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Michigan football history

1977 Michigan Football: A Second Straight Big Ten Title

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Bo Schembechler’s 1977 Michigan football team had high expectations. After a breakthrough year in 1976, where they ended a four-year absence from the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines were ranked #2 in the country. Michigan came close to meeting expectations—they returned to Pasadena and stayed in the national title race. But another Rose Bowl loss left a sour taste in their mouths.

The Wolverine defense was one of the nation’s best, anchored by All-American linebacker John Anderson. Ron Simpkins was a solid linebacker and made All-Big Ten. A lockdown secondary had three all-conference performers, including Derek Howard, Jim Pickens, and future San Francisco 49ers’ starter Dwight Hicks.

Schembecler’s offense, like most offenses in 1970s college football, were built on a heavy dose of the running game. And why not, when you have a pair of All-Americans on the offensive line? Center Walt Downing and guard Mark Donahue, along with all-conference tackle Mike Kenn, paved the way for Russell Davis to rush for 1,000 yards. Harlan Huckleby added over 700 more.

Rick Leach didn’t have to throw a lot, but he was competent when he did, and was the Big Ten’s all-conference quarterback. The Wolverine offense ranked a respectable 19th in the nation in points scored.

Michigan opened the season with a league game at lowly Illinois and got things started with a 37-9 win. When top-ranked Oklahoma struggled to get past Vanderbilt, the Wolverines were rewarded with the #1 spot in the polls.

What the voters had given, the voters would soon take away. Michigan played ho-hum games against mediocre teams in Duke and Navy. They won both, but the 21-9 and 14-7 results didn’t impress anyone, and the Wolverines were pushed back down to #3. It set the stage for a big home game with Texas A&M on October 1.

The Aggies were ranked fifth and would finish the season behind only undefeated Texas and Orange Bowl-bound Arkansas in the old Southwest Conference. Michigan took Texas A&M apart. Davis rushed for 110 yards and Leach had 216 all-purpose yards. Ron Simpkins was everywhere on defense, with 14 tackles and the linebacker helped punctuate the 41-3 win in the fourth quarter when he blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown.

Michigan then beat a pretty good Michigan State team 24-14. The Wolverines buried #14 Wisconsin 56-0, and the Badgers plummeted to a sub-.500 record. Michigan was back to the top of the polls and controlled their fate for a national title.

One year earlier, the Wolverines had been in this same situation, and they were upset by Purdue. This time it was Minnesota that did the deed. The Gophers, the only conference team besides Michigan and Ohio State to make a bowl game, pulled a 16-0 upset in the Twin Cities and the Wolverines fell to #6.

Schembecler’s team came back strong, rolling through Iowa, Northwestern and Purdue and scoring 63 points in each of the latter two games. Michigan was set to host Ohio State in the season-ending finale. The Buckeyes had a share of the conference crown already sewn up, but the Wolverines would take the other half and the tiebreaker with a win.

Michigan won with red-zone execution. In the first three quarters-plus, Ohio State got down inside the 20 three times, but came away with just two field goals. Michigan got touchdowns on its trips and led 14-6 when the Buckeyes launched one more drive. They had 1st-and-goal on the Michigan 8-yard line and the Wolverines needed one more red zone stop.

A tie was as good as a loss for Michigan, and Anderson came up with the big play. He forced a fumble, the Wolverines recovered, and the 14-6 win was secure. They had been outgained 352-196 but were going to the Rose Bowl ranked fourth in the nation.

By the time the traditional late-afternoon kickoff arrived, the national title picture had been thrown into chaos. Top-ranked Texas, the only unbeaten team in the country, had been crushed by Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. Michigan was a part of a group of one-loss teams that could stake a claim with a decisive win.

Moreover, Schembechler had yet to win a major bowl game in a tenure that began in 1969. The great head coach had lost three Rose Bowls and an Orange Bowl in that timeframe. With the opponent this year being a seemingly pedestrian four-loss Washington team, Bo appeared primed to get that breakthrough bowl victory.

But the Huskies were hot and their quarterback—a guy named Warren Moon—was better than anyone anticipated. Washington came out ready to play and Michigan did not. The Wolverines dug themselves a 27-7 hole in the fourth quarter.

They fought back, scoring twice and then driving inside the 10-yard line late in the game. But a turnover ended that drive and the next one. Michigan lost 27-20. They would end the season ranked #9 in the country.

1977 still marked a year where Michigan solidified what was turning into a consistent edge in their great rivalry with Ohio State. It was a trend that would continue in 1978 when the Wolverines won another Big Ten crown. But they had to wait until 1980 for Bo to get that elusive Rose Bowl victory.

1976 Michigan Football: A Breakthrough Rose Bowl Trip

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Michigan had gone 38-3-3 the previous four regular seasons but never reached the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten did not allow runner-ups to go to bowls prior to 1975, so the previous year’s Orange Bowl—a loss to national champion Oklahoma—was the only postseason appearance for head coach Bo Schembechler since 1971. The only games the Wolverines were losing in that stretch came to Ohio State. But when you’re at Michigan—especially in the 1970s—that was also the only game that mattered. The 1976 Michigan football team not only got over the hump, but their triumph marked a decided shift in the Big Ten’s historic rivalry.

The ’76 Wolverines were dominant on both sides of the football. The Schembechler era would be defined by a punishing ground game and this edition was no different. The offensive line had All-Americans in guard Mark Donahue and tackle Bill Dufek. Walt Downing was an all-Big center. That line paved the way for Rob Lytle to rush for over 1,400 yards and lead the Big Ten in carries, total yards, and yards-per-attempt. Harlan Huckleby added over 900 yards.

Rick Leach was a versatile quarterback. He added to the running game and also completed 50 percent of his passes—which was respectable by the standards of the mid-1970s. Leach also averaged 9.6 yards-per-attempt, which was outstanding. The key to that was Jim Smith. Getting All-American mention for both his receiving and return skills, Smith’s 24 catches averaged an astonishing 27.6 yards-per-catch. The Leach-to-Smith combo could make defenses pay when they stacked the box.

All-American linebacker Calvin O’Neal anchored the defense, and Greg Morton was an all-conference performer in the trenches. The average final score of Michigan games in 1976 was 36-8—they ranked first in the nation offensively and second on defense.

Expectations were high and Michigan opened the year ranked #2 in the nation. The Big Ten was known as “The Big Two” and “The Little Eight” in those days, recognizing that the Wolverines and Buckeyes were the only programs capable of serious contention. The middle was a mass of mediocrity with seven teams losing five or six games, and only Minnesota finishing with a winning record. Moreover, Michigan had not yet started its season-opening series with Notre Dame, so there was no one there to challenge them for much of the year.

The season began at home against Wisconsin with some shaky defense, but the offense was potent enough to win 40-27. Moreover, #1 Nebraska had played to a tie, so the Wolverines quickly moved to the top of the national polls.

The defense got their game together the following week when a respectable Stanford team came to Ann Arbor. Michigan dropped a 51-0 beatdown. They hosted Navy the following week and rolled up a 70-14 final. Wake Forest completed the non-conference schedule by coming in and taking a 31-zip pasting.

Michigan hosted in-state rival Michigan State and racked up a 42-10 victory. They went to Northwestern, the one truly awful team in this conference and posted a 38-7 W. A road trip to Indiana, who was coached by Lee Corso, was a 35-0 whitewash.

Minnesota, with a quarterback by the name of Tony Dungy, came to Ann Arbor on October 30. The rain was falling steadily, and temperatures were cold. After one quarter, the Gophers were hanging in, trailing 7-0. That’s when Michigan took over. Leach did it with his legs, running for 114 yards on just ten carries. He only threw the ball four times, but he completed all four for 40 more yards. Homecoming turned into a 45-0 shellacking.

