A contribution from haphazard contributor imafreak.

Exposition:

I came in out of the cold blackness of a life innocent of college football in 1991 when I arrived at the University of Michigan for graduate school. I had 15+ years of NFL experience but I was a college football virgin (now, Bo, he was the one at Michigan? And Woody was the one who punched that dude, Charlie Bauman [because everybody knows Charlie Bauman!] right?) Unlike your standard undergraduate, I didn’t immediately embrace my burgeoning MICHIGAN MAN status. Part of this can be attributed to the odd dichotomy that is graduate school in my field. It is assumed you will work like a dog, be treated worse than a dog, and paid far less. Yet, work you must, the harder the better, because that is the only way out. I also had one foot in and one out of my new life because of a hideously co-dependent long distance relationship. Fortunately, that coupling gave bloom to a noxious death flower that opened its petals late in my first year and then withered to a black husk (for a literary example of the death bloom see Tolkien, Morgul Vale, Minas Morgul, Mordor.)  

It wasn’t until 1994 when I’d hit bottom hard enough, thanks to a series of the first professional failures in my life (part my fault and part lessons learned and messages received about how things work in the world of high powered science) that I became more than a bandwagon Michigan football fan. By then the faculty had impressed on me that I had better embrace my life at Michigan, ironically by surrendering it, to the tune of 7 days and 80+ hours a week. Love for the football team accompanied my acceptance that Michigan and I were inseparable for the time being.   

1991 was a heck of a season to be Wolverine. Sure they got shellacked by FSU and Steve Entman ate the OL but otherwise it was a Buckeye embarrassing, 4^th and 1 history making, Heisman party. 1992 was the weird season of ties (which had the benefit of demonstrating how stupid ties are to everyone but Lou Holtz) but Michigan returned the Rose Bowl favor to Washington with the emergence of Ty Wheatley. 1993 started out badly (and ended Michigan’s run of 5 straight Big Ten titles) but culminated in the first of several mind-boggling season (and sanity) destroying victories over OSU and a bowl blow out win. In 1994 Michigan was finally (or once again, depending on your view point) set up for the Huge Magical Season (HMS). 

I said HMS and not National Championship because I don’t think people were sitting around expecting to win the National Championship. Honestly, there just wasn’t any reason to expect such a thing. Michigan’s last National Championship was remembered in black and white—photos. The Patriarch, Bo, hadn’t won one. The Big Ten’s last National Championship was 1970. In recent history, when Michigan had ventured out of the OSU Notre Dame cocoon and played a power house the results weren’t pretty. It wasn’t like the conference was pwning the Rose Bowl either. When Bo talked about the goal being to win the Big Ten he had something there. He may have said that to justify his Rose Bowl record (which had much more to do with offensive philosophy than anything else), but it remains that prior to the BCS, the National Championship wasn’t something you could really win on the field. While still leaving my tin foil hat in the fridge wrapped around leftovers, I would note that between the 2 undefeated Big Ten teams of ‘90s there’s only half of a championship. National Championship aspirations were better left to Nebraska, independents with rigged schedules, and schools in Florida. In conclusion if you were expecting a National Championship then you were probably high (with jamie mac) (and by high I mean stoned on the Devil’s Oregano.)

After exploding onto the national consciousness with his dominating performance in the Rose Bowl after the 1992 season, Ty Wheatley was a senior. This was still in the era of Michigan’s offensive lines always being good. So, they looked to road grade the weaker teams on the schedule.

When they would have to pass they had senior Todd Collins throwing to future NFLers Amani Toomer and Jay Riemersma (Mercury Hayes was a pretty good 3^rd option). Truth be told, I long viewed Collins as the best of the pre-Brady 90s QBs. For some reason (stupidity) I thought of Grbc as Desmond’s trailing spouse (this is a strict stupidity based analysis.) I figured he was a game manager that had been riding Desmond’s coattails since high school. Collins struck me as more of a pure passer with a much brighter NFL future. If longevity in the NFL (rather than some more important metric) was used to rank the 90s Michigan QBs then Collins would come out pretty high.

The defense may have been young but had serious talent—Morrison, Steele, Horn, Trevor Pryce (before he transferred), Irons and senior All American Ty Law. Unfortunately for Law, the iconic picture which appeared on the front page of the Daily and summed up 1994 was Westbrook plucking the ball from between his out stretched arms. His last name squared perfectly to the camera.

