Just to...ahem...CHANGE THE SUBJECT...

...to something "happy" for a contrast, given the animus of the posts regarding "Football this fall" vs. Covid-19:

How about a Happy B'DAY shout-out to Ricky the-guts-n-glue-of-the-Maize-and-Blue Leach???   The architect of what is, for me, albeit by an admittedly small margin, the greatest, most joy-evoking victory in the half century (to the year) I've been a Blueblood: the 9-23-78 victory at S.B. over Joe Montana and his defending-NC Irish.

Yes, show my age as it may, it still ranks No.1 on my list, comrades...

Among its challengers (for me) would have to be, in no particular order:

---the 21-16 NC clincher over Wazzu (1-1-98)
---the 34-8 blowout of what was THEN our nemesis (3 losses in a row coming in) PSU at Happy Valley ('97), to REALLY launch us to #1
---the 22-0 blowout ('76), at Columbus, of Woody Hayes (victory over them hadn't come in five years at the time)
---the 35-21 victory at the 'House over defending NC OSU in '03
---Bo's only victory over USC (Rose 1-1-89), 22-14, after trailing 14-3 at the half (when my brother called. at halftime, to ask,
   "WHY can't they win the BIG GAME???")
---the amazing last-second 35-31 victory over the Irish (in Brady Hoke's first and only GOOD season), and the 40-34 win over OSU to
   snap a long losing streak (sorry I had to use that expression) to them.

Feel free to comment or augment the list. [Note: the '69 upset, 24-12 over Woody's "super team", is excluded; I was only in high school,
and didn't even know U-M colors, nickname, fight song or sports traditions...]

Mike, I was at that 1978 game at SB. My oldest brother had just graduated from Michigan and mom and dad and brother and I went.

Great game.

joe wrote:

Mike, I was at that 1978 game at SB. My oldest brother had just graduated from Michigan and mom and dad and brother and I went.

Great game.

NO SHIT??  You never told me that, Joe!!  Our friend Andy-Go-Blue probably wanted to ring my neck after the 1,046th time I told him that was my all-time favorite game (vs. ANY Michigan opponent).  I, of course, could only watch on TV, that balmy, 70-degree first-day-of-autumn afternoon.

And so elated was I over the result, and RELIEVED (I've told that anecdote too many times already), that I was totally oblivious to the fact 9-23 was indeed the first day of autumn in '78.  When the local paper (the next morning) opened the sports' page article with: "Autumn arrived with a thud in South Bend Indiana", I wasn't even picking up on their meaning...though I did know it was the first time since about 1898 ND had opened with two HOME losses (Mizzou 0-3 two weeks earlier was the other).

Memories, ah, sweet memories!

great topic Mike and great choices. I need a little time to compile my list.

michmike wrote:

joe wrote:

Mike, I was at that 1978 game at SB. My oldest brother had just graduated from Michigan and mom and dad and brother and I went.

Great game.

NO SHIT??  You never told me that, Joe!!  Our friend Andy-Go-Blue probably wanted to ring my neck after the 1,046th time I told him that was my all-time favorite game (vs. ANY Michigan opponent).  I, of course, could only watch on TV, that balmy, 70-degree first-day-of-autumn afternoon.

And so elated was I over the result, and RELIEVED (I've told that anecdote too many times already), that I was totally oblivious to the fact 9-23 was indeed the first day of autumn in '78.  When the local paper (the next morning) opened the sports' page article with: "Autumn arrived with a thud in South Bend Indiana", I wasn't even picking up on their meaning...though I did know it was the first time since about 1898 ND had opened with two HOME losses (Mizzou 0-3 two weeks earlier was the other).

Memories, ah, sweet memories!

I was 16 at the time. I had been to 1 Michigan game a year while he was there. But they were always against Navy or Vandy or some cupcake. Back then the games I went to tended to be 65-7 games. So this game at ND was really a highlight.

10-15-2015 vs Penn State

That was my first game in the Big House after graduating (I skipped the '04 season as I needed to distance myself from it). Anyway I received alumni tickets for that game and the club I got them through had their tickets right next to the visiting Penn State fans. I'm not sure if everyone remembers that game but it was back-and-forth most of the game and Penn State ended up taking the lead with :53 seconds remaining. Everyone knows Penn States chant, "We are...Penn State." Well they were doing that as Henne was marching Michigan down the field with less than a minute to go. Michigan got to the Penn State 10 with :02 seconds remaining and it was very annoying. Last play of the game Henne his Manningham in the endzone, touchdown, Michigan wins. All of the Penn State fan sit down, shut up, and put their faces in their hands. I decide to look over to them and mockingly yell, "You are... LOSERS" to which they didn't like too much. In fact one Penn State fan got up, came over to me, and threw his nachos on me. I started to go after him but my friends wouldn't let me. He took off out of the Stadium so fast it was unreal. All of his friends that were sitting around him thanked me because they wanted that guy to get his ass handed to him. They planned on riding him on the entire ride back to Happy Valley. That was a great day! Probably not my best day in the Big House though as that has to go to my last game as a student. 11-22-2003 win over ohio state. Another great game was 9-13-2003 over Notre Dame.