The Wolverines were riding high when they went to Purdue. There was no reason to expect problems in West Lafayette. But the UM defense gave up 162 yards rushing to future NFL running back Scott Dierking, trailed 16-14 and then missed a 37-yard field goal as time expired.

Michigan bounced back to beat Illinois 38-7, which set up the final parlay of the visit to Columbus, and what the Wolverines hoped would be the long-sought trip to Pasadena. They were #4 in the national polls. UCLA and USC were in the 2-3 spots, while Pitt was ranked #1.

On November 20, the Michigan-Ohio State game would be followed by USC-UCLA. These games were both winner-take-all for the Rose Bowl. Thus, the Wolverines could control their destiny to move to #2 if they could win out. But they needed help. Pitt would have to either lose next week against Penn State, or lose the Sugar Bowl, where the Panthers were headed.

Ohio State had lost a non-conference game to Missouri and played UCLA to a tie, so the Buckeyes were out of the national picture. But for the first half, they fought Michigan to a draw and then started a drive late in the second quarter. An interception in the end zone preserved the scoreless tie as the Wolverines went to the locker room.

It was the third quarter when the tide turned in this game and in the Bo Schembechler-Woody Hayes rivalry as a whole. Michigan went on two long scoring drives of 80 and 52 yards, and they held the ball for over 11 minutes in that decisive third period. The defense, already playing well, stepped up its game even further. Ohio State was going nowhere. The final score was 22-0.

USC beat UCLA, so the Trojans and Wolverines were now 2-3 and hoping that Pitt would stumble. There would be no such luck there. The Panthers won their own rivalry game with the Nittany Lions, and then easily won the Sugar Bowl in the early afternoon slot on New Year’s Day. By the time Rose Bowl kicked off, Michigan and USC knew they were playing for #2.

The Wolverines had some early momentum. The Trojans’ great running back, Ricky Bell, was knocked out on the game’s second play. Lytle scored on a short rushing touchdown. But the extra point was blocked and that started a momentum shift to USC. The Trojans took a 7-6 lead. That score held until late in the fourth quarter when USC scored again to make it 14-6.

With no overtime in college football, the best Michigan could do was tie, and that made a noble run at it, driving down near the USC 20-yard line and facing a 2nd-and-4. But three straight incomplete passes ended the bid.

Michigan would still finish #3 in the final polls. More important, they had beaten Ohio State. The Wolverines did the same each of the next two years and went to the Rose Bowl each time. Getting that victory in Pasadena proved a little more elusive, but in 1980, Michigan finally capped off a Big Ten championship year with a Rose Bowl victory. It was the culmination of a change in fortune that started in 1976.

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2000 Michigan Football: Another Good Bowl Win

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The Michigan football program was in a good place in 2000. They were just four years removed from having won the national championship in 1997. They were coming off a 1999 season that was capped by an Orange Bowl victory over Alabama and led by a quarterback named Tom Brady. With Brady now gone, the 2000 Michigan football team wasn’t quite as good and they had some adversity. But in a wide-open year in the Big Ten, these ’00 Wolverines still got a piece of the conference championship and racked up another bowl victory over an SEC opponent.

Drew Henson was behind center. And while a broken right foot cost him the season’s first three games, Henson played well when he returned. His completion percentage of 60.5 percent was tied with the conference’s best QB—a guy named Drew Brees, who was honing his craft at Purdue. Henson’s 8.5 yards-per-attempt was the best among conference starters. And his TD/INT ratio was a sterling 16-4.

Henson’s prime receivers were David Terrell and Marquise Walker. Terrell, soon to be a first-round pick in the NFL draft, averaged nearly 16 yards a catch and was All-Big Ten. Walker caught 45 balls at better than 13 yards a pop. The running game was anchored by another all-conference performer. Anthony Thomas rolled up over 1,500 yards. Thomas was backed up by freshman Chris Perry, soon to be one of the league’s top backs. Perry chipped in over 400 yards.

Thomas and Perry ran behind an offensive line that was led by All-American guard Steve Hutchison, who would also become a first-round NFL draft choice and a regular Pro Bowl player at the next level. Jeff Backus was all-conference at tackle. And the Michigan offense ranked 17th nationally in points scored.

The defense didn’t have the same names or all-Big Ten players. On an individual level, Larry Foote was the only all-conference player, and would eventually become a regular with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the end result defensively was close to what the offense was doing—the Michigan D ranked 19th nationally in points allowed.

Expectations were appropriately high and Michigan was ranked #6 in the preseason polls. With Henson still recovering from his foot injury, freshman John Navarre was running the offense in the early going. The Wolverines coasted through tune-up games against Bowling Green and Rice, moved up to #3 in the polls and traveled west to play 14th-ranked UCLA.

A 23-20 loss to the Bruins knocked Michigan down to #10 as Big Ten play began. The first conference game would be at Illinois. The Illini were ranked #19 and just a year later, in 2001, would win this league. The game did not start well. Navarre struggled and Henson was called on to make his season debut in tough spot. Michigan was trailing 21-7 in the third quarter. Henson rallied the troops. Down 31-28, the Wolverines began a final drive. They got a break when Thomas appeared to fumble near the goal line, but was ruled down. Michigan got the touchdown and escaped, 35-31.

Wisconsin was next up, in Ann Arbor. The Badgers were fresh off becoming the first Big Ten team to win consecutive Rose Bowls. They were #17 in this game after an early loss, but it was a game Michigan needed if they were to re-establish pre-eminence in the league.

In a tough defensive game, the Wolverines trailed 10-6 early in the fourth quarter. Henson led a drive that was marked by a couple clutch third-down conversions to Terrell. Henson and Terrell hooked up one more time for the go-ahead TD. Wisconsin missed a late field goal. Michigan had a 13-10 win.

Henson played an excellent game in West Lafayette, going toe-to-toe statistically with Brees. But the close games went against Michigan this time and they dropped a 32-31 heartbreaker. They returned home and the defense spun consecutive shutouts in wins over 58-0 over lowly Indiana and 14-0 over mediocre Michigan State (albeit a Spartan team coached by Nick Saban).

That set up one of the wildest games the Big Ten has ever seen, in Northwestern on the first weekend of November 4. The Wildcats were one of several teams in the hunt for the Rose Bowl, along with Purdue and the time-honored duo of Michigan and Ohio State. Northwestern running back Damien Anderson was on his way to a 2,000-yard season, and at a time when there were just 11 games per year.

After two straight shutouts, the defense went to the other extreme. The Wildcat spread offense rolled up over 650 yards of offense. Henson and the Michigan attack kept pace and managed to lead 51-47, until a touchdown pass with 26 seconds left beat them 54-51.

Penn State was having a rough year and the Wolverines came home to recover with a 33-11 victory. It was time for the season finale with Ohio State and four teams still had a shot at the Rose Bowl.

Michigan was tied for first at 5-2 in the league. Ohio State was also 5-2. But so were Purdue and Northwestern, whom Michigan had lost to. So, the Wolverines needed the Boilermakers to lose to Indiana and the Wildcats to lose to the Illini. If that happened, the winner of Michigan-Ohio State would go to the Rose Bowl.

Predictably, that didn’t happen—the Boilers won easily and went to Pasadena. The Wildcats also won. But there was still a share of the conference championship to play for. And this was still Michigan and Ohio State.

The Wolverines played a sound overall game. They outrushed the Buckeyes 149-88. Henson was 14/25 and those fourteen completions went for over 300 yards. Terrell caught five balls for 99 yards, while Walker kicked in five more catches for 70 yards. Michigan’s 38-26 win ensured a Big Ten tri-championship trophy would make its way to Ann Arbor.