The Non-conference Schedule:

The first big test for #6 Michigan was a trip to South Bend to face #3 Notre Dame (what was a team with an 18 year old QB, Powlus, doing at #3?) The younger generation may be surprised to learn that Notre Dame was actually a very good football team in the early and mid 90s. In 1993 Notre Dame had a pretty good argument that they deserved the National Championship but Florida State took the trophy despite having the same record as ND and losing the head to head meeting. Before the FBDs I, II, and III exorcised the demons, the luck of the Irish had bedeviled Michigan—especially in South Bend (FBD II; The Birth of Yackety Sax was Michigan’s first road win against the Irish since ’94.) When Ron Powlus, in his first of 4 consecutive Heisman Trophy winning seasons, brought the Irish from behind in the final minute (largely ‘aided’ by a huge kick return) it looked like Notre Dame had done it again. In fact, Cris Collinsworth sounded as if he was all ready to drive down to the Records Office and change Powlus’ name to Elway Montana Jr. (I’ll swing by and pick up your Heisman on the way back, brah!)  

With 46 seconds left, Collins took over and hit Riemersma on a seam pass. Suddenly, a chagrined Collinsworth, his sugary genetic material drying on his belly (tastes salty?), meekly recycled his adjectives. With 14 seconds left, no time outs, and not in FG range, Collins in the face of an unblocked blitzer, spun briefly and threw a desperate quacker (I defy any Michigan fan to claim they thought it would be caught—I was sure it was a pick 6) to a wide open Seth Smith (who is bizarrely listed as a FB on the depth chart.) Smith, alertly, ran straight out of bounds setting up Remy Hamilton’s legendary kick. Thank God, Tyler Ecker wasn’t on the team yet because… Well, he seems like a nice guy and probably doesn’t deserve all this so let’s just stop there. Two years before, it took a New Carr Les Miles 4th and 1 call to drive the dagger home. In 1994, it took a game winning drive that rivaled anything Tom Brady ever did.

For much of the 90s beating Notre Dame seemed like trying to kill Jason Voorhees. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the come back win only increased the despair at what we all know was to follow.

I don’t know if it’s age or the brain’s self healing mechanism of smoothing out the rough spots and raising up the high moments, but much of the 90s for me are a murky stew in my memory. With the exception of a few very dark chunks (where my career seemed to hang in the balance), specific memories are very hard to lock down without some serious mental unpacking. What stands out, casting a shadow on everything else, are the 30 some odd Michigan home games. Few days from that period shine brighter than September 24^th 1994.

#7 Colorado came into Ann Arbor following in the footsteps of Michgan’s triumphant return from South Bend. The Buffs were lead by Kordell Stewart—the pre-VY dual threat QB terror (because after VY the realm of what we perceived as possible was increased causing everyone else to take a backseat)—the season’s Heisman winner Rashaan Salaam, and future first round pick Michael Westbrook.

It was my first memory of Gameday being live from Ann Arbor (Corso wears a murkin!) With the national exposure and hoopla, it was impossible not be reminded of the last time a  power team from outside the Midwest visited Ann Arbor—FSU ’91.

The game began just like that FSU debacle, as Kordell ripped through Michigan’s defense on way to a 14-3 first quarter lead. The dread in the Big House was palpable (is there a college football fanbase that is more fatalistic and resigned to misery than Michigan’s?) But then for the next 2 quarters Michigan played inspired football. Just before half, Michigan scored a TD but missed a try at 2 leaving the score at 14-9.

The third quarter saw Michigan score 17 unanswered points—including a 65 yard Collins to Toomer strike.

The 4^th quarter dawned with Michigan winning 26-14. Stewart led Colorado on a meticulous, unpanicked, drive deep into the Michigan red zone. As Kordell lunged for the end zone on a keeper, he fumbled. Michigan recovered for a touch back. I try to never forecast victory until the clock reaches zero. In response to this edict, my mind continually runs the odds as the window for the other teams closes. With Michigan having the ball, under 5 minutes left, up by 2 scores, Colorado’s window was rapidly closing and they would soon start to require unlikely events to pull out a victory. Here is the where the real second guessing of Moeller begins. On the first and second down Michigan plunged into the line—taking all but one of Colorado’s TOs. In my mind, those were the calls to make. Tighten the noose around your opponent’s neck because time is his enemy now. I can still recall my comments before and after the third down call—although I don’t remember who I said them to. Sure, you can run again to take their last TO (and Michigan did) but you’ve got a senior QB and a two score lead. A pass for the first down and you really back Colorado into a corner. Charlie Weis would prove his genius by calling a pass. Under the watchful eye of Darth Belichick, Brady would throw a 35 yard dagger. In South Bend, with Weis’ flabby underbelly exposed, Jimmah! would check down and throw a pick 6 in the flat. It goes without saying that Tressel would call a run—opting as always to punt and play defense. Craig Krenzel would check into a bomb and throw an inexplicably perfect pass. Pryor would run a keeper, fumble, and weep quietly on the sidelines. Moeller called a final TO burning line plunge and I don’t really fault him for it.

