History: 39 years ago today
Bye week nostalgia. The play, the call. Football's Valhalla. Penguins, herrings, cummberbunds. Classic Ufer.
My Troop 23 Junior Assistant Scoutmaster was there, but left early to beat the crowd. I heard the roar from our front yard, miles away.
One thing I didn't remember: BJ Dickey started the game at QB.
Go Blue!
October 27th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
I was 11 months old and I’d like to think this game was the initiation of my fandom
October 27th, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^
one of my favorite plays of all time
October 27th, 2018 at 1:27 PM ^
The rebroadcast is on WTKA right now:
Halftime show with an interview of Millie Schembechler as I listen right now.
Score at the half is IU 14, MEEEECHIGAN 7. BO needs bench BJ Dickey and put in Wangler, if you ask me...
October 27th, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^
39 years ago this month, I was conceived. Thanks for that thought. Must have been Ufers call...
October 27th, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^
Bahahaha
"...THANK YOU FIELDING YOST! THANK YOU FIELDING YOST!"
October 27th, 2018 at 1:29 PM ^
After scoring the game winning touchdown half the team jumped on top of AC in the end zone and he couldn't breathe. Carter says the only reason he is alive today is because Butch Woolfolk was throwing players off him during the madness.
October 27th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
One thing I didn't remember: BJ Dickey started the game at QB.
If there's one thing you need to know about being married, it's that you can forget about starting with a BJ Dickey.
October 27th, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
Well, not ALWAYS. There’s some lucky gents out there.
I mean .... BJ Dickey won his first start and also beat Sparty 21-7
October 27th, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
The deafening atmospheric noise behind Ufer indicates that Michigan Stadium could never be loud, nor could it be properly HYPE without beatz being played throughout every moment of downtime.
October 27th, 2018 at 1:59 PM ^
Yes and the culture around live sports has stayed static since the 70s. Jesus this take is tired.
October 27th, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^
I was in the student section at the opposite end zone. When Indiana tied it, we were completely deflated. No way was Michigan going to be able to come back. My roommate and I had smuggled in a 12 pack and I was gathering the empties so I could return them for the 10 cent deposit. I was bent over and saw the ball in the air after Wangler threw it but then somebody moved in front and then everyone went nuts. I never saw the play until Michigan Replay the next morning. I missed the greatest play in the history of Michigan Stadium for $1.20.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^
To be fair, that’s $4.17 in 2018 dollars. ;)
October 27th, 2018 at 1:53 PM ^
Holy crap I am dating myself, but I was there!
October 27th, 2018 at 2:16 PM ^
I know the feeling, I was there as well in the student section. It was glorious!!
October 27th, 2018 at 3:38 PM ^
We were there in the student section too. And moved with the flow of the student section taking the field to celebrate with the entire team. Absolutely raced from the NE corner to the South end zone as fast as my feet could carry me!
October 27th, 2018 at 1:53 PM ^
I was at the game, seated pretty much in line with the camera. My fondest memory at the Big House.
October 27th, 2018 at 1:55 PM ^
Geezer here.
I was 14 and at the game. Perfect seats. Section 3, row 39, at the ~22 yard line, parallel with the spot AC caught the ball.
My brain yelled "go down for the FG" as Carter caught the ball with three Hoosier defenders around him. "Or just score a touchdown."
October 27th, 2018 at 7:41 PM ^
Hey! Don't say you're a geezer. I was 7. And I ain't close to being a geezer.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
Corso played for the tie that day. We had a miracle finish. That was the game that made Johnny Wang the starting QB for the rest of the season. A mostly painful slog fest of a game during a mostly painful season. The only team that lost to OSU and wasn’t Big Ten champs while I was an undergrad. We were so spoiled back then.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
I was there as an 8 year old. Most amazing thing I’ve ever seen on a field. I ran into the field and just stood there in awe. Incredible moment.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
I was a freshman playing the trombone in the Michigan Marching Band. My parents drove up from Pittsburgh to see the game and I didn't have to eat South Quad slop that night as my parents took me out to dinner.
That was a wonderful day.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^
Also on this day, 23 years ago, the Russian Five made their debut at the Saddledome...
https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/1056185606894694400?s=09
October 27th, 2018 at 7:44 PM ^
That clip was so nostalgic for me. I always looked forward to watching Strader and Redmond call the Red Wings games. Those two were the best. And that was the beginning of the Red Wing dynasty. Good times for the winged wheel. Cream of the crop of professional hockey.
October 27th, 2018 at 10:43 PM ^
damn. I feel old.
This stands as testament to the genius of Scotty Bowman. He related later that he really couldn't understand how they played the way they did but he knew enough to put them together and get the hell out of the way. For my money the greatest professional sports coach ever.
One more thing...I loved Vladdie Konstantinov. What a fucking tragedy.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:22 PM ^
I was there with my old man. I was 14 and had been going for years - and still maintain the rule I learned from him and reinforced that day - NEVER leave until the clock says 0:00. Still don’t. Irritates my wife, especially when we are up 39-13 in the rain against someone like Western.
What I also remember - listening to Ufer with the transistor radio, and thinking he’d have a grabber right there. And I also remember all the fans who started leaving when IU tied it - and all of them finding out when they got to their cars what they’d missed.
This, along with Des’s pose and Woodson’s OSU game were the greatest games I have been to...so far
October 27th, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^
I was 10 and the play came right at us. We thought we had crappy end zone seats. Boy, were we wrong!
