Like many of you guys, I’m a big fan of Wolverine Historian’s YouTube archives and the ability to relive numerous Michigan wins over the years. But like any good Michigan fan, WH hasn’t compiled game clips of some of the biggest games UM played in where we came out on the losing end. So a couple of weeks ago, while clearly in a self masochistic phase, I went on a journey through YouTube to see if I could find a good way to painfully rewatch some of the most significant Michigan losses through the years. I established a few criteria I was looking for, namely:
- The videos had to be “fair and balanced” - I wasn’t interested in watching an OSU fan’s splicing of a Michigan loss that showed all of the scores against Michigan and none of the true context, back and forth of the game. My goal was to come as close to reliving the game as possible.
- The games had to be pretty big/historically significant - I may have been feeling self masochistic but there was no need in any way, shape or form to rewatch duds like the Toledo 2008 loss or the forgotten poop show vs. Wisconsin in 1994.
- The games had to be something I had only seen one time (the day the game was played, either in person or on TV), rather than some insane endless loop of clips that had been drilled in my head by BTN, ESPN and others. This thankfully ruled out the 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2016 OSU games and the 2015 MSU game.
The only exception I made was the Hail Mary game vs. Colorado because I had to go back and see just how many chances we had to finish that game before the final 6 seconds took place.
After some searching I came across a YouTube poster named SteelBuck6. Obviously it’s clear what team this individual roots for but to his credit, he’s a huge NCAAF fan going back 40+ years. He’s taken tons of games, some involving Michigan (including some great wins like 85-86 vs OSU and all of our Rose Bowl wins) but most not, and condensed them all to about 40 minutes showing nearly every single play within the game as it was broadcasted.
There’s no editing out of key moments or diminishing the plays made by one team at the expense of the other. I highly recommend checking it out if you want to get lost in some great college football games from the 70’s onward.
Because his focus was largely on big national games and OSU games, there’s nothing in there on UM-MSU which is probably just as well, as I only *kinda/sorta* wanted to painfully relive the 1990 debacle all over again, and wanted no part of 1993, 1999 or Clockgate.
Ok, so what did I actually view and what were my takeaways? For the games below, I’ve ranked each on a 1-4 star basis. 4 stars means that it was both a great game AND a game that we absolutely, positively should have won and should feel terrible about not doing so.
The fewer number of stars, the less “bad” I feel about the loss in the sense that upon rewatching, it was obvious that either we were outmatched or we were never nearly in as much control as I thought and therefore shouldn’t have been as surprised that we lost the game in question. Here’s what I’ve got with some commentary. If you enjoy torturing yourself with bad memories, read on:
4 stars
- 1988 Miami (L 31-30)
- 1990 Notre Dame (L 28-24)
- 2002 Ohio State (L 14-9)
Comments: The Miami game - yikes, that was a 30-14 lead with 7:30 min to go before we completely imploded. I had remembered Michigan being down early and then taking over in the 2nd half, but upon rewatch we really started taking over in the 2nd quarter and were up 20-14 by half. The final 3 minutes included a TD pass by MIA on 4th and 2, followed by a UM INT on the tying 2 point conversion, an insanely successful onside kick by MIA and the game winning FG with under 1 min left.
That said, the Notre Dame and OSU games felt worse because we straight up dominated both of those games for longer stretches than Miami even if the scoreboard didn’t completely reflect it. People remember Desmond for his 1991 ND game performance, but he was actually much more dominant in the 1990 game and John Vaughn ran for over 200 yards.
And the 2002 OSU game - good lord, we moved the ball on them all game while they had two drives and a ton of punts. We 100% should have won that game and I can only wonder how much different the Tressel era would have been had we won in 02 and followed that up with the win in 03. Of all the games I watched, 2002 OSU was the most gut wrenching of the bunch and really is the one we should bitch about more instead of 06 (where OSU moved the ball at will) and 16 (where we couldn’t move the ball at all in the 4th quarter when we needed to close out the game).
3 stars
- 1988 Notre Dame (L 19-17)
- 1994 Colorado (L 27-26)
- 2003 Oregon (L 31-27)
Comments: One interesting thing about the Colorado game is actually how little of it we dominated compared to my original memory. We were down 14-3 deep in the 2nd quarter and thoroughly outplayed before we closed to 14-9 with a late TD before half. We came out blazing in the 3rd quarter and outscored CU 17-0 to take a 26-14 lead into the 4th.
We had one drive early in the 4th where we should have scored at least 3, but Che Foster fumbled inside the 15. After that, we did nothing and CU kept moving the ball downfield. The only reason the game even went to a Hail Mary and wasn’t threatened earlier was because Kordell Stewart fumbled at the goal line going in for a TD with about 5 minutes to go.
