Ahead of one of the biggest editions of THE GAME we salute Mr. Hassan Haskins, who entered Meechigan Football’s Valhalla after his five-touchdown performance against the Bucks in 2021. Haskins turns 23 on Saturday so let’s hope it’s a maize and blue birthday for #25. We also revisit the history of U-M playing on Thanksgiving Day and other recent victories against Ohio including the Ten-Year War. Go Blue!
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Go Blue! You’ll hear this live on the WTKA 1050AM KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff Saturday morning.
script: Good morning! To lead off we wish happy birthday to 2021 Big Ten Champion Hassan Haskins, who turns 23 today. Mr. Haskins knows a little something about playing Ohio State and today we have a huge one down in Columbus, another chapter in our storied history.
These days there’s no question about the identity of Michigan’s biggest rival—but back in the late 1800s and well into the Fielding Yost era, public enemy number one was the University of Chicago and Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg.
While today we play THE GAME after Thanksgiving but did you know Michigan used to play ON Thanksgiving day? Just like my and Sam Webb’s BELOVED Detroit Lions.
On this day exactly 126 years ago, Michigan and Chicago squared off on Thanksgiving Thursday in Chicago. The newly formed Western conference had recently mandated that each game be played on campus, but Stagg steered the season finale against undefeated Michigan to be played indoors, yes, INDOORS, downtown at the Chicago Coliseum. We met again on Thanksgiving Day in 1903 as Yost roasted Stagg 28-0 and the victory earned Michigan the distinction of Champions of the West and our 3rd national title.
Today’s winner will have an inside track to claim the Big Ten Championship trophy, which is named after Coach Stagg, and perhaps much more.
Bo Schembechler knew something about winning conference titles, and his arrival in 1969 elevated the significance of the Ohio State rivalry. Bo won the 10-year war, and Michigan won the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. But things turned against us as we entered the new millennium – we took the 100th edition of THE GAME in 2003. On this day exactly 11 years ago, Denard Robinson and captain Mike Martin took down the Bucks in 2011. And who will ever forget what happened just 12 months ago – when our Birthday Boy, Hassan Haskins found paydirt FIVE TIMES and left the Buckeyes dazed, confused and unquestionably VANQUISHED.
Let’s do it again – Go Blue! Scalp those Buckeyes! For more check out MVictors.com and WTKA.com – for the KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff, this is Professor Greg Dooley…
