Memorable Michigan Road Games

Submitted by patol8 on

I've always enjoyed going to watch Michigan play at other venues and have had some good and bad experiences.

I think my favorite road game was Purdue in 2004. Both teams were highly ranked and we won with an epic hit by Shazor. I was sitting in the Michigan section and we had no idea what had happened on that play, all we could see was the Michigan sideline going crazy. There was a really drunk UM fan sitting behind us who was pretty out of it by the end of the game, he asked me as we were celebrating the win, "whats happening, is it half time yet?", "we won, you're drunk, whoooooooooooooooooo".

I also went to ND in 2004, which was a little less memorable and just plain frustrating to watch, they do have a beautiful campus though. The goal line stand was awesome, but besides nothing but field goals and an uneasy feeling. The fans were pretty nice and hospitable, most saying "good game" as we were leaving the stadium.

MSU 2009 was pretty fun and I got the real experience of being in a hostile environment tailgating in the student neighborhoods before the game. None of the msu students had anything to say really though, since they were 1-3 and we were 4-0 at the time. I did get asked one question by almost every msu student though, "Do you go to UM?" to which I reply, "No", there faces light up with excitement, then I say, "I graduated from UM a couple years ago", faces go blank and they have nothing else to say, no trash talk, nothing. Fact is, they are literally obsessed with Walverines, as they call them. It really is amazing, MSU is the only fan base who all went to MSU for school, incredible. The game was fun and the end was awesome, I was so confident we were going to win after Tate led that epic comeback and we had all the momentum going into OT. Anyways, we lose, and suddenly MSU fans and students have balls after the game.

These were my experiences, I also went to NW in 2003 and that was fun (more UM fans than NW fans, us smoking them easily, but nothing that really stuck out).

Share your Michigan road game experinces, its going to be a long off season.

Marley Nowell

April 7th, 2010 at 4:13 PM ^

That Purdue game was awesome!

2006 vs. Illinois sticks out in my mind for a couple of reasons...Illinois set up a countdown clock for the game and Zooker made a huge deal about it for some reason.

The ending was also awesome with Arrington throwing the winning TD pass to Manningham (the most creative play I remember in the Carr/Debord era)

GoBlueScott

April 7th, 2010 at 4:19 PM ^

My memory is awful, but I remember that game for one particular reason.

My brother, the pothead, would from time to time do a "Blaze for Shaze."

He deemed it necessary at the time and sparked up a bowl. Sure as shit, not less than 30 seconds later, Shazor levels the guy and the ball squirts out.

I guess what I'm saying is, we need more guys on the team whose names rhyme with marijuana verbiage.

Tshimanga Cowabunga

April 7th, 2010 at 4:20 PM ^

Two of my favorite road game memories are ND in '06 and PSU in '08. ND obviously because it was a clash of the titans and Michigan showed just how great it could be that year. Burgess' and Woodley's tds were things of beauty and I remember thinking that we could blow it the whole game even tho we had a comfortable lead. When it was over the entire stadium seemed to echo "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine" and "The Victors". I still get chills just thinking about that walk down the ramp and out of the stadium.

For PSU '08, it was a different experience but the first half is one of my favorite football memories. The UofM student section dominated the stadium like Minor was dominating the PSU defense. In such a bad year, it was a great performance. Talking to my PSU friends after the game they said that they had never heard a section take over the stadium like that. Our 500 had to be louder than their 105,000. The second half is just a footnote to a fantastic college experience.

Hard Gay

April 7th, 2010 at 11:35 PM ^

I got my tickets through shady internet deals, but ended up with pretty nice seats on the first level, and the guy who sold them to use and sat with us was a Michigan fan who looked like a shorter and scrawnier Peyton Manning, sounded like him too.

On the whole, Penn State fans are pretty nice. I went to high school in Pennsylvania so i know a lot of people there. our group was decked out in maize and our foam wolverine hats and walking in the middle of their campus and through dorms trying to find our friends' rooms and most people were extremely friendly and any heckling was playful and in jest.

