If you could change the result of one game
Which would it be and why?
Mine: we win The Game in 2006. Would be Big Ten Champions and at the very least the BCS title game runner-up if not win it.
Lloyd retires after the season as opposed to a year later.
honorable mention: 1996 OSU. The season was a failure being 8-4 anyways and we did sort of better the next year. I would trade this win if it meant OSU never fired John Cooper or at least didn't fire him after 2000.
game would be my first choice, just so we are coming off a season with a win over them.
Losing to Ohio State in 2016. If they had won that then gone on to win the conference it would have validated them. Instead the program is still thought of as a has-been.
With a win a over OSU, that would've given us a a lot of momentum going into the B1G championship game. Speight still would've been injured, but I still think we could've beaten Wisco again and that would've made for a sure fire playoff spot. Even if we didn't do anything in the playoff, and at least scored any points against Clemson (lol 31-0), that still would've changed the perception of Harbaugh and the program. No longer would people be complaining about how we can't beat rivals anymore or how we underperform. A season beating MSU and OSU, plus a playoff birth would've changed recent history of the program
Recency bias made 2016 OSU pop in my head, but Iowa.
What about Iowa? Michigan still would have been in the playoffs if they beat OSU and win the conference championship game. Would have helped with recruiting now.
For awhile, he played well enough to win us the game but it wasn't meant to be. I hated to see him shoulder the burden of that loss, the way it went down, an affirmation that he simply didn't have what it took to be the QB at this level. Any win against Ohio State is good but nowadays, with wins coming few and far between, a win last year or the year before would have also been good in terms of solidifying Coach Harbaugh as the man to bring down the Evil Empire.
It was a tough loss but the team competed great against a Blue Blood and it really came down to Vince Young being an incredible college player.
The worst part was, leaving that game I was sure that team was going to do some great things, but sadly they didn't and then sent the program into a tailspin.
2016 OSU would also be an acceptable reply.
Not like we were guaranteed to do better than OSU did against Florida. Although Carr did have that record against the SEC.
that it would have been an M win at Ohio Stadium under the current regime, M would have gone to the B1G title game (which somehow M has never done), probably would have won that, and gone to the playoff. If M wins that game, I think the perception of the program is a bit different right now and recruiting would probably be going a bit better.
So yes, 2006 is the correct answer in terms of the single most impactful difference to a single season (that win gets M the big title and a spot in the national title game), but the 2016 game is a valid answer because it impacts the current program, even if M was still two wins away from being where the 2006 game would have put them.
OK, Trebek
2002: would have deprived Tressel of his national championship, while our very good team (eventually ranked #9) probably would have ended up in the top 5.
2006: obvious reasons are obvious.
2016: CFP
Excellent choice IMO.
2002: would have deprived Tressel of his national championship ...
"Kill my neighbor's goat." This is how rivals should think.
Anything to help us get in the playoff.
Even if we've would of been killed by either Bama or Clemson.
the tie with Woody
the tie with Woody
the tie with Woody
Must be a sign
;-)
nice one!
I think the App St loss showed us that dicking around all summer and not preparing the right way for another season can go badly. It was RR that launched us into the dark ages. And for that, my choice of game to change is the 07 Pitt/WV game. WV wins and RR is playing in the BCS championchip game and not coming to Michigan.
By the way, Pitt was 4-7 heading into that game and catching about 28 pts.
If Nebraska beats Texas in the Big12 title game in 2009, which Texas won on a last second field goal, then Cincinatti goes to the BCS title game to face Alabama, Brian Kelly doesn't (probably) leave to go to ND after that season and there's good chance Michigan hires him instead of Hoke after the 2010 season.
I actually was really bummed when Texas made that FG for that reason, and remained in the "what-if" camp as Kelly took ND to the BCS title game in his second season, but hooo boy considering what Kelly has shown as a person and coach since (and where we are now), I'm gald he wasn't available even if it meant four years of Hoke for M.
Oregon didn't win because Michigan was in a funk. Oregon was playing modern football and Michigan wasn't. Michigan was thoroughly outclassed.
2016 changes the whole narrative going forward. OSU loses that game they dont get every single recruit that was there and meyer's heart starts hurting again. That game was palpatine vs mace windu.
Sidious was definatley allowing Mace to stay in the fight in order to turn Anakin.
My change would be 2006 vs. OSU. Would have been great just to win that game, and then we would have been one win away from a national title.
Watch the Meyer interview after that game. A win there breaks him.
Ohio State in 2006 and 2016 are the obvious ones but I’ll throw in 2007 as well. After the disastrous start to a season full of high expectations, the Big Ten Title was still in play and Henne and Hart could’ve gotten their win vs the buckeyes.