There are...
...days until Damon Denson (OG 1993-1996) sees Michigan take on WMU to open the 2021 season on September 4th at the Big House.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Denson
Go Blue.
Few people can wait less than this man, a legendary #51...
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?
I see a defensive lineman to destroy crying in front of me.
Where did Brown Bear go? i haven't seen him post in a while. We need Brown Bear to hold us this season, I'm afraid!
Who is that?
that is the myth, the man, the legend.
Big Man, Big House
I go to most bowl games and have seen him at every single one I've attended. Still remember seeing the blood on the field when he shattered his jaw against Notre Dame. Couldn't believe it when he played a few weeks later. One of my favorites!
Him continuing to play that year remains my personal definition of toughness in football.
The 1996 season hadn't been brought up for a while, and then it was the ticket stub yesterday. With a Class of '96er today, why not a vid?
Thanks WH, and enjoy that voice – Few things put me at ease like Keith Jackson and football noise.
Re-watching that game brings home what the difference was so often back then—Michigan's QB's were clearly superior to OSU's. I believe the reversal of that dynamic is the main reason OSU has had the upper hand over the last 20 years.
Dingdingding. Winner winner chicken dinner.
Granted, there's a handful of things that play into OSU's favor over Michigan, but QB play is easily at the top of the list. If Michigan had been able to match or even just come close to the caliber of play at QB that OSU has had over the last fifteen years or so, so many of those games would've been closer or even had gone Michigan's way. There have been countless opportunities for plays that could've been made against OSU's defense over the years, and Michigan for one reason or another has been completely unable to capitalize on them on a consistent basis. Or even an occasional basis.
It's no mistake that the one year over the last 15 or so that Michigan had the definitively better QB (2011), they won.
Absolutely correct. A healthy QB #1 says 2013, 2016, and 2017 almost certainly go our way. There are probably others but those jump out at me.
For 2013....ehh I don't know. I know Gardner had a broken foot that day, but there's not much anyone could say that would convince me he could've reasonably done more that day to help his team win. He went 32-45 for 451 yards, four TDs, including one on the ground. Those are Heisman numbers even for a healthy QB.
Michigan lost that game because it couldn't stop Carlos Hyde to save its life, and because Borges foolishly refused to change up the playcall in the most critical moment of the game. He called a near flawless game right up until that moment. And unfortunately, the last play was the one that mattered most and what he will be remembered for here (along with blowing the 2012 OSU game too). I can't put any of that on Gardner. OSU knew exactly what was coming. Gardner just ran the play he was told to run.
But 2016 and 2017, you are absolutely right. A healthy Speight pushes Michigan over the finish line, and a healthy Brandon Peters could've very well done the same in 2017.
I think John Cooper mishandled his quarterbacks that year. He alternated Joey Germaine and Stanley Jackson most of 1996 and 1997, and I don't think it really helped either QB or the team in the long run. I think he'd have done much better to stick with Germaine, who at least got a cup of coffee in the NFL.
Of course it didn't help that both of those guys were throwing against Charles Woodson those years. One of Cooper's two wins over Michigan came the next year, when Germaine was the lone starter and Woodson was in the NFL.
One of my favorite games. The defense was awesome and the offense had a big play, then just wore down OSU. This when 8-4 season were fun! And the nice surprise of a NC season next year.
In honor of the magnificent viking above:
