Category: Football

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Looking Back — Michigan Football Season Openers – 2011 Western Michigan

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins

The fourth installment in this week’s series looking back at opening games takes us to 2011.

Michigan had been trying to recapture the magic of the late 1990s for an entire decade. In 2008, the Wolverines hired Rich Rodriguez with the thought that his spread offense would narrow the gap between Michigan and many of the prevailing powerhouses in college football at that time. Rodriguez was an innovator, but once the college football community caught up to his spread offense, he had little else to offer.

Enter Brady Hoke, a coach who warmed the hearts of Michigan traditionalists everywhere. Hoke had been a defensive line coach at Michigan, and his teams were known for defense. He brought former Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison with him, and the hearts of Old Blues everywhere were suddenly as warm as an overcooked bratwurst. For those yearning for a return to tradition, this was the answer.

Hoke possessed a midwestern charm that was magic on the recruiting trail. High school coaches throughout Michigan and Ohio welcomed him with open arms, and recruits responded favorably to his personality.

Western Michigan was the opponent in the 2011 season opener. The game started with renewed optimism, but Western Michigan struck first, driving 74 yards for an early touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. It didn’t last long. Michigan tied the score on a 16-play touchdown drive. The fans learned Brandon Herron’s name.

Herron, a fifth-year linebacker from Texas, returned an interception 94 yards for a touchdown to start the party. He kept the party going by returning a fumble 29 yards for another touchdown, courtesy of a jarring hit on the quarterback by safety Jordan Kovacs. If the season had ended after the first game, he would have merited consideration for the All-America team. By halftime, Michigan led 20-10, and the competitive portion of the game was over. However, the second half proved to be interesting for unexpected reasons.

A sudden deluge drenched the stadium, with rain flowing sideways. After a brief rain delay, Michigan took solid control of the game, and Michael Shaw ended the scoring with a 44-yard touchdown run. After lightning struck on a later Michigan possession, officials ended the game. Michigan won by a final score of 34-10, giving Brady Hoke and the Wolverines a win in one of the most unique opening games in school history.

Thanks to YouTube, ESPN, and YouTube poster WolverineDevotee for the highlights below. As always, neither I nor anyone involved with this website owns anything, and we do not profit from this blog post.

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Looking Back — Michigan Football Season Openers – 1995 Virginia

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins

The third installment in this week’s series looking back at opening games takes us to 1995.

Gary Moeller’s tenure as head coach at Michigan ended abruptly. Simply put, the program was in turmoil, and it’s difficult to remember just how dark the mood was around the Michigan football program following Moeller’s resignation. That was the environment in which Lloyd Carr began his tenure as the new Michigan head football coach.

Initially, Michigan hired Carr as head coach on an interim basis. He started his tenure as head coach with a passionate speech about the pressures of the job at his first press conference. Despite those challenges, few interim coaches achieved as much success as Carr.

The 1995 season began on a brutally hot day at home in Michigan Stadium, in the Pigskin Classic against the Virginia Cavaliers. Oddsmakers expected Michigan to win the game handily, but Virginia proved an extremely tenacious opponent. Mike Groh scored on a quarterback keeper to give the Wahoos the early lead, and then Tiki Barber broke a tackle and outraced Chucky Winters to extend Virginia’s margin. After Virginia kicked a field goal, Michigan was trailing by a whopping 17 points, and it looked like the Carr era was off to a rocky start.

Trailing by a wide margin in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines suddenly woke up and started playing Michigan football. Quarterback Scott Dreisbach connected a couple of times with Mercury Hayes, with Hayes wrestling the ball away from Ronde Barber on the second pass to give the Wolverines first down and goal to go at the Virginia 3-yard line. Dreisbach then handed off to Ed Davis, who ran right up the middle for a touchdown, and the Wolverines started to seize the momentum. On a later possession, Dreisbach was under pressure and barely got the pass off to Hayes, who scampered down the sideline for a touchdown, and Michigan was within one score, though time was not on the Wolverines’ side.

The clock started to work against Michigan, limiting the Wolverines’ time for a comeback. Finally, it all came down to one play. Four seconds to go. Fourth down, with the ball on the Virginia 15-yard line. Michigan had to have a touchdown on this play, or Lloyd Carr would lose in his first game as Michigan’s head coach.

Dreisbach took the snap and threw a fade pass into the corner of the north end zone, where Hayes caught the ball and narrowly managed to get one foot in bounds. Touchdown, Michigan!

The victory was arguably the most exciting win of any season-opening game in Michigan history. Carr’s first team defeated Ohio State to end the regular season, and the university named him the head coach and removed the “interim” tag. He enjoyed an excellent career at Michigan, leading the team to a perfect season and the Associated Press national championship in 1997. Carr coached the Wolverines for 13 seasons, and many coaches would be thrilled to have his record as a head coach.

Thanks for YouTube, ABC Sports, and YouTube poster Rxwolverine2 for the highlight film included below. As always, neither I nor anyone associated with umgoblue.com own anything, and we do not profit from this blog post.

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Looking Back — Michigan Football Season Openers – 1990 Notre Dame

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins

The second installment of this week’s series looking back at season opening games takes us to 1990.

Gary Moeller was the new head coach, but he wasn’t new to the Michigan coaching staff. Moeller had served two stints as an assistant coach at Michigan with a three-season stint as Illinois head coach in between. He brought both head coaching experience and continuity with the existing Michigan staff. On the surface, it looked like a win-win.

Unfortunately, Moeller’s tenure as Michigan head coach started with a loss. Michigan started the 1990 season at Notre Dame, always a tough opponent. Then again, so is Michigan. After Notre Dame grabbed a 14-3 lead, the Wolverines gradually fought their way back, bit by bit, and by the end of the third quarter Michigan had taken a 24-14 lead, and maize and blue hearts everywhere were smiling.

Trailing by 11 points, Elvis Grbac connected with Desmond Howard for a 44-yard touchdown on a play action pass to pull the Wolverines within four points by halftime. Things continued in the same vein as the third quarter began. Grbac used the play action pass several times to freeze the Notre Dame linebackers in their tracks and give Howard time to get open. Later in the game, Grbac connected with Howard, and the receiver scooted 25 yards down the sideline to give Michigan a 24-14 lead. At that point, things were looking pretty good for the Wolverines.

But if there’s one truth about the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry, it’s that many games in the series go down to the wire. Notre Dame got some momentum back on a tipped pass that ended in a completion that could certainly be deemed lucky. Still, Michigan came back and was driving when Grbac threw a pass that was intercepted in the end zone by Michael Stonebreaker.

Michigan continued to battle, but by this point, it certainly seemed like fate was on Notre Dame’s side. Finally, with 1:40 left in the game, Rick Mirer connected with Adrian Jarrell for an 18-yard touchdown pass, and Notre Dame topped Michigan, 28-24. The shame is that the game easily could have gone Michigan’s way, had one or two plays gone differently.

Michigan went on to finish with a record of nine wins and three losses, routing Ole Miss in the Gator Bowl, 35-3. Moeller’s teams had their moments during his tenure, notably a win at Notre Dame in the closing seconds in 1994, but the 1990 opener ended with Notre Dame on top.

Thanks to Michigan Replay and YouTube poster Rxwolverine for the highlight video from Michigan Replay. As always, neither I nor anyone associated with this website own anything, and we do not profit in any way from this blog post.