Rewind: 1986 at Wisconsin

Rewind: 1981 vs Illinois

I decided to take a look one of my favorite Illinois games of all time. The 1981 Michigan Wolverines came into the game ranked #12. The unranked Illini were coached by Mike White and led on the field by talented QB Tony Eason and a bunch of junior college transfers. One defense, they had future Super Bowl hero Jack Squirek at middle linebacker. Michigan had a very impressive team, led by WR Anthony Carter, QB Steve Smith, RBs Butch Woolfolk & Stanley Edwards. Our offensive line was awesome and the defense was tough, even if Mike Boren was one of the starters.

This was the first game following the death of Bob Ufer. It was not broadcast live on TV, rather it was presented in "tape delay" on something called ON TV.

1st Quarter: Illinois took the opening kickoff and marched right down into the end zone in less than 2 minutes. Michigan answered with a quick strike of their own, Steve Smith hitting Anthony Carter on a beautiful post route. 7-7. The rest of the quarter, it was all Illini. They could not be stopped, scoring twice with ease. The Michigan crowd was stunned and things did not look good. The quarter ended with Michigan losing 7-21.

2nd Quarter: Illinois started the 2nd quarter as fast as they did the first quarter. They marched the ball into the red zone and were a dropped pass away from taking a three touchdown lead. Then it all turned around for the Wolverines. Tony Eason threw an interception to Jerry Burgei at the goal line turning the momentum towards the Wolverines. Michigan quickly tied the score 21-21 on a Steve Smith one yard run and a touchdown pass to Craig Dunaway. Everything pointed to a tough battle.

Late in the quarter, Michigan got the ball in their own 20 yard line with 1:02 left. Normally you would have expected the very conservative Bo Schembechler to sit on the ball and take the tie into the locker room. But a couple of nice runs by Stanley Edwards put the ball on the 42 yard line. Steve Smith dropped back, saw that everyone was covered and took off untouched up the middle of the field for a touchdown. Michigan went into halftime with an improbable 28-21 lead.

3rd Quarter: The momentum of the 2nd quarter carried over as Steve Smith hit Anthony Carter again for a touchdown and ran for his third TD of the game. Michigan led 42-21 and things just kept getting worse for Illinois.

4th Quarter: The scoring fest continued with Lawrence Ricks, Stanley Edwards, Rick Rogers all scoring running touchdowns and BJ Dickey throwing a TD to Tom Hassel. Final Score: Michigan 70-21

What did I learn from re-watching this game: Despite what you might believe, Bo was not afraid of the forward pass. Denard Robinson is not the first really fast Michigan quarterback to wear #16- Steve Smith won this game with both his feet and arm. Watching Anthony Carter play amazes me, even 30 years later. He was the most exciting player to ever put on a Michigan football helmet. College football is a different game, the depth and talent differential between Michigan and Illinois was incredible.

Do you want to see the game for yourself ? You can download this game here.

Rewind: 1993 at Penn State

This week Michigan plays Penn State for the 15th time in the storied history of both programs. It may be hard to believe, but prior to Penn State joining the Big Ten these two schools had never met on the football field. This week I am going to rewind to the initial game between the Wolverines and Nittany Lions. The game was nationally televised (on ABC) and was called by the classic team of Keith Jackson/Bob Griese/Lynn Swann.

Heading into the game Penn State was undefeated and ranked in the top ten. Michigan had 2 losses, including one the week before in East Lansing. Key players for Michigan on offense include QB Todd Collins, RB Tyronne Wheatley, WR Derrick Alexander, and a very young Jon Runyan.

1st Quarter: Michigan took the opening kickoff and marched right down to field in ten plays to the Penn State 20 yard line. At this point the ridiculous "college football crowd noise" rule that was in place became a factor. The Beaver Stadium crowd was so loud that the game was delayed 3 times and it cost Joe Paterno a time out. Eventually it was quiet enough for Michigan to run a play. The offense failed to convert and Peter Elezovic missed an easy field goal, much to the delight of the Penn Staters.

Penn State took over featuring RB Ki-Jana Carter and QB Kerry Collins. Their inital drive was essentially an exact replica of the Wolverines drive, minus the crowd noise penalty. They slash and smash the ball for 11 plays taking it inside the 5 yard line, but were stopped in the shadow of the goal line. Penn State kicker Craig Fayak missed his 25 yard FG attempt.

Penn State does eventually hits a field goal near the end of the quarter to take a 3-0 lead.