If you want to see the dumbest Michigan game ever, go back and watch the 2003 Oregon game. We gave up 31 points, 14 of which were due to a punt return for a TD and a blocked punt returned for another TD. Then we had ANOTHER blocked punt that led directly to a short field TD. 21 points because of the punting team is insane. Even crazier was that after crapping ourselves all over the field for most of the game, we scored an apparent garbage touchdown and then recovered the onside kick with less than a minute left and a chance to win.
Of course, this would have been a lot easier to pull off if we had been down by 3 points instead of 4 but.......we missed an XP on our first TD and stalled out around the Oregon 40 to end the game. Also from the Department of Insanity: We ran 3 offensive plays for the entire first quarter. This was the game that most likely cost Chris Perry the Heisman Trophy, as he was completely held in check on national TV against an otherwise mediocre defense after starting the year on fire.
2 stars
- 1985 Iowa (L 12-10)
- 1989 Notre Dame (L 24-19)
- 2004 Texas (L 38-37)
Comments: These were all really good back and forth affairs, but in each case it’s tough to say that Michigan *should* have won the game as they were not clearly the better team either during game play or for the balance of the season. The Iowa game is the most 1970’s/1980’s Big Ten game ever: 3 yards and a cloud of dust and insane excitement from the fans every time a QB went back to pass, just because they were happy to see a pass. Balas often rues Brad Cochran’s dropped INT but there was still nearly 5 min left in the game when that happened. The way we weren’t moving the ball offensively, we probably would have punted and given Iowa one more shot to win.
The Notre Dame game is still all about Rocket Ismail (as well as the welcome to UM party for Elvis Grbac) and the Texas game doesn’t hurt as much seeing as how Vince Young did the exact same thing to USC the next year.
1 star
- 1991 Florida State (L 51-31)
- 1991 Washington (L 34-14)
- 1998 Ohio State (L 31-16)
Comments: The only interesting thing about the FSU/Washington games is actually how long we hung in there before the roof caved in. For FSU, we scored a TD with around 5 min left to get to within 44-31 and then recovered the onside kick. Another quick score and we might have been in business. Alas, a defensive sack/forced fumble recovery for a TD squashed that idea. This may have been Grbac’s worst game ever, but the first half is a fun watch when we closed to within 25-23, before giving up a late TD to trail 31-23.
And against Washington, the roof didn’t really cave in until late in the 3rd, far later than I originally recalled. Our D played Washington tough until they wore down, including 2 INT’s of Billy Joe Hobert in the first half. In hindsight, this was the game when Ricky Powers lost his job forever to Tyrone Wheatley and our offensive line got mauled in part because Steve Everitt missed the game with an injury.
- The videos had to be “fair and balanced” - I wasn’t interested in watching an OSU fan’s splicing of a Michigan loss that showed all of the scores against Michigan and none of the true context, back and forth of the game. My goal was to come as close to reliving the game as possible.
- The games had to be pretty big/historically significant - I may have been feeling self masochistic but there was no need in any way, shape or form to rewatch duds like the Toledo 2008 loss or the forgotten poop show vs. Wisconsin in 1994.
- The games had to be something I had only seen one time (the day the game was played, either in person or on TV), rather than some insane endless loop of clips that had been drilled in my head by BTN, ESPN and others. This thankfully ruled out the 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2016 OSU games and the 2015 MSU game.
The only exception I made was the Hail Mary game vs. Colorado because I had to go back and see just how many chances we had to finish that game before the final 6 seconds took place.
After some searching I came across a YouTube poster named SteelBuck6. Obviously it’s clear what team this individual roots for but to his credit, he’s a huge NCAAF fan going back 40+ years. He’s taken tons of games, some involving Michigan (including some great wins like 85-86 vs OSU and all of our Rose Bowl wins) but most not, and condensed them all to about 40 minutes showing nearly every single play within the game as it was broadcasted.
There’s no editing out of key moments or diminishing the plays made by one team at the expense of the other. I highly recommend checking it out if you want to get lost in some great college football games from the 70’s onward.
Because his focus was largely on big national games and OSU games, there’s nothing in there on UM-MSU which is probably just as well, as I only *kinda/sorta* wanted to painfully relive the 1990 debacle all over again, and wanted no part of 1993, 1999 or Clockgate.
Ok, so what did I actually view and what were my takeaways? For the games below, I’ve ranked each on a 1-4 star basis. 4 stars means that it was both a great game AND a game that we absolutely, positively should have won and should feel terrible about not doing so.
