College football day that you will never forget
Ok, this doesn't have to be a championship to be your memorable moment or anything like that. Maybe there were underlying factors that led to it being an incredible day of college football. Mine occurred on Sept 12, 2009.
I was rooming with my cousin at Central Michigan. CMU playing MSU in Spartan Stadium. When CMU recovered the onside kick it made our hearts race. Then MSU pulled a Sparty NOOOOOOOOOO and jumped offsides on a missed FG. CMU made the 2nd attempt and sent our campus into a frenzy.
Then we had to calm down, switch quickly to our Michigan gear, and watch another heart stopping thriller as Michigan pulled off the win over Notre Dame.
Later that night, Ohio State lost.
To recap, my school beat MSU, my favorite team beat Notre Dame, and OSU lost, meaning that the 3 schools I hate the most all lost, with 2 of the losses being in the dying seconds at the hands of my 2 favorite teams.
This is my favorite memory of college football thus far.
Let's hear yours.
What do you mean they tried to punk your friend
Can't believe I'm saying this, but the Stewart to Westbrook pass will forever haunt me. Was my first or second week as a college student at a small school in Minnesota. Wanted to start off my first year among non-Michigan fans on a positive note, but that play just tore my heart out.
Best college football day ever: I'm in Boston with a few buddies for the weekend. One of them is a Domer so we were at the ND bar watching them take on USC. I decided to be in the spirit of things and cheer for ND (it's not hard against USC) as I downed Sammy Lights one after the other. So I'm sitting at the bar watching ND-USC on the big screen and Michigan-PSU on the screen right in front of me. I can get behind this kind of setup. Behind me is a Penn Stater who's being loud and obnoxious every time Penn State does something good.
So, ND/USC and U-M/PSU. Turns out that the ND game was the infamous "Bush Push" in which Reggie Bush shoved Matt Leinart over the line. If you remember your history, a few minutes later came The New Math, Henne-to-Manningham for the fourth-down win over PSU. New Math + many Sammy Lights + quiet PSU fan = happy camper.
That would've been a pretty solid day by itself, but FSU at UVA was the prime-time night game, with FSU ranked #2 or some such, and UVA jumped out to a huge lead and hung on for the win, Marques Hagans throwing and running for a zillion and a half yards. This caused more Sammy Light consumption and good times all around.
My first ever Michigan football game. The 2002 Michigan vs. Michigan State. A 49-3 ass kicking. The greatest game I've been to was the 2005 Michigan vs. Penn State. Michigan won on the last second play.
to pick the '98 Rose Bowl, as it remains our only national title since before the Korean War. But it is still the only bowl game I've ever been to. I was there in person to see a Michigan team with a smothering defense, a Cinderella story QB (heady former walk-on who got kicked off the team and worked his way back on to lead them to a title), the Heisman trophy winner, and the Coach of the Year finish an undefeated season and win a share of the national title with a dramatic victory in the Rose Bowl. I remember thinking afterward, "Now I can die."
Favorite moment:
Wasu had us on our heels with an early TD and was driving for another. The stadium was ringing with the "overrated" chant. Then the Woodson pick. The Michigan fans stood in unison, pointed to the Wasu section, and responded "HEEEEIS-MAAAAAN...HEEEEIS-MAAAAN..."
Rex Kern to Barry Pierson in 1969 was better.
Ron Maciejowski
to Barry Pierson was good, too.
Being in that stadium THAT day--is there anyone who wouldn't trade ANY other game in mich history to have attended the 1969 ohio game?
Garvie Craw, Jim Mandich, Thom Darden, Cecil Pryor, Dan Dierdof, Don Morehead, Glenn Doughty....
ohio had some fairly decent players then, too. but, fawk ohio.
-This past year going to the first the Umass/Michigan game and then driving over to EMU to watch them get destroyed by CMU
-Capital One Bowl against Florida and being there in person
-The Horror and being there in person unfortunately
I was living in New Orleans and recovering from a ridiculous NYE celebration (2000 and all). My girlfriend at the time was from Montgomery and a lifetime Tide fan. She had 5 other Tide fans (mostly guys) in town for the week, and we're all sitting down to watch Michigan vs. Alabama in the Orange Bowl. The back and forth in that game was just crazy. I remember thinking at one point that I would have to leave so as to not knock out one of her obnoxious friends. Then the tides turned and I had to try (with only moderate success) to not become the obnoxious one. The whole combination of NYE 2000, crazy game, rival fans in my living room, and Michigan victory made that my most unforgettable.
