emmekel

September 14th, 2009 at 1:10 AM ^

but I would honestly go with 2006 because ND was ranked #2 vs #18 in the country. Also, I hate Brady Quinn more than Jimmah. I would have to put them 1a and 1b. Great fricken question.

Sommy

September 14th, 2009 at 1:14 AM ^

Gotta go with 2009. The 3-9 season is just a portion of it -- comeback win led by a freshman (not to mention that the Forciers allegedly are not fond of the Claussens), young team, Notre Dame choking the game away. That game was the press release for a new era.

Don't get me wrong -- 2006 was great, but it wasn't the sustained thrill ride with as many stories as this game was.

West Texas Blue

September 14th, 2009 at 1:13 AM ^

Damn that's a tough choice. The 2006 game was a breakout game which lead to a great season. Hopefully the 2009 game will act as the same type of springboard. The 2006 win was at ND, but we had a very grizzled, veteran team. Saturday's game, we had no business winning that game, and we defied all the odds. A true freshman QB directing a thrilling comeback was a sight for the ages. 2009 gets the nod, but slightly.

MinorforPresident

September 14th, 2009 at 1:16 AM ^

I feel like there was more adversity to overcome this year and something to prove for Michigan while domers were already in national chamionship mode before the season started. I also think ND's offense this year minus their ground game is about as potent as you'll see because Clausen, Tate, Floyd, and Rudolph will all be playing on Sundays.

TTUwolverine

September 14th, 2009 at 1:17 AM ^

I'm going to take 2006 by a slim margin, simply because we thoroughly dominated that game. There was no question that our team was for real and clearly much better than the domers. Right now, we can't really say that, IMO.

The Shredder

September 14th, 2009 at 1:21 AM ^

Great Question but it's hard to say. Seeing Brady getting killed like that was pure awesome and the fact they were ranked 2 is another point but people have pointed out the 3-9 factors. It's a really a toss up. If this causes Charles to lose his job in the long run I say 06.. I wanna keep him around.

MichFan1997

September 14th, 2009 at 1:28 AM ^

take 2009. You should throw 2003 in there too. I was a junior in high school and one of the girls I ran cross country with had a father who loved ND very much. Anyways, we would bet on the games every year. After losing to the Irish in 2002, I wanted vengeance over him. Therefore, 2003 was awesome. Then in 2006, we drove to their house immediately after the game because they wouldn't answer the phone. When we got there, he came out with eggs and chased us. It was great fun. The 2007 win was sort of just "OMG they suck more than us!!" This year, ugh...words don't describe the feeling. All those other wins were never in doubt, plus the whole 3-9 redemption. I know people bitched about the long contract to play Notre Dame for a billion years, but I love this rivalry so much that I can't stand the thought of NOT playing them during a season. I only wish I had been old enough when Michigan was dominating OSU to have as many fond memories of watching that rivalry as I do of this one (and MSU too ha!!).

mejunglechop

September 14th, 2009 at 1:41 AM ^

2006. Give me the thorough domination over a top 5 opponent every time. It'll be interesting to see how our perception of this win changes as we play more games and see just how good we are (and Notre Dame too.)

PaulVB

September 14th, 2009 at 1:54 AM ^

2009 was awesome, but 2006 was probably my favorite day as a Michigan fan. I really started cognizantly following Michigan football around 2001-2002, and this was a huge game that announced Michigan was back.

Being there didn't hurt either.

funkywolve

September 14th, 2009 at 2:26 AM ^

but for a different reason then what has been mentioned here yet - South Bend has been a house of horrors for UM. Since the series resumed in '78 weird things always seem to happen to UM when they go to ND. The previous 3 trips there ('98, '02 and '04) all fall under this catagory. '98 UM had tons of chances in the first half to get a nice lead but couldn't convert only to watch ND come out on fire in the second half and win the game - same story with the '04 game.

So I was pretty much ready for UM to lay an egg in South Bend in 2006. To see UM come out and just take a highly ranked ND to the woodshed in the first 30 minutes while capitalizing on just about every opportunity they had was a sight to behold.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

September 14th, 2009 at 7:07 AM ^

2009 definitely. In 2006 I just had this feeling that Michigan was going to come out strong and handle the Irish. So it was nice to be right, but I had already expected it. This time I was way more nervous.

I think 2007 vs. 2009 would be a better comparison.

BrayBray1

September 14th, 2009 at 7:13 AM ^

but up until Saturday's game 06 was my favorite of the series, We had the Manningham show-3rec 147yds 3tds IIRC, Crable absolutley abusing Lady Quinn, and last but not least, the Woodley fumble return.

jmblue

September 14th, 2009 at 7:56 AM ^

We had a veteran team, were coming off a two-game losing streak to ND, and all offseason we had to hear the media fawn over Weis and claim that he had a huge coaching edge over Carr. We absolutely had to have that game. Winning - and winning big - was an incredible feeling. It was reminiscent of 1997 PSU.