Colorado took over at their own 28 and went to work. After a quick drive, Salaam moved the tally to 26-21. The onsides kick was unsuccessful. Michigan took over with just over 2 minutes remaining on Colorado’s side of the field. Now the stadium was in full on win mode. Hasty calculations all through the crowd were determining if Michigan even needed to relinquish the ball back to Colorado. Three more line plunges and Michigan needed to punt. But leaving only 16 seconds, all Michigan had to do was guard against a return and the game was over. Doing anything but running on those three plays wouldn’t have made sense.

To preserve time, Colorado fair caught the punt inside their 20. Two plays to go 80+ yards. The party in the Big House was on. Kordell got 21 on first down but with 7 seconds left he needed 64 more. I don’t need to relive the final play. I have only seen it once (I assume everyone reading this has seen it many more) as I refused to ever watch it again. That’s a lot of turning my head or going for beer over the years.

Coaches can’t guarantee victory. This wasn’t punting to Troy Smith with 2 minutes left. This wasn’t hoping to stop VY one last time when all he needs is a FG. Colorado went 85 yards in 2 plays with no TOs. That’s just luck biting Moeller in the ass.

As Colorado celebrated in the far endzone, the stadium was silent. But just for a few heartbeats and then the “did we just lose?” “where are you going afterwards?” started up. I, alone with one other dude in my section (and yes, I own a section), stood long past all the others, scanning, scanning, for a flag. My mind buckled under the surreal feeling of trying to mesh reality with the future that I had envisioned almost as the past (this had already been decided?) The last time I had felt such dissonance between reality and perception (albeit on a MUCH larger scale) was when my committee told me I’d failed my oral exams (taken at the end of your 2^nd year in graduate school.) In those horrifying moments, my mind swirled perilously close to blackness, as they explained that they didn’t think I was actually as stupid as I had just appeared. Fortunately, the word stupid had already come up. At my second oral examination, the gentlemen who informed me this was his opinion of me asked a cookie cutter question (after determining I’d brought my good brain that day) and promptly fell asleep. I’ll take bored indifference over yelling most days.

If I could go back in time would I make Ty Law six inches taller so he could knock that pass down? Sure, but only in the generic sense that I always want Michigan to win and not because it would return what we all thought Michigan had lost on that day—a shot at the National Championship. While it wouldn’t have been reasonable to expect one at the start of the season, after knocking off top ten teams in back to back weeks, it would have been impossible not to dream of it. But, like the 2004(5) Rose Bowl this was a great game that Michigan just happened to lose. It was 59:53 of some of the most fun I’ve ever had at a football game. The last :07 don’t haunt me–not like 2005 OSU or 2004 and 2005 ND or Appalachian State or 2006 OSU.

Many articles were written raising the specter of this as a turning point in Michigan’s season. Somehow, if Kordell’s Hail Mary had clanked to the ground it all would have been different. Personally, I think these types of games are more indicators than motivators. Michigan doesn’t have a bad season because they lost to Notre Dame. They lose to Notre Dame because they aren’t very good and will consequently have a bad season. But it remains to be explained how it all went so wrong for Michigan after this game. My best guess is the ’94 team played a brutal schedule (4 teams in the top ten at kick off–not including OSU–and they would have gone 3-1 in those games if not for Mother Mary’s intervention.) and it caught up to them—just not in the games one might have expected.

As the smoke cleared, to my great surprise, I felt the cold steal of a Michigan loss slide between my ribs for the first of many times in my life. When did I start caring about this so much? In some of the more recent tough seasons, my everyday wife has “commented” on the effect adding an Autumn Saturday girl friend to my lifelong Sunday girlfriend has had on my productivity and temper. To be honest, I have questioned the wisdom of it myself. But, there it is, I didn’t enter into this voluntarily. I would have been perfectly happy to come and go leaving nothing so much as the grease stain from a Slim Jim on the hand of Michigan. Understandably, the faculty had other ideas and needed their pound of flesh. Actually, in Michigan’s view my flesh and blood had already been purchased (at pennies on the dollar!) It was the publications and subsequent grant money that they wanted to pick off my carcass. On September 24, 1994, a MICHIGAN MAN was born—although, I’ve learned from the internet, that this is not the approved way of entering into the pantheon.

The game was over and there was no time to sulk. My kind-of-sorta, medical school girlfriend was in town visiting from her ROTC junket. Later that night, she told me she thought it would be better if she slept on my couch. FML.

The Big Ten Season  

Three weeks after the Colorado heart breaker, #5 Michigan, still unbeaten in conference play, hosted their potential salvation–#3 Penn State. The Nits came into Ann Arbor on a serious roll. The offense, lead by 3 first round picks in the 1995 draft (Ki-Jana Carter, Kerry Collins, and Kyle Brady) and a first and a second rounder in the 1996 draft (Jeff Hartings and Bobby Engram), came in averaging 51 points a game.  