2006 Iowa-Michigan. First game I saw in the Big House. Lamar Woodley and Alan Branch chased Iowa QB all over the field. Poor kid was running for his life every snap. Plus Breaston almost housed a kick return.
The finalists:
SEPTEMBER 23, 1989 - Michigan and Ohio State both travel to the west coast. We beat UCLA in a thrilling 4th quarter comeback to win it on JD Carlson's kick 24-23. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes get destroyed by USC 42-3. Sparty also lost that day.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1991 - Desmond's 4th down catch assures victory over Notre Dame. Earlier that day, Sparty lost to Central 20-3. Bo Schembechler was working at ABC that year and had every opportunity to take a shot at MSU for this loss when the score came in but took the high road.
OCTOBER 18, 1997 - We come back to beat Iowa to remain undefeated. My dad and I are driving back from Kalamazoo (after a visit with my sister) and we're in such a great mood over the Iowa game. We're listening to the end of Michigan State/Northwestern on the radio. Sparty was 5-0 for the first time since the Lyndon Johnson administration. But a crappy Northwestern team blocks their last second field goal to give them a 19-17 loss. I'll never forget my dad and I cheering while going down I-94 and the MSU announcers on the radio, who were preaching this to be a team of destiny not more than 30 seconds earlier, being completely speechless.
NOVEMBER 22, 1997 - Win over Ohio State. Charles Woodson being a freak of nature. David Boston putting his foot in his mouth. We're 11-0 and have the Rose Bowl locked up. Later that night, Florida beats Florida State to give us the #1 ranking in BOTH polls.
OCTOBER 15, 2005 - Win over Penn State, Henne to Manningham. Sparty's loss to Ohio State gives us John L. Smith's infamous tantrum. Notre Dame has their hearts stomped on by USC in the final play.
And an honorable mention even though it's not restricted to football:
DECEMBER 13, 1997 - Hockey team beats Boston College in overtime. Basketball team beats #1 Duke for the third straight year and Charles Woodson wins the Heisman. This all happened on the same day, folks. It was heaven.
colorado
and when wisc ran almost 30 times in a row on us. That actually seemed like an even lower point in UM history than app. state.
Made the road trip to stay with a buddy who was at PSU. We were heavy underdogs and could not get anything going on O until D. Alexander returns a punt for a TD... I went nuts (right in the middle of the PSU students section)... can't beleive I made it out alive! A nice welcome to the B1G for the kittys.
1998 Rose Bowl was not bad either... went straight from new years eve at the bar to the Rose Bowl parking lot at 3 AM - first row parking, not so much with the seats. Would rank higher, but my hangover in the sun was killer
1995. Ohio State. My first Michigan game with my father. I'm 8. Walking to the game one of their fans screams right at me. I learn why I should hate their fans. A streaker runs across the field before the game with a big M on his chest and back and nothing else. My dad covers my eyes and everyone laughs. I learn what a streaker is. Biakabatuka runs for 313 and a score. Michigan fans chant "Eddie who?" and "Overrated" as the game ends. I'm freezing cold, trying to figure out what everyone is saying (at first I thought I heard "it's all over") and I'm really, really happy.
Thanks, dad.
Although I was just planning on tailgating, I won my ticket in a poker game in the back of a chartered RV on the way to the MSU/UM game. We had a keg of Two Hearted in the shower and the guy I won the ticket from greatly overestimated his ability to maintain. Watched one of the quietest comebacks as the warm morning turned to a very chilly wind blown evening. We came back in the 4th quarter to beat MSU 37 UM 45 in OT.
The good:
2003 38-0 drubbing of ND. What domination.
2004 28-24 Minnesota Tyler Ecker catches the go-ahead touchdown
2008 500th game in Michigan Stadium, what a comeback
2009 Notre Dame. Late game heroics.
The bad:
2005: Minnesota. Terrible defensive call. Never heard a stadium go that quiet before.
2007 Well, you know. Wasn't at this game but I remember the entire day cleary. Awful. Right after the kick was blocked I remember taking off my michigan shirt and throwing it across the room.