I don't have the vast reservoir of Michigan games to choose from that most people have here as I wasn't a fan before going there. In fact prior to going to Michigan my favorite game in the Big House (which I was not there for but I did go to several) was the '94 Colorado game. Go ahead an pile on...

Michigan v Virginia, 1995. Freshman Scott Driesbach’s game-winning last second pass to Mercury Hayes, one of my favorites, was also a goody.

dwoody wrote:

Michigan v Virginia, 1995. Scott Driesbach’s game-winning last second bomb was also a goody.

Whilst I didn't (and wouldn't) put it on my "top X list", I well remember that one, Woody. Lloyd Carr launches his career (yep, it was his "opener") with what was THEN the biggest comeback in Michigan football history... down 17-0 at the Big House no less, and 18 unanswered
points!

Scott D's pass (to Mercury Hayes) wasn't exactly a "bomb" per se, as I think it was from just inside UVA's 20. But it was perfectly thrown, and MH did a fantastic act of acrobatic balancing to keep his toes (both feet) an inch from the sideline in the endzone.

Bo 2.0 wrote:

10-15-2015 vs Penn State

That was my first game in the Big House after graduating (I skipped the '04 season as I needed to distance myself from it).  Anyway I received alumni tickets for that game and the club I got them through had their tickets right next to the visiting Penn State fans.  I'm not sure if everyone remembers that game but it was back-and-forth most of the game and Penn State ended up taking the lead with :53 seconds remaining.  Everyone knows Penn States chant, "We are...Penn State."  Well they were doing that as Henne was marching Michigan down the field with less than a minute to go.  Michigan got to the Penn State 10 with :02 seconds remaining and it was very annoying.  Last play of the game Henne his Manningham in the endzone, touchdown, Michigan wins.    All of the Penn State fan sit down, shut up, and put their faces in their hands.  I decide to look over to them and mockingly yell, "You are... LOSERS" to which they didn't like too much.  In fact one Penn State fan got up, came over to me, and threw his nachos on me.  I started to go after him but my friends wouldn't let me.  He took off out of the Stadium so fast it was unreal.  All of his friends that were sitting around him thanked me because they wanted that guy to get his ass handed to him.  They planned on riding him on the entire ride back to Happy Valley.  That was a great day!  Probably not my best day in the Big House though as that has to go to my last game as a student.  11-22-2003 win over ohio state.  Another great game was 9-13-2003 over Notre Dame.

I don't have the vast reservoir of Michigan games to choose from that most people have here as I wasn't a fan before going there.  In fact prior to going to Michigan my favorite game in the Big House (which I was not there for but I did go to several) was the '94 Colorado game.  Go ahead an pile on...

Slight correction there, Bo2--- it was Oct.15 2005, not 2015.  But I concur: if the PSU fan was such a jerk, he deserved his team's last-second collapse to ride all the way home with.  Even SWEETER: it ruined their PERFECT CARD.  They finished 11-1 and took down Fla.St. in the Orange.
Stop that pass from Chad to Mario, and they no doubt win the '05 NC.

Day's later it's too hard to narrow my list down, so I'll just comment on a few.

I was at that Rose Bowl 1-1-89 with 2 close friends, one of who loved sushi, and the other two of us who did not (I have since learned to like some of it). When we were down 14-3 at half, the second non-sushi friend said , "if we come back and win, we'll go get sushi after the game." Our great win was well worth it. I was also at the following Rose Bowl where we got screwed in Bo's last game.

That 22-0 win over OSU in 1976, was a game that only someone from our era could fully appreciate, given the heartbreaks of the previous years.

Both the ND games you mentioned are also all timers for me. In retrospect Under the Lights I doesn't look as big because of how the season turned out but in the moment, it was absolutely huge. I most remember how we fans just did not want to leave the Big House after the game was over.

The "Judgment Day" win at Happy Valley was so satisfying. I wasn't at that one, but as a major horse racing fan, the Breeders Cup, since its inception has fallen on the same day as many big Michigan games. That year, a bunch of us were visiting a great Michigan fan who lives in D.C. and went to Laurel Race track in Maryland to watch a simulcast and bet on the Breeders Cup. We had our TV at the table tuned to the football game the whole day and I can barely remember the horse races at all.

Just reliving these and many more games, as provoked by your post has reminded me, just how much joy Michigan athletics has given me.

Bo2 and Shooz---speaking of the wins ('97, '05) over unbeaten (coming in) PSU teams: they came during our nine-game winning streak (interrupted by off-schedule years in '03 and '04).  My late father-in-law was a PSU alumnus.  He got the alumni assoc.'s football publication every year. In summer 2008 (just after Carr retired) the "prognostication" issue had  letters from readers: One that sticks in my mind: describing their skid: "...we have proved over the last decade we CANNOT BEAT MICHIGAN..."  (etc.)  

