In 1996 [EDIT: eating some cereal.  I realized that Biakabutuka could not have had his big season in '96... and it was the reference of Michigan beating OSU at home in '97, that made me feel like foo! 1995], TB rushed for 1,818 yards, still the single-season Michigan record.  TB also has the second highest total for rushing yardage in a single game, not that you don’t already know that.  The 313.  Not sure what area code that is, although it seems familiar.  That’s the single-game performance that TB dropped on the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes on one late November day.

I can already see it.  I’ll be talking about that game when I’m old, crinkly, and crusty.  I was there with my dad, 13 years old.  Dad had no confidence that Michigan even had a shot to keep it close that day.  Farmer in Carhartts next to him says Michigan will win, no problem.  The farmer was calm as could be, almost as if he was bored with the minutes and action leading up to Michigan spilling out of the tunnel and eventually kickoff.

Not to slight the greatness of Chris Perry, Anthony Thomas, Tyrone Wheatley, or Mike Hart.  But go ahead and remind yourself how good Biakabutuka was, maybe the best we’ve seen in a long time.

Week 1 – Washington at Michigan – VIDEO
Michigan beats the Washington Huskies on opening day at the Big House. I can remember walking back to the car assuming sure defeat – then the horns. People were dancin’ on their horns because Michigan puts an improbable field goal through as time expires for the victory.

Week 2 – Houston at Michigan – INFO
This wasn’t exactly a great game – although now I’m sure every Michigan fan would take ANY blowout. But if you look at Week 2 games – there are lots of losses and ugly wins sprinkled in throughout – two to ND, two to Pac 10 teams, bad wins against MAC teams, etc.

Shawn Crable

Week 4 – Wisconsin at Michigan – HD VIDEO
The lone bright spot of the Rich Rod’s first season at Michigan. The greatest comeback in the history of Michigan Stadium. The first half was just a waste of everyone’s time – the offense blew, and I mean real bad. But things got going late in the third quarter with some help from Wisconsin and before you knew – Michigan is winning 27-19 and pulls out the W 27-25.

See below the tables for the rest of the game descriptions…

Week 5 – Michigan at Michigan State – VIDEO
MSU came into the game 4-0 and favored in the game for the first time since 1968. Michigan winds up getting a 21-7 lead before MSU came back to tie the game. Michigan then gets up 31-24 and midway through the 4th quarter a Henne fumble gets picked up and taken to the house. Rivas ends up hitting a field goal in OT to win the game.

Week 6 – Michigan at Penn State – VIDEO
The first overtime game ever at Michigan Stadium. If you watch the video, you’ll see that there are a number of plays where the refs miss some calls that did not help Michigan in any way. Michigan winds up down 13-7 at the end of the third quarter. Michigan then gets jobbed out of what was clearly a pass interference on Braylon Edwards. Nevertheless, Navarre ends up hitting Edwards on a fade pattern in the left side of the end zone. PSU gets up again 21-14 and Michigan ties and and gets the W in OT.

Mario Manningham

Week 8 – Michigan at Iowa – VIDEO
A gutsy comeback in Kinnick Stadium against the Hawkeyes of Iowa. The boys in blue were down 13 in the second half and things were looking rather ugly. The offense couldn’t get anything going all day until late in the 2nd half. Marquise Walker makes one of the most spectacular catches I’ve ever witnessed. Great win on the road.

Braylon Edwards

Week 10 – Michigan at Michigan State – VIDEO
Michigan comes out of the gates playing well, but eventually finds themselves down 24-14 midway through the forth quarter. Henne throws one of the best passes of his career to Greg Matthews in the corner of the end zone to put the Wolverines down 3. A quick stop from Michigan’s defense and Henne takes the boys back down field for an eventual beauty to Mario Manningham for the win.

Week 11 – Penn State at Michigan – VIDEO
Not a whole lot to choose from when considering Week 11 games. This was a solid victory led by Drew Henson, Anthony Thomas and BJ Askew. The 4th straight win in a row over Penn State – who would have thought that streak was going to last all the way up to 2008.

Week 12 – Michigan at Ohio State – VIDEO
Let’s see. One opponent fills Week 12. The win in 2003 was great at home. Gotta go with Michigan’s last road win in Columbus. Enough said.

Bowl Game – Michigan vs. Florida – HD VIDEO
A great way to send off Lloyd Carr in his final game on the sidelines. A back and forth game that saw Mike Hart fumble twice, Chad Henne make some unbelievable throws, Adrian Arrington make some sick catches, Mario Manningham come up big, and Jamar Adams LIGHT up Tim Tebow a couple times. Michigan has owned the SEC in recent years, unlike ugly down in Ohio.

1. Dadrian Taylor almost killed the man. The hardest, most violent hit I’ve ever been witness to in my life. Start watching this video at 2:25 to relive the hit that set the tone for Michigan on their way to a great day in Happy Valley.

2. Marlin Jackson put’s down a Purdue wideout in an open field collision.

3. Ernest Shazor puts a mean lick on Purdue’s speedy freshman wideout Dorian Bryant – granting Michigan the 16-14 win in West Lafeyette. Right at the 7:00 mark is the play where Shazor gets it done for the Wolverines.

4. David Boston. Apparently, back in 1997 Charles Woodson thought he was a joke – aaaand he was right! Great hit put on Boston towards the end of the game by Marcus Ray. For the hit, go to the 5:40 mark in the below video..

5. Against Baylor in ’97 – Woodson winds up and drops a guy on a little pitch out to the receiver split wide. Start watching at about 1:40.

6. During Lloyd Carr’s final game, Jamar Adams laid several licks on Florida’s Tim Tebow. Watch the whole short video and you will see a few. The great one starts about 25 seconds into the video.

