Previously: Krushed By Stauskas (Illinois 2014), Introducing #ChaosTeam (Indiana 2009), Revenge is Terrifying (Colorado 1996), Four Games In September I (Boston College 1991), Four Games In September II (Boston College 1994), Four Games In September III (Boston College 1995), Four Games In September IV (Boston College 1996), Pac Ten After Dark Parts One and Two (UCLA 1989), Harbaugh's Grand Return Parts One and Two (Notre Dame 1985)

This Game: Slightly abridged full game, WH highlights, box score

It's time to travel back to the Golden Age of modern Purdue football. It's 1999. Joe Tiller's mustache roams the sideline; its owner has led the Boilermakers to back-to-back nine-win seasons for the first time since 1980, each capped off by an Alamo Bowl victory—the most recent a comeback triumph over #4 Kansas State. A junior Drew Brees pilots one of the early iterations of a passing spread offense; he's in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race.

All of this is still quite novel. This is from the Daily's pregame coverage:

They cite Ryan Leaf's Washington State team, which Michigan beat in the 1998 Rose Bowl, as the last spread offense to play Michigan. In other words, they went over a full season without seeing it.

Meanwhile, the focus on the home side is the team's inability to run the ball as Michigan does. The talented offensive line hasn't been able to stay healthy, and in turn they haven't opened many holes for Anthony Thomas, who enters the game averaging a mere 3.6 yards per carry. Thomas is the totality of the M running game in 1999; he'd finish the season with 301 carries while #2 was backup Walter Cross with 30. 3-0. Three-zero. Thirty. The backup quarterback, Drew Henson, nearly caught Cross with 27 rushing attempts.

The lack of a consistent running game has led Lloyd Carr and Mike DeBord to emphasize the passing game, which comes as a shock to those who've watched Michigan play football before:

Last week against Wisconsin, the Badgers stacked the line to stop running back Anthony Thomas. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr stuck to his guns in the beginning, running Thomas on three of the first four plays of the game.

But when Thomas gained just two yards on those three carries, Carr switched gears immediately. Michigan turned to its passing attack, even - are you ready for this? - throwing on first down. Neglecting the ground game, quarterback Tom Brady threw two first-quarter touchdowns and completed nine of his 13 passes in the game's first 15 minutes. Some Michigan quarterbacks of years past didn't throw 13 times in the entire game.

So, when does Michigan join the SEC?

That said, Lloyd goes out of his way to emphasize that he'd much prefer doing it the old way:

the dream of every Michigan Man™

We know, Lloyd, we know.

Despite the concerns about the offense, Michigan is 4-0 with wins over ranked Notre Dame and Wisconsin squads, and they enter this game ranked fourth in both polls. Purdue, meanwhile, is 4-0 for the first time since 1967 and their rankings of #10/11 in the polls are the program's highest since the preseason of 1980. They defeated ND one week after the Wolverines.

As you may have heard whether or not you paid attention to this season, Tom Brady and Drew Henson were in a quarterback competition that carried into the season. At this point, Brady gets the first quarter, Henson gets the second, and the coaches ride the hot hand from there. That's been Brady, who had the best game of his career the week prior at Wisconsin only for it to end early in the fourth quarter on a hard hit:

no flag, nor any cry for one; today's NFL would have #16 arrested on the field

Brady is cleared and starting against the Boilermakers.

ESPN carries the game. Dave Barnett and Bill Curry are on the call. Curry—who coached Georgia Tech, Alabama, and Kentucky in the '80s and '90s, then later returned to coach Georgia State—does wonderful work in this game. (He's also a fascinating football character if you're looking for a wormhole to fall down.)

In sharp contrast to how future battles between Brees- and Brady-led teams would be billed, the broadcast sets this up with Brees and the Michigan defense as the leads:

Evidently ESPN's special effects in 1999 were mostly limited to "let's make the video look glitchy."

[Hit THE JUMP for the first half, featuring maybe the harshest burn Tom Brady has ever suffered.]

It's a very Michigan day: gray skies and rain that's light enough to be hard to see on TV yet heavy enough to impact play and field conditions. Perfect for Homecoming!