There was also a good bowl invite forthcoming. The Wolverines got the Citrus Bowl bid, which went to the top available Big Ten team after the major bowls set their lineup. They were ranked #17 and facing #20 Auburn. The Tigers had the SEC Player of the Year in running back Rudi Johnson and his showdown with Thomas was an anticipated part of this game.

Michigan would own the ground game. Thomas rolled up 182 yards on 32 carries, while Johnson was limited to 85 yards on 25 attempts. Terrell and Henson made more big-play magic together, connecting four times for 136 yards, including a flea-flicker touchdown pass in the first quarter. Henson went 15/20 for 294 yards.

It was an impressive display against the SEC’s top-rated defense and it had the Wolverines leading 31-21 in the fourth quarter. A touchdown by Auburn with just over two minutes to play made it interesting. But Michigan covered the onside kick, ran out the clock and sealed the deal. For the first time in school history, a fourth straight bowl win was in the books.

What’s more, these were bowl wins against good teams. The Auburn win came on top of beating Alabama last year, and the streak had started with a Rose Bowl win that secured a national championship.

In our own era, now in 2022, when Michigan and most of the Big Ten struggles against notable non-conference competition, especially the best of the SEC, this string of postseason success that ended in 2000 really stands out.

1973 Michigan Football: The Agonizing Tie Game

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Bo Schembechler made an immediate splash upon his arrival in Ann Arbor in 1969—he upset #1 Ohio State and went to the Rose Bowl. In 1971, Bo returned to Pasadena. The 1973 Michigan football team again played Ohio State in a high-profile showdown with national title implications and a Rose Bowl bid at stake. The fallout of one of college football’s legendary tie games kept the Wolverines from a return trip to the Rose Bowl, but it had the effect of bringing in some welcome changes.

The defense was Bo’s pride and joy, and this unit ranked second nationally in points allowed. Dave Gallagher was an All-American defensive end, and Dave Brown also got some All-American recognition in the secondary.

Michigan’s offense was pretty good too. Denny Franklin was a respectable passer for this era, completing 54 percent of his passes for eight yards per attempt. Franklin could also run, and added 425 yards to what was a deep rushing attack.

Ed Shuttlesworth was the leading runner, gaining 745 yards and making All-Big Ten. He was joined by Chuck Heater, who went for 666 yards and averaged nearly six a pop. Gil Chapman ran for 542 yards and Gordon Bell added 464. It was a remarkably balanced running game and All-Big Ten guard Mike Hoban helped pave the way. The Wolverine offense ended up 16th in the nation in points scored.

Michigan was ranked #5 in the preseason polls. They opened the season with a Big Ten game against what would prove to be an awful Iowa team. The Wolverines won 31-7. A week later, they hosted Stanford. The Cardinal had been to the Rose Bowl themselves two years earlier, and defeated Michigan. This year’s Stanford team wasn’t up to those standards, but they were a good team that would win seven games in 1973. Michigan buried them 47-10.

The Wolverine defense then racked up three straight shutouts—14-0 over Navy, 24-0 against Oregon and 31-0 at Michigan State. None of the three were particularly good—only Sparty even got to sniffing distance of .500. But it was clear Michigan was rolling. They went on to smack Wisconsin 35-6.

That set up another key test. Minnesota was the third-best team in the Big Ten, the only one besides Michigan or Ohio State to finish with a winning record. The Wolverines went north to the Twin Cities on the final Saturday of October.

Michigan’s defense forced two turnovers that set up ten quick points. Able to control tempo from there, the running game went to work .The Wolverines ran for 275 yards as a team. Shuttlesworth and Bell each scored twice. The final was 34-7.

November began at home with a 49-13 rout of lowly Indiana. Illinois and Purdue were each teams headed for 5-6 seasons. Michigan won 21-6 at home over the Illini, then racked up a 34-9 triumph in West Lafayette.

Michigan was undefeated and #4 in the country. Ohio State was undefeated and #1 in the country. They were set to square off in Ann Arbor.

The game did not start well for the Wolverines. The Buckeye ground game was outstanding in its own right, and a sustained touchdown drive put Michigan in an early hole. They trailed 10-0 at halftime. With Ohio State’s defense the only unit in the country that gave up fewer points than Michigan, the outlook was not promising.

But the Buckeyes got extremely conservative, and the Wolverines were able to find some offensive momentum. They got a field goal to get back within striking distance. In the fourth quarter, Franklin found tight end Paul Seal on a 27-yard pass play that got Michigan down into the red zone.

They faced a 4th-and-inches on the Buckeye 10-yard line with 9:32 to play. Franklin kept the ball himself and not only picked up the first down, he scored the touchdown. Overtime in college football was still over two decades from being a reality, so this was at least a modest decision for Bo. Kick the extra point or go for two? Bo kicked the PAT and it was a 10-10 tie.

Michigan kept its momentum going and reached Ohio State’s 41-yard line with 1:06 to play. A 58-yard field goal was a longshot prayer, and it missed. It looked like the tie was now the best the Wolverines could hope for—until an interception gave them new life. This time, Franklin nudged the offense down to the 26-yard line.

Kicker Mike Lantry was one of the best in the country, an honorable mention All-American. He was also a Vietnam veteran. Unfortunately, this miss of a 43-yard field goal try gave him more renown. In a documentary on this legendary tie game, Lantry spoke of how people still remember him as the guy who missed two field goals. First off, the 58-yarder can’t be held against him. Kicking in general was not anywhere near what it is today, and simply the attempt was an absolute longshot. Even a 43-yard try in the kicking environment of 1973 was no gimme. How about we cut Lantry some slack?

The Big Ten Conference now had their own decision to make on which team to cut some slack. The 10-10 tie might have blown up the national title hopes of both rivals—Notre Dame and Alabama were both unbeaten and destined to play in the Sugar Bowl—but there was still the not-so-small matter of a Rose Bowl bid to determine.

Had this occurred just a year earlier, there would have been no decision at all. The Big Ten used to have a rule that barred the same team from going to Pasadena in consecutive years, even if they were outright conference champs. Ohio State had made the trip in 1972. In the immediate aftermath of this ’73 game, it was thought that the athletic directors who would vote on the bid, would simply default to the old rules and send Michigan. Even Buckeye head coach Woody Hayes tacitly admitted as much in his postgame press conference.

But Franklin had injured his collarbone. He almost certainly would have been healthy in five weeks for the Rose Bowl, but the Big Ten was desperate to win on the New Year’s stage. There were reports of league commissioner Wayne Duke doing some heavy lobbying for the Buckeyes. How much of that is true remains the subject of historical debate. Whatever the rationale, the end result was Ohio State winning a close vote of the ADs.

Schembechler was beyond furious and remained so. Not only was the Rose Bowl bid gone, but the Big Ten had another rule that said no conference team could go to any other bowl. Michigan’s season was over.

The good news—for everyone in the conference—is that the fallout from this ending resulted in the conference removing the ADs power to settle bowl bids and creating a more objective tiebreaking structure. Conference teams were also allowed to accept other bowl invitations outside of the Rose. 1973’s finish was unsatisfying for everyone involved, but the changes it produced were very much for the better.

1983 Michigan Football: A Sugar Bowl Season In Ann Arbor

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Michigan was the gold standard of Big Ten football in the 1980s. They had won the conference title in 1980 and 1982, along with several more major bowl trips in the late 1970s. The 1983 Michigan football team didn’t get back to Pasadena, but they were a Top 10 team and snagged the seventh major bowl bid in eight years for head coach Bo Schembechler.

