game winning FG against Washington. 2002.
You beat me to it. That was my first ever game @ Michigan Stadium! Turns out, he worked for my company. I came close several times to just e-mailing him thanking him for the W at my first ever game, but I quickly turned off my stalker mode.
To switch it up, I'll say Braylon vs. Michigan State game. That was also something special.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 PM ^
against Penn State. The first OT game in Big House history. I took my oldest son who was 10 at the time to his first home game. It started in bright sunshine at 3:30 and ended in darkness.
M 27 PSU 24
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 PM ^
I second that..
O.T. games are so stressful... and the euphoria when they win! Who needs heroin
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:30 PM ^
it is Bo's final game in 1989 vs. Ohio State. I was fourteen at the time and my twin brother and I stormed the field after the game. I even told an OSU band member to "Suck my dick!" Looking back, I'm sure he would have but I'm glad I ran like hell. There is a famous picture of Bo being interviewed by Mike Adamle on the field and I am sure I am in the back of that picture.
Michigan 28
Ohio State 18
August 4th, 2009 at 12:04 AM ^
I watched that game on TV in Wisconsin on my way to Ann Arbor for the first time. After Brabbs hit it, I ran out and yelled at Lake Michigan to no one in particular: "Michigan wins!! WOOOO!!" I don't think anyone heard me. Probably just as well.
A couple years later I had a few engineering classes with him. By that time he's been replaced by someone, but he was still a minor celebrity on North Campus.
There is no way anyone thought he was going to make that kick. I remember being pissed that we were even attempting to kick the ball.
of everyone in my section after the FG miss with 1:35 to go. We were outraged. Then Brabbs came out and we all were of the mind to leave. Thankfully we gave him a chance.
Wisconsin 2008. Best game since I started going to Michigan.
I was feeling very sick that day and I considered not going to that game.
yep totally agreed. This season was my first at Michigan (great season to come eh?) and that was the one time I left with no voice and walking on air
The first game I went to. Driesbach to Hayes on the final play to beat Virginia 18-17
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 PM ^
same here. That Hayes catch happened in the end zone right in front of us.
damn that was a hot day.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:38 PM ^
This is the first Michigan game I ever watched, and I was an instant fan. Ever since then, I always wanted to go to school here. Mission accomplished.
Woodson punt return vs. OSU 97
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 PM ^
I missed that game, dammit. I was doing a show at Ann Arbor Civic, and some moron scheduled a matinee for the day of The Game. We gave a score update at the act breaks, and I was actually outside for the intermission when the return happened. You could hear it from, what, 3 miles away (Plymouth and Washtenaw)? It sounded like a huge animal in the distance, growling and getting angrier by the moment. We knew something big had happened before we went in and heard it on the radio.
My favorite moment took place in Yost, when I punched my girlfriend in the face. Okay, I grazed her during the WMU-UM game (I went to WMU, she to UM). I stuck out my left hand for no apparent reason, and caught her with the points of my knuckles. She started to cuss me out, and then I turned over my hand and showed her the mark that the puck had made when it hit my palm, the puck that had been heading for her natural ski-jump nose.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:03 PM ^
Still the loudest moment I can remember from when I had student tickets (1995-2000). I just remember people basically falling all over each other due to jumping and subsequently losing their footing on the bleachers. Watching clips of it is still amazing -- hearing the crowd noise build with every broken tackle until Woodson got to the outside around the 50, when everybody basically blew up. It's like every Michigan fan in the stadium knew we were going to win. It was such an electric game!
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 PM ^
That game was played on my birthday. What a perfect gift!
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 PM ^
The punt return vs. OSU was definitely my favorite. A close second was the catch by Manningham in the 05' PSU game.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:37 PM ^
Great moment, but I enjoyed the '97 game against Colorado even more. Woodson locked down his half of the field the entire game, and Michigan totally dominated in a game that was supposed to be close. I remember thinking, "Wow, this defense is unbelievable."
As I was walking through Pioneer's parking lot, I told my brother-in-law, "You know, they could win 'em all." Then he said, "They could," and we both laughed. Didn't think it would actually happen.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:55 AM ^
Without a doubt it's got to be the 97 punt return. I was sitting with my dad then and he ran right by our side of the field (we were on the 10). That was a pretty surreal moment!
