I've been wondering this and am doing this piece for a project I'm working on. What was, in your opinon, Michigan's greatest game (win) of the 1990s?
It's been picking at me all day. Virginia in 1995 was an exciting finish and a great comeback, But I still can't say it was better than 1995 or 1997 against ohio.
Your opinions on the greatest game of the 90s greatly appreciated.
1995 Ohio State in a
Biakabatuka
I had to listen to that game on the radio while driving from Ohio to Iowa. Very exciting
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
I might call that the best
I might call that the best individual performance by any Michigan player in a game that decade, but I don't know if it was the best game (in terms of drama). The '96 and '97 OSU games were incredibly tense defensive struggles, in contrast.
I concur with Bando.
The joint was rocking, and I will never forget watching us wipe the smirk off of Terry Glenn's face!
Oh how I hate Ohio State!
The best game was the 1999
The best game was the 1999 team but played in January of 2000: Orange Bowl against Alabama. Most satisfying was the '97 OSU game. Most awesome was '97 PSU.
Agreed
on all three. Tremendous post, no question.
Double Agreed!
UM Football rose to the occasion on all three instances and shut a lot of critics up from varying walks of life...SEC, cocky PSU fans and the best was the hyper confident Suckeye fans. Brilliant choices!
Heeeyyy Wassa Matta?
Also agree (triple?)
The Penn State game of '97 was probably my favorite. The '95 game against the buckeyes was incredibly awesome, as was the '97 version. However, the '97 game against PSU was a total statement and made the country take notice. After beating their asses at Happy Valley we jumped to #1. The only bad thing was that PSU scored a touchdown in the second half... the first time all season that had happened to Michigan's defense.
"Bend over and I'll show you." Perfect answer to nearly any question.
Although I agree..
the 2000 Orange Bowl was awesome (Brady-Terelle connection), I prefer the 2008 Cap One better because it's more recent and it was a great performance against the Tebow led Gators that were worshipped by everyone in the media at the time. I personally like the 1997 tUOS victory the best because it was the NC year with our last Hesiman winner who dominated in every area. He caught passes for big gains, he returned a punt for a TD and he had the big pick at the end to seal the victory.
1997 vs PSU
That was by far the best Michigan football game I ever saw!
Complete with rushing
Complete with rushing President Bollinger's house afterwards and grabbing food out of his fridge. Someone also fell out of a tree on the property as well. Good times!
That game was awesome.
That game was awesome. Remember the incredible hit on the sideline? Turned out to be a shame, but enjoy the awesomeness of it:
I Agree
That was the biggest "statement" game from that decade. From the moment Glen Steele dropped the quarterback (his name escapes me at the moment) on the fake end around through the end of the game, simply the most dominant performance of a fantastic season.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
Jan 1, 1998.
Jan 1, 1998.
"A Michigan Man will coach a Michigan Team"
I agree
Clinched first national title and undefeated/untied season in nearly 50 years. Beautiful day in Pasadena. Woodson's pick in the end zone was huge along with 2 long passes (Streets, Tuman?). My fondest memory might be walking to the stadium by Lee Corso listening to him tell WSU fans not to worry as they would win.
Go Blue!
Poll closed
Winner!
5 4 3 2 1 Touchdown!
Touchdown Billy Taylor!
Touchdown Billy Taylor!
posted from iPhone
M v ND 1994. Remy Hamilton FTW!
"Ack ack!"
1997 OSU. No question
1997 OSU. Beat them for the Big ten title and shot at the national championship. Woodson Solidying his heisman. No question about this one
What stands out for me is how
What stands out for me is how quiet the stadium was right before Woodson's interception. You could hear a pin drop. I was sitting in the Southeast section with my Dad and a bunch old-timers, when Woodson made that pick the old farts went bananas.
We stuck around for an hour and a half just soaking it all in.
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Screw Lance.
My Dad and I were sitting in
My Dad and I were sitting in the endzone where Woodson returned the punt for a TD (North, I think?). I was just a kid and we saw the punt as a chance to catch our breath before we stood back up and started cheering. Needless to say, after a couple seconds we realized this was not your ordinary punt return. We stood up just in time to see Woodson break away on the sidelines. Needless to say, that is the game for me in the 90s.
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
Where he caught it, or where he ran to?
He ran North to South.
"I love him, he's a great coach, he's a great mentor, he's a great friend. He's every single thing you want a college coach to be, and he does it flawlessly." -David Molk
1997 ohio st
pretty damn good.
1997 vs. Iowa Tim Dwight
1997 vs. Iowa
Tim Dwight went off. We were down 21-7 at halftime. Everyone in the stands thought we we're going to lose. Iowa was driving and a last minute interception sealed it.
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Screw Lance.
Seconded. Although the pomp
Seconded. Although the pomp and circumstance wasn't as thick as it was for the OSU game, the Iowa game was the only time the entire season where it felt like Michigan was in danger of losing a game. So the best game during an undefeated MNC season has to be the best of the decasde, right?
A side note about that team that a lot of people don't remember (or perhaps never knew), but that '97 defense didn't allow a 2nd half touchdown to any opponent until game 9 (GAME 9 and still no second half touchdowns allowed!!!) versus #2 ranked PSU. And that TD with 6 minutes left (and subsequent 2 point conversion) made the score a laughable 34-8. Michigan was beating the #2 team in the country AT THEIR HOUSE 34-0.
Please, God, let us have days like that again!
The swag is back.
There were some other tense
There were some other tense moments that season. Against ND we fumbled three times in our own territory, leading 21-14, and amazingly gave up zero points. Then against OSU our 20-0 lead was cut to 20-14 and they had multiple possessions in the fourth quarter to potentially take the lead.
The defensive streak, IIRC, was that we didn't give up a point in the fourth quarter until PSU.
