What was your favorite memory of The Game?
We're all in a shitty mood about the 2013 team and the very low likelihood of victory on Saturday. I get it. So in the hopes of generating some kind of positive conversation, I thought we could at least talk about some of the good times in this rivalry. It's not going to change Saturday's outcome, but it's sure more fun to talk about than Al Borges's gameplans.
My favorite memory was the 1997 game. Senior year, huge season after 3 straight years of mediocrity and another in a line of great OSU teams from the mid-late 90's waiting in the final game of the season. Besides the obvious (Woodson's punt return and INT, the D-Line playing out of its mind in the 4th quarter, celebrating all night afterwards), one idiotic memory will always stick with me from that day.
I got to the game 3 hours early with two of my friends just to get seats in the front row of the student section (right around the 10 yard line). We then inexplicably gave our tickets away to a complete stranger 90 minutes before kickoff - a random dude on the field who said he was a former Michigan captain looking to get a couple of his buddies into the stadium and that he would bring the tickets right back
We never got the tickets back (shocking, I know) and proceeded to sit through the entire game nervous about both the outcome and whether the ushers would kick us out of the stadium (not sure what they're like today, but during my senior year especially, the ushers in the student section were anal as hell). We spent the whole game in someone else's assigned seats even after giving our tickets away, and we did so at the biggest home game since 1969. To this day I still don't know how we didn't get kicked out. Instead, we had a front row seat for a classic game and were among the first to rush the field after it was over.
If you've got some good stories to share, please do so. Anything beats another post about the misery of this season right now.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^
Biakabutuka
November 25th, 2013 at 9:13 PM ^
Look at the holes that line was opening up. I long for that so much.
November 26th, 2013 at 9:32 AM ^
The run at 7:06 is when I popped an embolism or something -- such a great performance that day. We were at Mr. Day's in DC (19th and M-ish), and all hell broke loose in that joint. Full of football fans, and Michigan stole the limelight on the back of Biakabutuka.
November 25th, 2013 at 6:25 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 5:40 PM ^
I know that Touchdown Timmy gets all the press from that game, but did you see the size of the holes the O-Line opened for him? Those guys played like mad men that day which was a good thing because we couldn't pass the ball for shit. And who could forget the freshman version of Woodson going toe to toe with Terry Glenn and sealing the game with a late INT?
November 25th, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 5:11 PM ^
It isn't a lot of things in comparison to the past, but 2011 felt special somehow. I was there and I admit going nuts in the stands about here....
November 25th, 2013 at 5:33 PM ^
is my 2nd favorite memory of The Game in person. I hadn't been to a Michigan-OSU game since 2005 and hadn't set foot in the stadium since the 2008 loss to MSU. The crowd was terrific for the 2011 OSU game. I was lucky enough to end up in the student section for that one with my sister and brother-in-law, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen the crowd that jacked for a game. I didn't go to UTL I but I heard that crowd was even louder. Not disagreeing, but from where I was sitting 2 years ago against OSU, it was hard to imagine the stadium getting much louder than when Avery intercepted the ball on OSU's final drive.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:10 PM ^
that one time they won
November 25th, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 7:50 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 5:12 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 5:13 PM ^
Remember that punt return very, very well.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:14 PM ^
1997 was my senior year at Michigan and that whole weekend still ranks amongst my favorite memories of college.
First, for those of you who are a bit young to remember, Michigan football, despite coming off of a few mediocre years, was a huge deal on campus and throughout the state. Every season brought a realistic expectation that we would win or compete for the national championship or at a minimum be in Rose Bowl contention. This was before the days of SEC dominance.
The campus was more electric in the week leading up to the game that I had ever seen it. Lecture halls broke into chants of The Voictors as students awaited professors to arrive. The Burton Clock Tower played the Victors throughout the week. People were just exploding with energy, excitement and most of all, Michigan pride.
The night before the Game, Adam Sandler was doing a concert at the Hill Auditorium. Back in the late 1990's Sandler was hugely popular, especially with college kids. My friends and I got to the show early for a show that was supposed to start at 8, and the place was already close to full. Sandler was running very late, and for the entire hour plus that the crowd was waiting, the crowd was chanting The Victors over and over and over. Finally, over an hour after the supposed start time, the lights dimmed, but nothing happened on stage. Over the sound system, to the tune of his then popular Turkey Song (youtube it, kids, its some funny stuff), Sandler's voice comes on singing: "Love to eat Turkey, 'cause it's great. Hope you beat the shit out of Ohio State!"
The crowd went insane. It took a full 5 minutes for the crowd to stop singing the Victors before Sandler could begin the show. Just an awesome memory.
Oh, and also storming the field when the clock ran down with the good guys in the lead.
Damn, we better beat Ohio this weekend!
November 25th, 2013 at 5:49 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 6:24 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
November 26th, 2013 at 11:44 AM ^
I remember that being a midnight show, but with all the partying that week time seemed to blur together...
jdon
November 25th, 2013 at 5:17 PM ^
When the Buckeyes looked like they were unbeatable up until the point they got squashed 28-0.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^
And this is exactly what will happen this weekend when Borges surprises us all with a magical game!
Aside from that my best memories are Biakabatuka, Helllo Heisman, Woodson and the team in 1997, and the John Cooper years.