The editor opened the opponent-by-opponent article for U-M like this:  "...as Beaver Stadium will host the team that has tormented the Nittany Lions LIKE NO OTHER..."

Then, I looked at their 2008 schedule (we were their 8th opponent). Here's how that publication portrayed their schedule (verbatim):

Aug 30--Coastal Carolina
Sep.6----Oregon St.
Sep.13---at Syracuse
Sep.20---Temple
Sep.27---Illinois
Oct.4-----at Purdue
Oct.11----Wisconsin
Oct.18----THEM
Oct.25----at Ohio State
etc.
(you get the picture...)

michmike wrote:

Bo 2.0 wrote:

10-15-2015 vs Penn State

That was my first game in the Big House after graduating (I skipped the '04 season as I needed to distance myself from it).  Anyway I received alumni tickets for that game and the club I got them through had their tickets right next to the visiting Penn State fans.  I'm not sure if everyone remembers that game but it was back-and-forth most of the game and Penn State ended up taking the lead with :53 seconds remaining.  Everyone knows Penn States chant, "We are...Penn State."  Well they were doing that as Henne was marching Michigan down the field with less than a minute to go.  Michigan got to the Penn State 10 with :02 seconds remaining and it was very annoying.  Last play of the game Henne his Manningham in the endzone, touchdown, Michigan wins.    All of the Penn State fan sit down, shut up, and put their faces in their hands.  I decide to look over to them and mockingly yell, "You are... LOSERS" to which they didn't like too much.  In fact one Penn State fan got up, came over to me, and threw his nachos on me.  I started to go after him but my friends wouldn't let me.  He took off out of the Stadium so fast it was unreal.  All of his friends that were sitting around him thanked me because they wanted that guy to get his ass handed to him.  They planned on riding him on the entire ride back to Happy Valley.  That was a great day!  Probably not my best day in the Big House though as that has to go to my last game as a student.  11-22-2003 win over ohio state.  Another great game was 9-13-2003 over Notre Dame.

I don't have the vast reservoir of Michigan games to choose from that most people have here as I wasn't a fan before going there.  In fact prior to going to Michigan my favorite game in the Big House (which I was not there for but I did go to several) was the '94 Colorado game.  Go ahead an pile on...

Slight correction there, Bo2--- it was Oct.15 2005, not 2015.  But I concur: if the PSU fan was such a jerk, he deserved his team's last-second collapse to ride all the way home with.  Even SWEETER: it ruined their PERFECT CARD.  They finished 11-1 and took down Fla.St. in the Orange.
Stop that pass from Chad to Mario, and they no doubt win the '05 NC.

Yea my bad. No idea how or why I put 15 but yes it should have been 05. I graduated in the spring of 04, I said I took the 04 season off from going to games but was there the next year which was 05. I screwed up, see 'I admit it when I screw up.

michmike wrote:

Bo2 and Shooz---speaking of the wins ('97, '05) over unbeaten (coming in) PSU teams: they came during our nine-game winning streak (interrupted by off-schedule years in '03 and '04).  My late father-in-law was a PSU alumnus.  He got the alumni assoc.'s football publication every year. In summer 2008 (just after Carr retired) the "prognostication" issue had  letters from readers: One that sticks in my mind: describing their skid: "...we have proved over the last decade we CANNOT BEAT MICHIGAN..."  (etc.)  

The editor opened the opponent-by-opponent article for U-M like this:  "...as Beaver Stadium will host the team that has tormented the Nittany Lions LIKE NO OTHER..."

Then, I looked at their 2008 schedule (we were their 8th opponent). Here's how that publication portrayed their schedule (verbatim):

Aug 30--Coastal Carolina
Sep.6----Oregon St.
Sep.13---at Syracuse
Sep.20---Temple
Sep.27---Illinois
Oct.4-----at Purdue
Oct.11----Wisconsin
Oct.18----THEM
Oct.25----at Ohio State
etc.
(you get the picture...)

One of my better skiing friends from back-in-the-day went to Penn State. I can verify mike's story. What makes it even funnier is that his parents both went to michigan state and produced an offspring who still couldn't beat Michigan. He tries to give me crap about anything that Michigan does that isn't perfect.

To Quote Bo2: (above): "...see, I admit it when I screw up."

If 'yours truly' MichMike immediately owned up to every time HE screwed up*---he'd never stop talking.

*-spoken or actual, involving any and every subject.

michmike wrote:

To Quote Bo2: (above): "...see, I admit it when I screw up."

If 'yours truly' MichMike immediately owned up to every time HE screwed up*---he'd never stop talking.

*-spoken or actual, involving any and every subject.

I disagree....