2nd Quarter: Penn State opens the quarter much like they spent the 1st quarter, riding on the shifty moves of Ki-Jana Carter. Collins throws a beautiful touchdown pass to Bobby Engram to give Penn State a 10-0 lead. Things do not look good at this point for Gary Moeller's team.

A couple of series later, Derrick Alexander breaks off an exciting 48 yard punt return for touchdown. Making the score 10-7 with about 5 minutes left in the half. There was no more scoring heading into halftime.

3rd Quarter: Michigan opens the 3rd quarter much like the opened the game, running the ball into the teeth of the Penn State defense with Wheatley and Ricky Powers. Just like with the first drive, Michigan misses a short FG -- but Penn State was flagged for being off sides, giving Todd Collins a first down and another chance inside the 20. Collins hits Mercury Hayes for a diving toe-touching 16 yard touchdown. Michigan now leads 14-10.

Penn State gets the ball back and quickly marches inside the five yard line, helped by two questionable pass interference calls made on Ty Law. At this point, the Michigan defense prevents a touchdown run for 3 straight plays and the quarter ends.

4th Quarter: Penn State starts the 4th quarter inside the one yard line facing a 4th down. Paterno goes for it and our line beat the Penn State line like it was the 2007 wolverines and Ki-Jana Carter was stuffed. The defense celebrates a HUGE goal line stand.

Michigan digs itself out from the 1 foot line with the help of freshman Jon Ritchie. He is a Pennsylvania native that eventually transferred to Stanford and played for fullback for 49ers and Eagles in the NFL. But we had to punt, giving Paterno great field position. Penn State takes the ball, drives inside the 10 yard line but stalls and settles for a field goal. Michigan still leads 14-13.

Following the Penn State field goal, Tyronne Wheately took over literally carrying the team inside the 10 yard line with about 6 minutes left in the game. The long 47 yarder was classic a Wheatley rumble, combining speed/size/power better than any Michigan back in history. On 3rd down, Todd Collins hits fullback Che Foster on a swing pass for a touchdown. Michigan expands the lead to 21-13.

Penn State's offense is silent on the next drive and punts the ball down 8 points with 4:20 left. Wheatley and the offensive line officially welcome Penn State to the Big Ten , grinding out several first downs and chewing up the clock. With about one minute left, Moeller goes for a fourth down on about the 35 yard line, looking to close the game out. However, Foster is stuffed and Penn State gets the ball back with 52 seconds and no time outs. But Kerry Collins shows why he was last in the B10 conference in passing, throwing an interception to Shante Peoples.

What did we learn ? The crowd noise rule sucked. Despite the two losses, the 1993 version of Michigan was a strong team. A strong offensive and defensive line can make a difference in a tight game. Goal line stands can provide a huge emotional lift for a team. Penn State fans learned how to deal with the first of many heartbreaking losses to Michigan. Both Tyronne Wheatley and Ki-Jana Carter were great college running backs. Joe Paterno was really old in 1993.

You can snag a copy of this game here or watch the Wolverine Historian's YouTube highlights.

Rewind: 1980 Delaware State at Portland State

I was going to do a "rewind" of our only previous game against a NCAA FCS school, but the thought of re-watching the 2007 Appalachian State game is just too painful. The wounds are still too fresh. I just could not do it. If you really want to rehash what happened on that particular saturday, you can download the game or read about it here, here or here. Maybe in 10 years I will be interested in watching it again, but likely not.

Instead, I decided to take a look at something to do with Delaware State.

In 1980 the Delaware State Hornets were a bad football team. They won only two games all year long, and were shut out on four separate occasions. The low point of the season appeared to come In mid-October after they got shut out by North Carolina A&T 52-0. But that was just a preview of what was to come.

A couple of weeks later the Hornets traveled all the way to Oregon to face the high scoring Vikings of Portland State. By that point of the season DSU was a beat up football team, with many injuries. Portland State was coached by Mouse Davis, the innovator of the the Run-and-Shoot offense. This offense employed a pass-heavy, multiple-receiver offense that simply confused defenses and put up a lot of points. Under Mouse Davis, PSU led the nation in passing offense and total offense for the three straight years. In 1980, they were led by All American and future NFL quarterback Neil Lomax. The same weekend that Delaware State had given up 52 points to NC A&T -- Portland State had put up 93 points on Cal-Poly Pomona, setting an NCAA Division 1-AA record. But Mouse Davis and the Vikings were not done.