The fewer number of stars, the less “bad” I feel about the loss in the sense that upon rewatching, it was obvious that either we were outmatched or we were never nearly in as much control as I thought and therefore shouldn’t have been as surprised that we lost the game in question. Here’s what I’ve got with some commentary. If you enjoy torturing yourself with bad memories, read on:
4 stars
- 1988 Miami (L 31-30)
- 1990 Notre Dame (L 28-24)
- 2002 Ohio State (L 14-9)
Comments: The Miami game - yikes, that was a 30-14 lead with 7:30 min to go before we completely imploded. I had remembered Michigan being down early and then taking over in the 2nd half, but upon rewatch we really started taking over in the 2nd quarter and were up 20-14 by half. The final 3 minutes included a TD pass by MIA on 4th and 2, followed by a UM INT on the tying 2 point conversion, an insanely successful onside kick by MIA and the game winning FG with under 1 min left.
That said, the Notre Dame and OSU games felt worse because we straight up dominated both of those games for longer stretches than Miami even if the scoreboard didn’t completely reflect it. People remember Desmond for his 1991 ND game performance, but he was actually much more dominant in the 1990 game and John Vaughn ran for over 200 yards.
And the 2002 OSU game - good lord, we moved the ball on them all game while they had two drives and a ton of punts. We 100% should have won that game and I can only wonder how much different the Tressel era would have been had we won in 02 and followed that up with the win in 03. Of all the games I watched, 2002 OSU was the most gut wrenching of the bunch and really is the one we should bitch about more instead of 06 (where OSU moved the ball at will) and 16 (where we couldn’t move the ball at all in the 4th quarter when we needed to close out the game).
3 stars
- 1988 Notre Dame (L 19-17)
- 1994 Colorado (L 27-26)
- 2003 Oregon (L 31-27)
Comments: One interesting thing about the Colorado game is actually how little of it we dominated compared to my original memory. We were down 14-3 deep in the 2nd quarter and thoroughly outplayed before we closed to 14-9 with a late TD before half. We came out blazing in the 3rd quarter and outscored CU 17-0 to take a 26-14 lead into the 4th.
We had one drive early in the 4th where we should have scored at least 3, but Che Foster fumbled inside the 15. After that, we did nothing and CU kept moving the ball downfield. The only reason the game even went to a Hail Mary and wasn’t threatened earlier was because Kordell Stewart fumbled at the goal line going in for a TD with about 5 minutes to go.
If you want to see the dumbest Michigan game ever, go back and watch the 2003 Oregon game. We gave up 31 points, 14 of which were due to a punt return for a TD and a blocked punt returned for another TD. Then we had ANOTHER blocked punt that led directly to a short field TD. 21 points because of the punting team is insane. Even crazier was that after crapping ourselves all over the field for most of the game, we scored an apparent garbage touchdown and then recovered the onside kick with less than a minute left and a chance to win.
Of course, this would have been a lot easier to pull off if we had been down by 3 points instead of 4 but.......we missed an XP on our first TD and stalled out around the Oregon 40 to end the game. Also from the Department of Insanity: We ran 3 offensive plays for the entire first quarter. This was the game that most likely cost Chris Perry the Heisman Trophy, as he was completely held in check on national TV against an otherwise mediocre defense after starting the year on fire.
2 stars
- 1985 Iowa (L 12-10)
- 1989 Notre Dame (L 24-19)
- 2004 Texas (L 38-37)
Comments: These were all really good back and forth affairs, but in each case it’s tough to say that Michigan *should* have won the game as they were not clearly the better team either during game play or for the balance of the season. The Iowa game is the most 1970’s/1980’s Big Ten game ever: 3 yards and a cloud of dust and insane excitement from the fans every time a QB went back to pass, just because they were happy to see a pass. Balas often rues Brad Cochran’s dropped INT but there was still nearly 5 min left in the game when that happened. The way we weren’t moving the ball offensively, we probably would have punted and given Iowa one more shot to win.
The Notre Dame game is still all about Rocket Ismail (as well as the welcome to UM party for Elvis Grbac) and the Texas game doesn’t hurt as much seeing as how Vince Young did the exact same thing to USC the next year.
1 star
- 1991 Florida State (L 51-31)
- 1991 Washington (L 34-14)
- 1998 Ohio State (L 31-16)
Comments: The only interesting thing about the FSU/Washington games is actually how long we hung in there before the roof caved in. For FSU, we scored a TD with around 5 min left to get to within 44-31 and then recovered the onside kick. Another quick score and we might have been in business. Alas, a defensive sack/forced fumble recovery for a TD squashed that idea. This may have been Grbac’s worst game ever, but the first half is a fun watch when we closed to within 25-23, before giving up a late TD to trail 31-23.
And against Washington, the roof didn’t really cave in until late in the 3rd, far later than I originally recalled. Our D played Washington tough until they wore down, including 2 INT’s of Billy Joe Hobert in the first half. In hindsight, this was the game when Ricky Powers lost his job forever to Tyrone Wheatley and our offensive line got mauled in part because Steve Everitt missed the game with an injury.
