Not ready to move on from 2021 (top plays of the season)
Really cool video to celebrate our best season of the century. Made me emotional at the end and realize that I'm not ready to move on from how much joy it brought into my life LOL.
SIAP (URL below just in case the attachment didn't work)
January 14th, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
"O-JA-BO!"
That play basically set the tone for the rest of The Game.
Edit: LOL sorry guys, I was thinking of Josh Ross forcing a three and out at the start of the 2nd half. Both iconic tho.
January 14th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
I thought that play was at the end of the game with just a few min left?
January 14th, 2022 at 3:10 PM ^
Well it did. OSU didn't score a point after that sack
January 14th, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
Or gain another 1st down!
January 14th, 2022 at 3:45 PM ^
Yeah, I guess so.
Nothing like setting the tone with only two minutes left, I suppose....
January 14th, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
I think Haskins fifth touchdown with two minutes left in the game set the tone even better
January 14th, 2022 at 4:05 PM ^
One for the ages...5 TDs in The Game...and he wasn't even the game MVP.
Can only imagine the joy he will feel every time he talks about his and the team's performance for the rest of his life.
January 14th, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
I think it was the third down on osu's first possession of the second half when Ross forced a three and out. That took the emotion of the incident in the tunnel at half time and solidified it into the rest of The Game.
January 15th, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
Lol, I'd argue walking down the field on our first drive and running the ball into the endzone set the tone for the game.
But that was a great call, nonetheless.
I'd toss it out there that it could be on the ballot for 3rd greatest call in Michigan Football history behind Desmond and Anthony Carter? It's got to be right there with "TOUCHDOWN MANNINGHAM!!!" and "GRBAC TO FIRE FOR IT...THEY WENT FOR IT ALL!!"
"Shoelaces flapping in the wind" and "I can't believe this...RROOY ROUNDTREE!" have to be in the mix as well.
January 15th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
those are enough to give you goosebumps. all classics.
January 14th, 2022 at 2:49 PM ^
Great compilation video! Thank you! I obviously like all the "fan choices". I would probably tweak the countdown order a little bit but that's really irrelevant.
I think the All play *was* the most important one (and my favorite) as that one not only pulled out the win but it also really set the stage for the dominant finish to the season.
Ah yes, it was a very good year. :-)
Go Blue!
January 14th, 2022 at 3:32 PM ^
Very hard to argue with All’s TD against PSU as #1, but I’ll go ahead and try.
Everyone knows if UM doesn’t beat OSU, that All TD gets buried in the general malaise of another missed opportunity and spectacularly close but not close enough finish to the season.
For my money, the Ross stop on 3rd down to open the 2nd half was the play of the season, followed by Haskins hurdling a fool to set up the final TD of the game and effectively ending the threat that OSU could tie, let alone win.
So I’d place the All TD at #3, but we are splitting some really lovely hairs here.
Best season of my fandom (started paying attention in 1997, so I didn’t appreciate it at the time). Let’s go ahead and do it again next year, Go Blue!
January 14th, 2022 at 7:56 PM ^
Ah yes, it was a very good year. :-)
In Harbaugh's seventh season,
It was a very good year...
It was a very good year for hurdling fools
And sacking QBs,
They smashed the Buckeyes dreams
And became Big Ten champions
In Harbaugh's seventh season
January 15th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
It was a great highlight video but the order definitely wasn't the best plays.
Hawkins walking in for his 5th TD when they "let" us score? I mean, I get it, but that's overkill.
In fact, half the OSU game plays were more honorable mention level.
The two Iowa plays, the JJ throw against WMU, I like those as great PLAYS.
Also the flea flicker to All in the Iowa game, the Schoonmaker (both) and All catches in the Iowa game...those were all incredible plays.
McCarthy also had 2 honorable mention DIMES in my book. The throw against Wisconsin was just stupid. He basically handed the ball to Baldwin like 30 yards down field while he was running full speed. 0 adjustments required.
And that throw against OSU (where Cade points afterwards) was the reason he's the starter next year.
