Why Michigan's greatest upset over Buckeyes shows history can repeat: OSU ‘ain’t (bleep)’

Orion Sang | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Michigan football surging with Ohio State next. We break down The Game Breaking down the Michigan-Ohio State showdown, as the Wolverines have some mojo heading into The Game. Recorded Nov. 25, 2019.

When the Michigan football team walked off the field on Nov. 22, 1969, after slaying a giant, it didn't understand the full significance of what had happened.

It does now.

Fifty years ago, the Wolverines pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college football history, overwhelming No. 1 Ohio State, 24-12, at Michigan Stadium to kick off a party for the ages in Ann Arbor. The players on that team recognize the victory for what it was: a watershed moment that jump-started the Bo Schembechler era, returned the program to national prominence and elevated one of the sport's signature rivalries to an epic level.

"I think it was the greatest game in Michigan football history," said Billy Taylor, a running back on the team.

The Wolverines still remember the indignity of losing, 50-14, to Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1968. They remember everything they went through the year leading up to the rematch. And, of course, they remember the euphoria that came from beating the Buckeyes.

As they look back on the game now, the players seem to have an even greater appreciation for what they accomplished that day.

"As you go on further in history, you realize just what that game did, how that game affected the future," said Jim Brandstatter, an offensive tackle who now serves as Michigan's radio play-by-play voice. "And to be part of it, to have been part of that, Bo Schembechler’s first-year run and that win, we feel like there’s a foundation for the modern era of Michigan football and the past 50 years."

Brandstatter and his teammates believe history could repeat itself Saturday, when the 11th-ranked Wolverines host No. 2 Ohio State.

The parallels are astonishing.

Michigan, after suffering an embarrassing loss in Columbus a year ago, has turned things around over the second half of this season and has just two losses, just as it did in '69. Ohio State is once again the unbeaten favorite and carries a 17-game win streak into Ann Arbor. Fifty years ago, the Buckeyes had won 22 straight entering Michigan Stadium.

The Free Press conducted a dozen interviews with players on that Michigan team to paint a picture of the buildup to the game, the win, what it meant for the program and how the 1969 and 2019 seasons are intertwined.

Blowout loss lingers

In 1968, Michigan traveled to Columbus with a chance to win the Big Ten title. Instead, it was thoroughly humiliated by Ohio State. Although the game was tied at halftime, the Buckeyes pulled away for a 50-14 blowout win. The end of the game was marked by Woody Hayes’ decision to (unsuccessfully) go for two points. That decision, as well as the loss, stuck with the Wolverines for a long time.

Dan Dierdorf, offensive tackle: “On the very first play of the game, I go out to block a linebacker, I plant my foot to cut and I tear my MCL. I played exactly one play of the debacle in Columbus. I had to helplessly watch that game. Every day from that embarrassment until we ran out of the tunnel in Ann Arbor, there’s not a player on the Michigan football team that in some point of time over the course of the day that didn’t have a flashback or some Ohio State thought run through your mind. How could you not?”

Jim Brandstatter, offensive tackle: “Ron Johnson was the captain and leader of that team, very well-respected guy. Nobody at Michigan was pleased and happy with the way Ron went out and Michigan was treated down there, and Woody Hayes with a great team just put it on us.”

Dick Caldarazzo, offensive guard: “We had no hot water in the showers after the game. On Friday night, we had an alarm at the hotel go off. We had to get out of bed at 3 in the morning. It was typical Ohio s---."

Reggie McKenzie, offensive guard: “They asked Woody Hayes after the game, 'You had the game in hand, why did you go for two?' He said, ‘Because I couldn’t go for three.’ That really set the table for ’69. He tried to stick it up our (expletive) by going for two.”

Billy Taylor, running back: “We vowed among ourselves that next year we were going to get revenge.”

McKenzie: “Jim Mandich was one of the guys that had said to those who were seniors, Ron Johnson and those guys, promised them after that ballgame, because I guess there were a lot of emotions — a lot of emotions and crying going on — that they would beat them.”

