When Bo (Bo Who?) Schembechler arrived in 1969 fans were certainly unsure of what they had. But it didn’t take Bo long to win over the hearts of the maize and blue faithful, the clincher of course being the stunning 24 to 12 victory over Woody Hayes and his dominant 1969 squad to claim the Big Ten Title and a trip to Pasadena.
But was the debut season and the win over the Buckeyes a fluke? It was on this day in Michigan Football History, 45 years ago Saturday that Schembechler launched into his 2nd year at the helm. The Arizona Wildcats came to town for an early season Big 10 vs. Pac 10 clash:
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script:
When Bo Schembechler arrived in 1969 fans were certainly unsure of what they had. But it didn’t take Bo long to win over the hearts of the maize and blue faithful, the clincher of course being the stunning 24 to 12 victory over Woody Hayes and his dominant 1969 squad to claim the Big Ten Title and a trip to Pasadena.
The nation was quickly sold on Bo as well, and he took home several coach of the Year honors in his rookie campaign.
With a dream debut season in the rearview mirror, It was on this day in 1970 that Bo launched into his second season at the helm. Bo’s squad returned stacked, including would-be All Americans tackle Dan Dierdorf, guard Henry Hill and linebacker Marty Huff, along with quarterback Don Moorhead , Billy Taylor and Reggie McKenzie.
Immediately the expectations, and the stakes, were raised. The Blue came in ranked #8 in the land and on September 19, 1970 they faced the Arizona wildcats in front of over 80 thousand Meechigan faithful.
Those on hand were treated to beautiful day and a bit of classic Bo football. Michigan put up 10 points in the first, highlighted by a 29 yard TD toss from Moorhead to Touchdown Billy Taylor. Back Lance Scheffler added a 6 yard run in the fourth and Michigan kept the Cats out of the endzone in the 20-9 victory.
Bo’s men cruised through the rest of the 1970 season, going undefeated and #4 in the land before falling short in the 2nd edition of the 10 year war.
The dominance would continue throughout the decade, where Bo’s Michigan teams played 109 regular season games – won 96, tied 3, lost just 10 from the period of 1970-1979 – and Schembechler quickly re-established the dominance of Michigan football that just as Yost and Crisler had done decades before him.