READ GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS

The Wolverines had lost wide receiver Anthony Carter, as the Big Ten Player of the Year moved on to the NFL, but Michigan could always run the football. Rick Rodgers was the conference’s second-leading rusher, with just over 1,000 yards. Quarterback Steve Smith was a mediocre passer, but ran for 667 yards. There were two All-Americans on the offensive line, in Stepfan Humphries and Tom Dixon.

Schembechler’s team was ranked #10 to start the season and opened with two games against good Pac-10 teams from the state of Washington. The Wolverines edged Washington State 20-17 at home, but dropped a tough 25-24 decision at Washington to slip to #17 in the polls.

Another decent opponent in seven-win Wisconsin was up next and Michigan went to Madison to get a 38-21 win. The schedule then got softer and the Wolverines blasted through sub-.500 opponents in Indiana, Michigan State and Northwestern by a combined 120-18 and got themselves back up to tenth in the national rankings.

A battle with #12 Iowa was nationally televised from Ann Arbor and it was worthy of the showcase. With the game tied 13-13, Michigan moved into field goal range and Bob Bergeron drilled a 45-yard field goal across his body from the hashmark to win on the final play.

Michigan and Illinois were the only teams perfect in Big Ten play, but the Wolverines lost the head-to-head game 16-6 on the final weekend of October. Illinois had a soft November schedule, so any hope for a Rose Bowl return was basically gone. But the Wolverines were still prominent on the radar of major bowl organizers.

They destroyed bad teams in Purdue and Minnesota, scoring a combined hundred points in the two games and it set up the season finale with Ohio State. It wasn’t winner-take-all for the Rose Bowl like it had been so often in the previous fifteen years. But it would have the next-best thing—the Sugar Bowl announced that the winner of the battle between 8-2 teams would get the invite to New Orleans.

Smith stepped up with his arm and hit Triando Markray on a 67-yard touchdown strike, part of building an early 10-0 lead. Ohio State came back and took the lead, but Michigan forced four turnovers and one of them set up a short touchdown run by Smith for a 17-14 edge early in the fourth quarter.

Ohio State drove to the Michigan 38-yard line and then called for a “fumble-rooskie” trick play, where the quarterback places the ball on the ground and an offensive lineman pulls around to pick it up and take off, since it’s technically a fumble. But in this case, it was more than a technicality. Defensive tackle Mike Hammerstein blew up the play, the ball began bouncing around and the Wolverines recovered.

Smith then led a 60-yard touchdown drive, accounting for 43 of the yards with either his arm or feet that all but sealed the game. The Buckeyes answered with a touchdown but a covered onside kick put the finishing touches on Michigan’s 24-21 win and their Sugar Bowl bid.

Auburn had won the SEC and was Michigan’s opponent. The Tigers were ranked #3. With the top two teams in the polls, Texas and Nebraska, both heavily favored in their bowl games, it was not anticipated that the Sugar Bowl would have national title implications.

But by the prime-time kickoff in New Orleans, everyone knew that Texas had lost. As the night unfolded, everyone became aware that Miami was in the process of shocking Nebraska. Auburn was in the mix for a national championship. And Michigan had the chance to be a spoiler.

The game was a defensive war. The Wolverines put up a touchdown midway through the first quarter, but would not score again. Penalties dogged Michigan the rest of the night, and Auburn slowly chipped their way back. The Tigers got two field goals. They reached the two-yard line with less than a minute left and kicked another field goal. Auburn won 9-7.

Miami ended up winning the vote over Auburn for the national championship and it’s probable that Michigan making the Tigers win so ugly played at least a part in that verdict. More important for the Wolverines, they still settled in at a solid #8 in the final polls. It might not have been a Rose Bowl year, but it was still a nice piece in the landscape that is Bo Schembechler’s legacy at Ann Arbor.

1982 Michigan Football: A Rose Bowl Revival

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Michigan was coming off a disappointing year in 1981, one where they were ranked #1 in preseason, but an early upset loss at Wisconsin foreshadowed a tough campaign. The 1982 Michigan football team would be a little more vintage and got to the Rose Bowl for the fifth time in seven years.

READ GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS

Head coach Bo Schembechler had an elite receiver on hand in Anthony Carter, who would be Big Ten Player of the Year with 844 yards receiving and his 19.6 yards-per-catch constantly made secondaries anxious.

Carter’s presence opened up the classic Schembechler running game. Lawrence Ricks ran for nearly 1,400 yards. Quarterback Steve Smith was a better runner than passer, being the second-leading rusher on the team and a tough, physical player.

Michigan opened the year with a 20-9 revenge win over bowl-bound Wisconsin and moved from #12 in the preseason poll up to #10. But then they went to Notre Dame and lost the first prime-time game ever played in South Bend. The 23-17 defeat came in spite of a fluke touchdown going the Wolverines’ way and to an opponent that would only finish 6-4-1.

Another loss followed, this one at home to UCLA. The Bruins were a good team, one that Michigan had not seen the last of and the Wolverines lost 31-27 when their final drive ended on the UCLA eight-yard line.

Michigan might have been 1-2 and out of the national title picture, but none of the losses were in conference. Big Ten play began and the Wolverines got back on track by beating subpar Indiana and lowly Michigan State, albeit not in blowout fashion.

On October 16, Michigan went to play Iowa, who had stepped up and broken the lock on the Rose Bowl bid in 1981, the first time since 1967 a team other than the Wolverines or Buckeyes reached Pasadena. This year’s Iowa team under Hayden Fry would win seven games.

The Michigan-Iowa game was scoreless in the second quarter when the Wolverines blocked a punt for a safety. Kicker Ali Haji-Sheik, a future pro with a good long-range leg, hit from 44 yards. Smith threw an 11-yard touchdown pass and it was 12-0 at halftime. Soon it was 29-0 and only a late Hawkeye touchdown kept it from being a shutout.

This win sent the message to the rest of the Big Ten that Michigan was back and a 49-14 blowout of Northwestern a week later got the Wolverines back in the national rankings. They thumped Minnesota at home, 52-14, to set up a battle at Illinois, the last real test for the Rose Bowl.

The Big Ten was a four-team race, with Michigan at 6-0, Ohio State and Iowa at 4-1 and Illinois sitting on 5-2. The Wolverines had a loss to give with Iowa and a scheduling oddity meant that Michigan would play one more game then Ohio State—which meant that simply winning the next two games before going to Columbus would ensure Michigan could do no worse than finish a half-game ahead of the Buckeyes.

This act of scheduling idiocy, along with the fact that the next game was home with lowly Purdue, meant that the November 6 game at Champaign was realistically for the Big Ten crown. It was 10-10 at half, but the leg of Haji-Sheik delivered from 45 & 47 yards for the only points of the second half.

The Wolverine defense came up with a goal-line stand to preserve the 16-10 win and the take-care-of-business 52-21 blowout of Purdue had the waft of roses again moving through Ann Arbor.

I know that partisans of Michigan and Ohio State never see their rivalry game as anything less than huge, but for those without a dog in the fight, Michigan’s 24-14 loss at the Shoe meant zilch. They were going to the Rose Bowl and would get a rematch with UCLA.

For the first half, the Rose Bowl seemed to promise the same excitement that the September game in Ann Arbor provided. UCLA led 10-7 at intermission, but the Bruin defense was beginning to assert itself. Smith was eventually knocked out by a vicious, but clean hit on his shoulder. Michigan turned the ball over four times and lost 24-14 in a game that didn’t feel that close by the time it was over.

After this Big Ten title run, Michigan stepped back briefly and missed out on the Rose Bowl each of the next three years. But Bo would be back and from 1986-89, the legendary head coach closed his career with three more trips west.