Tie between Penn State 2007 and Wisconsin 2008.
Penn State 2007 was around the time I started embracing Michigan Football as my religion. Also, I'm from central pennsylvania so all my friends from back home were doing a whole bunch of shit talking leading up to the game.
When we were up 20-19 and Wisconsin had a 3rd down, I looked behind me at the student section. They were all doing the Intimidation thing and were loud as eff. It was awesome.
penn state 07 is my favorite memory too. When we got that final touchdown i high-fived 10 ppl, i only knew 2 of them but it wasn't awkward at all. From then on, i find it normal to high-five strangers in happy occasions.
3) ND in '97 when we held on against the Irish despite THREE stinkin' fumbles in the fourth quarter. I can't believe how good our defense was after each turnover, including that 4th-and-2.
2) Wisconsin in '08. I'm pretty proud to say I was there for the largest comeback in Michigan Stadium history (although the first half was probably the ugliest half of football I've ever seen).
1) The New Math. I was with my brother somewhere in the SW endzone and was basically directly in line with the flight path of Henne's pass. I knew Mario was going to catch it...I knew it.
the dude at the Utah game who called me a bigot for saying "fucking Mormons."
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 PM ^
Ask him about the sons of Ham.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 PM ^
he was clearly a tool...IIRC he was wearing a Utah wind breaker (on like a 400 degree day), some other teams tshirt and a USC hat...wtf is that.
I guess your not invited to their planet for the afterlife.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:09 PM ^
I tend to do the same things when I'm at games. Whoever we're playing I tend to be a little prejudice towards their cultures even if their from 60 minutes down the road.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 PM ^
Favorite memory was my first game.. I was 9 or 10, 1997 vs. Iowa.
Sam Sword intercepted a pass in Michigan territory to seal the victory, and the stadium ERUPTED. Chills go down my spine just thinking about it.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:04 AM ^
I was there for said eruption. That was one helluva game, with the untarnished record on the line.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 PM ^
I don't have a favorite memory at Michigan stadium....I missed Wisconsin 08, been a student since 06. No game I've attended has ever had anything really special happen in it.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 PM ^
I remember Penn State coming into the game undefeated and thinking that if Michigan were to lose it would be first time since I had started following the team in '85 that they would be sub-500 that deep into the season. Somehow I knew they would not let that happen. I'll never forget watching Henne to Manningham from the South endzone and the ensuing pandemonium.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 PM ^
I remember being depressed about being 3-3 at that point. I remember being depressed about the thought of 3-4. And I remember pacing the hallways at Central and me and my roommate flipping out after the TD. Great times.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 PM ^
Actually, not the pose, but the return for a TD, and the cascade of OSU asses toward the exits before the game was over. I never thought I would ever see such a blowout in the series. It was a glorious, glorious day.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 PM ^
My favorite moment is from my first game. 1991 against Northwestern, I was 7 years old and we sat behind the north end zone. This was when Northwestern was beyond pathetic. But it was Desmond's year, and my first game, and I was just praying he'd do something spectacular. Sure enough, the offense is headed our way, Elvis hits Desmond on a screen and 21 houses it. I'm pretty sure that was his final play of the game. The best part about that play was it existed only in my memory for years, and this video from the eminently prolific Wolverine Historian brought it back to life. You can see the play I'm referring to at 2:38.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phxrqPnejxk&feature=channel_page
I was also at the '95 OSU game, sitting right next to the band, and I couldn't see a damn thing but still had the time of my life. And as someone mentioned earlier, the '97 ND game was pretty special. The crowd and the defense were rocking on those 4th downs.
Later as a student, I was at every home game from 2002-2006, but the one that stands out above all others was the '03 win over OSU.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:40 PM ^
I've only seen two games at the Big House, and they both qualify. The first was, you know, my first: always special. (It was a really unremarkable blowout over Purdue back when Purdue was staging yearly fights with Northwestern for crappiest crap in the Big Ten. M scored 40-odd points and Todd Collins came in for much of the fourth quarter to give Grbac a rest.)
The other one was MSU '04. Sparty got Braylonized. It was beautiful. A friend hooked me up with a student ticket.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 PM ^
I was at the 1995 OSU game with Biak running wild and Woodson getting the game sealing pick. The 1997 Iowa game was great, the loudest I have heard the stadium. It was the game UM loses historically. After that game, I thought there was a good shot at running the table.
