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Big Ten Openers – – Wisconsin — Looking Back – 1990

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins

As Michigan prepares to welcome USC to The Big House on Saturday for the opening game of the Big Ten portion of the season, we present the first installment of this season’s series looking back at classic Michigan games, with the first week focusing on Big Ten openers.

For the first installment, we travel back to 1990. Gary Moeller was in his first season as Michigan’s head coach. Moeller faced a challenging schedule in his first season, just as Sherrone Moore faces this season. For his first Big Ten opener, Moeller took Michigan to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Historically, Camp Randall has given Wisconsin a fierce home field advantage, enabling the Badgers to use the size of their massive players to dictate the pace of play. Fortunately for Moeller, former coach Bo Schembechler left the Michigan roster stocked with a slew of talented players who would challenge the Badgers in ways they were unable to defend.

Two of those players were quarterback Elvis Grbac and wide receiver Desmond Howard, who had also played on the same football team in high school. Grbac and Howard formed a passing combination that many teams would have difficulty defending. They threatened the Wisconsin defense early and often in this game, taking the Wisconcon crowd out of the game early, eliminating even the slightest hint of a home field edge. Grbac threw three touchdown passes, two to Howard and one to Derrick Alexander, and the Wolverines’ ground attack gashed the Wisconsin defense for 358 yards as Michigan routed the Badgers, 41-3, to give Moeller a win in his first Big Ten conference opener as Michigan’s head coach.

With the win, Michigan improved to 3-1 on the season, but the sweet taste of victory didn’t last long. The next week, Michigan faced a familiar foe in Michigan State, but that’s a story for another day, or at least for a feature later in the season.

Many thanks to CBS Sports and YouTube poster College Football Historian for the video of this game. As always, we own nothing and we do not profit from this blog post, which is provided strictly for the enjoyment of readers.

About Jeff Cummins

Jeff Cummins has written about football since 1998, including nine years with The Record of Hackensack, N.J. He frequently contributes feature stories to Touchdown Illustrated, an insert in the national college football game program, published by University Sports Publications, and he has also written the official pregame stories for the game programs of the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Gator Bowl, and the BCS National Championship game. He has written the preview story for the official program for the NHL Winter Classic at MIchigan Stadium, and numerous college basketball feature stories for College Hoops Illustrated, another game program insert published by University Sports Publications. In addition, he has written stories about theater, music, physical therapy, and newsletter marketing. He’s an avid Michigan football fan and long-time New York Jets season ticket holder, and he can be reached at jeffcummins@optonline.net.