Category: Featured

Posted on

Michigan vs Ohio State Football – Looking Back – 1975

The third installment of the series looking back at the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry takes us to 1975. KC and the Sunshine Band had Americans listening to “That’s the Way (I like it)” and we had a Wolverine in the White House, with President Gerald Ford promising to “Whip Inflation Now”, while some clever, less optimistic people turned the WIN buttons upside down to convey “No Immediate Miracles.”

That last bit was good advice for the Michigan football team’s hope of beating Ohio State. Both teams came into the 1975 game without a loss, with Ohio State 10-0 and Michigan 8-0-2. The game started off like so many others had in that era, with Ohio State scoring first when Cornelius Greene connected with Peter Johnson for a 7-yard touchdown pass. Then Michigan struck back and went 80 yards, with running back Gordon Bell capping the drive by throwing a halfback option pass to Jim Smith for an 11-yard touchdown pass. In the fourth quarter, Michigan took the lead when Rick Leach scored on a 1-yard run to give Michigan a 14-7 lead. Michigan Stadium was buzzing with the hope for a Michigan win, but Ohio State had other ideas. On 4th down and one yard to go, Johnson dove in to the end zone to tie the score. Things got worse for Michigan when Leach dropped back to pass deep in Wolverine territory and was intercepted by Ohio State defensive back Ray Griffin, who returned the ball to the Michigan 3-yard line, setting up another touchdown run by Johnson and sending the crowd of 105, 543 back to their tailgate parties to contemplate what could possibly have gone wrong in the fourth quarter.

[avantlink_ad merchant=”Fanatics” title=”Michigan Wolverines 468×60″][/avantlink_ad]

For Ohio State, the celebration was brief. The Buckeyes traveled to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl for a rematch against a UCLA team that Ohio State had beaten earlier in the season. This time it didn’t work out so well for Ohio State, as UCLA won the Rose Bowl, 23-10. Michigan went to the Orange Bowl to play Oklahoma, which topped the Wolverines, 14-6. All in all, it was a frustrating season for Michigan, but fans of the Maize & Blue were encouraged by the youth of the team’s roster, and the knowledge that plenty of talented players would return for the 1976 season.

Thanks to youtube poster Ourhonordefend and ABC Sports. As always, I own nothing and all content is posted strictly for your enjoyment.

Posted on

Michigan vs Ohio State Football – Looking Back – 1976

The second installment in the series looking back at the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry takes us to 1976. Jimmy Carter was elected president of the United States, and the nation was celebrating the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence, which gave Americans something to smile about, which was desperately needed in the 1970s.

On the gridiron, the Wolverines were desperately in need of a win against archrival Ohio State. The Wolverines had not beaten the Buckeyes since Billy Taylor ran around right end in 1971 and Bob Ufer famous screamed “Touchdown, Billy Taylor! Touchdown, Billy Taylor!” Growing up in the ‘70s, that stretch of non-victorious seasons seemed like an eternity, something that was accentuated by the sports media in an era before cable TV had taken over.

The Wolverines had entered 1976 with National Championship aspirations, but narrow loss at Purdue in Week Nine ended that dream. Two weeks later, the Wolverines charged onto the turf at Ohio Stadium, determined to capture at least a share of the Big Ten championship. While Michigan was favored against the Buckeyes, Ohio State had an undefeated conference record up to that point, and had clinched at least a share of the Big Ten championship. For Michigan, the surprising loss to Purdue meant that sharing the conference championship was all the Maize & Blue could hope for, at least in the regular season.

The first half proved frustrating for the Wolverines and their supporters, as the teams went to their respective locker rooms with the score tied at zero. Bad memories of recent disappointments plagued everyone who cheered for Michigan.

Things changed dramatically in the second half. While the Michigan defense continued to stifle the Ohio State offense, the Michigan offensive line began to pound away at the Buckeyes, who were determined to stop quarterback Rick Leach on the option, as well as halfback Rob Lytle. That obsession with stopping Leach and Lytle opened the way for fullback Russell Davis (“Lytle deep and Davis close”, famously intoned by Bob Ufer). David scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter, and as the fourth quarter began, it was clear that the Wolverines were in command. The game ended with Michigan players giving Bo Schembechler a ride off the field on their shoulders, and Wolverine fans celebrated a long-awaited win over their fierce rivals.