Bo’s arrival

In the offseason, former coach Bump Elliott moved into an administrative role within the athletic department. His replacement was Bo Schembechler, a fiery, ‘tyrannical’ disciple of Woody Hayes who arrived from Miami (Ohio). Schembechler ran off dozens of players that offseason — and also began preparing his new team for Ohio State, whether they knew it or not.

Brandstatter: “He came in and was a maniac.”

McKenzie: “He was a real ass----."

Dana Coin, linebacker/kicker: “When he came up in the winter and we started the winter program, we probably lost 14 or 15 guys.”

Dierdorf: “I think right off the bat, they were happy to remind us that they weren’t there (in 1968). They were in Miami of Ohio when that happened. It was entirely our fault.”

Coin: “One of the exercises, we had was take one of your teammates, they would jump on their back and you would cup their legs, they were riding you on your back and you would run up the stairs, full stairs in Yost Fieldhouse, and then you’d run back down and it was your teammate’s turn. In the old intramural building, they had the boxing ring in there. We’d do a thing that Bo developed called ‘slap and stomp.’ You’d get your legs moving, like running in place, and you’d have your opponent across from you. The ‘slap and stomp’ was to slap the guy on his body anywhere from his shoulders down. Those are the types of things that don’t happen today. Then we came back in August in double sessions and probably lost another 15 guys.”

Brandstatter: “He put a sign on the locker room door, ‘Those who stay will be champions.’ We’ve talked about Josh Gattis coming in (this season) and how long it’s taken Michigan to figure that out. Well, imagine an entirely new coaching staff and an entirely new offense and defense. That’s where we were.”

McKenzie: “We were determined to prove him wrong. He was like, ‘Ah, you’re not tough enough.’ ”

Dierdorf: “The funny thing about playing Ohio State back then was that we were molded in their image. Bo Schembechler didn’t hide the fact that what Woody Hayes did with Ohio State in Columbus is exactly what he wanted to do with Michigan in Ann Arbor. We ran exactly the same defense they did. We pretty much ran the same offense that they did.

Brandstatter: “He installed the option attack, which is what Ohio State ran. He installed an angle 5-2 defense, what would be called a 3-4 now. And that was exactly what Ohio State ran. Basically, every day in practice, from spring all the way until game day, we practiced against what Ohio State did. We did what Ohio State did better than they did that Saturday afternoon. So, did he prepare us for that game starting earlier than the game week? Oh, you bet he did.”

Pete Newell, defensive lineman: “Bo and his staff were doing something every week during our practices to get us ready for Ohio State, but we didn’t know it. We didn’t know that he was putting in a special teams play that he might use against Ohio State.”

Henry Hill, defensive lineman: “There was always something going on about Michigan State and Ohio State.”

In-season turnaround

Michigan had an inauspicious start to the ‘69 season, getting blown out by Missouri at home, 40-17, in the third game and losing two weeks later at Michigan State. The turning point came against Minnesota; after trailing at halftime, 9-7, Michigan cruised to a 35-9 blowout victory before winning the next three games by a combined score of 143-13. The Wolverines beat Iowa, 51-6, in Iowa City to set up a showdown with No. 1 Ohio State the following week.

Caldarazzo: “We had a big turning point in our season. We had two losses, one in the Big Ten, and we had our butts against the wall. We were actually down at halftime (against Minnesota) and just started running the ball against them. Billy had a great day and Garvie Craw. That Minnesota game started it.”

Betts: “Bo delivered one of his eloquent speeches. We came out with a whole different attitude. Came back and beat Minnesota. But it was at that time when I think we really came together. Prior to that, we’d kind of been offense versus defense for a while. And then all of a sudden, it all jelled.”

Brandstatter: “It wasn’t like we were giant killers. But after we beat Minnesota, it was like this year — we got it. It clicked. And we started blowing people out.”

