Open Thread: The Horror vs. Fort Sumter

Submitted by Toby Flenderson on

We get to see the teams of the two most embarrassing Michigan losses face each other off tonight.


Will it be lit?

Chuck Norris

December 23rd, 2017 at 7:00 PM ^

U OF TOLEDO, WE WILL FIGHT FOR YOU (Go! Fight! Win!)

U OF TOLEDO, WE LOVE OUR GOLD AND BLUE (Let's go blue!)

MEN OF THE VARSITY, THE ENEMY MUST YIELD

WE'LL FIGHT JUST LIKE OUR ANCESTORS AND MARCH RIGHT DOWN THE FIELD!

T - O - L - E - D - O!!

Yeoman

December 23rd, 2017 at 8:11 PM ^

I spent that afternoon at Stagg Field watching Chicago beat an Oberlin squad that didn't have enough healthy players to play two-platoon football. Marvin Krislov was sitting right behind me.

I've missed very few Michigan games in the TV era but that was one of the smartest football-related decisions I've ever made.

Jasper

December 23rd, 2017 at 8:34 PM ^

Good point. Getting beat 39-7 at home the week after The Horror wasn't much fun, either. Funny how that game gets forgotten.

It sucked losing to Toledo, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the Appalachian State loss (which, in case anyone hasn't noticed, is an oft-mentioned piece of college football history). Brady Hoke (Akron) and Lloyd Carr (Ball State ... _and_ Brady Hoke) had close games with MAC teams.

ATC

December 23rd, 2017 at 9:12 PM ^

Oregon: cost me a keg of Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen. Oddly though, after living in orygun for almost two decades, I’ve never once received trash talk wearing my Michigan gear.... could be all the cannabis they enjoy. Tie for first still is ‘81 loss to Wisky and Muskegon’s Johnny Williams who redeemed himself playing with AC Sparkplug and the Michigan Panthers.

Wolfman

December 23rd, 2017 at 10:13 PM ^

MI's roster had to be for him not to get an offer,  but I am not sure he didn't. He very well could have and opted for WI instead. I was working in Saginaw in '82 or'83 and the Panters were the first pro team i was able to take my son to see. We drove down and watched AC, Bobby Herbert, Johnny - few more decent ones too - at the Silverdome.  Still have a Gray and Maroon Panthers T-Shirt. That was a good night. My son was like four years old then. 

W. MI went through a nice run of RB right around that time. Right after Johnny, there was Curtis who was second team AA at Central, prior to starting his pro career in San Diego. Then Bobby Morse blocked for Lorenzo at MSU before going onto the Eagles. Know he's still smiling about that kickoff return for a TD to beat the Lions.  That damn young man has himself quite a spread off Lake Harbor, but guess that would have happened with or without football. 

Sorry you lost your bet, but in a way, even though we should have woke up when Donovan and Syracuse showed us a new way of walking, when OR came to town, we knew the game had changed for real. Happy Holidays ATC

ATC

December 24th, 2017 at 3:02 AM ^

Hope ur drinking something good where it’s warm!

PS .......had dinner with Bobbie Hebert in Shreveport, LA in ‘96.... Mich. Panthers came up in discussion which led to Johnny Williams.... Bobby said Johnny was toughest RB he ever played with. I told him, of course, he’s from Muskegon.

PPS Muskegon County: toughest football county in Michigan..... less than 3 percent of population but highest yield of state championships per capita.

jmblue

December 24th, 2017 at 11:29 AM ^

It sucked losing to Toledo, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the Appalachian State loss

In terms of national perception, yes, partly because at that time, no ranked team had lost to a I-AA opponent. But Appalachian was a much better opponent. 2008 Toledo may be the worst team Michigan has ever lost to.

SalvatoreQuattro

December 23rd, 2017 at 7:24 PM ^

Chancellorsville was an inexplicable defeat considering Union’s massive advantage in men. Little Bighorn the shocking crushing loss to a supposedly overmatched foe. An example of hubris and folly.

I

snowcrash

December 23rd, 2017 at 8:06 PM ^

Hooker lost his nerve after one of his corps got caught off guard and driven from its initial position by a flank attack. He just sat and defended for the rest of the battle with three of his corps occupying an exposed position and getting roughly handled, and the other three (including the one that got surprised, and didn't even lose that many men) just sitting around in a less exposed position.

The football equivalent of Chancellorsville was the 2015 OSU-MSU game, when Meyer inexplicably didn't challenge MSU's secondary at all or even use Elliott much.

LSAClassOf2000

December 23rd, 2017 at 8:24 PM ^

This is one of the few blogs in sports where I am not surprised to see the beginnings of a serious discussion of the Battle Of Chancellorsvile, so well done.

As I recall, many of Hooker's immediate subordinates were furious with him, especially because Meade and others had actually been within earshot of achieving their initial objectives.