First Quarter: It was a blitzkrieg. QB Neil Lomax hit Wide Reciever Kenny Johnson with a 12 yard touchdown pass for the games first score. They would score four touchdowns in the first 5 minutes. Lomax would find Johnson three more times in the end zone before the quarter ended. His fourth touchdown pass in the quarter broke the NCAA career record of 93 previously held by Grambling's Doug Williams. In all Lomax threw for an NCAA record seven touchdowns -- ALL IN THE FIRST QUARTER. Portland state held onto the ball for only 3 minutes and 57 seconds and scored 49 points.

Second Quarter: Mouse Davis slowed the offense down, a bit. The Vikings only scored two touchdowns and entered the locker room at half leading 63-0.

Third Quarter: Lomax only played three series before he was pulled, but he did throw the 98th touchdown pass of his career. The team scored 4 touchdowns in the quarter. The PSU defense even got into the act and scored on one of Delaware State's 16 fumbles. After three quarters, it was Portland State 98 Delaware State 0, breaking the modern day NCAA record for points scored in a game. The bloodthirsty Viking fans wanted triple digits.

Fourth Quarter: With the game well in hand, Mouse Davis called off the dogs, but only after backup QB LaFrance threw for a final touchdown. Rumor has it that even the ambulance drivers at the stadium were jumping up and down when they broke the century mark. Sad.

Final score 105-0.

Lomax finished the game with eight TD passes, going 16 of 28 for 311 yards; he also ran 13 yards for another score. He played only a total of seven minutes and 28 seconds and was pulled from the game early in the third quarter. "Every play I go all out to execute the best I can. That's what good players do."

The Viking defense also did their job, forcing 16 fumbles and recovering six. Nose tackle Fred Nordgren had 11 tackles, six of them behind the Hornet line of scrimmage said "That is the worst team I've ever seen". Delaware State finished the game with 10 first downs, 27 yards rushing (on 67 attempts) and 34 passing yards.

"I'm sure it's not a problem I'll ever face again, not in the NFL". Lomax was drafted in the first round (fifth overall) in the 1981 NFL draft by the St Louis Cardinals. Despite his college dominance, he had an unspectacular 9-year professional career, playing for some very mediocre Cardinals teams. He did make the Pro Bowl twice (1984 and 1987), but was never an elite player. In the end, he passed for 22,771 yards and 130 touchdowns. He was forced to retire before the 1990 season due to a severely arthritic hip. He underwent hip replacement surgery the next year.

Delaware State won the next week at home, but coach Charles Henderson was fired at the end of the season. This was marked as the low point for the team and with the help of new coach Joe Purzycki the Hornets rebuilt their program. He compiled a 21-21-1 overall record, including a 15-5-1 mark in his last two seasons, before he moved to James Madison.

Rewind: 1985 at Iowa

This week I am going to take a look at a sad yet very memorable trip to Iowa. To change things up, I have chosen to rewind a Michigan loss. I remember watching this game like it was yesterday, drinking beers in T9's apartment with a bunch of friends screaming at the TV.

Michigan was ranked #2 and they went to Iowa City where the Hawkeyes were ranked #1. It was a classic match up between Bo and Hayden Fry. Iowa was in the middle of a streak where they had a couple of great teams. They had shut out Michigan 26-0 the season before, one of six losses in my initial season of pain.

The 1985 Wolverines were on a mission of redemption (sound familiar?) only this time it was not an offensive revolution. The defense was incredible throughout the 1985 season. In beating Notre Dame, South Carolina, Maryland, Wisconsin and Michigan State, we had allowed exactly one touchdown—and only 4.2 points per game, lowest in the country. Iowa on the other hand had the number one scoring offense in the country, averaging 44.2 points per game. Something was going to have to give. They were led by 5th year quarterback and Heisman hopeful Chuck Long. Something had to give.

1st half: The Iowa offense dominated the time of possession, holding onto the ball for 20 of the first 30 minutes. They kicked a FG in the first quarter and led 3-0. Michigan responded with a Gerald White touchdown "flip" from Jim Harbaugh to make it 7-3. In the second quarter Iowa appeared to have scored a touchdown with a great end zone catch by wide receiver Scott Helverson, but the officials missed the call and there was no video replay in 1985. They had to settle for another FG and it was 7-6 at halftime.

