Trivia: When was the Last Major Upset UM Pulled Off? Line >10
Just curious (sending the bat signal out to Wolverine Devotee if no one else knows) when was the last time we were a big underdog and pulled a "major" upset? I don't mean -4 or -7 type of line but say -10 to-12+. I know we were rarely in a position to be such underdogs but are we talking the late 60s? Or has there been some game along the line I've forgotten where people gave us no chance and were flat wrong. Outside of the obvious first Bo OSU game.
Along those lines I wonder between say 1970 and 2007 how many times we've been underdogs by 10+ points in any game, anywhere, anytime. I know 2008 forward it has happened relatively often but in the Bo/Mo/Lloyd era - not much after Bo's first team I imagine. Probably that 6-6 team vs BYU in the 86 bowl? Maybe one of the Rose Bowls along the way? One of those undefeated or 1 loss John Cooper teams? Even a game like Oregon 2007 I doubt we were -10, heck we may have been favored since we were at home. FSU 91? I imagine it was less than a half a dozen times in those ~40 years.
October 22nd, 2014 at 4:06 AM ^
'96 OSU. Actually we might have been 10 point dogs against ND in 2006. But I know we were in '96 against OSU.
EDIT: We were definitely two TD underdogs to the '95 Buckeyes as well.
October 22nd, 2014 at 4:33 AM ^
Yes I thought the most likely situation was one of those Cooper games in Columbus when he was rolling 1 or 0 loss teams out and we were doing our normal 3/4 loss thing in the 90s.
Looking back in 95 the game was in AA and #2 OSU was coming to visit a week after UM fell to 3 losses by losing to #19 PSU. UM had fallen from #12 to #18. Not sure we'd be a 10 pt dog at home however being ranked and being #12 the week before.
1996 I could definitely see us being >10. Going on the road to (again) #2 OSU. We had (again) just lost to #11 PSU for our third loss of the year, and dropped from #16 to #21. We won 13-9. That sounds like it could be our biggest upset of those 35-40 years. But we were still ranked :)
I forgot about ND - 2006 it looks like we entered the game ranked #11 so it would seem unlikely to be that much of an underdog but perhaps. I wonder if it happened at all during the Holtz era as some of those teams were elite but usually in those years they gave both ND and UM the benefit of the doubt and both would enter the game ranked top 15 since it was usually the 2nd game of the year.
Thanks.
October 22nd, 2014 at 6:53 AM ^
The Buckeyes were 17 point favorites.
October 22nd, 2014 at 6:56 PM ^
It was not greater than the 16 in 1969 game. But I do not know what the spread was.
October 22nd, 2014 at 7:28 PM ^
According to the log at Gold Sheet M was only a 5-point underdog to ND in '06.
October 22nd, 2014 at 4:44 AM ^
The '95 OSU team was only #2 because Nebraska was god damn ridiculous (Tommie Frazier's senior year) that year. They were heavily favored to beat us.
October 22nd, 2014 at 4:45 AM ^
Not sure how to look this stuff up. Could it have been the Wisconsin game back in 2008? They were No. 9 coming into AA, though the rest of the country didn't realize just how bad we were yet, even after losing to Utah at home and badly against ND.
October 22nd, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
http://www.goldsheet.com/gs_new/histcfb.php
Michigan was +5 1/2 against Wisconsin.
October 22nd, 2014 at 6:57 AM ^
I don't think Michigan was an underdog to Oregon in 2007. I think everyone thought they were going to pound Oregon in response to losing to App State.
The only time I can remember MIchigan being a big underdog was 95 OSU.
October 22nd, 2014 at 2:28 PM ^
Not everyone. I remember thinking after the App State loss, "Shit, we go against the same offense, only better, next week."
October 22nd, 2014 at 7:13 AM ^
We were 8 or 9 point dogs to Florida in the 2008 Capital One Bowl
October 22nd, 2014 at 8:22 AM ^
We were 14-point dogs in that Capital One game against Tebow et al.
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:33 AM ^
According to this site, we were 10.5 point dogs in that game.
http://sports-odds.com/american-football/010107-capital-one-bowl-michig…
October 22nd, 2014 at 7:30 PM ^
Gold Sheet also lists the game at 10 1/2.
October 22nd, 2014 at 7:18 AM ^
1993, 1995 and 1996 OSU were all major upsets. 1993 OSU always gives me hope when we are down.
October 22nd, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^
T. Collins, Wheatley, Biakabutuka, Toomer, Mercury Hayes, etc etc etc. And that's just the offense. They also won the Rose Bowl the year before.
October 22nd, 2014 at 7:41 AM ^
Weren't we big dogs to Wisconsin during RichRod's first year?
October 22nd, 2014 at 8:11 AM ^
but we were sure beavers to Wisconsin in '08. Little stuffed Beavers.
October 22nd, 2014 at 8:06 AM ^
The spread in '96 against tOSU must've been higher than '93 or '95, since it was in Columbus. Also the best game I've ever attended. The stunned silence at the end of the game was absolutely priceless.
