This Week in Michigan Football History talks about the brilliant 1964 Wolverines, and specifically, a match-up with reigning Heisman winner Roger Staubach, Duffy Daugherty and the powerful Spartans, and Woody and the hated Buckeyes:
-
-
Mudbowl is On | October 10, 2015 11AM EDT
Saturday, the 82nd Annual Mud Bowl is on. The former residents of the giant red house with the kettle hole in front at 1408 Washtenaw are on triple non-secret probation, but the game goes on nonetheless. Don’t be surprised if you see a former resident and blogger in the mud. Deets: Hey, I love the pic (HT: MVictors, circa 2009). Speaking of the Mudbowl – I added this to the list of Michigan Traditions. Follow MVictors on Twitter
-
Sights & Sounds: Terrapin Cushions (Michigan 28, Maryland —)
Via the #1000SSS game notes: “The U-M defense forced 12 three-and-outs, holding the Maryland offense to 1-of-18 on third-down opportunities.” Yikes. For the second straight week the opponent didn’t even get close to scoring. I haven’t felt bad for an opponent in a long time but I was seriously concerned about the welfare (well before he was body slammed) of that Terrapin back-up QB. The dude should have hid his helmet. Bullets: We’re fortunate to have many options at back, but clearly De’Veon Smith was missed. Here’s to hoping he’s ready for Northwestern. Brandy and Dierdorf went on and on about this on the radio call (I #mutedMillen) but the physical recovery of Drake Johnson after the ACL is remarkable. I love how that dude runs with the pigskin. Check out this shot (HT: G. Loose), DJ gets up at least 6’ on his repaired knee: You can’t do it, but seriously, I’d love to see the analysis on whether Michigan should have elected to kickoff to start the second half. Mathlete? I loved the performance of Desmond Morgan – if nothing else for how many times the guy had his hand on the football. Via the Michigan Daily: From the shelves of Ann Arbor Armchair & Nitpick: I don’t get going for two up 12-0 with eight minutes left…
-
Testudo Champions | Dr. Sap’s Decals
Guest post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis Well, I was one of those guys who predicted a shutout against Maryland – just not like that – yikes! The defense is starting to look very 1980/1985-ish. But the offense? The offense is still a work in progress, or is it? I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out where this team is in the next two weeks. In the meantime, here are the Champions for the Maryland Game: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – Gotta go with Drake Johnson. With no De’Veon Smith and Ty Isaac not being able to hang on to the ball, The Drake made plays and looked comfortable running the ball – brace and all on his left knee. When the team was sputtering and looking for a spark on “O,” #20 made the most of his opportunity. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – It’s obvious the D-Line is playing lights out these past few games, but when the game/match was resembling an FA Cup Final and tied nil-nil after 15 minutes, Desmond Morgan was the difference on defense. His INT and strip thwarted Maryland drives when the game was still in doubt. The more I see of #3, the more I think that he is starting to look like a classic Michigan middle linebacker. SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION – Speaking of soccer, you…
-
TWIMFbH: A Booze Raid, a Double Header and Battling The Depression (1931)
The 1930s are a underappreciated period of Michigan football, and the goings on in 1931 alone provide a representative morsel. Click below for a spicy version of This Week in Michigan Football covers a wide range of events on campus
-
Sights & Sounds: Michigan 31, BYU 0 (2015)
Whoa. What happened? Based on my straw poll of the press box, most media folks had BYU winning this one. So call BYU a good, at least a decent, team. That was a mercy kill. Offhand, that was probably the biggest beatdown of a good team since, what? 38-0 Vol. I over Notre Dame in 2003? Rudock made good decisions with the pigskin. Smith missed a couple of holes but it didn’t matter because he’s a beast. The defense was relentless and finished tackles. Special teams were sound. The playcalling was straight money and clearly, the playbook is being cracked open to the later chapters. Maybe there is magical khaki dust after all. Assuming we handle Maryland on the road, heading back home to face Northwestern will be fun to watch. It feels good man. To the sights and sounds: DER-EK JEET-AHH. The Pope could have visited Michigan Stadium today and no one would have noticed – here’s Derek Jeter: Above there’s Derek Jeter killing it in his Michigan hoodie, with suite ticket in pocket (does he really need a ticket? to anything?) with Sarah Harbaugh on the left. Any fool who tried to get too close to #2 had to deal with Big Tony, aka The Captain’s Cleaner: Coach Edwards. I strolled over to the opposing team suite (it’s…
-
1984 Holiday Bowl Avenged! | Dr Sap’s Decals
For those of you who weren’t old enough to endure the no-holding-calls-ever-made-against-BYU-1984-Holiday-Bowl-disaster, this shutout avenged some of that bitter taste. So you’ll have to excuse me if I enjoy this 31-0 shutout just a little more than any other win this year. Alright, enough of that – here are your BYU-1st-shutout-of-the-year-Champions: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – Could have gone several ways here, (OBJ Darboh, De’Veon Smith, heck, O-Line for that matter), but I’m going with the guy under center – Jake Rudock. Sure, I loved seeing a Michigan QB RUN for two touchdowns, but it was WAAAY more than that. He looked comfortable running the offense. He threw the ball well downfield – in part to the kick-start provided by OBJ Darboh – and he had no turnovers against the Cougars. Do you realize his turnovers have gone down each game this year? Utah (3), Oregon State (2), UNLV (1) and now BYU (0). Umm – I’ll take that ANY DAY! DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – Last week I mentioned that Channing Stribling set the tone on D with his early INT. This week, the D-LINE came out and made a statement against BYU. Seemed like each series there was a different guy getting penetration and that is a good sign! When BYU had only completed 2 passes in the first half, I thought…
-
TWIMFbH: “Turtle Slow” Tom Brady takes on Nick Saban’s Spartans (1998)
Saturday’s edition of TWIMFbH jets back to the conference opener of 1998 – a battle against Nick Saban and the Spartans. Tom Brady took all the snaps for the Wolverines in this gem, played on September 26, 1998: You can listen to all 6 years of This Week In Michigan Football History here. And don’t forget to catch the whole KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff on WTKA 1050AM starting 4 hours before each game, and of course live in the Bud Light Victors Lounge when they lace them up in Ann Arbor. See you out there. Follow MVictors on Twitter script: It’s hard to defend any title, especially a national title, but that’s what Michigan and Lloyd Carr set out to do in 1998. Gone was Heisman winner Charles Woodson, but the team returned enough talent to earn a top 5 preseason ranking. But things didn’t go as planned, and the year started 0-2 with losses at Notre Dame and at home against Syracuse. The Wolverines took the first step toward righting the ship by crushing our friends from Ypsilanti 59-20 to conclude the preseason. On September 26 1998 the Wolverines opened the big ten slate with a huge one against rival Michigan State and head coach Nick Saban. One of the big questions of the year was at quarterback, where…