October 27th, 2018 at 2:36 PM ^
I was 14 yrs. old in '79. That game was not televised, so I had the organic experience of listening to that broadcast live. I was jumping up & down in the living room. Me & Ufer went apeshit!
October 27th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
This was my experience, except that I was in a car road hunting for pheasant. Fortunately, we hadn't seen anything for a while and were lucky enough to catch that final play live...
October 27th, 2018 at 9:35 PM ^
I was at the game, but remember the next Monday in school my classmates telling me they couldn't understand a word Ufer said as Carter scored, but realized it must have been a touchdown. In addition to his frenzied voice, the other giveaway was a record four-or-five sets of three honks from General George Patton's horn.
A couple of other plays on that drive also stand out. First, Bo went for it on 4th and 3 from the Michigan ~30-35. A failure to convert could have lost the game. Another was the check down pass to Lawrence Reid which he lateraled to Lee Corso to stop the clock.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
My freshman year. Went to the game, was totally dejected by the tie when we had the ball at around mid-field with a few seconds left and Bo called timeout (IIRC). Left to beat the crowd as I had studying to do. Saw every play but one, and heard the roar when I was passing the gates.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
I liked it.
Any chance we can get 11 guys from that team to lineup and kick that last extra point at a game next season for the 40th anniversary of this game?
October 27th, 2018 at 9:42 PM ^
To kickoff for Michigan, (crowd joins in) ___-____-______.
(He was only a freshman that year and had four PATs.)
October 27th, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
I was a sophomore in the band. I'll never forget it. One of the best parts was the play or two before that, Lawrence Reid intentionally "fumbled" the ball out of bounds to stop the clock - right into Corso's arms.
October 27th, 2018 at 2:54 PM ^
This can't be true - Ufer said, repeatedly, that we only got 3 honks for a TD and 2 for a FG. LMAO - I don't think he ever limited himself to 3 honks for a big play TD, regardless of situation!!
October 27th, 2018 at 2:57 PM ^
That a crowd at the big house rushed the field to celebrate a win over Indiana is something.
October 27th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
The good old days when Meeechigan had a play-by-play announcer.
October 27th, 2018 at 3:06 PM ^
Was listening to the game in my friends car, a buckeye fan. I was screaming loudly along with Ufer while he was fuming and threatening to turn it off. Fun memory.
October 27th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^
Embed for the board:
October 27th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^
I was at that game - 11 years old - with my Dad. I just remember how pissed off all the fans were because we were about to tie Indiana and then AC gave us that miracle. Great memory.
October 27th, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^
I was in the north end zone late in the game, tied at 21, and was so disgusted that we were about to tie 28 point underdog INDIANA (!!!!!!!!) that I actually started to LEAVE a game early for the first time in my life! (12 yrs of games, since I was 6)
Instead of just walking out once I got the section tunnel I decided to walk around the concourse and poke my head in at each section to see what was happening on my way out. I did that all the way until I was on the south side of the press box, probably about the 40 or so and Michigan had the ball on it's own 45, 18 seconds to go, no time outs left, OK fine, I'll disgustedly watch the end of this App St. level shocking debacle.....
Well of course the next play was Lawrence Ried trying to sweep to the left sideline to get out of bounds to stop the clock for the last second hail Mary, but no, he wasn't going to come close and the clock would run out on this disaster. So thinking quickly he fast pitch softballed the ball out of bounds for a "fumble" to stop the clock.... right into the good hands of Lee fucking Corso who went apeshit trying to get the refs to call something!
Then the famous play happened and quintuple bedlam ensued! I was hugging and high fiving strangers, losing my voice, and I grabbed my treasured EIGHT DOLLAR Rose Bowl hat (hats were normally 2 bucks then!) from January's Phantom Touchdown fiasco off of my head and threw it up in the air as far as I could, maybe over the wall and out of the stadium! Haha.
What a scene!!!!
A couple of years later probably, at some point anyway, I was coming to the bench at the IM after losing a pick up game and who was sitting there waiting for next, none other than LP Ried. So I told him how great and funny I thought the play was, especially throwing it right to Corso, and I tried to get him to admit he intentionally threw it out of bounds rather than really fumbling and all he did was crack up!
October 27th, 2018 at 5:06 PM ^
Yeah, I was there as an undergrad, high up in the student section. And the Wangler-to-Carter play was surreal; it was almost hard to appreciate it in real time because of the incredible confusion/brilliance of the preceding play where Lawrence Reid tossed the ball out of bounds into Lee Corso's hands to stop the clock. Everybody now thinks of the Carter touchdown as a stand-alone play. It never would have happened but for Reid's quick thinking a few seconds earlier. Having been there, I almost always think of the two of them together as one play.
October 27th, 2018 at 6:01 PM ^
Fumble? It was a perfect spiral to Lee Corso. Dead center of his chest!
October 27th, 2018 at 4:05 PM ^
What a heads up play to throw the ball out of bounds to stop the clock .
October 27th, 2018 at 4:18 PM ^
I was one of those crazies storming the field...
October 27th, 2018 at 4:48 PM ^
Read carefully here, please.
Great individual play.
Really overrated when the backstory (being tied with Indiana, at home, during the Big Two Little Eight era) is considered.
October 27th, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^
A game-winning 45-yard TD can never be overrated.
October 27th, 2018 at 7:00 PM ^
Any way I could hear a recording of this??