2nd half: The defensive struggle continued and there was no scoring the third quarter. Both teams kicked a FG in the 4th quarter and Michigan still led 10-9. Iowa had a chance to take the lead with about seven and a half minutes left in the game, but their 44 yard field goal was short. Michigan needed to sustain a drive, change the field position, and win the game. The only issue was that our offense basically did not do anything all day, and they couldn't and had to punt. Chuck Long and Iowa marched the ball down the field in a excruciating 66 yard five and a half minute drive. They got the ball as far as the 12 yard line and called a time out with 2 seconds left. Bo called another time out to "ice" the kicker. But it did not matter. Iowa kicker Rob Houghtlin was a walk-on. He nailed it. Iowa 12 Michigan 10. Iowa fans storm the field. Andy wanders down South University in a daze wondering why the college football gods hate him so much.

What did we learn from this game: Field goals can beat you if you don't score many touchdowns. Chuck Long was a great college quarterback, too bad he got drafted by the Lions. Above all, Bo was a defensive minded coach. I miss what a soul-crushing defense can do to a football game. Although we lost, the fact we did not give up a touchdown to the #1 ranked team in the country was amazing. We ended that season with this loss and a 3-3 tie at Illinois, beat Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl and finished ranked #2 in the country by both the AP and UPI. Most importantly, this game set up the rematch in 1986, where Mike Gillette kicked a last second FG to beat them in Michigan Stadium.

Rewind: 1991 Michigan State

This week I decided to re-watch the 1991 Michigan State game. I chose this game because it was the last time we visited Spartan Stadium following a loss the previous year in Ann Arbor.

Michigan State came into this game 0-4 and was coached by George Perles. Michigan was coached by 2nd year coach Gary Moeller and ranked in the top 10 with a single loss to Florida State. Moeller came into this game with an 0-4 record against State (3 of those losses came while he was the coach at Illinois). Our offense was as dynamic and exciting as we had ever been, led by quarterback Elvis Grbac and future Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard.

1st quarter: Sparty got the ball to start the game, made a first down and was forced to punt. Michigan marched down the field mixing passes to Desmond and pounding the ball on the ground with Rickey Powers. Grbac hit Desmond on a slant for a touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead.

Sparty sputtered with a three and out. Elvis and Desmond hooked up again, this time on a diving fade route on the corner of the end zone for a 14-0 lead. These two touchdowns were the 11th and 12th of the season for Desmond. Up to this point, as a team Michigan State had scored 2 touchdowns in their 4 games.

2nd quarter: WIth a comfortable 14-0 lead, Moeller started running the ball a lot more with Ricky Powers, Jesse Johnson, and freshman Tyronne Wheatley. Elvis Grbac threw his first incomplete pass (he was 9 for 9 to start the game) but hit Dave Diebolt for another touchdown and a 21-0 lead. Sparty picked themselves off the turf and drove the length of the field and QB Jim Miller hits Courtney Hawkins for a touchdown right before halftime to cut the lead to 21-7.

3rd quarter: Michigan got the ball on the 2nd half kickoff and let Ricky Powers and Burnie Leegette carry it down the field behind their huge offensive line, led by All Americans Matt Elliott and Greg Skrepenak. ESPN announcer Gary Danielson continues to complain about Michigan's perfectly legal (at the time) use of more than 11 players in the huddle. At one point he actually cries "It is not fair to Michigan State". Jesse "House Cat" Johnson finishes the drive with a 17 yard touchdown scamper. Michigan 28-7.

As is typically the case in this rivalry game, Michigan State continues to battle and moves the ball deep into Michigan territory. Speedy Spartan freshman Mill Coleman catches Jim Miller's 13th straight completion for a touchdown, equaling the total number of touchdowns they have scored all season. 28-14 and momentum looks like is starting to swing towards the jolly green giants.

After exchanging punts, Jesse Johnson scores another running touchdown late in quarter. We recover the fumbled kickoff at the 25 yard line. At the end of three quarters Powers and Johnson have combined 240 yards rushing, Grbac has thrown for 3 touchdowns and the Wolverines have a commanding 35-14 lead.

4th quarter: Following the fumble, Michigan stalls inside their 10, including a missed opportunity for Desmond to catch another TD. JD Carlson kicks a FG and we now lead 38-14. Another Sparty punt and another Michigan drive featuring Tyrone Wheatly and Desmond. Todd Collins takes over for Elvis midway thru the drive and Wheatley fumbles the ball to Sparty into the end zone. Miller throws an interception against our 3rd string defense and the ball is returned inside the 5 yard line. This time Tyrone crosses the goal line with the ball in his hands. 45-14 Wolverines. Garbage time.