Caldarazzo: “We were so anxious to get some kind of revenge against Ohio State. At Iowa, we came into the locker room and we weren’t celebrating a victory. We said, ‘Let’s play Ohio State. Let’s kill Ohio State. Bring them on.’ And I swear to God, we could’ve gone out on that field with unchanged uniforms and played Ohio State that afternoon. We were that pumped.”

Betts: “We told the bus driver, ‘Drive to Columbus, we’re going to play them right now.’ ”

‘We were sky high’

The week of the game featured some motivational tactics on Schembechler’s part. He gave a fiery speech that many still remember. He showed the players newspaper headlines that proclaimed Ohio State the heavy favorite. But many players didn’t need a reminder of what was at stake. They still remembered the indignity from the year before. And their preparation — in the year leading up to the rematch — bred confidence.

Betts: “It was probably one of the hardest-hitting weeks that we had because the intensity was just that great.”

Caldarazzo: “The Monday when we have the scouting report (Sunday we always reviewed the film), Bo just looks at us and goes, ‘You know, this guy, the old man, he put 50 points on you last year and I’m not going to let you forget it!’ We walk out of there and we go to the locker room and there’s 50 everywhere. It’s on everybody’s locker. It’s on the shower curtains. We get dressed, the demonstration team’s got 50 on their jerseys. They’ve got a little 50 on their helmet. You couldn’t take a shower without looking at the number 50. It was pretty crazy.’ ”

Brandstatter: “They were basically purported to be the best college football team ever assembled. They had not lost in two years. Their margin of victory was two, three touchdowns. Nobody was even close. On Sports Illustrated, they said that they could’ve beaten the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL.”

Caldarazzo: “Bo said, ‘You could read all the hype you want about this team. Henry Hill, if you play better than Jim Stillwagon, and Don Moorhead, if you play better than Rex Kern, and Garvie (Craw) and Caldarazzo, you guys play better than the guy opposite you, we’re going to win!’ It came down to that. It’s not about the Sports Illustrated articles and the Minnesota Vikings crap. This is what it is. 1-on-1.”

Betts: “The Friday after the walk-through, an Ohio State guy lingered in the tunnel. We were coming down the tunnel, and somebody made a comment. We kinda had a little fight that broke out in the tunnel. We said, ‘And we’re going to kick your asses tomorrow, too.’ ”

Pete Newell, defensive lineman: “For the first time, the night before the game, Frank Maloney, our position coach, he’d always do a bed check, ‘Here’s your warm milk and cold cookie,’ he came in and said, ‘We’re going to win tomorrow.’ And he had never said that.”

Caldarazzo: “We were high as kites. We just kept getting higher and higher, and Bo told us, he goes to the coaches, ‘We’re going to take them higher. They’re going to get better. Let them go.’ And that kind of game is when you put aside your studies. And you just concentrate for five days on beating these guys. We were so anxious to get back at them after that son of a bi--- went for two points in the previous year to try to get to 52.”

‘What are you going to do about it?’

The day of the game brought an ‘electricity’ to Ann Arbor. There were pregame confrontations. Rivalry hijinks. Mind games between the coaches. And plenty of excitement from the Wolverines.

Tom Curtis, safety: “Jim Mandich and I, we always took a little walk outside the team hotel. We were in downtown Ann Arbor, we took our little walk, on a cold day. We knew it was our final regular-season game as a Michigan player. We just talked for a few minutes about the importance of this game and how we were going to go win.”

Guy Murdock, center: “We were in the north end zone, and I was snapping for an extra point. Kickers would kick. There were some Ohio State fans that were up in the north end zone, and this was before they had nets behind the goal posts to catch the balls, and these Ohio State fans would not throw the balls back. Security had to go up and get the balls for us. And this was in our stadium!”