We hope you enjoy the video clips below. Many thanks to ABC Sports, youtube, youtube poster Wolverine Historian and youtube poster “Dr. Sap.” As always, I own nothing, and what is posted is done so strictly for your enjoyment.


Posted on

Michigan vs Ohio State Football – Looking Back – 1957

This year, for the first game of the “Looking Back” series on the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry, we’ll go back to 1957. Dwight D. Eisenhower was our president, the Korean War had ended several years before, the Vietnam War had yet to begin, and Americans enjoyed a rare combination of peace and affluence. A new phenomenon called “Rock and Roll” was appealing to American youth, and cities were experiencing a mass exodus, as many Americans entered the middle class for the first time and bought homes in the suburbs, and inevitably had children, lots and lots of children. And then there were the automobiles. Detroit certainly enjoyed the ‘50s, as the suburban American required an automobile to go almost everywhere.

Americans also found their attention increasingly turning to football. The 1957 iteration of “The Game” was notable, from a Michigan perspective, for only one thing: It marked the first time in the series that game attendance exceeded 100,000, which later became the standard for the rivalry.

As for the game itself, Michigan actually fared very well in the first half, leading at halftime, 14-10. The second half belonged to the Buckeyes, who scored three touchdowns to win, 31-14, but the game wasn’t the romp that score would seem to indicate. The Wolverines, led by Jim Pace, took a 7-0 lead when Pace scored on a 16-yard run. Ohio State responded promptly and tied the game on a Dick LeBeau run. (Yes, that Dick LeBeau, long-time Steelers defensive assistant.) Ohio State kicked a field goal a three-point lead, but when Jim Van Pelt connected with Brad Myers for a touchdown, Michigan went in at halftime with a 14-10 lead. Early in the third quarter, LeBeau put Ohio State ahead for good. Pace led Michigan with 164 yards on 22 carries, but it wasn’t enough, as the Buckeyes’ victory sent them to the Rose Bowl, where they beat Oregon 10-7, to claim the national championship, while Michigan finished with a 5-3-1 record.

So the ’57 football campaign ended poorly for everyone in the Great Lakes State, right? Well, not really. For once, Michiganders got a boost from their NFL team, and they rejoiced as their Lions trounced the Cleveland Browns, 59-14, to win the NFL championship. The championship also served to soothe the Wolverines’ loss to Ohio State, if not serve as outright revenge.
Couldn’t find any video of that game, so that will have to wait until next time.

Posted on

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #04 – 11/23/2015 – X-Posed

“Let’s Go X!  Let’s Go X!  Let’s Go X!”  There were about 1000 loud and rowdy Xavier fans, and they were having a great time cheering for their team, since they were manhandling Michigan.  Michigan was X-Posed.

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, and they won one and lost the other. On Monday (11/16/2015), UM beat Elon 88-68, then on Friday (11/20/2015), they lost to Xavier 86-70. Both games were in Crisler Arena. The win and the loss leave Michigan with a record of 2-1.

There isn’t much to say about the Elon game. They’re a “cupcake”, and Michigan didn’t have much trouble putting them away. We didn’t learn anything about Michigan in this game.

The more interesting, and troubling, game was against Xavier. Michigan was exposed as overrated. Even though Michigan matched up pretty well with Xavier height-wise, they got out-rebounded, out-muscled, and out-hustled. From the very first play of the game, Xavier drove through the UM defense, and did whatever they wanted under the basket. In the first 10 seconds, a Xavier player put his head down and drove right through the UM defense, laid the ball in, and drew a foul. It was a sign of things to come. Xavier owned the boards, shot well from outside, and beat Michigan in every phase of the game. They got off to a quick 7-0 lead, but UM fought back, and managed to tie the game up 10-10. The lead went back and forth, with Michigan leading by as much as 4 points (16-12), until there was 3:52 left in the 1st half. At that point, the game was tied at 32-32, when the roof fell in. Xavier went on a 13-4 run to end the half up 45-36, and Michigan never led or tied the score again. The Xavier lead was around 5-7 points for most of the 2nd half, although UM did get as close as 2 points a couple of times (56-54 with 12:14 left, and 61-59 with 9:59 left) before Xavier put the game out of reach.