Michigan State punched in two late meaningless touchdowns against Junior Varsity defense allowing the home crowd to cheer a couple of times. The game ended with the good guys winning 45-28.

What did we learn from this exercise? Sparty has never been a football power in my lifetime. The talent differential between Michigan and Michigan State in the 1990's was pretty clear. Our team was stacked with future NFL talent and it showed throughout this game. Desmond Howard was the best and most exciting player in college football in 1991. Our offensive line was capable of dominating a game and Elvis Grbac was a darn good quarterback. The defense coached by coordinator Lloyd Carr and led by Butkus Award winner Erick Anderson was solid and unspectacular at the same time.

The 1991 team won the Big Ten with a perfect 8-0 record and lost to the eventual National Champion Washington Huskies.

Rewind: 1979 Indiana

Homecoming week. Indiana. It was 30 years ago that my heart was forever sealed with Michigan maize and blue.

Michigan was ranked 10th in the country and highly favored to beat Indiana. However Lee Corso‘s Hoosiers were a solid 5-2 and they held a 14-7 halftime lead. After starting quarterback B.J. Dickey got injured the Wolverines ran their way back into the lead with a 50 yard Lawrence Reid touchdown and a Butch Woolfolk two yard plunge. IU had the ball in the final minutes behind 14-21.

Hoosier QB Tim Clifford connected with Nate Lundy for 54 yards before throwing a three-yard touchdownpass to Dave Harangody with 55 seconds remaining. Down by one, Lee Corso decided against going for the win and went for the tie by kicking the extra point. Rather than try to describe what happened next, you just need to watch and listen to Bob Ufer:

Rewind 2007 EMU

We play Ron English's Eastern Michigan team this week, so I re-watched the 2007 game. The game was being broadcast on the new Big Ten Network, with former Minnesota HC Glen Mason in the booth. It was a rare hot October day in Ann Arbor. They were making a big deal about EMU having more in state players than the Wolverines, which is not at all surprising considering the national recruiting reach of Michigan. This was the 8th meeting between the schools, the first happened 1896. Eastern failed to score in 6 of the first 7 games. Not many people remember this, but Lloyd Carr began his coaching career as an assistant at Eastern, in this game they were coached by Ann Arbor native and former Northwestern Assistant Jeff Genyk. This was also the game Mario Manningham was not allowed to dress, for an undisclosed broken team rule, discovered before the NFL draft to be a positive drug test. The primary storyline was Mike Hart only needed 33 yards to break the all time school rushing record held by Anthony Thomas.

1st Quarter: Michigan won toss and deferred to 2nd half. Eastern was led by sophomore QB Andy Schmitt running the spread. Current Wolverines Brandon Graham, Obi Ezeh start on defense with Greg Matthews, Mark Ortman, Steve Schilling start the game on offense. Current Ohio State starting guard Justin Boren starts at center for Michigan. After an initial first down, Schmitt throws an interception to Jamar Adams via Morgan Trent’s hands. We stalled inside the 10 and KC Lopata kick FG. Our second drive starts at the one yard line. A couple of plays later Mike Hart breaks the school rushing record (4,472 yards) with 4:16 left in the quarter on a typical Hart 14 yard run. A couple of minutes later, Chad Henne hits Adrian Arrington with 31 yard jump ball touchdown over a 5’8” corner from Eastern for a 10-0 lead. This was Henne's 76th career TD. EMU does not roll over and returns the kick 86 yards inside the 15, freshman Troy Woolfolk burns his red-shirt to save the TD. 3 plays and 7 yards later EMU kicks a FG to get on the scoreboard. This is only the second time in eight games they scored. Quarter ends 10-3.

2nd Quarter: Henne opens with two nice passes to Carson Butler and Mike Hart get the offense moving. Newly hired basketball coach John Beilein gets interviewed. Henne throws a terrible interception in the end-zone while trying to hit freshman Junior Hemmingway on a middle post. The defense holds Eastern after a couple of first downs. Mike Hart takes over and carries the ball most of the way, including a 4 yard TD run right behind Jake Long. Eastern blocks the PAT and runs it back the other way for two points. 16-5. Glen Mason calls Morgan Trent by “Trent Morgan” for the second or third time, causing me to wonder how he ever got a coaching gig in the first place. Another FG by Eastern makes it a one score game, 16-8. Our offense sputters in the two minute drill and punts after three plays to end the quarter. M fans boo as the team leaves the field.