2008 Toledo. KC Lopata misses the 26 yard field goal right in front of me. Just didn't know what to say.
I'm an Ann Arbor native and I've been watching Michigan football for as long as I can remember, so there are a lot of memories, but five in particular stand out. Two of them are bad and three of them are good:
1) I was at the '94 Colorado game that we lost on a hail mary as time expired. I remember that our section exploded when the clock hit zero, even as Kordell Stewart heaved that fateful final pass. Everyone fell into stunned silence when we realized that they completed that pass in the endzone and that there were no flags on the play. I was only 14, but I was pissed off for the next two weeks.
2) I was at the '95 Pigskin Classic against Virginia, Lloyd Carr's first game as head coach. When we fell behind 17-0, I remember thinking, for some reason, that everything was going to be okay. I don't know why. Some people around us started booing Scott Dreisbach when he threw two picks and ranting against Lloyd because he wouldn't pull him, but even then, I wasn't shaken. And that's why I didn't go crazy when Dresibach completed that last pass to Mercury Hayes who just barely managed to get his left foot down inbounds as time expired. I don't always think we're going to win when we fall behind (and we've had comeback wins in games that I honestly thought we would lose before we started to rally), but this one stands out because I never lost faith that we would eventually win the game (in addition to being Lloyd's first game).
3) I'll never forget the '98 Rose Bowl. Our first perfect season in 50 years. In addition to that, I was a senior in high school and had just received my U-M admission letter about ten days earlier. I was on top of the world after that game.
4) I was at the '04 Michigan State game in which we fell behind 27-10 with 7:00 left and came back to win 45-37 in triple overtime. The reason I remember this is not just because of the comeback, but because I had the misfortune of sitting near a large number of Michigan State fans who were being typically obnoxious. One of these idiots kept talking about John L. Smith as if he was the greatest coach since Vince Lombardi, even though State was only 4-3 at the time and had lost to Rutgers. I have never been as happy to see dejected State fans as I was after that game.
5) The Horror. This one stands out not only because it was The Horror, but because I couldn't watch it. I was in living overseas for the entire 2007 season. I had hooked up a Slingbox at my parents' house before I left so that I could stream the games over the Internet, but that game was on BTN, which wasn't carried by Comcast at the time. So all I could do was sit in an Internet cafe (still didn't have a DSL connection in my apartment yet) and stare in disbelief at the ESPN Gamecast window. I started banging on the table as I realized that we very well could lose this game. People around me were wondering what my problem was. The proprietor of the cafe came over and asked me if everything was okay. It was awful.
Oh, and there's no way I can forget the '95 Ohio State game. I didn't get to go to the game, but my older cousin who was a freshman at Northwestern was visiting us at the time and was cheering for us every bit as hard as I was, since an Ohio State loss would send Northwestern to the Rose Bowl. Ohio State had crushed everyone that year and was averaging something like 40 points a game. The idea that John Cooper was pathologically unable to beat Michigan when it mattered the most became very real after they lost that game. How I miss John Cooper.
Braylon vs MSU
Manningham's magical moment
In South Bend. Made the trip down. I was terrified before the game. We were coming off the 7-5, ND had already made room in their trophy case for Brady Quin's Heisman, and they had destroyed Penn State the week before. Sat in the South endzone with all the other Michigan Students. We went nuts when Prescott! got the pick 6, but were deflated when Henne made an errant pass under pressure to give them a TD. Nothing was better than on the next drive seeing Henne launch it down the sideline, looking up, and seeing Manningham wide open. Boom.
For me it's the 97 Ohio State game and there isn't even a close second. That game meant everything. Winning it propelled Michigan to the Rose Bowl and a chance at the national title. Not to mention that in the game of his life, Charles Woodson played the game of his life and thus wrapped up the Heisman Trophy.
Too many to count, but obviously the win over Washington State in the Rose Bowl that gave us the National Championship. Michigan vs Ohio State in 1997. On second thought pretty much the whole 97 season. Lloyd's last game. 2000 Orange bowl against bama. Michigan vs OSU 91.
Then the tough losses you never get over like the game in 06 and Colorado in 94 as well as that day in 2007.
I remember the last play of the Penn State game in 2005. I was in fifth grade and my (then 14) 20 yr old cousin and my (then 24) 30 year old brother were watching the game. I remember right as we score the touchdown, my brother yelps out in joy, and picks up our cats and tosses it across the room. Luckily the cat landed on its feet, but its always a good laugh whenever I remember that moment.