On the first play from scrimmage, Wheatley took it 80 yards for a TD and the game was on. After 4 years of Mike Hart fighting and grinding for every yard, it’s hard to remember a running back that found a seam and disappeared. Of course, I was trapped in the tunnel asking the other morons around me “why’s everyone cheering?” From then on, even if it meant bringing a stapler to the game (it was a simpler time, before 9/11), there would be no more pre half time bathroom breaks.  

Somehow, the maligned Michigan defense held up against Penn State’s NFL offense. In the 4^th quarter, down 31-24, it came down to one last drive for Michigan to tie it up. Behind the strong running of Wheatley, Michigan moved to mid-field where they faced a 4^th and 2. It was time to call Wheatley’s number one more time and line up a new set of downs. But the run was stuffed and the dejected crowd learned the ball carrier had been Wheatley’s back up. Now, of course, Tshimanga Biakabatuka, was not your ordinary back up and this was before the Chris Perry then Mike Hart Show because everyone else fumbles. It was normal to spell the starting tailback regularly. But, that play, on this drive. It just didn’t seem like the time to take the ball out of Wheatley’s hands. It was his team and his drive. 

Penn State went on to score 63 points on OSU and 59 on MSU on their way to an undefeated season. They finished second to Nebraska, largely because Florida couldn’t tackle Tommie Frazier (or anyone else)—which says more about Florida than Nebraska or Penn State. That is, as they say in gay Paris, Le Bullshit. 

After the Penn State game Michigan’s season unraveled. They dropped the Homecoming game in a complete head scratcher and not even particularly close loss to Wisconsin. The Badgers have not won in the Big House since. 

The regular season closed with a trip to Columbus to play a now completely forgotten game against the Buckeyes. I was sure of victory. Although that confidence was based largely on the fact that Penn State had hung 63 on the Buckeyes. Michigan fans have forgotten this game because it is sandwiched by so many big victories over OSU. Buckeyes over look the rare Cooper victory over Michigan because it was the wrong year. In 1993, 1995, and 1996, OSU had their National Championship aspirations ruined by Michigan–the pain of which was only exacerbated by the decidedly less meaningful win in 1994. Even when he finally beat Michigan, Cooper got it wrong.  

With the, understandable, exception of 2006, this was the flattest 60 minutes I’ve ever seen Michigan play against OSU. The tremendous disappointment of the season and uninspired play by Michigan had taken its toll on me. I did what immature people will do when something hurts them. I pushed Michigan football away. I announced to whoever I was with (can’t even remember who it was) that I was happy Michigan lost. The team didn’t want it enough. They didn’t deserve to win. God help me, but I suspect most of us start out as mgoidiots. 

During my research for this post, I unearthed the following little youtube gem. You may be wondering why you would want to watch the final minute of Michigan losing to OSU? Look, Cooper brought so much joy into our lives, we should be able to watch him celebrate a little for himself. And celebrate he does. With time still left on the clock, Cooper was doing everything but chest bumping fans in the stands. It is impossible to envision any of the other generals in this interstate war celebrating so during while there was still time on the clock. I wonder if this doesn’t offer some insight into Cooper’s Michigan problem? Maybe he cared too much and was not the master of his emotions and they were his undoing. At the end, Cooper can’t even make it through the post game interview because he has to run off and shake the hand of every living soul in the state of Ohio. Or maybe it’s because the field is slowly filling with tear gas. LOLBUCKEYES. 

The Bowl and Aftermath: 

#20 Michigan met #10 Colorado State in the Holiday Bowl on the night before New Years Eve. The Rams were a one loss WAC team whose big win was at preseason #1 Arizona. The Desert Swarm defense didn’t live up to billing and Arizona slumped to 8-4 in 1994. The Rams were a defense driven team, who relied on their dual threat QB to make plays on offense. The ignominy of playing a small conference team at night on what was essentially a holiday, was too much for me. I monitored the game from a bar in Dayton’s Oregon District (for effect let’s say it was Hang on Sloopy’s.) If Michigan had scored 28 points on the opening kick off it probably wouldn’t have been enough for me. So, I was mildly scandalized that the game was “only” 17-7 at half time. Michigan went on to win fairly comfortably 24-14. Despite the rankings, it’s hard to view this result as much of an upset. 

In the off season, the pressure of consecutive 4 loss seasons, and an unremitting thirst, undid Gary Moeller. Tape of the resulting drunken rage was shamefully played and replayed on local radio stations. His time at Michigan came to an end—ushering in the Carr Era. Carr would run the streak of 4 loss seasons to 4 years (2 under Mo and 2 under Carr) starting the media rumbling about seat temperature. From seemingly out of nowhere (I couldn’t say out of the blue), came 1997, forever changing (along with the BCS) expectations and National Championship aspirations.