3rd Quarter: Proclaiming the “wide eyed look of playing in Michigan Stadium is gone” Eastern boldly opens the second half with an on-side kick recovered by the kicker. Lloyd Carr’s head almost explodes as EMU makes their third big play in the kicking game. Andy Schmidtt runs for a couple of first downs, moves it to the 10. Our defense is looking disorganized and tired. He then does his best Armani Edwards impression and dives into the end-zone on an option read that fooled everyone, including the TV crew. We block the PAT and the score is 16-14 with 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Everyone watching starts wondering if Michigan will implode again. But Mike Hart takes over, goes over 100 yards for the sixth straight game and ends the drive with a great 24 yard run. Michigan leads 23-14. An inspired defense delivers a 3 and out and you can feel the momentum . Mike Hart rumbles for 61 yards (longest play of the year). A short Henne to Matthews TD is called back because of offensive interference on Arrington. Lopata FG makes the score 26-14. Eastern fumbles the kick off and James Rogers recovers it on the 17. Hart scores untouched on the first play after the fumble taking him over 200 yards and scoring his 3rd touchdown of the day to take it to 33-14. After two plays, hard hitting senior safety Brandent Englemon causes another EMU fumble recovered by Michigan at the 21 – but Henne gives it right back with another interception on the 5 yard line with 53 seconds left.

4th Quarter: Both teams trade punts to start the quarter. Leading 33-14, Carlos Brown takes over for Mike Hart and Ryan Mallet starts warming up on the sidelines. Boren loses his helmet showing the creases on the back of his head. Eastern stops us on a 4th down bubble screen attempt to Junior Hemmingway, which I can only assume upset the EMU coach. With the score 33-14 we were in a situation where if we scored a field goal would be considered bad form also. Another defensive stop and Mallet comes in for Henne and hands the ball off a bunch of times and we punt. Eastern brings in a new QB and they score a garbage time TD over Stevie Brown playing safety and convert the 2 point conversion making it 33-22. Down 11 points with 47 seconds left in the game, Eastern lines up for the on-side kick and recovers it. Tim Jamison sacks the EMU QB on the first play, and coach Jeff Genyk calls a timeout causing the TV announcers (and those left in the stadium) to start booing. A long completion and four seconds left in the game, he calls another time-out. The final play is intercepted by Engelmon in the end zone and the battle of '07 Washtenaw County is finally over.

What did we learn from this game? Andy Schmitt (who will also start this week) is not Vince Young and our 2007 defense was basically able to keep up with him. EMU came into this game expecting more than just an opportunity to play in The Big House. They wanted to deliver another stunning upset and played hard the entire game. But there was too much Mike Hart, who proved when he was healthy, he was a great college running back. Jake Long showed why he deserved to be the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft.

On the negative side, the 2007 defense (coached by Ron English) was soft on the corners, undisciplined, and generally abysmal tacklers. To me it seemed like they were all going for the big “sportscenter highlight” hit - rather than wrapping up and taking the ball carrier down. Also, the lack of discipline to detail showed on special teams. This final team in the Carr era was much more talented than Eastern and let them hang around too long. Hopefully we won't do that again this week.

Rewind: 1999 Notre Dame

I chose this game for a couple of reasons. First of all it was one of the more exciting games of this classic rivalry. Even though it was our opener in 1999, this game is relevant this week because Michigan had lost an embarrassing game at Notre Dame the season before and there was a quarterback controversy competition brewing on the team. I want everyone reading this to understand, I don't think there is any quarterback controversy on the current Wolverines. This is Tate's job -- with Denard offering something very scary for defensive coordinators to prepare for.

1st Quarter: Outside the midwest, ABC started their broadcast in the middle of the 1st quarter, because the early game ran late and they did not change over. The same thing that happened last week for me against Western. Michigan was leading 3-0 when I actually got to start watching and recording. Michigan had all the momentum early when the defense recovered a fumble.Tom Brady was able to get into position for another field goal and you just knew not scoring touchdowns was going to haunt. The Irish marched down the field thanks to a long swing pass to RB Tony Rice and a bad facemask penalty. WR Joey Getherall scored on a slick option reverse that confused the over pursuing Michigan defense and took a 7-6 lead.