Newell: “Woody lined up on our end of the field to warm up. ‘What are you going to do about it?’ Bo walked up to him and said, ‘Woody, you’re on the wrong side of the field.’ He said, ‘Oh, OK,’ and he brought his team down to the south end zone. They felt they had the edge and they were going to take any unfair advantage that they could get away with.”

Caldarazzo: “I always went down early with Garvie (Craw) and Mandich and Cecil Pryor. We were usually down near the front of that group, because we were seniors, and there was some guy lollygagging around that tunnel from Ohio State. Cecil Pryor leveled him. (Pryor) hit a forearm across the back and he went right down on his face. We ran around him, over him, whatever.”

McKenzie: “Ohio State wouldn’t go out. They wanted to go out after us. Mandich was the one. He started cussing them out, ‘You (expletive) ass-----, (expletive) you, you go out! It’s our stadium, it’s our backyard!’ And the buildup got even higher at that point because we’re in the locker rooms. And Mandich said, ‘You send those (expletive) out first!’ He was that mad.”

Coin: “Our captain Jim Mandich used to describe it better than anyone — it was like we were taking the field, but our feet never touched the field. That’s how excited and high and confident we were. It was like we were above the field. So it was like running on air. That’s the electricity that everybody’s talking about that they felt.”

McKenzie: “After we let them go out, we went out. I’ll never forget this. Mandich turned around, and he was yelling in tears. He was crying. I ain’t talking about little-bitty tears. As a sophomore, yeah, I was already emotional. And I started crying and yelling right there with him. We came out that tunnel, and I’ve never seen anybody cry — I’m talking about cry — and the passion was so deep. This is where you’ve got to go for this game.”

‘Ohio State ain’t s---!’

The first half saw the Buckeyes score first, taking a 6-0 lead. But then Michigan punched back; Garvie Craw plunged in near the goal line, the extra point was good and Ohio State trailed for the first time all season. It responded with a touchdown — but the Wolverines scored 17 consecutive points and took a 24-12 lead into the half.

Caldarazzo: “Cecil Pryor, his big thing every time he hit a guy or tackled a guy, he just kept going, ‘Ohio State ain’t sh--! Ohio State ain’t sh--!’ That was his motto for the game.”

Dierdorf: “We weren’t like the Bad News Bears. We weren’t some ragtag collection of misfit toys that Bo Schembechler put together to go into this Ohio State game.”

Taylor: “I had a big run in the second quarter, or at the end of the first quarter, that set up our go-ahead touchdown. I picked up about 25 yards and got us down into the red zone, around the 4- or 5-yard line. I wanted the ball again so I could score, but we handed it off to Garvie Craw — it didn’t matter at the time, we just wanted to score, and Garvie scored. That run, that was my most memorable play in that game. I ran hard the whole game. We all had a good game.”

Caldarazzo: “Jack Tatum was Superman. He was one of the greatest defensive backs I’ve ever seen play football. So we ran to the short side of the field, they always put Tatum on the wide side. We ran into the sidelines all day and ran against them. We blocked them. And it worked. I looked across at these guys, and I’m looking at Jim Stillwagon, and Doug Adams, the linebacker, and they were dying. They were breathing heavy. Their faces were red, flushed. These guys had never been in a game more than three plays. They were an awesome defense. There’s no question how talented they were. But we could play with them. When that first touchdown went in, we just looked at each other and said, ‘Shoot, we could beat these guys. These guys are dying! They’re sucking wind.’ And they were. We said, ‘Holy cow.’ That was a key ingredient, when we first put that touchdown in and went ahead of them, that was the first time they were behind in a game in like two years. They had never had anybody run at them.”

Brandstatter: “The reaction (after the first touchdown) was like, ‘Take that! You ain’t all that and a bag of chips.’ ”

Caldarazzo: “It was a great blend of running the option, running off-tackle with Garvie Craw and throwing short passes. Nothing really long. We threw the ball and mixed it up. It was a well-conceived plan and well-executed.”

