Poll: Greatest Michigan Football Game of the 90s?

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

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.

 

IronDMK

September 23rd, 2011 at 11:51 AM ^

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.

Yost Ghost

September 25th, 2011 at 10:23 PM ^

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.

mgovalpo

September 23rd, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^

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.

g_reaper3

September 22nd, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^

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.

orobs

September 22nd, 2011 at 6:18 PM ^

1997 OSU.   Beat them for the Big ten title and shot at the national championship.  Woodson Solidying his heisman. No question about this one

AA2Denver

September 22nd, 2011 at 6:27 PM ^

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.

IncognitoWolverino

September 22nd, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^

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.

AA2Denver

September 22nd, 2011 at 6:28 PM ^

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.  

Butterfield

September 22nd, 2011 at 6:53 PM ^

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! 

jmblue

September 22nd, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^

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.

mfan_in_ohio

September 22nd, 2011 at 8:49 PM ^

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.

AC1997

September 22nd, 2011 at 6:23 PM ^

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. 

  1. 1997 OSU
  2. Jan 1, 1998 Rose Bowl
  3. Remy Hamilton ND game in 1994
  4. OSU 1995
  5. PSU 1997
  6. Virginia
  7. Bowl game against Alabama

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.

g_reaper3

September 22nd, 2011 at 10:32 PM ^

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.

WolverineDAH

September 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 PM ^

  1. 1997 OSU - yep, hugged Brady on field after game. Best memory ever,
  2. Jan 1, 1998 Rose Bowl - couldn't make it...loved the game and outcome
  3. Remy Hamilton ND game in 1994 - was there...awesomeness
  4. OSU 1995 - was there...pure columbian
  5. PSU 1997 - was there. 1000% pure columbian
  6. Virginia - was there. Will never forget. Less than 15 yards away from winning last play of game. In'Fing' credible game and finish.
  7. Bowl game against Alabama = missed it liive. Loved it on the screen.

AA2Denver

September 23rd, 2011 at 11:42 AM ^

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.

 

MGoKalamazoo

September 22nd, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^

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.

Rumsey87

September 22nd, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^

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.

tylawyer

September 22nd, 2011 at 7:03 PM ^

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.  

M-Dog

September 22nd, 2011 at 8:27 PM ^

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.

Sopwith

September 22nd, 2011 at 7:35 PM ^

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.