For most of his time in Ann Arbor, Coach Beilein has worked with a short bench, a young team, and few big men. This season, he has a long bench, an experienced team, and 4 viable big men. Those big men were all exposed as weak defensively in this game. Even with 4 big men, they were all in foul trouble for most of the game. Michigan committed their 10th team foul of the 1st half with 2:32 left, and 8 of those 10 fouls were against the 4 big men, 2 on each. Xavier kept driving, and the only way the Michigan big men could stop them was by fouling. When Beilein started using double teams to stop the bleeding inside, Xavier took advantage with wide open 3-pointers, which they hit. The weakness inside led to the barrage of Xavier 3-pointers outside. It was a lose-lose situation.

So, is the season doomed? Now that every team on the schedule has seen a blueprint for how to beat Michigan, what can Beilein do? At least half of the Big Ten teams are better than Xavier. Maybe Michigan will get a refereeing crew that knows what a charge is. Maybe Beilein can shore up the interior defense. Maybe one of the big men will emerge as a reliable defender. If not, it looks like a long season.

Stats

The stats for the Elon game look a lot like the stats for the previous 2 games vs. cupcakes. UM shot pretty well overall (31-for-60 = 51.7%), they shot very well from 3-point range (13-for-24 = 54.2%), and they shot very well from the free-throw line (13-for-15 = 86.7%). They won the rebounding battle (32-27) and the turnover battle (11-17). They were dominant, which is why they won by 20 points.

On the other hand, the stats for the Xavier game are not very impressive. UM shot pretty poorly overall (21-for-52 = 40.4%), they shot pretty poorly from 3-point range (10-for-26 = 38.5%), and they shot pretty poorly from the free-throw line (18-for-26 = 69.2%). The big stats weren’t shooting stats, but rebounding and turnovers. UM got hammered on the boards (47-29), and lost the turnover battle as well (11-9). That’s 20 extra possessions for Xavier, which is why they shot 14 more shots than Michigan.

Individually, Beilein went with the same starting lineup as in the exhibition and Northern Michigan games for the Elon game: Kameron Chatman, Aubrey Dawkins, Mark Donnal, Caris LeVert, and Derrick Walton Jr.
Zak Irvin had been recuperating from pre-season back surgery, so he didn’t play in the exhibition or NMU games, but he did come off the bench for 15 minutes of action vs. Elon. He looked recuperated enough to start vs. Xavier, in place of Chatman. Now that Irvin’s available to start, that is Beilein’s preferred starting lineup.

Of the starters, only LeVert hit double figures in both games, with 11 points vs. Elon, and 29 points vs. Xavier. Walton was the only other starter to hit double figures in one game, with a career-high 24 points vs. Elon, and 4 points vs. Xavier. The other starters didn’t do much scoring: Chatman had 6 points vs. Elon, and didn’t start in the Xavier game, Dawkins had 7 and 5 points, Donnal had 6 and 0 points, and Irvin had 7 points vs. Xavier, and didn’t start in the Elon game. That’s not very good scoring balance.

The bench chipped in a few points: Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had 2 and 0 points, Spike Albrecht had 0 and 5, Ricky Doyle had 8 and 3, Duncan Robinson had 19 and 9, Moritz Wagner had 0 and 2, and DJ Wilson had 5 and 3. Robinson’s 19 points are a career high for him at Michigan, although he did score 30 points in one game for his previous team, (Division III) Williams College.

This Week

This week, Michigan plays three games in three days, all in Nassau (Bahamas), in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. On Wednesday (11/25/2015, 9:30 p.m., AXS TV), they play (#19) Connecticut. On Thursday (11/26/2015, 3:30 p.m./9:30 p.m., ESPN/AXS TV), they play either Charlotte or Syracuse. On Friday (11/27/2015, TBA, TBA), they play a team from the other side of the bracket ([#10] Gonzaga, Texas, Texas A&M, or Washington).

There are a couple tough teams in this tournament (UConn and Gonzaga), but now that UM has been exposed, every team they play will be a tough game. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if UM went 0-3 in this tournament. They might be able to beat Charlotte, but that’s about it.

Tune by to see how they do, if you can find any of their games on TV, and check back next week to see what happened, and why.

Go Blue!