Cade's flea flicker to Sainristil against OSU was a great play as well.
January 16th, 2022 at 2:41 AM ^
Hi! I'm the poster who made the the video.
The results were based on fan voting from TMI as noted in the description on YouTube. Thus, it was as close to a consensus as possible (or at least as close as I could have made it).
Arguments as to what it means to be a "top play" are entirely subjective; it was a conscious decision not to define the term so that people could vote based on their own definitions. Obviously, a lot of things factor into people's decisions, including highlight-worthiness, importance, opponent etc...
The 5th Haskins touchdown was likely voted in because of the significance and record-breaking nature of the moment rather than the play itself - the same reason the final kneel down was one vote away from making it onto the list - the play itself wasn't noteworthy but the moment was. It was actually very close to being voted for as the #1 play of the season.
An interesting thing to note - 8/25 of the plays were from the Ohio State game. However, if you were someone that considered highlight-worthiness to be more important, you might have left off the aforementioned 5th Haskins touchdown, or the Ross/Hutchinson/Ojabo defensive plays, which were much more based on their impact/significance to our season than how incredible the actual plays were. Contrarily, If you valued impact/significance more, you'd probably vote for many more OSU plays that didn't make the cut, for example the flea-flicker. For reference, we had SEVENTEEN 50+ yard plays this year, and only EIGHT ended up making the video, which speaks to how incredible our season was and how difficult it is to balance all the things that make for a "top play" this season.
January 14th, 2022 at 3:00 PM ^
Username checks out
January 14th, 2022 at 3:09 PM ^
My favorite play was when the Ohio State kid threw Wilson's helmet and three M linemen sauntered over and said we need to talk.
January 14th, 2022 at 3:15 PM ^
and they were smart enough and had the presence of mind enough during a very heated and exciting rivalry game to not get a flag while doing so. the michigan difference.
January 14th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
The fact that these officials actually had the presence of mind to see that sequence of events for what it was and only penalize the OSU clown, that was an unusually well called penalty for Big Ten refs.
January 14th, 2022 at 4:48 PM ^
Still amazed, thinking back on that game, how many penalties were called on OSU compared to Michigan, and probably how many more can/should've been when you think about just how often Hutch was held.
Usually feels like in these games that Michigan is blatantly called for more fouls than OSU, but Michigan played a very clean game that afternoon by comparison.
January 14th, 2022 at 4:49 PM ^
And that Buckeye was looking up at some very large people. Yep, that was a good look.
January 14th, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
The timing of the music on #7 was a thing of beauty.
January 14th, 2022 at 3:31 PM ^
Yes! "Thunderstruck" right as Haskins leaps over the defender. Loved that.
Also the timing of Dax's sack to Wisconsin's Jump Around song made me chuckle.
January 14th, 2022 at 3:33 PM ^
#1 - the 9-2-5 play against Iowa
#2 - JJ scramble then chucking the ball across the field for a TD
January 14th, 2022 at 3:36 PM ^
Yes. JJ.
January 14th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
I will never get enough of Haskins stiff-arming a Buckeye with his nutsack
January 14th, 2022 at 4:05 PM ^
Liked this a lot, thx for posting. I agreed with a lot of the ranking, arguably the two biggest plays of the year were the strip recovery of TM in the Nebraska game and the EA TD at PSU, though I was a bit surprised it ranked at #1 for the season.
January 14th, 2022 at 4:58 PM ^
Huge serotonin boost. Thanks for posting!
January 14th, 2022 at 5:21 PM ^
That was great. Thanks for posting!
January 14th, 2022 at 6:17 PM ^
Wonderful post, call out. It was a such a great effing season. Still excited about manhandling da Bucks. They can GFT. Edwards to Wilson, oh my.
January 15th, 2022 at 11:09 PM ^
Two things that made this season great:
1. Michigan rammed their fist down OSU throats and ripped their souls out in front of the nation.
2. MSU got the victory over us this year and not only did it not matter but absolutely nobody cared.