October 22nd, 2014 at 8:15 AM ^
is a beautiful thing.
But let's be honest, how did they not see that coming? It was a yearly tradition back then. A wonderful, long forgotten, yearly tradition.
Now I'm depressed. Thank god I was in my 20's and got to just go crazy those years. Those were some good parties and the sad, sad Buckeye faces were great. I miss John Cooper.
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:32 AM ^
with you on this. Such joy then. Cooper was just awesome.
October 22nd, 2014 at 8:31 AM ^
Michigan being a 10 point 'dog' to anyone wasn't really a thing that happened much.
October 22nd, 2014 at 8:43 AM ^
I'd guess we were never a 10 pt dog between '69 and the early 90s. I think we were a 7 pt dog to Oklahoma in the 74/75 orange bowl.
October 22nd, 2014 at 8:43 AM ^
Prolly basketball
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:05 AM ^
I wish I could use the past for optimism here. Those mid-'90s Michigan teams and the one that beat Florida were actually good teams that just needed one or two things to click (or just needed their coach to realize it was his last game and maybe he should check out joining the 21st Century). This team needs about a dozen things to click.
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
this is true.
praying I'm wrong.
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:15 AM ^
Looking through Gold Sheet's historical records, there are only a couple of times since 1996 that we've even been +10 or higher. The only two we have won were the '96 OSU game (+17) and the '07 Florida (+10) game. Since 2008, we've been +10 or more a couple of times, including a +24 at PSU and +20 at OSU in '08. Last year we were +16 for the OSU game.
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:32 AM ^
2008 vs Wisconsin?
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
We were +5 for that game. Remember, it was early in the season and at home, there wasn't enough evidence for the line to be too large. After we lost to Toledo, the lines blew up.
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:36 AM ^
A game where the team is playing for their coach and he is coaching for his job. There's enough in the line for this team that a win could go down as one of the biggest the program has had in a long time.
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:46 AM ^
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/sports/college/msu/football/20…
Sparty has been favored six times in history and won four of those times. With upsets coming in 1968 and 2005
October 22nd, 2014 at 9:46 AM ^
What about the Capital One Bowl in '08? We were an unranked 8-4 team going up against the almighty Urban Meyer and his golden boy Heisman winner Tim Tebow. I have to imagine the line for that game was Florida by at least 2 touchdowns.
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
The Holiday Bowl against BYU was 1984.
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
is when will the next one be. Unfortunately the answer is not this year.
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Michigan has only been double-digit dogs 9 times since 1990:
I may have missed a few, here's the data:
http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/ncf/teams/t…
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^
We lost to Iowa in 2009.
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October 22nd, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^
Dammit. We beat the spread though.
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:24 AM ^
Thank you. I knew there had to be a website somewhere out there with historical data.
That one has betting lines back to 85-86 ...very cool.
Yes I was looking pre RR era ... pretty amazing to be double digit dogs only 2x between 1990 and 2007. That Colorado team was #5 in the nation and it was in Boulder so that one makes sense but even that was 9.... how far we have fallen.
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:44 AM ^
in Jerry World in 2012
DERP: Re-read the OP and he clearly states "the last time we won"
October 22nd, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^
and beats Sparty, it will be a win for the ages, imho. But I am pretty sure that's not going to happen and I will most likely be doing the below a lot during the game
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
*SIGH* 1996 OSU. I was in high school at the time and I had not yet become a pessimist when it came to sports. So when we were down 9-0 at halftime, there were no thoughts of doom and gloom. I knew we could come back and win. Then the second or third play of the 3rd quarter, Ty Streets takes that short pass to the house and at that moment, I felt we were going to come back and win.
Today, if Michigan is down 9 points, I've got no hope for a win.
October 22nd, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
We're going to already be down 9 points today? Crap.
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
We're Michigan. We don't win upsets; we are upset.
October 22nd, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^
I'm very upset that we can't upset anyone.
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
that if Sparty showed up with a mono epidemic raging through their ranks, Michigan still loses. After all, what's the point? They beat PSU when everybody who was anybody said they would lose only to find out from those same prognosticators and fans that the win was meaningless because PSU sucks. The players know, they really do, that their efforts on Saturday won't be appreciated by the movers and shakers of UM. One only need read the front page of this blogsite to understand that.
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
The Rich Rod victory over Wiscy in 2008 is the last real upset I remember. Otherwise, it's any of many games against John Cooper.
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
Even Wisconsin in '08 we were only 5 point dogs.
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
We were 10 point dogs to Tebow and crew and pulled off an "upset".
October 22nd, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
How about either of the 1984 or 1988 Miami games? I can't believe that Michigan wasn't a big underdog to that 1988 team...
October 22nd, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
Less depressing. Remember our string of BIG victories last year when we hoped we'd win 2 out of 3? Or Syracuse's D that we wouldn't get by? Kansas?