• Michigan Football History Will Be Televised…What’s Next?

    March 15, 2011 /

    Stunt3 Multimedia, the folks behind the upcoming Gerald Ford/Willis Ward documentary, is asking for input from U-M fans on what other stories you’d like to see produced.   It looks like the hype over the Fab Five film got their juices flowing: “We saw with the ‘Fab Five’ film on ESPN just how much hunger there is for Michigan documentaries,” said Brian Kruger, President of Stunt3 Multimedia. “This is going to satisfy that hunger.” They’ve got four pretty interesting ideas to extend their series and they’re asking you to contact them with your choice.   The nominees: Tom and Drew: The Battle to be the Starter Drew Henson came to Michigan as perhaps the most celebrated recruit ever, but when he arrived in Ann Arbor, there was another quarterback holding on to the starting spot – a lightly regarded beanpole from California named Tom Brady. In 1998, Brady was the starter and Henson was the backup, but in 1999, Coach Lloyd Carr came up with a system where they’d alternate as the starter. That decision split Wolverine Nation in 1999 – and the debate continues to this day. Wangler to Carter: The Most Exciting Play in Michigan Football History With just six seconds left in the 1979 game between Michigan and Indiana, the heavily favored Wolverines found themselves in a 21-21 tie…

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  • A Century Ago: 1910 Michigan Football through the Words of The Daily

    October 20, 2010 /

    Recently I visited the outstanding U-M Bentley Historical Library to wade through the pages of the Michigan Daily archives from fall of 1910.  Here’s a brief look back at Fielding Yost’s tenth season at the helm of the Wolverines: Preseason: Expectations were high coming into 1910, as the previous season Yost’s men became the first “western” team to knock off one of the traditional eastern foes when they defeated Penn 12-6 in Philadelphia, in a game not as close as the score indicated. They added a 15-6 win in the season finale over Minnesota and Michigan made claim to the mythical title of “Champions of the West”. The 1910 season would prove a bit rockier, as Michigan was still settling into their status as an independent. Seven games were scheduled for the year, including four against rivals that are quite familiar a century later: M.A.C (later MSC then MSU of course), Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Minnesota. Here’s how the season went, through the words of the U-M student newspaper from the fall of 1910: Game 1: vs. Case, Ann Arbor, October 8, 1910 The 1910 slate started on October against Case, the Wolverine’s foe in the previous four season openers and a team that nearly spoiled the 1909 season. Yost squeaked by 3-0 that season and hoped to put…

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  • Blue Books: Bo’s Winless Season

    November 13, 2008 /

    Thanks to the profileration of sports media folks in Haiti can tell you that Michigan’s going to end up with its first losing season since 1967, a couple years removed from Bo Schembechler’s arrival on campus in 1969. Bo started the streak and only dipped to .500 once, in 1984 when Jim Harbaugh was hurt and they lost to #1 BYU in the Holiday Bowl. But Bo wasn’t foreign to tough seasons in his professional life before leading Miami, OH and Michigan. In fact, he lived through the worst season you can possibly have during his time as an assistant in Northwestern. With the Wildcats heading into town Saturday this version of Blue Books pulls an excerpt from John U. Bacon‘s tome Bo’s Lasting Lessons, this selection from Chapter 2: Seek Mentors, Not Money: I learned an awful lot from Ara in my first year at Northwestern, but I learned a heckuva lot more from him that second season, when we lost ’em all. And what I learned was how a real leader leads when things aren’t going his way. Ara treated the staff as though we were winning every game. He never gave the slightest inclination that we were the problem. He not once blamed any assistant or any player for any loss we suffered that year. NOT ONCE.…

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