Rose Bowl, 1978: Just like the TCU game, but in the Bo Era
The TCU game brought back some very old memories for me. One in particular, really: the Rose Bowl of 1978. Michigan and Rick Leach (favored to win, ranked #4) against underdog Washington led by Warren Moon.
Washington just felt so much more prepared for the game, and soon it was 24-0. Michigan, like in many bowl games of that era, just having so little success running the ball. In the second half, though, Michigan puts on a furious rally. Late in the fourth, UM scores to get close, 27-20 (but in one of those things that seem to happen in UM bowl games, has a botched snap on the extra point, which would have made it 27-21). And finally, one last chance for UM. Leach marches them down into scoring range, almost landing a beautiful touchdown pass. Then, an odd play where Stanley Edwards (yes, Braylon's dad) almost catches one off of his helmet at the 2, but somehow the Washington defender grabs it, and game over.
My own memories: my dad, so mad, yelling at the TV for Bo to throw it more. Me wondering why it mattered so much to him (the same things my kids wonder, now). The second half, the offense opening up, and suddenly Michigan looking ferocious. But, as seemed to be commonplace back in the day, falling just short, and another bowl loss.
While the TCU game felt a little different, to us old timers, it sure was reminiscent of so many of those Bo-led bowl games.
Wikipedia article: here
Bentley library article: here
Grainy youtube video: here
January 8th, 2023 at 1:34 PM ^
That was during my freshman year at Michigan. I have largely forgotten about this bowl loss. However the one next year with the phantom TD by Charles White still makes my blood boil.
January 8th, 2023 at 1:35 PM ^
Whatever one says about Replay and how much it sucks, the Phantom TD sucks worse.
January 8th, 2023 at 1:47 PM ^
I disagree. The phantom touchdown was a terrible call where the refs on the field didn't see the ball and Michigan got screwed. In the TCU game someone who had the benefit of every angle with the clear instruction to only overturn a call on the field when indisputable evidence is present. It wasn't, and yet that official made the decision to screw UM regardless (just like vs. MSU last year). The system of replay has made it so every time it gets enacted I assume that they will not make the right call. I'd rather have the error happen in real time and move on with the game.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:00 PM ^
We pay the cost of video review every game, so having them regularly botch the calls adds insult to injury.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:16 PM ^
At this point all replay does is disrupt the flow of the game. At most they should enact the old NFL challenge system, at minimum just get rid of replay.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:18 PM ^
Not to mention it encourages the refs to make iffy calls because they act like it’ll just get fixed on review but it usually doesn’t.
January 8th, 2023 at 3:52 PM ^
It seems like from what I remember and saw during the game that there was no "normal" goal line shot provided to the general public on espn's feed. What they did show was enough to reasonably assume they would get the call right. Next thing you knew we made a terrible play call with a play that was already a fiasco and the game went sideways.
Are there any other angles of the wilson catch that surfaced? If not, why not? I mean even internet superhighway shit...
January 8th, 2023 at 7:58 PM ^
I couldn't believe we didn't get a view from the pylon cam on the Wilson play. Then later on the Bell play we do get a view from the pylon cam.
January 8th, 2023 at 1:39 PM ^
Yeah, my freshman year and as a member of the MMB was actually standing near the goal line getting ready to take our places for the halftime show, we saw the ball come out at the two yard line and couldn’t believe they called it a touchdown. Final score 17-10, USC.
January 8th, 2023 at 8:53 PM ^
Two views... one my avatar.
January 8th, 2023 at 9:03 PM ^
Even the shadow of the ball is short of the goal line
January 8th, 2023 at 9:04 PM ^
Aerial photography strikes again. Somebody has access to the blimp shot, amirite? Oh yeah, Goodyear HQ is in ohio in devo's backyard. Mayor Quimby wants the sexy footage. Number 6 could also be interviewed to get a better spot.
January 8th, 2023 at 9:37 PM ^
They don't show the blimp shot in real time.
January 8th, 2023 at 10:10 PM ^
that is wild footage...thanks for posting.
January 8th, 2023 at 1:49 PM ^
Deja Vu, as with so many games since Bo.
Our bowl prep is still apparently shit. I swear we'd do better if the game was the next week.
January 8th, 2023 at 1:50 PM ^
Bo and Harbaugh are the same in one way. They like to keep doing things the same way until it's proven it doesn't work. Then sometimes they still don't learn their lesson until something like TCU happens.