The Redemption Tour Of 1985 Michigan Football

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1985 Michigan football came into the season looking for redemption from the most disappointing season of Bo Schembechler’s tenure in Ann Arbor. They went 6-5 in 1984 and then missed a chance at redemption when they lost the Holiday Bowl to undefeated BYU, the eventual national champion. After having gone to a major bowl in eight of the ten seasons prior to ’84, including five Rose Bowls, Bo wasn’t going to take this lying down.

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He had few believers though, and the Wolverines opened the season unranked. The key to their revival would be defense. They had two All-Americans, defensive tackle Mike Hammerstein and Brad Cochran in the secondary, and collectively, the unit was one of the best in the country.

Schembechler produced his traditional strong running game, as Jamie Morris ran for over 1,000 yards, and Gerald White provided a good change of pace with over 500 more. There were quality receivers, starting with Paul Jokish, who caught 37 balls and his 18.4 yards-per-catch was third-best in the Big Ten. Tight end Eric Kattus was effective underneath, catching 38 passes for 582 yards.

Overseeing it all, was a quarterback that would go on to achieve some notoriety, both here, in the NFL and as a head coach in both college and the pros—that would be Jim Harbaugh. The current Michigan head coach was an underrated quarterback in his day. He wasn’t highly regarded, like conference rival Chuck Long at Iowa. But Harbaugh completed 64 percent of his passes, got 8.7 yards-per-attempt and posted an 18/6 TD-INT ratio.

The Wolverines opened the season at home with Notre Dame. It was the final year for Irish head coach Gerry Faust and ND would struggle to a 5-6 finish. They were ranked #13 when they came to Ann Arbor and Michigan won 20-12. The Wolverines then played another ranked team that would disappoint and finish 5-6, that being #15 South Carolina. The result here was a 34-3 win and Michigan was now up to #12 in the polls.

No one could ever accuse Schembechler of ducking non-conference competition. He lined up his third straight preseason Top 20 team in the Maryland Terrapins and this was a team that would stay good throughout the season, winning the ACC title and their only losses—outside of this game—were to Miami and Penn State, both of whom had title shots on New Year’s Night.

Harbaugh was efficient, going 16/20 for 196 yards, regularly finding Kattus. The tight end caught six passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns. The defense picked off Terps quarterback Stan Gelbaugh four times and Michigan posted a 20-0 shutout.

The Big Ten schedule was set to begin and the Wolverines were back in familiar territory as a Top 10 team. They blew out mediocre Wisconsin 33-6 and vaulted all the way to #3. A 31-0 rout at Michigan State, a good bowl-bound team with a 2,000-yard rusher in Lorenzo White, pushed Michigan to #2. It was time to go to Iowa.

The Hawkeyes were ranked #1 in the country and all of Big Ten Country was jacked up for this game. Long was a Heisman contender (he would finish an extremely close second to Auburn’s Bo Jackson). Michigan never got anything going offensively, but a couple big special teams play combined with great red-zone defense had them ahead 10-9. Then Long was able to mount a last-second drive and win with a field goal on the game’s final play. Michigan paid a very small price in the polls, only dropping to #4. But a Rose Bowl return was now a tough row to hoe.

Michigan bounced back and blew out a bad Indiana team, 47-15, but then played their worst offensive game of the season in a 3-3 tie to Illinois. The positive was that Ohio State had beaten Iowa, opening up the conference race. The Buckeyes and Hawkeyes were tied atop the league at 4-1, with the Wolverines and Illini in hot pursuit at 3-1-1.

The Michigan offense got unleashed the next two games, blowing out mediocre teams in Purdue and Minnesota by a combined 95-7. In the meantime, Iowa had blasted Illinois, narrowing the race to three teams. On the season’s final week the stakes were simple—if the Hawkeyes lost to Minnesota, then the Michigan-Ohio State winner would go to Pasadena. And even if Iowa won, the stakes for a major bowl invite were high.

Michigan and Ohio State were tied 10-10 at the half in Ann Arbor, but Harbaugh was playing brilliantly. He finished 16/19 for 230 yards and three touchdowns. The Wolverines clung to a 20-17 lead in the fourth quarter and were on their own 23-yard line. Harbaugh found John Kolesar down the sidelines for a 77-yard touchdown pass that put the game out of reach. The 27-17 win moved Michigan to #5 in the polls.

The Fiesta Bowl was the reward and it was a marquee game. Nebraska was ranked #7 and the winner of this game could expect a national top five finish.

Michigan did not play well early in the game. Their passing game advantage with Harbaugh never materialized and the Cornhuskers pounded out over 300 yards rushing on the afternoon. By halftime, the Wolverines were in a 14-3 hole.

But in a stunning third quarter, Michigan made all the big plays. They blocked a punt to set up one score. They turned a couple turnovers into more easy points. Jamie Morris took off on an 88-yard touchdown run. A shocking 24-point third-quarter explosion gave the Wolverines a 27-14 lead.

Nebraska rallied, closed to within 27-23 and got close enough for a desperation pass into the end zone. But Michigan corner Garland Rivers picked it off with 28 seconds left to preserve the win.

Michigan was back. Harbaugh returned in 1986 and they went to the Rose Bowl. The momentum for that season started with the redemption tour of 1985 that led the Wolverines all the way to #2 in the final polls.

1980 Michigan Football: Getting Bo His First Rose Bowl Win

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Michigan football coach Bo Schembecler had reached the Rose Bowl five times in his first eleven years at the helm of the Wolverine program and gone home with a loss on occasion. It was the 1980 Michigan football team that would get Bo that elusive win in the Grandaddy of Them All.

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Schembecler’s teams were renowned for how often they ran the football, but compared to other teams that made major bowl games following the 1980 college football season, Michigan was on the high end of pass attempts. There was a reason for that—with Anthony Carter, Schembecler had one of the best receivers in the country. Carter caught 57 balls for 818 yards and 14 touchdowns, while making All-American.

That’s not to say Bo lost sight of the running game. Butch Woolfolk ran for over 1,000 yards. Stan Edwards added over 900 more, and Lawrence Ricks rushed for 850 yards, as the trio ranked 4-5-6 in the Big Ten in rushing. George Lilja, the center, was the best of the offensive lineman, getting honorable mention in the All-American voting.

The numbers for quarterback John Wangler weren’t great, but “Johnny Wangs”, as his coach affectionately called him in his autobiography, had a special leadership quality. He came back from an injured leg and was often a virtual one-legged quarterback, but he made plays and was a winner.

Michigan opened the season ranked #12, sliding relatively under the radar, as rival Ohio State was the preseason #1. The start of the season was tough for the Wolverines. They were unimpressive in a 17-10 win over Northwestern. Then two crushing losses followed.

Wangler had led a comeback at Notre Dame, bringing Michigan from 14-0 down to lead 27-26 in the waning minutes. The Wolverines lost when Irish kicker Harry Oliver hit a 51-yard field goal into the wind. One week later, Michigan came home to face South Carolina and soon-to-be Heisman Trophy winning running back George Rogers. The Wolverines dropped a tough 17-14 decision and were unranked when the ensuing polls came out.

Michigan rebounded with a 38-13 win over a bad Cal team. Schembecler’s crew still hadn’t lost a conference game, and they won five straight Big Ten contests. After a tough 27-23 decision over a three-win Michigan State team, the Wolverines found their mojo. They crushed Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin in rapid succession, the latter two with shutouts.

The defense didn’t produce any All-Americans but they were peaking at the right time, and their best moments would come against Purdue and Ohio State. The Boilermakers were still in a three-way mix for the Rose Bowl bid when they came to Ann Arbor on November 15, and they had the nation’s first-string All-American quarterback in Mark Hermann. Michigan hung a 26-0 shutout on Purdue.