Coin: “Ohio State basically lined up in a three-back backfield and handed the ball off, and no one could stop them. They would throw the ball very rarely. When they needed to throw the ball, they had a great tight end and a couple wide receivers that they could throw to. But that was their game plan, and we didn’t allow them to do that. We ran the ball effectively, we threw the ball effectively when we had to, and our defense just hounded them because they got behind and had to throw the ball.”

Newell: “We were a very good team at stopping the triple-option. If they didn’t give it to the fullback, we would shut down the quarterback or the pitch man. We did that all game long. The one thing that they did was they got yardage out of Otis. But when they gave up on that, the other things that they tried, we were ready to stop it.”

Barry Pierson, safety: “When (Ohio State’s) wingback would go in motion, (Rex Kern) would never give the ball to (Jim) Otis. The quarterback would either keep it or pitch it. When he didn’t go in motion, he'd always give it to Otis. That was a big-time advantage, especially for me on the short side. That’s where they were attacking, mostly. So, I could be very up in the face of the pitch man, and I knew it was either coming to him or the quarterback, and Otis could run free anytime he wanted, but he wasn’t going to get the ball.”

Betts: “Their bread-and-butter plays produced no bread and butter. And then they tried to do something that they weren’t adept at, and that was throw the ball.”

Henry Hill, defensive lineman: “Right before the half, I remembered that in a crucial game, Ohio State needed a change, a lead change, and they ran a swing pass to the fullback Jim Otis and that was highly unusual. I think they had just ran the play once, but they scored with it. We were getting ready to go in at halftime, we were up, and Woody, knowing how he thinks, he needed something to happen. This was a choice play, only I knew he was going to run it. So when they ran it, I probably cheated, but I held Otis. He couldn’t get to his lane to catch the pass. We wound up sacking Kern.”

Dierdorf: “There was no excitement (at halftime), there was no jumping around or anything like that. I’m sure that inside, each and every one of us, our stomachs were knotted up because we knew that it was ours for the taking, but they weren’t going to give it to us. We had to protect that lead. And you know the old coaching cliche, ‘It’s nothing to nothing,’ they didn’t have to tell us. We knew what was going on.”

Brandstatter: “I think we felt like we deserved the lead.”

Newell: “Our defensive coordinator Jim Young, was never one to get too excited or raise his voice. And he pounded the chalkboard in the locker room at halftime with his fists. I don’t think he broke it, but he might’ve cracked it. ‘They will not score again. They will not score again.’ ”

Pierson has the game of a lifetime

The star in the back end of the defense was All-American safety Tom Curtis, and he played well with two interceptions. But his counterpart played just as well, if not better — unexpectedly coming up with big plays all game long. Barry Pierson picked off three passes that day and had a crucial punt return that set up a touchdown.

Dierdorf: “We scored 24 points, but Barry Pierson’s punt returns and the play of our defense is the reason we beat Ohio State. It was brilliant.”

Pierson: “Well, one (interception) I jumped a little higher than the receiver and it was kind of a lousy pass. Another one, I was following the receiver, and I cut underneath him and I caught the ball. Third one, I was sitting in the zone and went after it. I could’ve had a good day; I missed a couple down-and-out balls which I should’ve had. No matter how good my day was, it wasn’t good enough.”

Brandstatter: “If you know Barry, he’s very understated. I mean, there were times when you saw Barry playing and you were like, 'Does he have a pulse?' Pardon my French, but he wouldn’t say sh-- if he had a mouthful.”

Coin: “He’s a humble guy. He’s an Upper Peninsula guy, and he played the game of his life that day.”

Betts: I think what really broke their back was Barry Pierson returning those punts.”

Pierson: “In those days, the punt coverage would fly down so fast and so hard, that was kind of the trend. So my job was to beat the first wave, pretty much by myself. Just kind of juke them and get up in there. And then we had all our blockers left, and there were only a few guys left to block. I was going side to side, all over the place, and Tommy Curtis, our safety and the other punt returner with me, he was waving to me to come to his side. And I foolishly went to the other side. So, had I gone to his side, I might’ve gotten in.”