This game was awesome because it confirmed to a lot of people who were on the fence that we were headed in the right direction. Having said that, I believed we were regardless and would not have felt that badly if we'd lost.

Ziff72

September 14th, 2009 at 7:58 AM ^

Coming off 05 everyone was saying we were dead and I was pretty confident going in. Plus the ND hype and Chuck's arrogance were at their Apex. To go in there and shut up the Lloyd bashers and Chuck's fat head were awesome. That was the old school Lloyd don't show a thing the 1st week and look very mediocre and then let Mario go off in the big game. This year everyone doubted us again but only a small portionof the people had bought into the ND Kool Aid

Needs

September 14th, 2009 at 8:27 AM ^

Exactly. People's memories of 2006 are colored by what followed, both our very successful season and our disappointment against OSU and USC, as well as ND's collapse the next year. But think about 2006. They were number 2, with the Heisman front runner, the Weis hype was at its peak, people were actually believing the return to glory stuff, the "We haven't talked about michigan, we're going to do our talking on the field" quote, and we were coming off the year of infinite pain. Then we flat dominated the game, especially defensively.

And for me, a dominating defensive game is always more satisfying than winning a shoot out where whoever has the ball last is probably going to win.

We're too close to this game to understand what it means.

SportsBrewKings

September 14th, 2009 at 7:59 AM ^

Easily 2009 for me.

I didn't think 2006 was going to be a bad year but I didn't expect 11-1 regular season either. If we would have been undefeated and played them say, I dunno, when we were 9-0 it may have been different.

But beating the hell out of them in 2006 was simply a surprise. This was just different. It does so much more than simply win. It starts to put Michigan back on the map. It does so much for Rodriguez. This previous win felt monumental for me.

RDDGoblue

September 14th, 2009 at 8:26 AM ^

2009 was way better. In '06, I was at the game, tailgated my ass off, and had a great time watching our guys dismantle ND's hopes and dreams. The ND fan buddy that went to the game with me leaving to go back to the tailgate at halftime was awesome too.

But this one means so much more. Not only did we beat an ND team that had lofty goals, we did so in a spot where we really needed to come up with a signature win, and it eased my mind to see our Freshman QB shine under pressure.

Not only that, I HATE Jimmah. I have met both Jimmah and Quinn in person, and Quinn was not a complete A-hole, unlike Jimmah, who is a typical hardass wannabe punk.

psychomatt

September 14th, 2009 at 8:38 AM ^

Not sure 2009 is more "satisfying" but it is definitely more "significant". In 2006, we were set for a good year and almost certainly would have made the Rose Bowl even if we had lost to ND early in the season. It is nice to have the extra win over ND and Touchdown Charlie, but the 2006 game was not as significant to the Michigan program as this year's.

We are in one of the most radical transformations of our program in decades and this weekend's win will go a long way toward easing the concerns of many who are not yet 100% behind all of the changes. We went 3-9 last year. Absent something unexpected, we now should begin this year's season at 4-0, with two winnable games against MSU and Iowa immediately thereafter. That is an amazing improvement over last year and should ensure that RR gets a fair chance to prove what he can do with the resources of an elite program like Michigan. And, damn, it was rockin' at the Big House on Saturday!!!

jamiemac

September 14th, 2009 at 8:48 AM ^

Wins over ND are like children....can you really pick a favorite.

But given all the manufactured controversery swirling around the program and last season, Saturday was arguably the most satisfying win over ND I have experienced as a UM fan.

A lot of us have been swimming upstream trying to convince some of the more doubtful in our fanbase about the RR program. In was fantastic to watch it come together on such a large stage with the whole nation watching.

Sometime, quite possibly now in the not too distant future, we will be back on top of the mountain of the CFB world. We'll look back to 9/12/09 as the day the tables finally turned.

saveferris

September 14th, 2009 at 9:51 AM ^

I have to pick 2009 only because being at the game in person and experiencing the crowd atmosphere was something very special. At the post game tailgate, one of the things my friends and I kept bringing up was just how much fun it was to watch that game. Saturday was one of the most satisfying Michigan games I have seen overall. Right up there with 1991 ND, 1997 OSU and 2004 MSU.

Now if I had to judge 2006 vs. 2009 from the common format of watching them on TV, I think my answer might be different.

notYOURmom

September 14th, 2009 at 12:38 PM ^

2006 was a good old-fashioned asswhomping, which is always satisfying but did not change the way we felt about OURSELVES except in degree. We were just a bigger badder version of Michigan.

2009 was more cosmic, because honestly, deep in the darkest corners of your heart, wasn't there a little demon whispering "face it....it's OVER....Michigan's GONE." The demon lied but you listened to him sometimes anyway, right?

That demon got his asswhomped on Saturday and I'd rather whomp him than just poor Jimmah, who is not demonic only Californian.