The Wolverines receive the opening kickoff. As the offensive line's injury issues and Thomas's slow start are discussed, the first play from scrimmage is a three-yard A-Train run on which he maximizes the space blocked for him. The second play goes in similar fashion with one critical difference, as Thomas doesn't hold onto the ball through a cracking high-low hit:

Purdue's leading receiver, Chris Daniels, drops Brees's first throw of the afternoon, which begins a trend. They pick up a first down on his next attempt, however, and then break out Tiller's evil rules-bending trick: the late post-huddle mass substitution. The Boilermakers will frequently substitute up to four or five players after breaking the huddle, forcing opponents to stay in vanilla defenses with whatever personnel they chose to open the drive. Switching from the "Light Brigade" (4 WR, 1 RB) to the "Heavy Brigade" (2 WR, 2 TE, 1 RB) gains them a first down inside the red zone in two runs.

Brees uncharacteristically forces a couple passes into coverage, however, and all their potent offense has to show from a sudden-change possession is a 28-yard Travis Dorsch field goal. While Michigan is in an early 3-0 hole, it feels like they dodged a bullet.

That feeling grows when Brady hits David Terrell between zones for 26 yards on the first play of the next drive. After a first-down Thomas run for—take a guess—three yards, fullback Aaron Shea picks up six yards on a screen, leaving Michigan with third-and-one. Everyone in the stadium expects Thomas to get the ball, including Purdue, which plays its cornerbacks ten yards off the line. Brace yourselves—the Wolverines take the free yards and Marcus Knight rewards them for the decision:

“Did you ever think that you’d ever see Michigan, on third and short, raise up and actually throw the football?” asks Curry. This is the bar we've set in 1999. Please don't ask where it is right now.

Another Thomas first-down run gains two yards. Since that's not working, the offense tries a different tack:

Holy shit, that'll do. Brady's perfect throw to Terrell puts Michigan up 7-3. “If you didn’t know who the Heisman Trophy candidate was at quarterback, you might pick #10 for the Wolverines,” says Curry. One might even think Carr should consider throwing more.

Speaking of Terrell, he's playing on both sides of the ball, something he also did against Syracuse and Wisconsin. He opens this drive at cornerback and "gets in" on a tackle by diving into a pile. The quick-sub stuff works again for a couple of first downs, then Ian Gold gives up a gift big gain by overrunning a bubble screen. Brees then has to burn a timeout when Tiller cuts a post-huddle line switch way too tight:

Even when Purdue messes it up, you can see why the NCAA would later put in a rule that forced offenses to allow the defense to substitute if they made any between-snap personnel change. If they'd pulled this substitution off with better timing, they'd have a five wideout set going against Michigan's base 3-4 defense, which then gets to choose between letting Brees pick apart a zone or finding one of the obvious man-to-man mismatches.

Brees scrambles for a first down to again get Purdue in the red zone. This time they can't even get the three points, however, after the next snap catches the quarterback off-guard and James Hall rips the ball away for Michigan.

The offense yet again calls for a first-down run by Thomas. This one goes better than the last few:

When he gets a crack, he's not half bad. Thomas sits for one play—Cross's tenth carry of the year, gaining (yup) three yards—before returning, motioning out of the back field, breaking open deep, and... getting tackled by the flailing linebacker well before the ball arrives. No call. Not great! Thankfully, Purdue again gives a Michigan receiver way too much cushion, this time allowing Shea to pick up the first down on a simple dumpoff.

Then DeBord dials up his pet passing play, the waggle. Brady-to-Knight works like Greise-to-Tuman as Purdue's defense is caught flowing the wrong way. 14-3, Wolverines. The alumni band strikes up "The Victors"; some are more prepared for their cue than others:

I'm in tears.

Brady is 6-for-7 for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Breaking the narrative, he's playing the better of the two quarterbacks.