Dierdorf: “I don’t think that there were many people in the 100,000-plus sitting at Michigan Stadium that right before kickoff elbowed the person next to them and said, ‘Man, I can’t wait to unleash Barry Pierson on these guys.’ But it’s the beauty of sports. It was Barry Pierson’s day, and we were the beneficiaries of it.”

Pierson: “I had three boys. They played, two at Division II, one at Division III. And my one boy says, ‘You wouldn’t even be recruited today, Dad.’ And I said, ‘Well, that might be true, but don’t ever think I couldn’t play.’ ”

Ohio State’s desperation

The second half featured back-and-forth play from both offenses, but neither team could punch it in (or make a field goal). Hayes eventually pulled his starting quarterback, Rex Kern, as Ohio State tried to pass its way back into the game; the gambit failed. Kern and his backup, Ron Maciejowski, combined for six interceptions, and Michigan sensed desperation.

Brandstatter: “We wanted to get out there and we wanted to finish the game. We wanted to finish them.”

Dierdorf: “It’s a terrible thing. You look at the scoreboard and you swear the clock’s broken. You’re going, 'Aw, really, how can that clock be moving that slowly?' ”

Caldarazzo: “We missed three field goals, which reveals to people that yes, we did move the ball. There was no question, we were in control. We were doing great.”

Curtis: “I played with Rex later with the Baltimore Colts. First time he saw me, he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I threw the ball to you guys that day.’ ”

Newell: “They pulled Rex Kern in the fourth quarter and put in his backup, because it just wasn’t working for them. As we realized they’re making changes that they don’t want to make, we just felt more confident and invincible. I don’t want to point any fingers at players on their side, but I came back thinking after one or two plays in the third or fourth quarter, ‘These guys are quitting.’ I was never known for my strength or being able to overpower anybody, but I was bull-rushing guys and I thought, ‘What is going on here? This is Ohio State.’ Not only did Woody not know how to play catch-up, their players didn’t know how to play catch-up. I don’t know that they were fighting tooth and nail as the game went on. We were.”

Curtis: “We knew we had the game, we had Ohio State where we wanted them, when Woody Hayes pulled the quarterback that had led them to 22 straight wins. That was a point where we knew we had the game won.”

Betts: “It was like, ‘Hurry up and get it over with, man, so we can go celebrate.’ ”

Caldarazzo: “A lot of times, the plans you make don’t necessarily work out like you plan them. But in this case, the plans that were laid actually led to the outcome everybody was hoping for.”

Taylor: “We kicked their ass. It was clear. It was obvious. No question about it. Wasn’t a close game at all.”

Euphoria

Michigan Stadium erupted in jubilation as the clock hit zero. Fans rushed the field, Schembechler was carried on the shoulders of his players (almost taking a hard spill) and the goalposts were torn down. When the players finally made it to the locker room, the enormity of what they had accomplished did not really set in. The celebration on campus that night was one for the ages.

Caldarazzo: “I was one of the guys that grabbed Bo and tried to lift him up. We lifted him up on our shoulders. As we picked him up, the rush from the student body was behind us. And it pushed us, we were almost running with Bo on our shoulders, and then we fell. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. And then we were just jumping around in the middle of the field. You really didn’t want to leave the field. All your buddies are down there, guys you know in school, your fraternity brothers. Guys you went to class with. You just wanted to hang around that field forever.”

Brandstatter: “Well, it was just tremendous euphoria. We were going to the Rose Bowl as champions. That was a huge part of that victory. We didn’t have to go hat in hand. I think to his dying day, Woody told Bo, ‘You will never win a bigger game than that.’ Because he considered that his best team ever.”