We did, however, return to our tailgating area to find our tables upended and trash emptied, but plenty other PSU fans came over to help us and apologize for rowdy behavior.

Definitely one of my best road experiences, but looks like these guys didn't think so:

Kalamazoo Blue

April 7th, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^

1999 PSU -- Tom Brady throws two 4th quarter TD passes to bring Michigan back.

2001 Wisconsin -- A crazy muffed punt lets Michigan kick a tie-breaking field goal for the win with a few second remaining.

1985 Illinois -- Michigan blocks a last-second field goal attempt to preserve a 3-3 tie.

1997 Wisconsin -- Michigan beats a solid Badger team to remain unbeaten and set up the THE GAME the following week.

Man, these games were a blast!

dakotapalm

April 7th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^

at Wisconsin in 1997!

Because I'm seeding the torrent at Mgovideo and I need to improve my ratio!!!!

Okay, seriously, it would be the 1997 Penn State game. It had such national attention leading up to it, and from the first defensive series, Jim Hermann had that defense incredibly prepared for anything Penn State would do.

but please, go download the Wisconsin game. it was a good game, and I won't even tell you who wins!

BrayBray1

April 7th, 2010 at 4:43 PM ^

The Manningham/Woodley show. Epic. Crable also had many memorable hits on Brady Quinn, including one that left a huge divot of grass plastered to Quinn's already spinning head.

UMWest22

April 7th, 2010 at 5:25 PM ^

My first away game experience. It was so fun, with a back and forth game, coming down to that last possession with Mario reeling in that perfect pass from Chad. The best away game I've been to, although I've only been to 3 (with 08 Purdue and 09 MSU), which makes one per year for each year I've been a student here. Really, all three have been great games, although I've only seen 1 win out of the 3. That Purdue game was so full of offense, and the day was absolutely perfect, so I'd put that at my #2.

SFBlue

April 7th, 2010 at 6:02 PM ^

No fucking doubt about this one. For one, you can buy beers at the Metrodome. Which became necessary after Minnesota jumped out to a lead. For two, the Michigan section was on the rail, behind the Michigan bench. I sat in the second row. We were practically spilling beer on the cheerleaders. For three, it was a Friday night game, which meant hours of tailgating (drove up the night before, skipped class, so many Michigan fans made the trip). For four, Michigan somehow came back to win it; the turning point was an improbable throw-back play where Navarre ran it up the sideline. In retrospect, that was one of those games that showcased the best and worst of the Carr era.

Runner-up: Wisconsin '99, when Dayne got stuffed in the second half.

MGoShoe

April 7th, 2010 at 8:49 PM ^

...2007 Michigan at Penn State. Night game, whiteout, Seven Nation Army, Lion Roar, Zombie Nation, blah, blah, blah.

Then this happened:

Hard Gay

April 7th, 2010 at 6:35 PM ^

Every road game has been a loss.

08 Notre Dame, yakety Sax and a torrential downpour. Notre Dame's campus is pretty nice but there ain't a damn thing to do in South Bend. Also they need to invest in a campus drainage kit.

08 Penn State: Best first half of a football game ever.

08 Ohio State: Sucks.

09 Michigan State: I was battling an upper respiratory infection this entire game and busy hawking up phlegm into a garbage can. Almost had a heart attack with the ridiculous comeback and then the even more ridiculous ending.

Goblue89

April 7th, 2010 at 7:00 PM ^

'93 Wisconsin, the Badgers one and their fans stormed the field. Chaos ensued and people were trampled.

'97 Wisconsin, my dad managed to get like 20 tickets for the game and I was able to bring a bunch of my friends. We sat next to this guy who had these fake binoculars with a compartment for booze.

'99 Northwestern, don't even remember who won but it rained the entire game...poured!

preed1

April 7th, 2010 at 7:19 PM ^

Illinos 2007, great night game and i sat in the illini student section, i was harassed all game but was too drunk to care. All i remember was an great win, laughing at there tiny stadium (they were doing construction), and laughing at those stupid orange fans

M-Wolverine

April 7th, 2010 at 7:47 PM ^

That Purdue game WAS awesome. The sideline was going crazy...I was on it at the time. Fumble recovery was like 10 yards away from me.