2nd Quarter: As was the custom in 1999, sophomore Drew Henson came in to guide the offense in the 2nd quarter. He displayed his massive potential, completing a couple of nice passes, but Michigan kicked yet another field goal and re-established a 9-7 lead. We exchanged punts and Notre Dame drove down and scored another touchdown on quarterback Jarious Jackson's Whirling Dervish dive into the endzone to take a 14-9 halftime lead.

Coming into the game, Notre Dame was very confident their offense could bewilder our defense because they had hired former Syracuse offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers for the same position. Rogers was the OC for the 1998 Syracuse team (led by Donovan McNabb) that came into Michigan Stadium and shredded us. Rogers is currently the QB coach at Virginia Tech. However, Jarious Jackson was not McNabb and our defense held him in check most of the game.

3rd quarter: Tom Brady was given the keys to the offense in the second half, and he did not disappoint. The first pass of the quarter was a 28-yard bullet to David Terrell. He guided the the team 80 yards in just nine plays, closing with an Anthony Thomas' two-yard touchdown run to give Michigan the lead 16-14. Michigan blew a golden opportunity to put some distance between them and the Irish when Ian Gold caused a fumble in Irish territory, but Jeff Del Verne missed a 27 yard FG. Late in the quarter Del Verne made his 4th FG of the game to extend the lead to 5 points, 19-14.

4th quarter: The emotional leader and defensive star of the game was safety Tommy Hendricks. He picked off a Jackson pass after visibly limping a couple of plays before, but we missed another FG, allowing the Irish to stay in the game. For some reason the Michigan defense went into prevent mode with and allowed Notre Dame to pick them apart. The Irish scored a go-ahead touchdown with 4 minutes left in the game when they converted a 4th down. Musburger went crazy screaming "shades of Desmond Howard" when he saw the wide open tight end with nothing but 10 yards of open space between him and the endzone. Notre Dame head coach Bob Davie called time-out following the TD to set up a 2 point conversion play designed to give a 3 point cushion, and they succeeded -- BUT Notre Dame WR Bobby Brown decided to pose for the TV camera and was flagged for a 15 yard misconduct penalty on the kick. This was a HUGE moment in the game because it stuck a big needle and exploded the Irish momentum bubble.

It was now Tom Brady time to give the nation a preview of future his Super Bowl form. After Marcus Knight dropped a pass on the first play, Notre Dame continued their implosion with a stupid late hit on TE Shawn Thompson on the second play of the drive. Brady and Terrell connected on beautiful post pass to take the Wolves to the 5 yard line - and you started to wonder if we would score too quickly. Anthony Thomas delivered the rest, even though he needed to score twice (no replay in 1999). Irish fans will forever complain that AT did not get across the goal line on the touchdown. Michigan leads 26-22 with 1:38 left. Maybe we did score to early.

Notre Dame sputtered initially but converted on a critical third down pass for 36 yards (don't they always do that against us?) and the next thing you knew they had the ball inside the 20 yard line. But the football gods were on our side as time ran out when they got the ball to the 10 but did not cross the first down marker and Michigan stormed the field with the victory.

Interesting notes: You can see highlight of this game from Wolverine Historian on YouTube. This game re-set the NCAA record for largest crowd with 111,523 crammed a the very warm Big House. Even in the first game of the season, our grass was a problem, check out the divot made by the Notre Dame tackler on AT's final touchdown. ABC's Brent Musburger was even more annoying 10 years ago than he is today. His future broadcasting partner Bob Davie was on the sidelines. If you pay attention you can see Florida coach Urban Meyer on the sideline for the Irish, he was the WR coach. Michigan was blessed with an unbelievable array of NFL talent on this team. The set of linebackers: Ian Gold, Dhani Jones, and Larry Foote have all gone on to very productive careers. After a couple of years of sitting on the Denver Bronco's bench Jarious Jackson has been a very productive professional QB for the BC Lions in the CFL. Tom Brady was a stud then, but no one knew it.

What did we learn from this game?It is better to score touchdowns than it is to kick field goals. Anthony Thomas was rugged running back for Michigan and could carry the load of an entire game. Drew Henson had a cannon for an arm and should have never listened to George Stienbrenner. It is sure is nice to have a future Hall of Famer at QB when you are down and need to score late in the 4th quarter. Undisciplined players and too much celebration can hurt you in so many ways. Both teams showed that a prevent defense can sometimes prevent winning. And finally, beating Notre Dame is always fun.