Dierdorf: “When a dream is realized, everybody reacts in their own way. Some guys jump up and down and scream, some guys get quiet and reflective. Everybody handled it in their own way. To be a part of something like that was life-altering. It really was. It was a party. Let’s not kid ourselves. It was a late night for all of us. Or an early morning. Take your pick.”

Betts: “It was an emotional feeling that came over me. I started to cry. Because it was just a helluva game. Everything came together. I had my short cry, I got up and started yelling and screaming and running around. It was just that one moment of solitude to reflect on what happened.”

Caldarazzo: “Garvie Craw and I were roommates. And so we had a party over at our apartment, over near Hill and Forest. I just remember that we kept playing two songs. One was Smokey Robinson, ‘Going to a Go-Go.’ And they were changing the words, ‘Going to a Rose Bowl.’ And then Jose Feliciano, ‘California Dreaming.’ ”

Betts: “It was one of those deals where you’d go to a party, ‘Hey, let me get you a drink!’ Or, ‘Hey, let me get you a doobie!’ You’d take your pick on that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a campus that excited and having that much fun than I did that particular evening. We’ve seen them with victories before, but I don’t think they got to celebrate with players like they did that particular night.”

Newell: “Some professor wrote a sarcastic letter to the editor (of The Michigan Daily) about the unruly rioting in the streets of Ann Arbor that night. Civil disobedience everywhere, there was civil disorder, they were jaywalking for God’s sakes! In Ann Arbor!”

McKenzie: “It was euphoria like you wouldn’t believe. We even mocked the whole thing, ‘the only team that could beat them was the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah well, Minnesota, get behind us.’ ”

Coin: “The next morning, we have our team meeting and everybody’s on cloud nine — including the coaches. Nothing like that has ever happened in the history of Michigan football since then or before then.”

Caldarazzo: “They took both goal posts down that were 30 feet down in the concrete. I have no idea how they got them down. No idea how they did it. But in any event, by Sunday, when we went back to go look at the film, there were hacksawed pieces of the goal posts in our video room for us to autograph.”

Pierson: “The team got together for a week straight at somebody’s apartment to celebrate. We went for quite a while.”

Taylor: “It was Mardi Gras in Ann Arbor. It lasted that night, the next day, and into the following week. Ann Arbor has never seen a celebration over a game like it did in November of 1969 when we dethroned the quote, ‘Best college team ever assembled.’ "

Aftermath

The win sent Michigan to the Rose Bowl and earned it a share of the Big Ten title, and more importantly established the Wolverines as a perennial contender in the conference. It set up one of the most successful stretches in program history, as Michigan went 194-48-5 with 13 Big Ten titles under Schembechler and 166-53-3 with a national championship and eight conference titles under its two subsequent coaches — Gary Moeller and Lloyd Carr — both of whom were Schembechler disciples.

Coin: “I think it elevated the program immediately.”

Murdock: “That game, at least from Michigan’s perspective, changed the overall nature of what was going on in the Big Ten.”

Hill: “For me, it was more of an affirmation kind of feeling. We were a good football team. We were a good program. A lot of the guys that won that game had been there before. Nothing against Bo, but many of the key players in that game had been recruited by Bump Elliott, so I want to give him his just due.”

Curtis: “It was the steppingstone, and it was of course the beginning of the Bo Schembechler era. Football was taken to new heights at Michigan.”

Newell: “(The 1969 win) is what started the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry all over again. It was always an important game, but really, Michigan State was probably more important during those years. They’d been the national champs two years earlier. Michigan-Michigan State was probably a bigger rivalry, but from that point forward, the whole community, the Michigan family, got into this thing. And it was really great to be a part of it.”

Brandstatter: “It’s like the first person who caught a lobster and ate it. I don’t think they had any idea that was going to make everybody’s food list of the top-10 items in the history of mankind on that first day when he ate it. But 100 years from now, when lobsters are going for $99 a pound, it looks a little different. As you go on further in history, you realize just what that game did, how that game affected the future. Bo kept it going and Michigan kept it going, but, if you look at seeds, we germinated and the rest grew from us.”