Brees is still Brees, however. After the running game gets Purdue to midfield, he floats a gorgeous touch pass to Randall Lane for a third-down conversion. An end zone shot to speedster Vinny Sutherland falls incomplete; the announcers call it a drop, something they've done with every borderline pass that finds fingertips, but it's not egregious. Facing another third down, Tiller goes for the Light Brigade, but Michigan DC Jim Hermann is ready with a blitz:

To hell with your shenanigans and your arguably superior mustache, Tiller. To top it off, Dorsch hooks his field goal attempt left.

There's a little over a minute left in the quarter, so Brady takes the field again. He's also scorching hot and has a chance to blow the game open, so Henson can cool his heels on the bench a little longer. Facing a third-and-seven, Brady doesn't have an open man, but he does have green grass in front of him. Curry's greatest moment ensues:

Tough but fair. Brady ekes out the first down before being chased down by defensive tackle Matt Mitrione, who's now in the late stages of a solid heavyweight mixed martial arts career. When the measurement shows the football inching past the marker, the camera briefly catches Brady throwing a first-down signal. I start laughing uncontrollably.

While a couple big plays by Terrell—first a reverse, then a 16-yard catch after a Jeff Backus holding penalty—get the Wolverines to the edge of scoring territory, a bad route by fellow sophomore Marquise Walker screws up a third-down throw to Knight a few yards away. Facing fourth-and-four from the Purdue 38, in an offense that has sophomore Marquise Walker as the #3 wide receiver, Carr calls for a punt. It sails out of the end zone before the camera can even pick up the ball, netting 18 whole yards. A shiver just went down Brian's spine and he's not sure why.

can't remember when they showed this guy but he's a great way to break up a wall of text

Purdue goes three-and-out while sideline reporter Dave Ryan tells us the Boilers are "struggling emotionally" because the offense isn't finishing drives. I assume this drive doesn't improve the vibes.

Henson, the sophomore dual-sport legend from Brighton, gets his first series, though it takes a while for him to unleash that golden arm. While Thomas tears off a few chunk gains, Curry opines on why Carr would insert his backup when the starter is playing so well.

"Of course it’s difficult to put [Henson] in when your starter is lighting it up," he says. "But if George Steinbrenner’s gonna line him up at third base next week, I think I might get him in there. (Barnett chuckles.) I mean, I’m serious! The guy’s got two million bucks and he loves to play football, let him play."

[grimace emoji]

Henson then displays the legitimate football reasons to play him when an A-gap blitz, beautifully picked up Thomas, forces him to roll away from his throwing hand:

He's also good, it turns out. Five runs later, the A-Train chugs into the end zone, and ESPN shows it from a cool low goal-line angle.

Following another instance of an off-target Brees throw being deemed a drop, Sutherland actually drops a catchable deep shot on third and long. He releases his frustration on Terrell's shin:

Curry sees this. “They’re really coming unglued here," he says. "You need to catch the ball, young man, don’t worry about kicking somebody coming back on the field.”

The officials don't spot it, however. Neither, seemingly, does Lloyd, who chews out Terrell for something when he gets back to the sideline. The lack of a flag becomes important when Victor Hobson jumps offsides on the punt, giving Purdue a fresh set of downs. Forty-five Brees passing yards later, Purdue is inside the M 30. Then Terrell gets over the top of a deep shot and PU is flagged for tackling Rob Renes. Another snap arrives before Brees is ready and he never sees Hall on the blind side, leading to a drive-killing sack and a double Hokepoint:

You're fine. It's fine.

Carr is happy to run out the clock with Thomas. The plan goes awry when Thomas again loses the ball. After one of the longest waits for dogpile removal I've ever seen...

...Purdue has a chance to mitigate the damage before the half.

You won't believe this but they kinda waste it. Lane lets a pass that would've given Purdue a first-and-goal clang off his hands. A lineman false starts on the next play. Todd Howard breaks up a third-down throw that's short of the sticks anyway. “I don’t think three points is gonna do them a whole lotta good,” says Curry, as Tiller sends out Dorsch to make it 21-6.

It's not much, but Purdue is within two(-ish) possessions and get the ball to open the second half. That may be enough for Brees to have an early-October Heisman Moment™.

Or it may not. Stay tuned!