Ohio State had lost a game and was ranked #5 when Michigan arrived in Columbus to play for the Big Ten championship the following week. The Buckeyes still had respect and were a four-point favorite, slightly outside the field goal window oddsmakers give for homefield advantage. Michigan was still perceived as narrowly inferior to its rival.

The game was tied 3-3 into the second half, when Wangler put together a drive and finished it with 13-yard touchdown pass to Carter. Even though Michigan missed a key extra point, the defense made it stand up. Ohio State reached the 18-yard line, but Michigan held, a field goal was missed, the Buckeyes never got close again and the game ended 9-3.

Michigan had come from the heartbreak of September to a #5 national ranking. The structure of the bowl matchups did not offer them a path to the national championship but that wasn’t the prize that folks in Ann Arbor had their mind on—they wanted to finally win the Rose Bowl.

The opponent was Washington. In 1977, a Huskie team led by Warren Moon had upset Michigan, the most surprising loss of Schembecler’s previous trips west. That Washington team had lost four games coming in. The ’80 edition of the Huskie program was a solid 9-2.

And the way the day started, it seemed like this would be another one day for Bo. The Huskies drove to the one-yard line on their second drive before Michigan came up with a fourth down stop. Washington didn’t stop moving the ball in the first half, accumulating 269 yards. But Michigan didn’t stop making the critical play on defense and the Huskies only had six points for all that activity.

The momentum turned after halftime. Woolfolk began to take over on the ground, finishing with 182 rushing yards. Wangler got Carter worked into the offense. The defense completely flipped the script on Washington, holding them to 23 total yards in the second half. The Wolverines pulled away to a 23-6 win.

Schembecler would never be the master of Pasadena, losing three of his remaining four trips out west. But he was finally off the schneid.

1978 Michigan Football: Another Big Ten Crown & More Pasadena Frustration

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Bo Schembecler’s Michigan program entered the season with a good bit of momentum on their side. The legendary “Ten-Year War” between Bo and Ohio State’s Woody Hayes was nearing the end and the tide was moving in the Wolverines direction. They had won two consecutive Big Ten titles. The 1978 Michigan football team was aiming to make it three straight trips to Pasadena and maybe…just maybe—to finally get their coach his first Rose Bowl win.

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Michigan was led by quarterback Rick Leach. A two-sport athlete who eventually made the major leagues in baseball, Leach was an excellent college quarterback. His 17 TD/6 INT ratio was very good by the standards of the era. He also ran for 683 yards, third-best on the team. At season’s end he was named Big Ten MVP and finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

A Bo Schembecler team was never going to be too focused on the quarterback though. The Wolverines had a solid backfield combo of the quick Harlan Huckleby and the powerful Russell Davis. They combined to rush for nearly 1,500 yards behind an offensive line led by All-Conference tackle Jon Giesler. Defensively, Michigan had an All-Big Ten performer at each level—Curtis Greer up front, Ron Simpkins at linebacker and Mike Jolly in the secondary.

Michigan was ranked #6 in the preseason polls and opened at home with a 31-0 rout of lowly Illinois. That set up a visit to South Bend. The Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry was being renewed in 1978 and beginning a long tradition of this being the first really big game of every fresh college football season.

The Irish were the defending national champions and had Joe Montana at quarterback. Leach did not play well in the first half, completing only 3/14 passes. But Notre Dame didn’t take advantage and the Wolverines only trailed 14-7. And they turned it around after intermission. An interception set up the tying touchdown. Leach threw a 40-yard TD pass to give his team the lead and they went on to win 28-14.

Michigan came home to conclude the non-conference part of the schedule. They blasted Duke 52-0 and then had surprising trouble with mediocre Arizona, but won 21-17. It was time to resume Big Ten play as Michigan State came to Ann Arbor in mid-October.

The Spartans were a contender—in fact, more than a contender as events would prove. They had a prolific offense, and the best set of receivers in the conference. Tight end Mark Brammer, along with receiver Ed Byrd were first-team All-Big Ten. So was another wideout, who made a name for himself in another sport—Kirk Gibson would eventually be hero to the entire state for his role on the 1984 Detroit Tigers, and he spent one year as a Tiger teammate of Leach’s. Right now, he was Michigan’s enemy.

Michigan State left town with a 24-15 win. The only solace Michigan fans could take was that Sparty was on probation, and thus ineligible for the Rose Bowl.

The Big Ten was top-heavy in those days and a four-game stretch against Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Northwestern produced four straight blowouts. The season’s decisive hour had arrived, with a home game against Purdue followed by the year-ending brawl with Ohio State in Columbus.

Purdue had knocked off both Michigan State and Ohio State, but had not played well the week before at Wisconsin, settling for a surprise 24-24 tie. The Boilermakers had a good defensive line that was anchored by Keena Turner, soon to be a San Francisco 49ers hero in one of the great goal line stands in NFL history.

The key moment of the game came early—Purdue quarterback Mark Herrman took a hit on the second series and suffered a pinched nerve in his neck. Michigan’s defense took over from there and while the Boiler defense tried to hang in, it was too much to ask. The Wolverines won 24-6.

Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State now had one conference loss apiece with the Boilermakers a half-game back. Had Purdue beaten Wisconsin, they would still have been in the Rose Bowl picture. Had Michigan State not been on probation, they would have most definitely been in the Rose Bowl picture. Instead, the Michigan-Ohio State game would be winner-take-all for the Pasadena trip for the 10th straight year.

The Wolverines were hit with a good dose of adversity, even though this was not a vintage Buckeye team, and had already lost twice. Michigan led 7-3, but Leach pulled a hamstring. He stayed in the game, but with the quarterback lame and Huckleby already out with an injury, Schembecler’s team was up against it.

The defense and Leach came through—the Buckeyes never scored again and the quarterback turned in a gutty effort and led a 69-yard touchdown drive that wrapped up the 14-3 win. Michigan shared the Big Ten title with Michigan State, but Sparty’s sanctions sent the Wolverines to Pasadena.

Michigan was ranked #5 in the country, paired up with #3 USC. The Wolverines and Trojans joined Alabama and Oklahoma as one-loss teams hoping for a shot at the national title. Shortly after the Rose Bowl kicked off, it was announced that the Crimson Tide had knocked off unbeaten Penn State in the Sugar Bowl earlier in the day.

Realistically, this narrowed the championship race to ‘Bama and USC, but NBC play-by-play man Curt Gowdy alluded to at least the possibility that maybe Michigan could inherit USC’s support if they won.  

The Rose Bowl matchup will be forever remembered by what happened on the goal line in the second quarter. USC was leading 10-3 and ready to add on, with the ball on the 3-yard line. Trojan running back Charles White got the ball, went into the middle and leapt over the top, trying to make it all the way. He fumbled the ball at least a yard prior to breaking the plane. The play was ruled a touchdown.

It became known as “The Phantom Touchdown” and it represented the margin of victory in what would end up a 17-10 final. The controversy probably forced USC to share the national title with Alabama (even though the Trojans had beaten the Crimson Tide outright in September) instead of winning it outright.

But that was little consolation to Michigan and to its great head coach, who had the most disturbing chapter yet added to their Pasadena Chronicles. It would take two more years for Schembecler to finally get that elusive Rose Bowl win.  

1992 Michigan Football: A 4th Outright Big Ten Crown In Five Years

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For five years, the Michigan Wolverines dominated the Big Ten. They won outright conference titles in 1988, 1989 and 1991  The 1992 Michigan football team made it four crowns in five years and capped it off with a Rose Bowl win.

