This Week in Football edition heads way back to discuss college football Hall of Famer John Maulbetsch: TWIMFbH is sponsored by Hillside Terrace of Ann Arbor.  This segment can be heard on the Keybank Countdown to Kickoff and you can listen live on 1050AM in Ann Arbor & on wtka.com around the world.  This segment plays approximately 2 hours before kickoff each week. You can hear the archive of This Week in Michigan Football History clips here.    If you have suggestions for future games hit me on Twitter @MVictors.  Go Blue!   /script …after the jump

Pregame rituals vary, but I try to listen to as much of the WTKA Key Bank Countdown to Kickoff show as much as I can.   If you missed it this week you missed an epic segment. Prior to the Purdue game Rick Leach phoned in to comment on the topic of This Week in Michigan Football History.  The topic was the 1978 Michigan-Notre Dame game, aka “The Reunion Game”. Leach was injured the week of the game and he talks with Sam Webb about how he was injured, where he was during game week, about a visit from Bob Ufer, and then a few details on gameday: before the game, what Bo told him at halftime and a bit about after the game.  It’s outstanding. Ira was kind to send me the clip so here it is, the first couple minutes is the TWIMFbH piece on the history of the rivalry and a recap of this game, and then Sam goes right into the Q&A with Leach: [display_podcast] Go Blue! P.S. Speaking of all of this, the weekend WTKA is continuing the tradition of the Ufer Classic, and the game of choice is indeed that 1978 Notre Dame-Michigan game.   Ufer is fired up for this one and it’s a classic.  Make sure you hang in there for the…

Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is a Schembechler-era savant and once again this season he’ll be diligently handing out his postgame helmet stickers after each game. Sap has pored over hours and hours of U-M games over several decades, and in these posts he’s able to tie the present to the past.  I encourage you to subscribe to Dr. Sap on YouTube, or follow Sap on Twitter. OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – Remember the George Orwell book, 1984?  Well, good thing this is not 1984. If it was, the season would have been over the moment they walked Wilton Speight off the field early in the first half. Thirty-three years ago, when coach Harbaugh was felled by a broken arm against Michigan State there was a significant talent drop-off at the QB spot for Michigan. [via Detroit Free Press] You think Bo and Jim have ever forgotten that? Nope. That is why John O’Korn and Brandon Peters are waiting their turn. Did you see that type of performance coming out of #8? I certainly didn’t, but I will tell you this: sometimes when you get thrust into the fray, you don’t have time to think and over-analyze things. When that happens, instincts and muscle-memory kick in and you get what we all saw Saturday out of O’Korn – WoW! Listen, I get that…

This week's game hits an anniversary of "The Reunion Game" - a resumption of the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry after a three decade+ hiatus. Billed as 2 legendary college football schools of course, but also a battle of Joe Montana vs. Rick Leach. Montana was coming off the classic Cotton Bowl win the season before, and Leach was hyped up as one of the nation's most talented quarterbacks.

Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is a Schembechler-era savant and once again this season he’ll be diligently handing out his postgame helmet stickers after each game. Sap has pored over hours and hours of U-M games over several decades, and in these posts he’s able to tie the present to the past.  I encourage you to subscribe to Dr. Sap on YouTube, or follow Sap on Twitter or catch Steve rolling around town in the Sap-mobile: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION:  Nothing notable here, but don’t panic, see COACHING CHAMPIONS below.. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION: Chase Winovich seemed to be all over the field on Saturday, especially the Air Force backfield. His intensity and energy seemed to drive him and the rest of the defense to keep pressuring the Fighting Falcons offense all game. While Gary, Hurst and Bush got all the pre-season hype, Winovich’s play is starting to command some attention of his own. Gonna need him to keep it up and do the same come November. SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION:  I’m going with Quinn Nordin and Donovan Peoples-Jones, for obvious, and different reasons. First of all, when you kick 5 of 5 field goals and tie a school record for most 3-pointers in a game, you deserve a helmet sticker! Ok – now for DPJ. Amazing how much more comfortable he looked back there against Air Force this week.…