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 PM ^
I was a freshman, and my tickets were in row 94, but I moved up to somewhere in the 80's because tons of students went home for fall break expecting us to lose. I hugged so many random people that I've never met. It will always be the most memorable sports moment of my life (unless I manage to get front row tickets to our quadruple overtime victory over USC in the 2011 national championship game).
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:17 PM ^
Like it's going to take us 4 OT to beat USC.
Besides, front row is far from the best seats, I know, I've been there. Now rows 25-30, they're the best in the Big House
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:09 PM ^
in 1997!!! i was luckey enough to be able to go to every game that year. the iowa game was a killer but when they came back in the 2nd half i knew that something great was going to happen that year.
Boy the refs were on our side that day!
I don't know. They blew a pretty blatant clip on Tim Dwight's punt return TD at the end of the first half.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:14 PM ^
Skipped my high school homecoming to go to the 1994 Colorado game. Left in time to miss the "play." That means it never happened, right?
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 PM ^
This isn't my favorite moment in the Big House, but I think that many of my favorite moments have already been said. I really enjoyed when Patrick Stewart directed the band and then turned to us in the student section and proclaimed, "Now go forth and beat the buckeyes! Make it so... number 1."
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:20 PM ^
I started by thinking of 1991 against ND as well. It was my Junior year and we had lost to those guys 3 times in a row. IIRC nobody had ever done that before. The playcall, and Desmond were amazing.
The 1990 MSU game (where Desmond was interfered with on the 2pt conversion but no penalty called) might have made the list...if we'd won. There were back to back kick offs returned for TDs in that game, if I recall correctly. And the decision to go for two, while holding the #1 ranking would have gone down as one of the seminal moments of Mo's career if it had worked. I believe with all my heart we would have won the national championship if that call had gone the other way.
Virginia was an amazing comeback; so was Wisconsin last year.
But that 3OT MSU game... Braylon was the MAN. And we needed every bit of him. We started to realize how special Henne might be. And we needed every one of those plays and points. We were jumping and dancing and screaming. What a game.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:25 PM ^
I can watch it again and again. I remember sitting high in the end zone seats and watching the play unfold... and then the great erruption with the victory.
Almost as memorable was Butch Woolfolk throwing the ball out of bounds on the previous play to stop the clock and set up the play.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:51 AM ^
Still the single most thrilling moment I've ever had in the stadium. AC almost suffocated in the pile of players during the celebration.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 PM ^
The team celebrating and singing The Victors in the student section after beating Wisco in 2008, RR's first big win (or at least it seemed that way at the time).
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:33 PM ^
1) This was at the Notre Dame that year and I was a freshman. I had tickets 1 row from the top in the student section and we were sitting behind a group of crazy upper classmen that were drinking Goldschlager. They kept calling some Notre Dame fan a couple of rows down Goldilocks all game long and one dude (who probably had more than his fair share of Goldschlager) kept saying all game long "wait for the 4th quarter!! Bring on the 4th quarter!! THE 4TH QUARTER IS MINE!!!!"
Needless to say, we were all pretty excited about what was going to happen in the 4th quarter. Well, as soon as the end of the 3rd quarter rolled around, every one turned to look at this kid who started jumping up and down and yelling "GOOO!! BLUUUE!!!" at the top of his lungs. Then, he counted to 5...and dropped his pants. He just stood there completely bare-assed yelling "GOOO!!! BLUE!!!" The fact that he set everyone up for that the entire game blew my mind. Funniest damn thing I've ever seen.
Oh, and Michigan won.
2) Same year, Ohio State game. This was my first Ohio State game and the moment I remember more than any other was 110,000 people chanting "asshole" after David Boston caught the TD pass after Woodson fell down, and turned around and pointed at him. It was a fantastic chant because, I don't think there's ever been a time when it was more appropriate.
3) I don't remember who was playing, but it was the first game at Michigan Stadium after 9/11. I was down on the sidelines for the moment of silence and that was truly awesome. I mean, to have 110,000 people so silent you could hear a pin drop was mind blowing.
I was in Cleveland the next day (also on the sidelines), and they did the same moment of silence -- not even close to as good as the Michigan one because there were a handful of people shouting things during the silence. It all just gave me a bigger appreciation for Michigan fans.