Challenge for the Board - Can you remember this obscure play?
My brother, dad, and I always refer to one particular play when we talk about tough Michigan football. We have been bringing it up for years, but for the life of me I have been unable to remember which game it was in order to track down some video of it. I thought I would toss it out to the board and see just how good you are. Here is the scenario as I remember it:
Aaron Shea was playing fullback and was a lead blocker on some sort of off tackle or sweep play to the right. He ended up blocking the end, I think, sliding off and blocking a linebacker, and then plowed over a defensive back as the runner followed him into the endzone. I remember calling my dad after the play and his first comment was "did you see Shea blocking three guys on that run?" It is nice to see the flashy runs, great catches, etc. but I have a special love for guys making tough plays like that one.
This is quite the test, though. I am asking if anyone remembers one particular play, given a description of a blocker, from almost a decade ago. What do you have?
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:05 AM ^
Ask and you shall receive:
From the Michigan Daily... game was against Wisconsin on Nov 14, 1998.
VIDEO (start at 12:45):
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:11 AM ^
Nicely done! Just our of curiousity, did you remember that play or did you look it up somehow?
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:13 AM ^
See below... remembered the play like it was yesterday. It has stuck in my mind as well and I remebered it was against Wisky and the year (my first year out of grad school and in my first real job) so the rest was easy.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:12 AM ^
I sat next to Anthony Thomas in Freshman English the year before. I always laughed about his gold front teeth.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:32 AM ^
I tried to teach him Euchre at a mutual friend's party. He decided to stick to football.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:44 AM ^
what's the deal with in-staters and euchre? does that game exist only in the state of michigan? after college, i haven't seen or heard of anyone playing it.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:48 AM ^
I learned it in Chicago...from a friend with family in Michigan
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:49 AM ^
Pretty sure it's a German game and Germans brought it to Michigan and other parts of the Upper Midwest.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:42 AM ^
i guess that explains it. the more you know.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:09 AM ^
I think the answer to your question is mostly yes, except it's probably more a midwest thing than Michigan. I live in North Carolina now and the only people who have ever heard of it are other people that moved here from Michigan or Ohio.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:11 AM ^
They play it in Iowa as well, but use a 6 and 4 to keep score instead of two 5s. Apperantly, two 5s is the "Canadian" way to keep score.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:48 AM ^
5 & 5 is total bush league.
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
5 & 5 is the only way to go, eh.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:27 AM ^
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:59 AM ^
Euchre is quick to play ..... when you have experienced players. It was/is perfect for the short breaks the line workers take.
I was in the service and Spades was the dominate game. If you saw a euchre game you knew that those guys/gays were from Michigan or Ohio.
Same here on the West Coast. Back home in MI we used to play Euchre tournaments all the time for big money. Once I moved out here, everyone looked at me like I was crazy when i wanted to play. I have also found the Euchre can sometimes be a rather difficult game to explain to people. It's almost as if it's ingrained in your blood if you were born there.
When we moved down here, no one plays so I joined an online site. My wife used my account & got me kicked off. No love between friends in Euchre, and never team up with your wife.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:37 AM ^
Unreal. The way you threw that down was almost Chunkums-esque.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:03 AM ^
FYI, you can add "&t=12m45s" to the end of the url and it will automatically start at that point.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:31 AM ^
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:55 AM ^
the speed in which you nailed that response is damn impressive. +1 to the board.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:00 AM ^
mgoboard FTW
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:05 AM ^
That only took three minutes!
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:11 AM ^
I knew as soon as I started reading your post what play that was. I remembered it was against Wisky and even kinda remembered the call and hoopla afterwards about Shea doing the dirty work and Thomas getting the glory. Great play.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:12 AM ^
You sure it wasnt this one?
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:16 AM ^
Board is up 1-0
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:17 AM ^
Impressive. The collective knowledge of the board truly is spectacular.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:23 AM ^
/mouth agape in amazement
This Board never ceases to astound and delight me.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:25 AM ^
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:58 AM ^
That might have been Iowa '02. I remember Navarre having a long run (30 yards?) in an otherwise brutal game.
EDIT:
Found the box score. It was a 39 yard run, in a game in which Navarre led Michigan with 18 net rushing yards. He passed for 112 yards. Like I said, brutal.
EDIT EDIT:
The play in question happened on the first drive of the 2nd half. This is the longest video that I could find of that game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eukaQpnTrf0 but it doesn't include that play. It's going to be tough because, for obvious reasons, the videos of that game seem to be put up by Iowa fans, who are reluctant to include a broken play where the lumberingist of lumbering QBs lumbers for 39 yards against their defense.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:10 AM ^
doesn't hold a candle to our historian.
I remember that run. It was actually over 50 yards, but there was holding near the end of the play that brought it back to "only" 39.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:34 AM ^
I remember a couple "pass" receptions (latteral then pass back to Navarre) that were hilariously slow developing but somehow effective.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:33 AM ^
Apparantly we ran a few of those double pass plays over the years.
The one that jogged my memory was the Minnesota game, both for the blocking and Navarre's jogging (starts @ 3:33).
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:02 PM ^
You can almost hear Navarre yelling to his linemen "wait for meeeeeeeeee..."
We need that play back in the playbook for Denard, stat.
Can you imagine that with Denard and Devin? Goodness that would be a thing of beauty. Borges make it happen.
Was super slow Navarre.
August 3rd, 2012 at 10:42 AM ^
Beautiful job finding this so fast. Reminds me somewhat of Omameh taking out Te'o and the safety (IIRC) on Denard's 87 yard touchdown run against ND in 2010.
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:13 AM ^
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:23 AM ^
August 3rd, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^
Moundros had a similar play as well. Thumping fullbacks are okay in my book.
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:07 PM ^
I loved that play too, and thanks to WolverineHistorian I've been able to watch it over and over in the comfort of my living room surrounded by beautiful ladies. Plus the first comment solved the riddle!
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:11 PM ^
you referencing. I remember it so clearly because it catalyzed my immediate man-crush on Shea to an extent where I scoured the interwebs for an Aaron Shea authentic jersey. Remembering it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
August 3rd, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
Those are the kind of plays that get me all warm and tingly. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Denard in the spread offense... he's one of the most exciting players I can remember... but I definitely won't mind seeing some big ol' fullbacks lead the way for the Michigan power running game I've come to know and love.
The encouraging thing is that Borges seems to like to mix it up. I doubt we stop recruiting athletic QBs and I could see a Brady/Henson situation down the road where we have different players with different strengths coming into the game to run a variety of formations.
also tremendous