Running the football is what this program has been historically built on and the ‘92 edition was no different. Michigan had two second-time All-Americans at the guard position, with Steve Everitt and Joe Cocozzo. Rob Doherty at tackle was an all-conference performer. They cleared the way for the explosive Tyrone Wheatley, who rushed for 1,357 yards, averaged better than seven a pop and won the Big Ten MVP award.

This Michigan team could also move it through the air. Even though ‘91 Heisman winner Desmond Howard had moved on, leaving a big hole at wide receiver, the Wolverines had two good quarterbacks. Elvis Grbac was the primary starter and Todd Collins got noteworthy time as the backup. Each would go on to the NFL and each would start playoff games in the pros. In 1992, Grbac’s 65% completion rate was second in the Big Ten, while his 8.2 yards-per-attempt led the conference.

The primary target was junior wide receiver Derrick Alexander, an eventual first round NFL draft pick, who caught 50 balls. Tony McGee was a reliable tight end. Michigan had a good second option in the backfield, as Jesse Johnson rushed for nearly 800 yards and was able to give Wheatley a breather.

Defensively, the Wolverines had top players at all three levels. They were led by the Big Ten’s best defensive lineman in Chris Hutchison. Steve Morrison was second-team all-conference at the linebacker spot and Corwin Brown was 1st-team All-Big Ten at corner. Expectations were appropriately high in the preseason, with Michigan ranked #6 in the first polls.

The traditional season opening game against Notre Dame was in South Bend. This was a good Irish team that would finish the season in the Top 5. Michigan outplayed them, building a 17-7 lead into the third quarter. But Grbac’s tendency to mistakes were costly. He was intercepted twice, helping ND tie the game. With the score 17-17 and Michigan in sure position for a winning field goal, Grbac threw his third pick of the day. Overtime did not exist in college football until 1996, so this one ended up in a tie.

Michigan bounced back by thumping bad teams in Oklahoma State and Houston, moving them to #4 in the polls when Big Ten play began.

The offense unloaded on Iowa in a 52-28 blowout win to start the league schedule. The Wolverines hosted in-state rival Michigan State, who had a two-pronged rushing attack with Tico Duckett and Craig Thomas. Michigan shut them down and won 35-10. Indiana had a future NFL quarterback in Trent Green. Michigan shut him down and won 31-3. They crushed lowly Minnesota 63-13. The Wolverines finally played a shaky game at Purdue, but still survived 24-17. A 40-17 pounding of Northwestern moved them back to #3 in the polls.

This was not a good year for the Big Ten, with only three teams finishing the year with winning records. The other two were Illinois and Ohio State, who were left on the schedule. A home date with the Illini resulted in another tie game, this one 22-22 and it ended whatever outside national championship hopes the Wolverines still harbored.

The Rose Bowl bid was already in hand, but there was still the matter of going to Columbus. The Buckeyes had a quarterback named Kirk Herbstreit, who would one day become the media face of college football with ESPN. Michigan clung to a 13-6 lead in the fourth quarter. But the regular season would end the same way it opened—a blown lead and yet another tie game. Herbstreit threw a tying touchdown pass with just over four minutes to play. It nearly got worse—Alexander fumbled a punt deep in Wolverine territory with 1:09 left, but they were able to recover. The game ended 13-13.

It was certainly one of the most unusual undefeated campaigns in modern college football history, with an 8-0-3 record sending Michigan to Pasadena. Critics could reasonably point out that the Wolverines had only played three good teams and failed to beat any of them. Supporters could reasonably point out that no one had proven they could beat this Michigan team. A Rose Bowl battle with ninth-ranked Washington would decide how the 1992 Michigan football squad would be remembered.

Grbac threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to McGee in the first quarter and Wheatley took off on a 56-yard scoring jaunt in the second quarter to build a 17-7 lead. But leads had been dangerous for Michigan all year and this game was no different. Washington was ahead 21-17 by halftime.

Wheatley came out in the third quarter and ripped off an 88-yard touchdown run to get the lead back, but the Huskies responded with ten unanswered points. Wheatley, who would end up with 235 yards on the day, ran in from 24 yards out and this game was tied 31-31 going into the fourth quarter.

A fourth tie would have been an all-too-fitting finish to this season and the game went into the latter half of the fourth quarter still knotted at 31. But Michigan finally had the last word. Grbac tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to McGee with a little over five minutes left. The Wolverines had a 38-31 win and now their undefeated season would carry some historical punch. They ended up #5 in the final polls.

The Rose Bowl win was the peak of Michigan’s great five-year run of 1988-92. It was also the high point of head coach Gary Moelller’s career. He was forced out after an embarrassing public intoxication incident in 1995 and replaced with assistant Lloyd Carr.

Michigan a brief step back and it would be five years before they made it back to Pasadena. But that was worth the wait—in 1997, Michigan won another Rose Bowl—and this one would seal a national championship.

1991 Michigan Football: Going To The Rose & Striking A Pose

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Gary Moeller had taken over the storied Michigan Wolverine football program in 1990 and while he enjoyed a good year, going 9-3, getting a share of the Big Ten title and finishing in the Top 10 nationally, he hadn’t done what Wolverine fans wanted the most—go to the Rose Bowl. The 1991 Michigan football team rectified that omission and did it with one of the most electrifying players the program has ever produced.

Desmond Howard has enjoyed his share of success in the game of football. He’s been a Super Bowl MVP (with the Green Bay Packers in 1996). He’s had a terrific career in broadcasting, both as a game analyst and a core participant on the wildly popular college football pregame show Gameday. But it’s fair to say that Desmond was never better than he was in Ann Arbor in 1991.

Howard finished the year with 62 catches for 985 yards, a 15.9 yards-per-catch average. In today’s context, those numbers would be good, but not necessarily jump out. In 1991 they did and especially at a program with the run-heavy emphasis of Michigan. Howard was just as good as a punt returner, averaging 14.1 yards-per-return, a dynamite average in any age. He delivered memorable moments in both roles, as a receiver and a runner, in a season that saw him run away with the Heisman Trophy.

Elvis Grbac was the quarterback and had a nice NFL career ahead of him. In ‘91, he threw 25 touchdowns against just six interceptions, generated 8.2 yards-per-pass and completed 65% of his throws—very high by the standards of 1991. Grbac was the best quarterback in the Big Ten.

The time-honored Wolverine traditions of a physical running game and tough defense were by no means neglected in 1991. Greg Skrepenak, an All-American offensive tackle joined with Matt Elliot to form the core of a line that paved the way for Ricky Powers to rush for nearly 1,200 yards. Powers was supported by Jesse Johnson and an up-and-comer named Tyrone Wheatley that combined for nearly 1,200 of their own.

Defensively, linebacker Erick Anderson won the Butkus Award and defensive tackle Mike Evans was all-conference. Michigan had a great offense, a pretty good defense and they opened the season ranked #2 in the country. They tuned up by pounding a subpar Boston College team, 35-13.

The tuneup was needed, because the next two games would define what the rest of the season was about. Michigan would host seventh-ranked Notre Dame and #1 Florida State over the next three weeks.

Notre Dame had beaten Michigan the last four times in this era when the rivalry was at its zenith. The Wolverines came out of the gate firing, taking a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. Howard scored one touchdown on a reverse and Powers ran for another, but the biggest play came on defense—Anderson had chased down Irish tight end Derek Brown when it appeared Brown was on a breakaway to the end zone. On the next play, the Wolverines recovered a fumble.

Michigan had to feel they were re-living a nightmare when Notre Dame cut the lead to 17-14. A year earlier in South Bend, the Wolverines blew a ten-point lead late in the fourth quarter and lost. This time around, they drove to the Irish 25-yard line with nine minutes to go. But facing 4th-and-1, Moeller had a decision to make.

