Where does yesterday rank in terms of best games you've seen?

I like watching good defense and winning, so no, I don't care for yesterday's game.

[EDIT: sorry, can't put aside my fandom either]

Pretty high, honestly.  I've been an M fan since 2008 (freshman year) and I think that is definitely up there with 2008 Wisconsin, 2009 Notre Dame, and 2011 Notre Dame for me.  I'd probably rank it just below UTL II, with it taking first if we won.  Perhaps I am being short-sighted though.

Auburn beating Alabama was truly memorable with an ending so unique, few will ever forget it.

Our game was a classic in the rivalry, but only the 2nd best game of the day.

UTL1, MSU 2012, UTL2, NW 2012, OSU 2011, @ILL 2007, then probably yesterday. would have had wisc 2008, nd 2009, nd 2010 if went to those but did not.

Losing automatically disqualifies that game from being a "best game".

This was in the same league (maybe better/maybe slightly less than) these games I attended in person:

1. 1979 Indiana (Wangler to Carter game) - better FINAL ending but more action throughout in '13 Ohio

2. 1985 Ohio game - not as close but intense throughout. We won by 10 but had some jitters until Harbaugh to Kolesar for 77 yds

3. 1983 and 1986 Iowa games - lower scoring but intense defense and winning FG when games ended in ties

4. 1988 Miami - depressing to blow 30-14 lead but still a great game vs. #1 Miami. Felt as proud leaving game yesterday as I did in '88 after a loss

5. 1997 Iowa - still my 2nd all-time favorite game, given the magnitude it had in our overall NC year and coming back 21-7 down at half.

6. 1997 Ohio - little offense but tense throughout. Best atmosphere for a game when two team COMBINED for under 450 yds offense and 3 offensive TDs

7. 2002 Washington - wild lead changes

8. 2005 PSU - Henne to Manningham. 

9. 2011 Ohio - as close to yesterday as I can remember. Only this time Miller missed Posey for the game-winner (collective ooooooh shiiiiiiiiiiit moment)

10. 2003 AT Iowa - close loss but intense throughout. I have great respect for Iowa fans and their atmosphere.

p.s. ANY recruit who was there could NOT walk away but be impressed by that atmosphere

p.p.s. After the game yesterday, still felt blessed, even in defeat, to have been there and been to about 120 UM games home and away over the years. That was worth $95/ticket and my PSL

I think more in terms of a full day of sports.

The Michigan-Ohio State game was a classic, an all-time great game in the history of the Rivalry. It was excellent from beginning to end, and the stakes were quite high for one team.

But it's hard to put it on a list of all-time great games. I think it might be on a five-deep list of "best games of this season," but that's as far as it goes. The upshot was that it was a good enough game that outsiders like Peter King were awed by it, and that the sting is reduced because it was a privilege to watch my favorite team participate in it.

I suspect the reduced "feel" of the Iron Bowl is probably due to our emotional emptiness after the Game that ended just as the other began. The fact is, the stakes were incredibly high. Auburn has an outside national title shot, and Alabama is working on all-time dynasty status (the '02 and '05 title games you list are on my short list of all-time best games as well; part of the reason is that Miami and USC respectively were pushing for all-time dynasty status themselves--Miami, people forget, had a legit shot at Oklahoma's consecutive win streak). The rivalry was already great, one of the three best in college football. There were great players involved. And, frankly, the game lived up even before the finish.

It's not like it was defense-free, and it's not like it was offense-free either. Bama and Auburn traded haymakers in all three areas of the game. Alabama's 99-yard touchdown pass was a play of the year candidate, and it got outclassed TWICE in the same game. 

And the ending... I'm a bit of a historical purist when it comes to college football. I resist and resent whatever "this is the best ever" flavor of the year comes by. But that was the best ending in the history of football. Maybe sports, period.

There's no shame in a great UM-OSU game being second to that. 

But that brings us back to the "day of football." Because we were a part of a very, very special afternoon of sports.  And it ranks right up there with the incredible moments of October 15, 2005. That was the day of the Bush Push (a remarkable, astonishing football game with its own epic ending) but it was so much more. At almost the same moment Leinart was tumbling into the end zone, Henne was drilling Mario Manningham to beat Penn State--one team's national title dreams preserved, the other dashed, all in the space of minutes. Less remembered but not less remarkable, Wisconsin beat Minnesota on an astonishing blocked punt in Minneapolis, and an emerging West Virginia team played an OT classic with Louisville.

It was a day for the ages; in my lifetime, the best college football has ever had, in perhaps its best ever season (that day, a classic Heisman race between two exceptional athletes, finishing with the greatest game ever played in the Rose Bowl).

Yesterday was the only day that comes close. A day where winners and losers alike can step back, watch, and appreciate that they follow this incredible game. 

Football Forever.

It was the best game I had seen all year at the time. Then I watched Bama/Auburn and the ISU/WVU game and it became third. 

For me, it would rank higher if we won but it's up there with OSU 11, UTL 1, MSU 04, ND 09 and 10, and NW 12.

It's not possible for me to place a loss above any win, but some, for sheer entertainment value, are still worth the price of admission. In this category of "WOW" losses, I'd definitely have to say it's up there with the 2005 Rose Bowl vs Texas.

That said, these close losses, especially to THEM...I've seen some hand-wringing on here about how, "Well, yeah, we've lost nine of ten to them, but some of them were really close so it's not like we always get dominated". Yeah, but that's just the thing: 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 (and then, yeah, they pretty much were annual beatdowns 2007-2010), 2012, 2013, all close losses...the only time Michigan has won a "could have gone either way"-type game was 2011. This really makes me worry the problem is coaching, when your rival just always seems to be able to make that one play that makes the difference, and you're almost always the one lamenting a missed opportunity.

I can't rank it among the best games because I'm still trying to remove the stake that was driven into my heart at the very end.

However, I'm extremely proud of the fight and pluck our team showed, and it was a very well-played and exciting football game.