Michigan penalties leading to a loss

Submitted by StephenRKass on September 16th, 2019 at 12:25 PM

With all the schadenfreude over MSU's 12 men screwup on Saturday, it brought something to mind. I wondered which games did a penalty against Michigan lead to a loss.

In my mind, there are two that stand out:

  1. Shawn Crable, Michigan linebacker, with a late hit against Ohio State QB Troy Smith on Nov. 18, 2006. I remember watching that game in horror. The roughing-the-passer penalty cost the Wolverines 15 yards and an automatic first down. 3 plays later, Smith connected with Robiskie in the end zone for a 13 yard touchdown. After the extra point, the Buckeyes led 42 - 31 with 5:38 left. It was a mountain too high to climb. What made the loss particularly devastating was that it was our first loss, and we were ranked number 2 in the country at the time. OSU won the game, the Big 10 championship outright, and a berth in the National Championship. Mercifully, they were killed by Florida, but that's another story. In my humble opinion, the loss against OSU was the beginning of Michigan's descent into football purgatory and hell, from which we have yet to pull out. I suppose with today's rules, this would have been called targeting, and Crable would have been kicked out of the game. (And kicked out of the first half of the bowl game too?)
  2. Chris Webber. Timeout Michigan didn't have, at the end of the National Championship game against North Carolina, April 5, 1993. Michigan was down 73 - 71, with the ball, 11 seconds left, when Webber called for a timeout. The team had just talked about it in the huddle, and the rest of the team went into surrender obra. This led to a technical, two free throws, game over. Webber was forced to address it in the press conference, and has not ever addressed it since, almost 27 years later. While football is much more important to Michigan, this penalty is much better known by non-Michigan fans, especially because the Fab 5 appeared about ready to win a National Championship.

Can you think of any other penalties that led to a Michigan loss? These two stand out, because of the importance of the games. Some would argue that these penalties aren't directly linked to a loss. Against OSU, there technically was enough time to win. But I would point to that one late hit as the critical mistake leading to Michigan's loss, and to Michigan entering the football abyss.

LKLIII

September 16th, 2019 at 12:34 PM ^

LOL.  So true.  I basically read the OP as:

"Hey, since we collectively have open BPONE wounds and many of us are expecting a loss at Wisconsin, I've been thinking about taking this huge tub of salt and dumping into the wound.  Does anybody else want to help me?"

 

That's a hard pass for me bud, thanks.

 

 

 

mGrowOld

September 16th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^

Damn near spit out my delicious Zoup "take two" salad & soup combo just now after reading that Dr.  That's fantastic.

Oh....the non-holding, hold call on our successful fake punt in the 4th quarter of Bo's last game will be the one I always remember.  Allegedly the Pac10 official who threw the flag against (well it was against a player not in the game at the time so we dont know who he thought he was calling it on) anyways....allegedly he said in the officials locker post game "no way was he gonna let Bo win his last game in the Rose Bowl" or something to that effect.

mGrowOld

September 16th, 2019 at 3:11 PM ^

Well.  I tasted the White Chicken Chili but found it to be lacking today (kinda bland) so I went with the Chicken Enchilada and paired it with the Sonoma salad.  Added a piece of multi-grain bread and even upgraded the soup to a bowl.

Or as they say at Zoup when they see me come in "the usual".

Brhino

September 16th, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^

1. Dude why would you post this

2. I don't want to ruin my day enough to look further into it, but I know we extended State's final drive in the Spartan Bob game by one or more bad penalties.

StephenRKass

September 16th, 2019 at 12:38 PM ^

I guess I've been living in the BPONE for too long. Neg away. (FTR, I have no idea whether points are tabulated anymore, and I don't care either way.) Regarding MSU, which led to this remembrance, I don't give a rip about the Spartans. And the number of schadenfruede threads and posts about their loss was starting to seem excessive. At the end of the day, I just want to see Michigan punish their rivals, especially OSU. Right now, I'm not terribly optimistic about that.

CRISPed in the DIAG

September 16th, 2019 at 12:58 PM ^

Easy (in order of your presentation):

-Lots. I'll go with the muffler falling out of my car and dragging on the pavement. Really liked this girl: smart, funny, attractive - five-tool player. But she had plenty of options and wasn't all that sympathetic. The margin for error was slim on this one and too much to overcome.

-Finding my childhood collie in my grandparents' barn with a blanket over it. Nobody said anything to me before I found it. Thanks.

-Parents divorce. "We want you to know that we're still friends and this'll be for the best.." That was a load of complete bullshit. First, they weren't friends after that. More like non-violent enemies. Second, one of them was definitely more at fault than the other. Third, my stepfather was a complete asshole and haunts most of my living days. Fourth, I have trouble forming healthy relationships with anyone because I think they're going to leave anyway.

Ok. I'm done. This wasn't helpful.

Boner Stabone

September 16th, 2019 at 1:16 PM ^

Don't worry about the muffler incident.  I had a similar situation in college.  I was shocked that I got this 5 star looking girl to go out with me.  She had no business being seen with me, but she agreed to go out. 

I tried too hard to have the perfect first date with her and everything imploded and things got very awkward. I think we both realized at the end that it was not going to work, but I was blaming myself a long time for blowing it with a hot looking girl.

Don

September 16th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^

"Finding my childhood collie in my grandparents' barn with a blanket over it. Nobody said anything to me before I found it. Thanks."

This needs more explanation—how long had it been lying there with a blanket over it? Was it recently deceased and starting to smell, or was it mummified? And why was it at your grandparents' instead of your own parents?

CRISPed in the DIAG

September 16th, 2019 at 5:49 PM ^

Excellent question, Don. I lived with my grandparents for almost a year while my parents were finding themselves (this was the 70's). Suzy, my dog, moved with me. When I moved to my mom's/stepfather's, my stepfather didn't want the dog. Dad didn't have room for the dog. So Suzy stayed at my grandparents farm, which - if you ask Suzy - was a probably a much better setup anyway. I loved that dog. She was smart, regal. Dignified.

A couple years later 9 or 10 year old CRISPed is spending weekends with grampa/gramma. One of those weekends, I'm shooting random shit with my BB gun and wander into the barn. It's winter in mid-MI. Near the far side wall is clearly a dead animal under a blanket. Closer examination reveals Suzy's familiar tail sticking out from underneath. I remember touching her with my boot and thinking she was frozen. I ran inside, sobbing, and started screaming at everyone.

MoCarrBo

September 16th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^

Back then Michigan and Ohio State were still viewed as somewhat even programs and we didnt total despise their success yet. I remember being upset about the loss but not totally dejected. We were going to have a great team the next year and there was a big chance wed get another shot at Ohio in the championship.

 

 

Mike Damone

September 16th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^

In 2001 game w Sparty, Jeremy LaSeur grabbed Charles Rogers facemask on 4th and 16 on Sparty's last drive.  Let to the infamous TJ Duckett TD, which only took place because the MSU timekeeper, Spartan Bob, purposely stopped the clock too early.

Plays like this make the 12th Man debacle last Saturday so much sweeter.  Such Karma revenge couldn't happen to a more deserving coach, school and fans.  Fuck 'em.

ijohnb

September 16th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^

He is not forgiven for that play.  They were seriously face-guarding him with two defensive backs.  Smoker wasn't even looking in that direction and Rogers had essentially given up on the play.  It was, quite simply, perhaps the worst penalty I have ever seen.

On the flip side, there is 2002 Washington, where Braylon Edwards was given credit for a catch on the most-non-catch ever and Washington had twelve men later that same drive.