UMGOBLUE.COM

Paul Bunyan Trophy — Looking Back – 2004

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins

The second installment of the series looking at the football rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State takes us back 20 years, to 2004. Michigan had won the Big Ten championship the previous season, and the team was entering a new era. Chad Henne, Jake Long and Mike Hart emerged as freshman leaders on a Michigan squad building for the future. Following an early loss to Notre Dame, Michigan started to build momentum, and the Wolverines entered the game against Michigan State firing on all cylinders.

As the game began, Michigan misfired early and often, while Michigan State played inspired football. DeAndra Cobb scored on a pair of long touchdown runs, and the Spartans took a 27-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. Time appeared to be running out on the Wolverines, setting the scene for a comeback for the ages.

Michigan began its comeback with only 8:43 remaining in the fourth quarter. After Michigan got a field goal, Brian Thompson fell on the ball after it bounced off a Spartan, giving Michigan possession. Suddenly, Michigan was playing with a sense of reckless abandonment. With 6:12 left to play, Henne threw what amounted to a jump ball into the end zone, and Braylon Edwards came down with both the ball and the momentum. Now, the Wolverines were buoyed by a wave of positive emotion and energy. Several minutes later, Edwards made an eerily similar catch to tie the score with less then three minutes left in regulation time. Michigan State had one final chance to win the game before going to overtime, but Dave Rayner’s field goal attempt wasn’t even close, and the two old foes went to overtime.

As overtime began, the sun dipped below the rim of the stadium, adding an element of intrigue to a game filled with tension. The teams traded body blows through the first couple of overtime sessions, and then Henne found Edwards on a post pattern to give Michigan the lead. Then Henne connected with Tim Massaquoi in the back of the north end zone to give Michigan an eight-point lead, its first lead of the game. For the first time in the entire game, Michigan’s defense took the field with a lead to protect. After a long, frustrating afternoon, the Wolverines finally had the Spartans where they wanted them!

Fittingly, the game came down to a fourth down play. Spartan quarterback Damon Dowdell rolled out, and threw a pass into the end zone, where Michigan defensive back Markus Curry was able to get just a finger on the ball, redirecting it harmlessly away from the receiver. The Wolverines and their fans felt both exhilaration and relief at the same time, as Michigan pulled out a 45-37 win over Michigan State in triple overtime in one of the most dramatic games the rivals have ever played.

The season ended in bittersweet fashion for the Wolverines. Michigan tied Iowa for the Big Ten championship, but lost to arch rival Ohio State and fell to Texas in the Rose Bowl, leaving Michigan fans with a bad taste in their mouths.

Still, that doesn’t take away from the game that Edwards had. Decades from now, students at that game will tell their grandchildren that they watched Edwards grab lightning in a bottle when Michigan beat Michigan State in 2004. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Thanks to ESPN Classic, YouTube, and YouTube poster RXwolverine for the video of this game. As always, we own nothing, and this blog post 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.