1999 purdue

via the Michigan Daily archives

Let's Remember Some Games: Deceptive Speed, Part Two (1999 Purdue)

Ace • August 5, 2020 • 12:25pm

Previously: Krushed By Stauskas (Illinois 2014), Introducing #ChaosTeam (Indiana 2009), Revenge is Terrifying (Colorado 1996), Four Games In September I (Boston College 1991), Four Games In September II (Boston College 1994), Four Games In September III (Boston College 1995), Four Games In September IV (Boston College 1996), Pac Ten After Dark Parts One and Two (UCLA 1989), Harbaugh's Grand Return Parts One and Two (Notre Dame 1985)

This Game: Slightly abridged full game, WH highlights, box score

Part One: Click here.

Is Joe Tiller ready for the second half?

He is now. While he chews, sideline reporter Dave Ryan relays some of his choice words from halftime: he's "very upset" about the "inexcusable" drops by Purdue's receivers.

While Michigan holds a 21-6 lead at the break, their 272-199 edge in total yardage is largely explained by Purdue's sudden inability to catch the football, and while the Boilermakers' late-half field goal may have been a disappointment given the starting field position, it gives them a chance to cut the game to one possession to open the second stanza.

Instead, the same issues that plagued Purdue in the first half remain present. After a confused Michigan defense allowed a 27-yard slant out to midfield, leading receiver Chris Daniels lets a deep shot slip through his fingertips before Todd Howard rakes it out completely—the third or fourth drop by Daniels alone today and, according to the broadcast, the team's seventh. Brees has completed 12 passes. Daniels is wearing his frustration:

Brees wings the next one high, then—for the third time in the game—gets caught not expecting the snap on third down:

That can't be a fun feeling. Brees gets a handle on the ball but can only heave it out of play. Another promising drive ends in disappointment.

[Hit THE JUMP for more of this, plus multiple savage postgame quotes.]

Marcus Knight slipped two tackles for a big first-half gain [Robert Kalmbach/Bentley]

Let's Remember Some Games: Deceptive Speed, Part One (1999 Purdue)

Ace • July 29, 2020 • 4:40pm

This Game: Slightly abridged full game, WH highlights, box score

It's time to travel back to the Golden Age of modern Purdue football. It's 1999. Joe Tiller's mustache roams the sideline; its owner has led the Boilermakers to back-to-back nine-win seasons for the first time since 1980, each capped off by an Alamo Bowl victory—the most recent a comeback triumph over #4 Kansas State. A junior Drew Brees pilots one of the early iterations of a passing spread offense; he's in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race.

All of this is still quite novel. This is from the Daily's pregame coverage:

They cite Ryan Leaf's Washington State team, which Michigan beat in the 1998 Rose Bowl, as the last spread offense to play Michigan. In other words, they went over a full season without seeing it.

Meanwhile, the focus on the home side is the team's inability to run the ball as Michigan does. The talented offensive line hasn't been able to stay healthy, and in turn they haven't opened many holes for Anthony Thomas, who enters the game averaging a mere 3.6 yards per carry. Thomas is the totality of the M running game in 1999; he'd finish the season with 301 carries while #2 was backup Walter Cross with 30. 3-0. Three-zero. Thirty. The backup quarterback, Drew Henson, nearly caught Cross with 27 rushing attempts.

The lack of a consistent running game has led Lloyd Carr and Mike DeBord to emphasize the passing game, which comes as a shock to those who've watched Michigan play football before:

Last week against Wisconsin, the Badgers stacked the line to stop running back Anthony Thomas. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr stuck to his guns in the beginning, running Thomas on three of the first four plays of the game.

But when Thomas gained just two yards on those three carries, Carr switched gears immediately. Michigan turned to its passing attack, even - are you ready for this? - throwing on first down. Neglecting the ground game, quarterback Tom Brady threw two first-quarter touchdowns and completed nine of his 13 passes in the game's first 15 minutes. Some Michigan quarterbacks of years past didn't throw 13 times in the entire game.

So, when does Michigan join the SEC?

That said, Lloyd goes out of his way to emphasize that he'd much prefer doing it the old way:

the dream of every Michigan Man™

We know, Lloyd, we know.

Despite the concerns about the offense, Michigan is 4-0 with wins over ranked Notre Dame and Wisconsin squads, and they enter this game ranked fourth in both polls. Purdue, meanwhile, is 4-0 for the first time since 1967 and their rankings of #10/11 in the polls are the program's highest since the preseason of 1980. They defeated ND one week after the Wolverines.

As you may have heard whether or not you paid attention to this season, Tom Brady and Drew Henson were in a quarterback competition that carried into the season. At this point, Brady gets the first quarter, Henson gets the second, and the coaches ride the hot hand from there. That's been Brady, who had the best game of his career the week prior at Wisconsin only for it to end early in the fourth quarter on a hard hit:

no flag, nor any cry for one; today's NFL would have #16 arrested on the field

Brady is cleared and starting against the Boilermakers.

ESPN carries the game. Dave Barnett and Bill Curry are on the call. Curry—who coached Georgia Tech, Alabama, and Kentucky in the '80s and '90s, then later returned to coach Georgia State—does wonderful work in this game. (He's also a fascinating football character if you're looking for a wormhole to fall down.)

In sharp contrast to how future battles between Brees- and Brady-led teams would be billed, the broadcast sets this up with Brees and the Michigan defense as the leads:

Evidently ESPN's special effects in 1999 were mostly limited to "let's make the video look glitchy."

[Hit THE JUMP for the first half, featuring maybe the harshest burn Tom Brady has ever suffered.]