November 25th, 2013 at 11:40 PM ^
1993 for me too. I still have the visual of Mercury Hayes making the full-layout-over-the-shoulder catch burned into my memory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmPcxhcdMgc (play starts around 2:33). One of the best catches I've ever seen to this day.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:22 PM ^
Thom Darden picked off Ohio State and Woody went nuts.
I was 13 years old, sitting on the home sidelines and out of my mind with joy.
Still out of my mind.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:24 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 5:29 PM ^
I think people can do what they want, but in my opinion, definitely not! We rush the field when great things happen for us. 1997 win to go to the Rose Bowl? Definitely. Pretty much any win that sends us to the Big Ten title game? Perhaps. But rushing because our disappointing team ruined Ohio's season seems a bit Sparty to me.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:36 PM ^
It would be a monumental upset that nobody saw coming, and would take down a 23 game winning streak of our biggest rival. After all the negativity we've had from the team this year, if we somehow pulled off the impossible I'd say that rushing the field would be warranted.
Hell, I say we rush the field even if we lose by 7 points or fewer. At this point, that would be a meaningful achievement!
November 25th, 2013 at 7:00 PM ^
We rushed the field in 2011. This would be as big of a win.
November 25th, 2013 at 7:07 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^
I was in school at UM during the crushing disappointments of '72, '73, and '74—losing to OSU meant no bowl game at all—so the notion that ANY AND ALL victories over Ohio State aren't a great thing is nothing less than vile blasphemy.
That's why they call it a rivalry, for fuck's sake.
November 25th, 2013 at 8:49 PM ^
win and rush the f---ing field.
a win would be epic, period.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:24 PM ^
1985...Harbaugh to Kolesar. Was 10 years old and was walking down the steps with a hot chocolate in my hand My Step dad picked me up just as the ball was snapped. Hot Chocolate was spilled everywhere when Kolesar caught the ball.
1995..Long story short. Wires got crossed. I thought my step dad had my ticket. He thought I had it. Luckily one of the county sherriffs was a regular at our tailgate and walked me in to the stadium....through the tunnel.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:27 PM ^
I was lucky enough to sit at the 45 yard line behind the Michigan bench and watch Biakabutuka carry linebackers back and forth all afternoon. Glorious.
My favorite memory that I didn't get to see live was Woody throwing the yard markers in 1971. I would have loved it if my 10-year-old self could have seen that in person.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:28 PM ^
Watching the game with my Dad at Michigan Stadium while watching Tim Biakabutuka run for 300+ yards and beat undefeated OSU. I will never forget that day and cannot wait to take my son to see Michigan play OSU someday.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:31 PM ^
Michigan 31 OSU 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4J4s2Z0xMY
Keith Jackson: "Herbstriet throws a ballon downfield and it is intercepted."
November 25th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 6:02 PM ^
Don't ever graduate.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:36 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 8:29 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 5:37 PM ^
2011 was nice too but in retrospect feels cheap. We really should have crushed them, and yet if Miller hadn't overthrown Posey on that last drive... oh man I don't know what I would have done...
November 25th, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^
I got pepper-sprayed in the mouth as we all attempted to rush the field, which was awful, but it was totally worth it. Everything about that day was incredible. I don't recall the Big House ever being louder, and the student section was like a giant mosh pit that never stopped jumping up and down and celebrating. Still the single best sporting event I've ever experienced in person.
Go Blue!
November 25th, 2013 at 7:15 PM ^
Mosh pit is the term I use every time I tell someone the story of that game. After Woodson's punt return I probably ended up 3 rows in front of where I started after all of the jumping and screaming. It was insane.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
Harbaugh to Kolesar. I was there, and it was awesome.
Great article about it here, with link to video (thanks WolverineHistorian!) at the bottom:
http://www.cleveland.com/osu-michigan/2012/03/osu-michigan_1985_jim_har…
November 25th, 2013 at 5:46 PM ^
He was the man in both '85 and '88 against them. '88 was the best - he covered the final 100 yards from scrimmage by himself to beat OSU in the waning moments. For some reason, I can't remember if he did anything big in the '86 game. Even if he didn't, '85 and '88 were still awesome.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:58 PM ^
@ 17:15 in the WH video
November 25th, 2013 at 9:06 PM ^
Harbaugh to Kolesar was insane (and bonus points for the sweet unis).
November 25th, 2013 at 5:44 PM ^
2011's my only time at the game in person so far (it'll be two after this weekend). But yeah, first win against the Buckeyes in eight years, tight game throughout, rushing the field afterwards, nice capping of a magical year. Good times.
November 25th, 2013 at 5:53 PM ^
the one time I was there in person. Best, getting flipped off by some trumpet player in the tOSU band. Last chance to see Bo coach in Michigan Stadium
Worst, Wellborne (IIRC) knocking out Vada Murray
November 25th, 2013 at 5:55 PM ^
One more vote for Harbaugh-Kolesar.
November 25th, 2013 at 6:02 PM ^
Michigan won at OSU. The game was tied 13-13 late, and (to his credit) Cooper decided to try to convert a 4th and 2 in his own territory to keep a potentially game-winning drive alive. OSU rans its immobile QB for some reason, and a landslide of Michigan defenders tackled him. JD Carlson kicked the game-winning field goal not long after.