The greatest game was probably the Remy FG vs. ND.

Most memorable was probably Clockgate up at MSU. But we made up for it in the next two trips in 2003 (ran the ball every play) and 2005 (OT pt. 2).

There have also been a series of historic games vs. OSU...with National Title implications...but I've been trying to forget those.

(Been to Northwestern too, but nothing really memorable about those games...just Chicago).

saveferris

April 7th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^

1994 Notre Dame game. Maybe some of you remember Remy Hamilton doing this to the Irish?

Michigan 26, Notre Dame 24. The schadenfruede in that stadium was palpable.

UM Indy

April 7th, 2010 at 8:42 PM ^

Their first Big Ten game against us, my senior year, long drive to the middle of nowhere PA, lots of shit talking by Nit fans and then goal line stand and Derrick Alexander returning a punt for a TD.

Wolvie12

April 7th, 2010 at 9:16 PM ^

I was 12 years old and this was the day I fell in love with Michigan. I lived about an hour from Madison and my best friend's dad had 2 sets of season tickets so we always got one of the sets for just about every home game.

Wisconsin obviously didn't have much of a football program at the time so every game we did nothing but screw around. We would go to the student section, follow the pom pom girls during their 3rd quarter march around the stadium, go to the top deck and throw things (we were 12). This game was different. This was the first night game at Camp Randall so the stadium was alive. We went down near the field when the players ran out and the one thing I remember was how big Michigan was. I absolutely fell in love right there. I was in awe.

We went to our seats and here sat a beautiful girl who was there with her boyfriend seated next to us. They were a blast to talk to and my friend and I each sat next to her for a half. The game was actually a pretty good game with Michigan winning (Bo's 200th win). We watched the whole game from our seats and had a great time.

Now I guess this isn't a memorable game in the sense that most people would think but for me it's the game that started me on a love affair that continues today. Thanks to the OP for starting this thread and bringing back some great memories.

Louie C

April 8th, 2010 at 12:50 AM ^

That day was so special for a couple of reasons. Big bad ND had a bunch of preseason hype as a NC contender, and the boys went in to South Bend and waxed that ass. I knew that season was going to special then. At the time, my wife was roughly seven months pregnant, but she had a hell a pregnancy that was marred by all kinds of health complications. The most serious one was that her heart rate would just skyrocket without any provocation. Her paternal and maternal grandparents had all died from heart attacks, and her father had had one earlier that year, so those episodes made me a little more than nervous. The doctors ran tests on her but couldn't find anything, and whenever we would go to the ER, they would stop. After one too many episodes, the doctors decided that something had to be done, so they scheduled her to be induced which happened be the Friday morning before the game. I assumed our daughter would make her grand entrance sometime that evening, or later that night at the latest. That Saturday had rolled around, and still no baby. Then my wife pushes the button to the nurse's station and tells them that she thinks the baby is coming. They thought she meant she was having contractions, but my wife told that they were going to have a mess on their hands if someone didn't get in their quick. Then everybody comes tearing in. I remember being surprised by the doctor because she looked like she couldn't have been no more than a couple years removed from school, and she wasn't bad looking neither. She commented on my Woodson jersey I had on for the game, and told me that she was UM graduate, which made my day. My little girl was born at 3:10 afternoon, which was shortly before kickoff. My wife thought I was nuts, but I told her that her being born on the day of the game was a sign, and it turned out I was right. That was a good day for me. I had my first and only little girl, and the Wolverines had a huge win. Now she is a huge Michigan fan, and she likes Rich Rod-wee-gez, and Brandon Mine-der.

MadMonkey

April 9th, 2010 at 3:23 PM ^

Schembechler at the helm. Harbaugh boldly predicts the win. tOSU's Matt Frantz whiffs from 46 yards with about a minute to go. Michigan wins 26-24 in Columbus. Our car gets vandalized before we leave the city, but we don't care . . . football Valhalla.