I KNOW there are more hits that are worthy of being on this list. I’ll be adding more as my brain dials into some past games. Let me know what needs to be added!!

After DeAndra Cobb busted out for his second long touchdown run of the game to put Michigan State 17 points ahead of Michigan midway through the fourth quarter, the Spartans’ defense was dancing on the sidelines, confident that their first victory in Ann Arbor since 1990 was just around the
corner.

Instead, the Spartans fell victim to arguably the greatest comeback in the history of Michigan Stadium, as Michigan scored 17 points in the final 6:27 to force overtime before overcoming Michigan State 45-37 in three overtimes.

Senior wide receiver Braylon Edwards keyed the comeback, catching fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 36 and 21 yards and catching a 24-yard touchdown on the second play of the third overtime to give the Wolverines (8-1, 6-0) the lead for good. Edwards ended up catching 11 balls for 189 yards, providing most of Chad Henne’s 273 passing yards.

Before that though, it looked as if the Spartans (4-4, 3-2) were going to pull the upset. Michigan State riddled a previously stout Michigan defense for 535 yards, including 368 on the ground. Most of those yards came on draw plays to Cobb, who ran for 205 yards on 22 carries. Cobb started off the scoring with a 72-yard touchdown run off a draw play on Michigan State’s first drive and added a 64-yarder for a score to put the Spartans up 27-10 with 8:43 left in regulation.

The Spartans extended a 17-10 halftime lead to 27-10 early in the fourth despite the loss of quarterback Drew Stanton, who separated his shoulder when Michigan defensive end LaMarr Woodley slammed him into the turf late in the second quarter. Before that, Stanton was dicing up the Wolverines, running for 80 yards and a touchdown and throwing for 95 yards.

After Cobb’s fourth-quarter touchdown, the Wolverines drove 86 yards to the Michigan State 7 thanks to several big runs by Michael Hart, who ran for over 200 yards for the third straight game in netting 224 yards on 35 carries and a first-quarter touchdown. Garrett Rivas kicked a 24-yard field goal with 6:27 left to make the score 27-13 but fullback Brian Thompson recovered Michigan’s ensuing onside kick to keep hope alive.

Edwards scored his first touchdown 15 seconds later, jumping over Spartan cornerback Jaren Hayes to suddenly bring Michigan within 27-20 with 6:12 left. He pulled the trick again at the 2:59 mark on the 21-yard touchdown, while Michigan State missed a field goal at the end of regulation to win the game.

The teams exchanged field goals in the first overtime and touchdowns in the second, with Jason Teague running in from 3 yards out for MSU and Jason Avant catching a tip-toe 5-yard touchdown pass for Michigan. After Edwards’ third touchdown and an ensuing 2-point conversion pass to tight end Tim Massaquoi. MSU went four and out on the next possession, as the Wolverines tortured the Spartans yet again.

Michigan was of course huge underdogs – as the buckeyes were ranked #2 in the country with the Heisman winner Eddie George – and other names like Olrando Pace, Terry Glenn, Mike Vrabel and Shawn Springs to name a few.

Before gameday UM had Terry Glenn to thank as he says this, “We should keep Michigan down here where dey belong just like da resta dem teams and go up there and just…kick dey but like we did everybody else.”

“BIAKABATUKA!”
Biakabutuka was THE man on that November Saturday rolling up over 300 yards – 195 by halftime! Play after play, 10 yards, 15 yards, 31 yards – chunk after chunk Michigan’s running attack chewed up that buckeye D. Woodson really starts to make a name for himself by picking off two Hoying passes and one that sealed the victory. Man – hell of a day to be a Michigan Wolverine!

Michigan spoils a Rose Bowl Berth, perfect season and possible national championship for the buckeyes – ultimately sending OSU to the Citrus Bowl and Northwestern to the Rose Bowl.

The beginning memories of watching Michigan was in the early nineties, during Desmond Howard’s run of a couple great seasons as a wolverine. As of right now, these plays are in no particular order. As more Big House memories come back to me, I will assemble the list, and what a top ten list it will be!

Desmond Howard’s diving catch on 4th and 1 to put Michigan ahead of Notre Dame 21-14 midway through the fourth quarter

Mr. Charles Woodson picks off a pass that MSU QB Jeff Schultz was simply trying to throw out of bounds. This was a play that truly showed the Michigan faithful and the rest of the country what an amazing athlete Chuck Woodson was. Amazing play – definitely has it’s place on this list.

Desmond does it again – takes a punt to the house back in those beautiful nineties when Michigan owned Columbus. Desmond had some great plays during this game. Catching a deep ball from Elvis Grbac with two defenders draped all over him. What a great day to be a Michigan Wolverine!

The 1995 season opener against Virginia – down 17-0 going into the 4th quarter. Michigan fights there way back. Here’s how the final set of downs happened. 1st down – Incomplete. 2nd down – Incomplete. Sigh. 3rd down – Ball goes right through the hands of Tyrone Butterfield into the air – luckily it’s not intercepted. 4th down – Mercury Hayes in the back of the end zone on a fade route!! But did he get a foot down? YES!!

It was a bit of a tough season already not living up to expectations and losing to Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and a terrible loss to a Minnesota team that had no business beating the Wolverines in the Big House. Just when it looked like it would be two losses in a row – Stevie Breaston gets a good return and Manningham makes a HUGE catch on a slant in the back of the end zone on a rope thrown by Henne.

Bad video quality – but simply an amazing catch by Marquise Walker on a ball that John Navarre threw high and hard.

This is Charles Woodson solidifying his claim as the best player in the country. Another great day to be a Michigan Wolverine.