We changed the run game between 2022 and 2021 because we assumed (correctly) that teams would be prepared for the 2021 version of us. By the time we get to Illinois our opponents have start figuring out 2022's run game. No real adjustments made, we still have some success so we stick with it until TCU makes us pay for it.
January 8th, 2023 at 4:08 PM ^
TCU coach Dykes said yesterday in a preview interview of TCU - Georgia that Michigan is an easier scheme to defend than what Georgia runs.
He was able to sell out to defend us because he already knew what we were going to do, no matter what. He was able to take risks because they weren't really risks.
He knows he can't do that against Georgia, and he has concerns.
January 8th, 2023 at 4:37 PM ^
This is part of the reason why I won't be too sad if Harbaugh goes. Michigan needs a younger coach that is not set in their ways who has also learned from Harbaugh on how to raise the floor of a program.
January 8th, 2023 at 8:32 PM ^
Yeah, I was a little surprised we basically had the same run game against TCU as the few weeks before. I would have thought they would have made some changes. Especially given event the guys here could see TCU came downhill quick.
We did put up 45 points, so not that bad, but I think we would have had control of the game from the beginning with a differentiated run game.
January 8th, 2023 at 11:55 PM ^
Michigan might have thrown to the tight-ends more if Schoonmaker was available.
January 8th, 2023 at 1:54 PM ^
I was only 2 years old in 1978, so I wasn't that upset. I'm sure I probably shit my diapers a few times in disgust, though. 😊
Did Bo have a version of the Philly special in his playbook that day?
January 8th, 2023 at 1:55 PM ^
Option football at its finest. There was a time when the Michigan run game would attack the edges!
I was in high school and remember the game well. Those were such frustrating years. The Rose Bowl was the hill Michigan just couldn't climb. Rick Leach was a passing QB in high school. Bo told him he would throw more when he was recruiting him, but that did not prove to be the truth. Bo only opened up when he absolutely had to. Leach will always be my favorite Michigan QB.
January 8th, 2023 at 4:20 PM ^
I have often said that if Bo was willing to pass the ball on third and short only half a dozen times in his entire career, he would have won multiple national championships.
Someday when I have time, I am going to specifically identify those half dozen difference-maker plays.
They are in this mix: Several Rose Bowls, several Ohio State games, 1985 Iowa, 1988 Notre Dame, probably a couple of others that I'm not remembering right now.
January 8th, 2023 at 5:00 PM ^
My Dad never missed an opportunity to give me grief for Michigan's futility in bowl games, and he laid it completely at Bo's three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust mentality. "Hey, there's this new play in football. They call it the forward pass. When do you think that coach of yours might learn it?"
Games like the '78 Rose Bowl made it hard to refute.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:01 PM ^
I went to that game. I cried at the end. That was the first time I ever saw Michigan lose. I was 7 years old at the time. My lasting memory of the game is being totally confused that we could lose to a QB with such a dumb name.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
The QB with the dumb name turned out to be pretty good.
January 8th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^
Indeed he did.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
1978: warren moon
2022: sunny dykes
coincidence or cosmic mockery?
(yeah, I know, spelling)
January 8th, 2023 at 3:01 PM ^
I’ll remember this when we play a team with a Jupiter Jones or Mike Mars
January 8th, 2023 at 3:52 PM ^
Cosmo Spacely?
January 8th, 2023 at 5:01 PM ^
At least we'd be more...
Fired up.
January 8th, 2023 at 3:01 PM ^
Double post
January 8th, 2023 at 2:04 PM ^
Prior to Bo's arrival, Michigan fans never had to complain about a bowl loss. Our off-seasons were spent gnashing our teeth over losses to MSU and OSU. All things considered, I much prefer the current state.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:06 PM ^
Exactly - even though the game was only 8 days ago I feel as though I've been saying this for weeks.
I was predicated by the pregame talk with JJ talking about smash football. It made me concerned that we not preparing for TCU and we were just going to do what we do thinking that we were better.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:18 PM ^
In fairness…if we simply do what we do..
1) Don’t run a trick play at the 2
2) Don’t fumble at the 1
3) Don’t throw 2! Pick sixes, we are in the championship game.
TCU took the opportunity and ran with it. They deserved to win that day. But this rewrite of history that UM was out-schemed is a bit much. UM made horrific mistakes they haven’t made over the past 2 years, and it forced their hand to play the game at TCU’s pace after falling behind by multiple scores. Almost pulling it out is a testament to their resilience.
