Talk About Your First Time.....At A Michigan vs. Minnesota Game
While most Michigan / Minnesota games are pretty unmemorable, we all probably remember our first time. Unfortunately for me, the first Michigan vs. Minnesota game I saw live and in person was 1986. Coming into this game, Michigan was 9-0 and ranked 2nd in the country and looking like a serious contender for the MNC with only two games remaining in the regular season.
We were lead by seniors Jim Harbaugh, Garland Rivers, John Elliot, and Andy Moeller; as well as featuring running back-great Jaime Morris. This was a great Michigan football team, which pooped the bed with 5 turnovers and letting QB Ricky Foggie scramble late for 31 yards to allow Chip Lohmiller a chip shot field goal to win it with time expiring, 20-17.
In 1986, I was a young teenager who was just starting to get seriously invested in Michigan football, and the Minnesota game was my first soul-crushing dong punch I ever suffered in Michigan Stadium.
Sorry to start this off on a downer, but I'm sure the rest of us have much happier tales to tell.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:24 PM ^
What a depressing drive back to Pittsburgh that was. And I am going to the game this Saturday, so history better not repeat itself.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:29 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:30 PM ^
I'll tell you Sunday.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:30 PM ^
Moeller was the coach so it had to be 1993 or 1994. We killed them and my dad wanted to leave in the 3rd period. Ho hum.
EDIT: it was 1992 (just talked to my dad). Final score was 63-13 according to the internet.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:40 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^
I told my dad that Minnesota's uniforms had a similar color scheme to FSU. He said, "Thank goodness that's not who we're playing."
We ran into a dad of one of the Minny players who worked with my dad. First time I ever heard the "Taken behind the woodshed" comment.
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^
Now THAT team knew how to beat up on bad opponents.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:30 PM ^
October 4th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^
Interesting. How long was the drive?
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:30 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:32 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
and the manager forgot to pack the water jug. Coach was livid. . .It was an expensive jug.
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:48 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^
Saturday will be my first....game against minnesota.
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:22 PM ^
2007- I was in high school and my buddy's grand parents gave us tickets and let us stay with them the night before in Ann Arbor. Still remember Carlos Brown ripping off that long TD run right infront of us. I believe I went to three games that year. The Horror, Minnesota and Penn St
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:07 PM ^
We beat them 38-22. The most notable thing to 12-year-old me coming into the game was that Minnesota's QB and RB were named "Schade" and "Darkins," which I found funny.
But this was the "Walter Smith game," one of my favorite Michigan football memories. Smith was a senior who had been elected a team captain but blew out his knee before the season started. He came in for one play near the end of the game, which I noticed and pointed out to my dad. They threw him a pass where he was lined up and fell down for a 2-yard gain, and the entire stadium started chanting "Walter, Walter."
There used to be video of this game on WolverineHistorian's channel, but it got T3'd.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:10 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
2011. Seems strange because I've been to eleventy-billion games over the years, but never watched the Gophers in person. Dominated that day. Great weather. BWC obliterated someone.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:30 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:00 PM ^
Yet the three road games you've seen have been at Oregon and the Rose Bowl?
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:46 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:32 PM ^
Had tix but couldn't go to the 86 game.
Saw the first half of '88 from the 50 yard line; saw the second half in an AA bar where it was dry.
Always hated Minnesota - there was a horrible streak in the late 80s where seemingly every Minnesota game meant a season ending injury: Tony Boles and Tripp Welbourne for two, IIRC.
October 2nd, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^
The 1986 game was my first time going to a Michigan game I was 11. The next time I saw Minnesota at the Big House was the 2005 game. I have personally banned myself from attending Michigan vs. Minnesota football games. The one thing I remember about the 1986 game was the weather seemed horrible.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^
I got a late start compared to some. My first "Little Brown Jug" game was in 2007. It was a very wet, damp, cloudy day. Fourtunately for my buddy and I, a group of older gentelmen let us get under their canopy and stay dry during the tailgate. I will never forget those guys. Not only for letting us chill with them and stay dry, but because they were hilarious. A fun group to hang with.
The game was decent. Mallett started in place of the injured Chad Henne. Michigan won fairly easily. Even know it was cold and wet and the game was in hand, I had to stay to watch the seniors carry the jug off the field and down the tunnel. An experience I could not miss out on.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:49 PM ^
As a student in 2011.
58-0.
At this point I was becoming obsessed with Michigan football, and I was amazed that we had managed to go through the non-conference schedule with a perfect record. At that point in 2011, I still didn't think we were that good. I had no idea that we would even come close to a BCS bowl that year, along with wins over Nebraska and Ohio State to cap the regular season.
