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.
For historical significance it is not nearly as important as some of these others, but I am still seething with anger over the Molest U punt debacle. Worst thing to ever happen to me as a sporting fan, mostly because of who the opponent was. Of all the fan bases to hate, I hate theirs the most, and to see them celebrating what was a total 10,000 to 1 gift from the gods as though they hadn't been outplayed in that game was the height of injustice. And given what history has shown that their athletic department is the biggest bunch of slimeballs who gave over every principle to protect their shitbag coaches just opens the wound again. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
While in the big picture the MSU game with the punting fiasco was not important - it is my personal worst. For a lucky team like that to get a gift like that and then name it and claim it as an earned win is the worst feeling.
While the big picture outcome for Michigan wasn't that important, it was huge for MSU. They don't get that miracle to bounce their way and they don't win the East, the Big Ten championship, or make the CFP. I wouldn't mind having that result switch back to the correct outcome.
Giving up 2 Touchdowns in the last 6 mins was brutal and I think it was pivotal for Lloyd calling his own successor and 2006 sealed it. But you win that game Lloyd pulls a little closer to even the series with Tressel in addition to success versus Cooper. I may be alone but the grumbling started here and snowballed to where we are.
One of the worst and most embarrassing upsets in football history. Living in NC, not even 2 hours from their campus made it even worse. Still wore my UM shirt proudly but took grief..
I was 13 and I ran out of the house and cried.
I was 23 and I ran out of the house and cried.
And it was 1995. That is burned into my synapses and upper motor neurons. UPPER?!
It was indeed 1994, and while I didn't run out of the house and cry, I remained in a catatonic state for a good half hour just staring into space.
Yeah you're right. 1995 was the redemption year at Colorado, right?
1996 and 1997 were the redemption years with 1997 being a 27-3 beat down.
Beating them twice and winning the title in 1997 helped that wound heal a great deal for me.
In contrast I'm still not over hockey losses from 15 years ago, and everyone's mind is basically going to 2006 in part because Michigan is still trying to get back to where they were in that game.
I can't believe it took anyone this long to mention basketball. I think I would pick either 2013 vs. Louisville or 2018 vs. Villanova because either one gets us a national title while none of the football games do that. If it's limited to football, I'll join those voting 2016 OSU.
I had been telling everyone in my family and around me that did not follow U of M hoops as closely that it was 'Our Year'. I just had a feeling about that squad after the 2012 Big Ten regular season title and first round flame out vs Ohio U. I knew they were going to take it to the next level. I had a lot going on in my life at that time and that win wouldve really meant a lot. I was at a lot of the homes games and courtside for the Elite 8 thrashing of Florida.
#2 - 2018 NC game vs Villanova. While it was devastating and I had high hopes, I knew we were not the better team.
#3 2015 vs MSU. In attendance, I made my brother stay so we could watch that play, he wanted to get a jump on traffic. I dont think I've ever been 'sick' over a loss before that or after. Easily the worst loss 'hangover' Ive ever had, lasted 2 weeks.
#4 2016 OSU. I've never been more pissed because we got screwed by the zebras and my roommate at the time was an OSU alum and season ticket holder. She admitted that their win was not very 'legit' and that their karma was the Clemson embarassment.
#5 2007 App State. In attendance Easily the most embarassing and humiliating moment of my life long Michigan fandom. It was also my first game as a student (grad school), which made it worse. The girl i was dating and I were so humiliated that we left A2 almost immediatley and spent the rest of that labor day weekend in Chicago. This loss also prevented my best friend/roommate and U of M PhD student at the time from switching his allegiance from Iowa to Michigan for football. He was ready to go all in and backed out after that fiasco, despite Michigan giving him a full ride for his PhD.
#6 2006 OSU. This would likely be higher up on the list but I was a senior in undergrad at a small school in Minnesota and having one of the best years of my life. But I did attend the away game at Minnesota, so I still felt 'apart' of that season. But out of all the seasons aside from 1997, I thought that was 'our year' ala 2013 basketball.