January 8th, 2023 at 4:12 PM ^
13 TFL's speak for themselves. Michigan almost pulled it out when they (belatedly) changed their scheme.
January 8th, 2023 at 9:30 PM ^
I dunno. Isn't a trick play and running a quick-hitter to a RB who's got like 3 carries on the season kind of "scheme". I would say those are failures of scheme. The pick-6's no, but we scored just as many point off their turnovers, just not as quickly. I would also say that our defensive scheming (ridiculous telegraphed 20-yard-deep blitzes) that we hadn't done all year (except when we did it once against OSU and got burned) was also terrible scheming. Had we played them like OSU, and just made the work down the field over and over, we're in much better shape. So, I think we did get out-schemed and made terrible decisions on O & D that cost us 24-28 points, that were all things we don't normally do. That's scheming.
January 9th, 2023 at 12:09 AM ^
Excellent points, so I dunno either but I consider the scheme to be how you call the game which is independent of anomalies and poor officiating. There were definitely some bad play calls and the corner blitzes and safety blitzes qualify as a scheme and a very bad one. (Let's trick them by shocking them with bad play calls.) The blitzes may have been a reaction to the score more than a planned scheme.
On offense, well maybe their adjustments due to the loss of Schoonmaker don't qualify as a scheme. I think the coaches over thought themselves.
If the refs mark the ball on the correct 49 yard-line then Michigan wins the game which is hardly a problem with scheme.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:13 PM ^
Now that is a great post
Edit: Also Warren Moon is actually underrated.... he is a top 5 QB all time
January 8th, 2023 at 2:24 PM ^
Top 5 ?
Hmmm
Brady, Montana, Marino, Elway, Manning, Rogers, Mahomes…
Thats just 7 - who is he better than in that group?
There are a bunch more below that group where it’s debatable.
Moon is comparable to Kurt Warner to me. An awesome run and shoot qb. Warner also has the super bowl that moon doesn’t.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:44 PM ^
Too early to put Mahomes on that list. You overlooked Staubach, Bradshaw, Unitas, Aikman, Favre and Brees.
January 8th, 2023 at 4:51 PM ^
Good call on Brees. Aikman has 3 Super Bowls, so also fair.
Favre was a turnover machine and the older QB's are tough to compare just because the game was so different back then. That said, the point is clear...Moon was great, top 5 is a pretty big stretch.
Top 20-25 in my book for Warren Moon.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
The Rick Leach to Curt Stephenson TD pass for 76 yards was still the Rose Bowl record until it was broken in last Monday's game.
January 8th, 2023 at 4:53 PM ^
I was there to witness the game and that play in particular. I am a grad of La Jolla High School '63 and U-M '67. The receiver who caught that pass, Curt Stephenson a later LJHS alum, was not only a walk-on at M but walked on as a kicker. One of the very few from that school, besides Rolf Benirschke, who made a name for himself in football. He didn't even play much football in high school and known more as a defensive back. He was just a phenomenal athlete who eventually became a starter at M. Even though I never met him, I was incredibly proud of that play though very disappointed in the outcome of that game. So many Rose Bowls have been so disappointing!
January 8th, 2023 at 6:59 PM ^
Love the book! I understand it's available via Amazon. Bought it about ten years ago. Talks about his challenging and remarkable football days at Michigan and high school. Fun read (especially as both a Michigan and La Jolla alum!).
You've got to understand: if you're an athlete in La Jolla, surfing is addictive and somehow Stephenson still went to Michigan without a scholarship and did very well.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:23 PM ^
Running repeatedly into a stacked line when better options are available.
Pure (University of) Michigan (Football)
January 8th, 2023 at 2:29 PM ^
January 8th, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^
Anybody else lamenting a BOwl loss to BYU due to this godforsaken thread...there is seldom a good time to dredge up these kinds of memories but somehow they stick with you. Win the friggin' big ten (whatever that is) every year and let the rest be corrected by the golden mean.
In my era, Bo was a great M coach. So was Lloyd. Jim is on that sacred road and has that opportunity.
January 8th, 2023 at 2:49 PM ^
I was there! This was my senior year. Like many of the losses in that era it was a matter of gaming behind and still having a chance to pull it out. Same thing with the previous year's loss to USC and the previous year's loss to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Being in the Michigan Marching Band allowed me to see some outstanding bowl games.... just never a victory.