Dierdorf: “Looking back on it, because of Bo’s arrival and the beginning of The Ten Year War with Woody, you could make the argument that that game kickstarted the modern era of Michigan football.”

Caldarazzo: “It established the program for the next 21 years. We wouldn’t accept less than excellence. Mediocrity was not acceptable. And so I think that’s what was established. He had that sign, ‘Those who stay,’ and that’s our logo. It’s on all of our ’69 team memorabilia, our hats — ‘We stayed.’ I mean, you’ll see around the school, ‘Those who stay,’ but ours is, ‘We stayed.’ That’s our logo for the ’69 team.”

Parallels

The resemblance between 1969 and 2019 is ‘uncanny,’ as one player said. Both teams had two losses entering "The Game," with second-half turnarounds that featured explosive offense and shutout defense. Both teams had suffered a humiliating loss at Ohio State the year before. Fifty years ago, Michigan pulled off perhaps the biggest win in program history. Now, the Wolverines have another chance to upset a highly ranked, undefeated Ohio State team — and perhaps change the trajectory of their program much like their predecessors did in 1969.

Hill: “I would say this: People will laugh at me, but last year, right up to (when) the season was over, I said, 'It would be unique if we would wind up in the same exact statistical circumstance as we were in 50 years ago.' "

Brandstatter: “Oh, it’s uncanny! It’s almost Twilight Zone. They’re the greatest team since sliced bread. Haven’t even been challenged. Same thing for Ohio State in 1969. Michigan, we were 3-2 when we went and played at Minnesota. Michigan had two losses when they played Notre Dame. Michigan kinda struggled early. Then started to blow people out. Dierdorf said to me, ‘Well, if we’re ahead at halftime 24-12, then I’m going to start looking for Rod Serling to do the second half with us.’ ”

Dierdorf: “Ohio State will be a large favorite, a large betting favorite against Michigan in that game, as well they should be. They are a great football team. Our guys, they don’t care. We need to be realistic here: The guys on this football team, they’re living in the moment. They don’t care what happened in 1969. But if you were involved in that ’69 game and you look where we are now, and look at the state of this Ohio State program right now, yeah, there are some similarities.”

Caldarazzo: “It hasn’t been that much of a contest. The fact is, we haven’t won. If we win, it’s going to be a monster relief, and, hopefully, it’ll put us back where we belong.”

Betts: “We had two losses coming into that Ohio State game. We’d gotten our asses kicked by Missouri. Michigan got their ass kicked by Wisconsin. We played Michigan State. And we just played a bad game, kind of the way these guys did. We were kicked around the first half and tried to come back but couldn’t. So we end up losing there. That was up at State, just like these guys were at Happy Valley. And then we started to come together. So, you’ve got 50 years later, you’ve got two losses, you’ve got these other teams in front of you right now that you’ve just got to go out and kick … ass. This team that Ohio State has this year is being touted pretty much the same way they were in ’69. These guys are good. You look at every phase of the game, and they’re damn good. Fifty years later, here you are again. See if you can duplicate what we did in 1969.”

Pierson: “You’ve got to start somewhere. Things, they’re not just given to you. You’ve got to start somewhere. This would be a perfect situation for them.”

Curtis: “Whether the guys on Michigan playing today have any knowledge of what this game is, I’m sure they’ll be reminded of it, but I think they have an opportunity to come close to doing what we did.”

Dierdorf: “We were dealing with the embarrassment of the year before. We had to carry that piano around on our back for a whole year. The Michigan football program has had the piano on its back for multiple years now. The first Michigan team that breaks this horrible slide we are in when it comes to Ohio State, yes, they’re going to be a celebrated group of guys. And I’ll be the first one to stand up and start applauding.”

McKenzie: “It was one of those, ‘Where were you?’ days. And this year could be the same experience.”

Contact Orion Sang: osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.