Favorite big hits by UM Defense
Alan Branch on Anthony Morelli.
Musburger was one of my least favorite announcers for the following reasons (at least):
- Always on the big game, for no reason. Note to ABC/ESPN etc. - the reason big games get great ratings is that they're big games. It's not because of who the suits at Disney decided should call the game.
- Went full Bob Dole on Katherine Webb. It was every bit as creepy as Bob Dole's infamous Pepsi commercial. Never, ever, go full Bob Dole.
- Never informs. I've heard him call maybe a hundred games, and the only thing I recall learning was that I would not leave my kids with him (see K. Webb).
- Pompous. It's tough to be that pompous when you're not informative, but he pulled it off. He always seemed like he had one too many brews before hopping in the booth.
- Bad foil. I like Herbstreit well enough as an announcer, but he gets extra credit for managing the boorish Mr. Musburger.
- Off topic. At most points, it seemed like he was more interested in sharing trivia than calling the game.
- Star power. Musburger thought he had star power, but did not. I did not tune in to any game to hear any announcer except when I heard Ernie Harwell was retiring. When Keith Jackson called a game, it certainly enhanced the game, but he was not the attraction. Both Harwell and Jackson understood that they were ancillary to the game, and were great because of it. Musburger never seemed to get that.
I certainly dislike Chris Berman calling a game more, and Joe Buck is another guy who I dislike (when calling football - I think he's pretty good calling baseball). But I've got plenty of venom for Musberger.
My favorite dump on Musberger moment occurred during UTL I when Denard rolled right and threw back to Vincent Smith for a TD. Brent, in his infiite wisdom, announced "That's a play that they practice." WTF, Brent? Don't they practice the other plays they had been running?
Of course his handling of Eminem was high entertainment.
I've always like Musberger for some of the same reasons you listed above.
I'm with you on Berman. He's many levels of insufferable. He's the archetypal ESPN "I'm smarter and wittier than all of you" guy.
Re: Katherine Webb, he did the same thing to Jenn Sterger years before she got famous for being the recipient of tasteful self-portraits of Brett Favre's dong.
Too much exaggeration, overreaction and hyperbole from Brent. It was too much work to sort through his emotions just to watch the game. HIs level of excitement often seemed out of tune and calibration.
I like the comparisions to Ernie and Keith - simple, descriptive storytellers. I loved those guys.
Watching that doesn't remind me of Musberger....it reminds me of how much fun it was to watch that defense play and how much talent was on the field at that time.
The Branchening!
He's also one of the nicest dudes you'd ever meet.
That is my favorite too!
Sadly, another great hit in a PSU game was Dadrian Taylor knocking out PSU TE Bob Stephenson in the #4 vs #3 game in 1997https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEccmg4JRbE.
MGoBlog covered this once before.
Taylor was the hardest hit I've ever seen in any football game.
taylor would have to be the biggest hit by michigan defender. lucky theyre both ok but that was stone cold
the most unrepeatable aspect is how his offensive line is just bouncing not even trying to help him, and Branch is just exiting the scene doing a "fat-man" strut.
Boston getting his literal comeuppance was the best for me.
Marcus Ray just wrecked him on that play. And Boston had yapped something fierce the entire week before The Game.
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This is the one that always stands out to me. I was pretty young when it happend. Don't remember watching the game, but I vividly remember seeing it on Michigan Replay.
That's a great picture.
Back then, I had no idea that I'd pine for a time when Michigan struggled to (but usually did) dispatch mediocre Big Ten teams. Little did I know that there'd be seven years of pain in the near future.
This is the first hit I thought of, closely followed by the Branch hit. But just the picture alone of the Shazor hit is great because you can actually see the fear in the wr's eyes right before he gets leveled.
This was the one I wanted, so I'm glad to see it was already posted. I was a freshman MMB member, so I was stuck as an usher at Band-o-rama during the game. We had a little radio and were trying to celebrate without drawing attention to the fact that we weren't fulfilling our critical duties.
Although Charlton on Francois in Miami was a beauty.
Least favorite-Crable on Smith for obvious reasons...
Kovacs on Alex Carder in 2011 has always been memorable for me.
I forgot the guy who hit that Purdue guy that made him fumble and won us the game back in like 2004? Crable or Shazor?
It knocked both players out.
That remains the most vicious hit I can recall ever seeing in football.
What people don't factor enough on the Daydrion hit was the size and speed of the Penn State tight end. He was a huge dude, so it may not have had the flash of hits that blow up little skill guys like Reggie Bush. And he was traveling near full speed North/South and was instantly stopped and knocked slightly back.
Every other vicious blow you see (like the Reggie Bush blow up or the Dumas OSU blow up of the Auburn player) involved a target that was smaller, and moving slowly while trying to adjust and catch a pass. There just is no comparison or rival to the Taylor hit.
Easily, without question the most violent hit in football that I have ever seen.
The violence in that hit shows the amazing duality that exists in football. That hit can be used as an example for either the greatness or the horribleness of the sport. Awesome.
Marcus Ray's hit on David Boston. He was from Columbus, Ohio, and Sports Illustrated put it on the front cover. When I think big hits at Michigan, Marcus standing over Boston pops to mind.
That's the death & taxes tackle in the MGoBlog readership. It was spectacular (as the picture attests) but it wasn't in the class of some other hits here.
Crable on Brady Quinn in 2006 was a great one, with Quinn's leg flail and the chunk of turf stuck in his helmet afterwards.