October 2nd, 2013 at 2:56 PM ^
What was my first UM-UM game? Took me a little while to remember -- and I had to go back to the ticket stubs to confirm. But yeah...it was that damn 2005 game.
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:05 PM ^
Both my parents went to Minnesota and I grew up in the Twin Cities as a gopher fan before I came here for school. Saw Hart and Henne cruise to a fairly easy win in a quarter empty Metrodome with plenty of Michigan fans in attendance. Second LBJ game was much happier for me in the student section in 2011. 58-zip, hoping for a similar outcome to this one.
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^
Like a lot of people have posted already, my first Jug game was 2007. My only memory of it was that it was overcast and that we won fairly easily. Thanks to the posters above, I now know that Ryan Mallett played and that our RBs had a great game.
I have much clearer memories of a few other games from that season...
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:11 PM ^
Freshman year. The game was Michigan's fourth shutout of the season: 45-0. Ohio would be Michigan's fifth shutout about a month later. Michigan was flying high, undefeated, and on it's way to W. Lafayette where they stubbed their toe against Purdue the following week.
The most memorable aspect of the game was the arrival of my next door neighbor from South Quad somewhere in the 2nd quarter. He stumbled in wearing a T-shirt and jeans on a gray and cold day that probably didn't get above 40 degrees. The keg party we had in his room the night before did him in. He woke up late, saw we were all gone, and headed out the door. It didn't occur to him that it was really cold until he had walked a few blocks and then he decided he didn't want to lose more time by heading back to the dorm. He was turning blue by the time he got to our seats. So, we all contributed sweatshirts and whatever else we could spare to get him through the game. Those were the days. Drinking age was 18 and if you wanted to bring a keg into a dorm, it was not a problem.
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
Nice morning..took extra money to party after game..Halftime came..got very cold very rainy..spent money on coat and gloves at MDen..went home broke..had fun..Michigan won
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:35 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 4:49 PM ^
Thanks for reminding me.....
October 2nd, 2013 at 5:06 PM ^
It was so non-descript that I cannot remember any of the game and had to look it up on wikipedia just to make sure we did indeed play that year. Sounds like every other Minnesota game ever played
October 2nd, 2013 at 6:56 PM ^
I think it was 1992. I think I only went to one or two non-conference games in '90, so it would have been '92. I've always had a soft spot for Minnesota, always really liked Goldie and that goofy M when I was a little kid, even if I was still a diehard Michigan kid.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^
I was still in high school and I went with my friend, his Dad, and two other guys I knew. It was Homecoming and an absolutely terrible day weather-wise. It was cold and raining all day pretty much. The game was one of the most one-sided blow-outs I've ever seen in the Big House. The final score of 45-0 does no justice to how bad it was. Minnesota never crossed their 40 I think the entire game. Michigan basically stopped trying to score part way into the 2nd half and both teams by then wanted to get into the locker rooms. By halftime, less than half the crowd was left due to the weather. We stuck it out for some reason. The only game I was more cold and wet after sitting through was the NU game a few years ago.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:47 PM ^
Was at the 1988 Michigan Minnesota game. The game was a late start in freezing cold heavy rain. It was dark by the time the game started. The stadium was half empty at kickoff. I sat on the 50 half way up, because I could.
Don't ever believe the implication that the "consecutive games over 100,000" BS means attendence.
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:54 PM ^
October 2nd, 2013 at 9:56 PM ^
I was about to turn 7 years old and it was my first Michigan game of any kind. Michigan was destroyed 17-0 by the Gophers led by Carl Eller and Bobby Bell. The game was not as close as the score indicated. Michigan could not do anything at all on offense, finishing with 50 yards total offense (96 passing and negative 46 rushing).
Michigan did have some promising sophomores on the team including Bob Timberlake, John Henderson, and Mel Anthony. Two years later they teamed with another great group of sophs - Jim Detwiler, Rick Volk, Frank Nunley and others -- to win the Big Ten and Rose Bowl.
My second Michigan game was also versus Minnesota and this time Michigan destroyed the Gophers, 49-0.
October 3rd, 2013 at 6:29 AM ^
I honestly remember nothing about it and had to look it up. We won 52-14.
October 4th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
I'm pretty sure anyway. Our only home game against Minn when I was a student (we didn't play them in 1999 or 2000). We won 31-10 but I can't remember it at all (I had to even look up the score). I think it was the week after the Spartan Bob clock fiasco, so everyone's mind was probably on other things.
Next to 2005, 2001 was probably the most unfulfilling year of the Carr era. Agonizing losses to Washington, MSU and OSU (we didn't play ND) and then the Citrus Bowl beatdown. Oh Henson, why'd you have to leave a year early to play baseball?