On November 20, 1971, the Buckeyes visited Ann Arbor for the third edition of the Ten Year War. Late in the game with Michigan trailing, Billy Taylor shot around the right side, picked up a couple of blocks and scored one of the greatest TDs in team history.
Here’s the play with Bob Ufer’s legendary call, arguably his second most memorable after Wangler-to-Carter:
As great as that is and was, it didn’t seal the game.
The Buckeyes still had the opportunity to erase ‘Touchdown Billy Taylor’ from the Michigan lexicon. They got the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game, but U-M safety Thom Darden wouldn’t have it. His aerobatic interception of Don Lamka’s pass settled the game and set Dr. Strangehayes OFF. See the interception…and watch Woody explode, via the great Dr. Sap archives:
Woody wanted pass interference on Darden but all he got was a 15-yard penalty for harassing the refs. That only fanned Woody’s flames and he continued…until he was flagged a 2nd time for bad behavior.
But he didn’t stop there. That’s when he decided to redecorate the field with the down markers(!):
After the game, the media waited for 30 minutes for the old boy to show up. He didn’t. Instead, a spokesperson told the press there would be no statements, and that Hayes would not speak to anyone. Ahem. Michigan 10, Ohio State 7.
Here are a few insights from the aftermath of this incident are included in Joel Pennington’s book The Ten Year War.
- While I don’t see interference in the replay (do you?), Darden later commented, “I’m just glad it happened in Ann Arbor because in Columbus it might have been called interference.”
- Woody actually wrote to Michigan and offered to pay for the down markers he destroyed. AD Don Canham didn’t accept his offer and in fact, it was Canham’s company that owned them. Canham later used to the photo of Hayes crushing them in an ad that read, ‘Our down markers are almost indestructible.’ (!)
- Hayes and head referee Markbreit eventually smoked peace pipe and Woody sent him a copy of his book. The inscription read, ‘To Jerry Markbriet. A great referee…but not always.’
Related: If you liked that one, you’ll love this tune on the Woody Hayes mixtape, when he threw a wicked uppercut at an ABC sideline camera operator: Decking the Camerman (1977)