2006 and 2016 jump out for a lot of people. I don't think MIchigan's future improves much if Michigan wins in 2006 (we'd still get housed by Florida and I don't think any coaching option is an upgrade over Lloyd, plus none of this stops Dave Brandon from coming into town and letting the septic back up for five y ears). But getting that win changes the entire feel of the decade and at least takes a big edge off of the narrative surrounding The Game. And it was a great game, I'd have loved to have won it.
2016 would've improved our trajectory quite a bit. It was an absolutely gutting loss, and a B1G championship / playoff berth would be objectively great achievements regardless of all else. The hypothetical result of a playoff game? Who knows how that goes, but even if it's a big loss recent history suggests that it's a lot better to get to the playoff and lose then to not make it at all.
And the benefits would still be paying off. Even a Michigan win in 2006 would've worn off by the end of 2008 no matter who was coaching. 2016 is a loss we still really haven't recovered from.
Regarding 1996: That's crazy, you don't eliminate a great win over OSU. And even a national championship doesn't guarantee Cooper stays on that much longer. Auburn knifed Chizik just a couple of years after his title, and I for one am not going to make the argument that the OSU fanbase is more patient and level-headed than the Auburn fanbase (I was going to say rational, but both schools actually did benefit significantly from firing their underachieving HCs, so that was the right move).
This is a great take and overview.
For 2006 the real change would be a lot of possible what ifs. If they win does Carr leave that year? If so, who do they hire. If we win and notes his retirement the next year, does leaving graciously get him the ability to pick his successor?
2016 is straight forward. We go to the playoffs and Michigan is considered to be back to prominence even if we get run out the building in the playoffs. The entire aura of the program is different and most likely see a tick up in recruiting. So 2016 does seem to be the logical choice by far.
Wait a second...
WD, the biggest Michigan sports fan ever, asks which game result would we choose to switch if possible...and of all the games Michigan has ever lost...Rose Bowls...crushing defeats to OSU...the freak games against MSU...
he chooses as his second pick to turn a VICTORY!!! against OSU, into a LOSS???
Has hell frozen over? Are you that beaten down by watching just about your entire life OSU beating us? Say it aint so, WD?!
effect it would have, but if losing a certain game that we previously won would avoid the Dark Ages and keep the game results more typical in the following years, I would give it up in a heartbeat.
That would give us about 6 more wins against OSU since then, likely many of the contests people are wishing to reverse elsewhere in this thread, plus probably 4 more wins against MSU, also games likely mentioned here, not to mention App State doesn't happen.
Football dominates the conversation, as it should--football games are just so much bigger than anything else.
But in non-football terms I think we would all like to see either 2013 Louisville or 2018 Villanova flipped, Louisville actually being a logical one that could've gone the other way.
And of course there's the 2011 Hockey loss in the title game. Drawing back from that, Michigan hockey fans have a host of games they would like reversed, but the ones that come to mind are 97 BU, 2003 Minnesota (would've walked all over UNH in the title game), and 2010 Miami (home FF). 1994 LSSU probably belongs here, too.
Oh, and in Baseball: That Ortiz grand slam off of Benoit. Take that away and the Tigers make the World Series, and who knows from there.
Win or lose, I'd want to change that moment.
Exactly. Pass the ball to Rose, who finds (I guess) Pelinka free in the corner for a game-winning three. Any number of other scenarios (three-point play by Howard) would've been find.
Also, I couldn't stand how much the writers were in love with Dean Smith.
I was in a house full of Spartans, and I was the onlyU of M fan. Even at 9 years old I was talking mad shit.
2007 App State
Beating Urban in his Florida last game.maybe if Florida wins that game hes still at Florida
Not likely. He went on to win the national title the next season.
Like 2006 OSU it was #2 against #1. One of the best defenses Michigan ever put on a field and Harbaugh at quarterback. It should have been Bo's year to finally win a national title.
Led at the end on the road in an insanely loud game. Never gave them a touchdown but the 4th field goal with 2 seconds left won it 12-10. Michigan's only loss and we ended the year #2.
2 years ago. The safety doesn't happen.