1997 Penn State
1997 Penn State was my favorite but I liked this one too. It was the only UM game my mother attended (she was from Iowa, loved football, but had two sons go to UM). Fantastic comeback by the Wolverines that day.
My first ever Michigan game
My first ever Michigan game <3
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. - Ephesians 6:11
Such an underrated game.
These were the games that the Moeller and Carr teams had been losing for four years previous. Dwight had the punt return for a TD as the first half expired and it just crushed the crowd. I didn't think we were going to win it until the go-ahead touchdown, a waggle from Griese to Tuman with about 2:30 left in the game. Even with the fumbles against ND and OSU's second-half comeback, that was the closest Michigan was to losing all year. I would put the Rose Bowl that year above it, but that game would definitely be in my top 5.
1997 vs. Ohio State
Awesome game. I don't remember much after the game until about Tuesday though.
"Funny isn't it, how naughty dentists always make that one fatal mistake."
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1997 at Penn State
Still the #1 game I've ever attended.
Same here. Like watching a
Same here. Like watching a shark in its chilling ruthless killing efficiency.
That and the Capital One Bowl/Lloyd's last game were the only times I was ever in "Who are these guys?" awe of my own team.
M'Dog
1997 OSU
The 97 OSU game wins because of the magnitude of the outcome combined with the historic rivalry. Throw in Woodson cementing his Heisman in that game and there's not even a debate.
The other big OSU games from that decade didn't have the importance, the Virginia game was a season-opening non-conference game that was exciting but meant nothing, and the bowl game against Alabama was good but not important enough. The 1997 PSU game was a great game but lacked those memorable moments. The Remy Hamilton game was also high on my list but still can't compete with 1997.
Now, there's a case to be made for the Colorado game too. We lost and have blocked it from our memories as much as possible, but it is incredibly memorable.
AC-1997
What about
The early part of the decade had a lot of great games. 91 ND with Desmond's catch ending our 4 game losing streak and beating TSIO in 91 with the Desmond runback and pose (the game clinched our 4th Big Ten title in a row). 93 Rose bowl win Also 93 PSU with our goal line stand that helped us win in Happy Valley in our first game against PSU.
Go Blue!
made it to...
1991 Gator Bowl vs Ole Miss
Nowhere near the most meaningful, but it was an absolutely overpowering performance vs a decent team..
Eating is murder.
I was there
We killed them
I remember that game. Not
I remember that game. Not only the outcome, but also the comments Michigan players made about the confederate flag being a symbol of the athletic program.
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Screw Lance.
forgive me, i was 5...
what were the comments?
I'm taking the comments out
I'm taking the comments out of context, but what I remember is something to the effect of "how could you go to a school with that mascot and flag....". At the time I was pretty young and I remember thinking that they were right. Look in the stands of an Ole Miss game and you rarely see that flag anymore. I think the school disassociated itself from it in the late '90s.
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Screw Lance.
1997 OSU was an awesome game.
1997 OSU was an awesome game. Whenever it is on BTN on demand I always watch it, Woodson vs. Boston nuff said.
1997 Penn St game is the most
1997 Penn St game is the most dominating performance I've seen Michigan administer considering it was at #1 Penn St at night.
Throw Biakabatuka vs OSU D and Jan 1, 1998 in there too.
I'm going to treat you all the same. Like dogs. - Bo
Agree fully
This was the first which came to mind. I still remember the enjoyment of rubbing it in to a Penn State coworker the following Monday.
It was not at night (3:30
It was not at night (3:30 start), but it did finish at night since it was in November.
This brings up a good point . . . when we play Nebraska this year, the game will finish at night. We get another shot at an "Under the Lights" Big House environment! Make it happen.
M'Dog
ESPN had some sort of marketing push on that weekend
it was called seperation weekend or something stupid like that
a bunch of so so games then UofM just blows out PSU who was heavily favored
that game was amazing
It was "Judgment Day."
It was "Judgment Day."
Hamilton / Collins ND 1994
Powlus passed for td with less than a minute to go on his way to winning those two Heisman's Beano Cook predicted. (Ha!) Notre Dame stadium erupted.
But then Todd Collins led us back on a 4 play 59 yard drive - the last pass for 9 yards with 9 seconds to go and no timeouts to get us within field goal range. Every play of that drive had to be perfect and it was. We were sitting in the endzone and it felt like Remy Hamilton kicked it straight to us Unbelievable drive to end the game.
Great story about the game here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1005660/index.htm
I have to say the Notre Dame fans were all class that day. I've been to quite a few away games and the ND fans - even after that heartbreaking loss - were by far the best sports. It was just a great game between two great programs that, unfortunately, someone had to lose.
And then 7 days later I was at the worst game of the 90s. What a week that was.
1996 vs undefeated OSU at the 'shoe
I doubt that there was a human being outside of the M locker room who thought we'd win that game. Still remember Tai Streets running a pretty simple route and then *poof* he was GONE.
In 1995, Ohio State made the
In 1995, Ohio State made the mistake of not taking us seriously enough. In 1996, they made the mistake of taking us too seriously.
You could feel them starting to sweat as we kept hanging around. Once Springs slipped and Streets was off to the end zone, the choke began. The outcome was academic at that point and everyone knew it.
M'Dog
I believe my signature says
I believe my signature says it all, 97 M v osu
CHARLES WOODSON DOWN THE SIDELINE
Surprised no has mentioned
the Rose Bowl vs. Washington, Jan. 1, 1993, a.k.a. the "Tyrone Wheatley Game". That game is a joy to watch over again-- loaded with NFL talent on both sides of the ball, back and forth slugfest, and full of big plays.
"You know, for a bartender/bookie, you're pretty judgmental."
1995 Ohio State in a landslide.