The decision was to go for the throat. Not only did Moeller go for it, but he eschewed a safe running to play on a day when Powers would rush for 177 yards and Michigan controlled the line of scrimmage. Instead, Howard lined up to the right and ran down the sideline. Grbac’s throw was a little long, but Howard completely stretched out his body and made the catch. Touchdown. The game was effectively over and the visual of Howard’s outstretched body pulling in the ball was a Heisman moment.

After a week off, Florida State came rolling in. This was seen as Bobby Bowden’s best team at a time when the legendary coach had yet to win a national championship. The events in Ann Arbor did no one to dissuade anybody of that fact. Howard was locked up by FSU’s outstanding corner Terrell Buckley. The Wolverine defense was lacerated, allowing the most points to any visitor to Michigan stadium. Florida State won 51-31 and it didn’t even feel that close.

Michigan dropped to seventh in the polls. In a year where college football was more predictable than it is now, they were all but out of the national championship race and had to refocus on winning the Big Ten. And there was no time to feel sorry for themselves, because a visit to their toughest conference competition, ninth-ranked Iowa was on deck.

The offenses of both teams opened up in the first half at Iowa City, with each team scoring three touchdowns. Some bad special teams work, combined with coaches chasing points meant there was only successful PAT conversion and the Wolverines led 19-18 at intermission.

Michigan was running the football though and much like the Notre Dame game, would win this battle decisively. That opened things up for Grbac and Howard, who connected on touchdown passes in the late third and early fourth quarters. The result was a 43-24 win.

The Wolverines took that momentum and rolled through a soft part of the league schedule over the next five weeks. They beat Michigan State, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Northwestern. Of these five, only the Hoosiers were any good in 1991 and that was also the only game of the five even remotely competitive. Michigan turned back IU 24-16 in a tough, physical game in Ann Arbor.

There were two games left against ranked teams, at Illinois and then at home against archrival Ohio State. Michigan needed one win to wrap up the Rose Bowl bid and both to clinch the outright conference championship.

They took care of the first with ease. Illini quarterback Jason Verduzco did some talking the press the week leading up to the game, but Michigan’s defense did the talking on the field, with a 20-0 shutout. They were going back to Pasadena.

Howard was pulling away in the Heisman race. Midway through the season the debate between him and Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon had been intense, but the Seminoles had lost a heartbreaker to Miami, and Weldon’s case was fading. Howard would put the finishing touches on his own campaign against Ohio State.

Desmond made two big catches, one a diving catch at the Ohio State 20-yard line, and the other by winning a jump ball against two defenders. Michigan led 17-3, when Howard made his signature play—he returned a punt 93 yards in the end zone and then “struck a pose” in the end zone, extending his arm and lifting his leg to look like the Heisman Trophy itself. It was game, set and match for the award and for the outright Big Ten title.

Michigan was ranked #4 going into the Rose Bowl against Washington, who joined Miami as the two undefeated teams at the top of the polls. The Wolverines had an outside shot at the national title. If they beat the Huskies and Miami lost to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, Michigan would be in good shape to win a vote over #3 Florida (who ended up losing to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl anyway).

But no one believed there was any way Miami would lose a home game to a relatively pedestrian Nebraska team—for that matter, few people believed Michigan would beat Washington, who was coming on strong. And unfortunately for Wolverine fans, that proved to be true.

Howard was held to one catch, Grbac was sacked five times and the running game was shut down. Michigan’s defense kept them in it for a half, down only 13-7. But the avalanche started in the second half and the final was 34-14. The Wolverines finished sixth in the final polls.

The season was still a big success in Ann Arbor. They had beaten Notre Dame, re-assumed their place at the top of the Big Ten and produced a Heisman Trophy. The following year, Michigan made it back to Pasadena and got a revenge win over Washington.

1990 Michigan Football: The Post-Schembecler Era Begins

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The 1990 Michigan football team marked the dawn of a new era in the long history of the proud program. After the last two decades in charge, the legendary Bo Schembecler stepped aside and offensive coordinator Gary Moeller was elevated.

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Coming off back-to-back Rose Bowl trips, Michigan football was at its peak. It took longer than the faithful would have liked in 1990 to get started, but Moeller eventually got the Wolverines back to championship level.

The Michigan offense was well-balanced and explosive. Desmond Howard had a 1,000-yard receiving year and set the stage for his Heisman run of 1991. Jon Vaughn rushed for over 1,300 yards and was first-team All-Big Ten. Ricky Powers and Jarrod Bunch were reliable changes of pace in the backfield, combining for over 1,200 yards. And the traditionally powerful Wolverine offensive line was led by All-Conference picks in Dean Dingman, Tom Dohring and Greg Skrepenak.

Quarterback was never considered a strength in the Michigan program, and in the world of 1990, Elvis Grbac was as good as it got for the maize-and-blue. Grbac’s stats of 58% completions, 7.2 yards-per-attempt and 21-10 TD/INT ratio were good by the standards of the time.

The defense wasn’t quite as deep in individual names, but they still had an All-American safety in Tripp Welborne and Lance Dottin picked off five passes. And collectively, the defense was good enough to rank 18th in the nation in points allowed.

A prime-time visit to Notre Dame for the opener set the tone for the season’s first half. Michigan coughed up a 24-14 lead in the fourth quarter and lost 28-24. The Wolverines righted the ship with wins over UCLA, Maryland and Wisconsin and in the historically chaotic season that was 1990, managed to get to the top of the polls by mid-October with one loss.

More heartbreak followed. Trailing 28-21 at Michigan State, the Wolverines drove for a late touchdown and the pre-overtime era of college football, went for two to win it. Howard ran a slant-in and was open, but stumbled. Michigan fans insist he was held and the bad blood still lingers over this game today.

One week later, Iowa got their first win in Ann Arbor since 1981, driving 85 yards late in the game for a 24-23 win. Michigan was 3-3 and while they were only three plays from 6-0, it didn’t stop the wolves from howling at Moeller’s door when Michigan came to Indiana on the final weekend of October.

The Hoosiers were a consistent bowl team in this era and well-coached under Bill Mallory. The Wolverines dismantled them 45-19 and found their footing for the stretch run. They blew out a bad Purdue team and then came up with big wins over Illinois and Minnesota, both of whom were contending in a packed Big Ten race.

A third straight Rose Bowl appearance wasn’t on the table when Michigan went to Columbus for the season-ending battle with Ohio State. But in the event of an Iowa loss, a Wolverine win would achieve the parlay of denying the Buckeyes a trip to Pasadena and also secure at least a piece of the league championship for themselves.

Michigan and Ohio State were locked in a 13-13 tie with 1:47 left. A tie did the Buckeyes no good, so they went for it on their own 29-yard line. Michigan’s defense made the stop and they got a field goal on the last play to win it. Later in the day, Iowa fell at Minnesota. The Big Ten race ended up with four teams tied for first and while it was Iowa that got the Rose Bowl trip, Michigan still got a trophy.

They were also up to #12 in the polls and met up with 15th-ranked Ole Miss in the Hall of Fame Bowl (today’s Outback Bowl). Grbac hit Howard with a 63-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and tossed a seven-yard TD pass to Bunch in the second quarter. It was 14-3 at half and the Wolverines blew it open in the third quarter, en route to a 35-3 win and a final ranking of #7.

The three losses and not making the Rose Bowl were a disappointment in the moment, but the importance of the quad-championship in the Big Ten grew in the coming years. Michigan reasserted themselves and won outright league titles in 1991 and 1992. The late surge of 1990 Michigan football ensured that this era would go into the history books with five consecutive championship seasons in the Big Ten. And Moeller had the program in good hands.

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