Rewind: 2004 Opener

Believe it or not, we actually have a football game to watch this weekend. Football will be a nice distraction from the soap opera we have been witnessing for the the last couple of days. During this season, I plan on taking a look back at previous games with some relevance to the upcoming game. Michigan has only played Western four times, the last one in 2002. Since I don't have a copy of the 2002 game, I am going to improvise this week and look at the 2004 contest against Miami of Ohio.

How is this game relevant this week ? It was the opening game of the season. It was against a talented MAC opponent. We started a true freshman at QB. This was the game Chad Henne became the first since Rick Leach in 1975. Carr's announced starter Matt Gutierrez got hurt during practice the week before the game. Most of the 110,815 people in the crowd had no idea Henne was going to start.

The RedHawks were coached by the late Terry Hoeppner, before he became the head coach at Indiana and tragically died of brain cancer in 2007. His team was coming off of a successful 13-1 season, where they won the MAC championship, a bowl game, and finished ranked 10th in the country. QB Josh Betts had tough task to replace NFL 1st rounder Ben Rothisberger. Barry Larkin’s cousin Michael was the top WR for the RedHawks.

1st quarter: Both teams spent the scoreless first quarter feeling each other out. There were six punts, the most exciting moment came on Michigan’s second punt that was returned by Ryne Robinson for an apparent TD, only to get called back for illegal block penalty. Incredibly, this was the third time in less than two games that Robinson had a punt return TD called back. Running back David Underwood carried the ball a lot but was not very effective. Henne's first completion was a short screen play to Pierre Rembert. He got on track with a nice completion to Braylon Edwards in the first big play of the season.

2nd quarter: After getting comfortable with a couple of first downs Henne takes the team past midfield, the then throws the first interception of his career, forcing a deep pass to Braylon. Miami immediately gives it back to Michigan two plays later when Ryan Mundy intercepts a tipped ball. A couple of plays later, Garret Rivas kicked a FG to give Michigan the 3-0 lead. The next play from scrimmage the Michigan defense pressures the Miami quarterback and Marcus Curry picks off pass and returns it inside the 10. David Underwood scores on fourth down from one yard out to take a 10-0 lead into the half.

3rd quarter: Miami continues to give the ball away as the second half begins with a Betts fumble inside his own 25 leading to another 1 yard David Underwood touchdown run and a 17-0 margin. Later Braylon Edwards make his mark on the game when he trucks a Miami defensive back on a short swing pass to Steve Breaston – and follows it up by catching Chad Henne’s first career touchdown pass to extend the lead to 24-0. Big Ben gets interviewed. Miami finally gets on the scoreboard at the end of the quarter with the Jared Parseghian (great grand nephew of Ara) fieldgoal. 24-3.

4th quarter: The team and crowd go into classic Lloyd Carr era relax mode. Miami responds early in the quarter when Ryan Robinson takes a punt 70 yards before getting shoved out at the 3 yard line early in the quarter. A couple of obvious illegal blocks are ignored by ABC's Tim Brandt, who openly cheers for Miami in the booth. The Redhawks punch in a TD 2 plays later making it 24-10. Fullback Kevin Dudley gets his first career Michigan carry. Stan Edwards gets interviewed. Ryan Robinson returns another punt 44 yards and Tim Brandt announces in the 1st game of the year he has found his All-American returner. Momentum has started to swing hard towards Miami when Ernst Shazor grabs a interception and returns it down the sideline 88 yards for a touchdown(the 3rd longest in M history). Rivas misses the PAT. 30-10. Another play, another Miami turnover and Braylon catches another Henne TD pass. Another missed PAT. 36-10. Garbage time. Hello Clayton Richard. Michigan wins 43-10.

What did we learn from this game ? Turnovers kill. An opportunistic defense can make up for a young inexperienced offense. We also learned that David Underwood was not going to be the next Chris Perry. Chad Henne has a very strong arm. Braylon can turn easy catches into spectacular catches because his hands don't always catch the ball on the first attempt (something Cleveland Browns fans are loving right now). The last couple minutes of the game we get our first views of Adrian Arrington, Jake Long, and the first carries of Mike Hart’s record breaking career.

There were also a few interesting side notes for this game. This was the first game the officials begin calling the uniform number on penalties to the entire the stadium from the microphone. It was also the first game for the Big Ten video replay experiment, which was the first in college football. A booth initiated review were not used in the game. This was also the first game the Head Coach could request a time out from the sideline.