship.

I grew up in PA and people used to joke about how they really really wanted a "Joe Paterno" golf ball    . . . because it was guaranteed to go straight up the middle 3 out of 4 times.

 

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