22 years ago today, "Judgement day" in college football
Tomorrow marks the first time there will be two matchups of 8-0 teams, with Alabama and LSU as well as Penn State and Minnesota.
However 22 years ago today was "judgement day", when 8-0 Michigan took on 7-0 Penn State and 8-0 Florida State took on 8-0 UNC.
I was only 3 for this so I have no recollection of it, but it is fun to rewatch. I just long for a Michigan team to finally play its best football in the month of November like this one did.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
Ironically, the best game of the day ended up being Nebraska barely staying undefeated by beating Missouri in overtime(that was only the second full season for college football OT) thanks to the infamous kicked ball on the final play of regulation.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^
I grew up in Missouri, and I remember that game vividly. I was only 11, but I knew it was a crap call to give Nebraska the TD.
Incidentally, that game also cost Michigan an outright championship, so it’s sucked even more in retrospect.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:46 PM ^
As much I wanted Missouri to win that game, if the Nebraska receiver did intentionally kick the ball in that situation, you almost have to just tip your hat to him for making one hell of a play.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
Intentionally kicking the ball up is illegal and Nebraska should have been flagged. So, O.K. Tip my hat to him for making one hell of an illegal play.
You have to feel for Missouri. That play was in front of their home crowd in the EXACT same end zone just mere feet away from where Colorado beat them 6 years earlier on a 5th down & goal.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
7 years earlier, but who's counting. The Bieniemy 5th down TD was in 1990, a week before the infamous game against State where Michigan "lost" as the No. 1 team in the country (with a 3-1 record already -- imagine a team today being No. 1 with a loss in their first 4 games!) to a horrible PI no-call on an Elvis-to-Desmond 2 point conversion try for the win. The 1990 team was fantastic and should have won a national championship. Oh, well.
November 8th, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
Even crazier . . . Colorado had a loss, a tie and the 5th-down game and still won a share of the national title.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:38 PM ^
I was so pissed that Nebraska won, I punched the front door of my house repeatedly. F#*k Nebraska!!!???
November 8th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
That was the craziest shit I have ever seen in college football.
1. They got 5 downs
2. The clocked stopped for no reason between (actual) 3rd and 4th down allowing Colorado to spike the ball
3. The QB was actually down short of the goal line on 5th down.
Can you imagine how pissed you would be?!? Like Spartan Bob x1000.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:54 PM ^
Coaches poll should be abolished. And outlawed.
November 8th, 2019 at 3:10 PM ^
No, it was when Osborne announced his retirement that many of his buddies in the coaches poll pushed NE ahead of Michigan. As far as I'm concerned Michigan was the true national champion in 1997.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
Double post.
November 8th, 2019 at 9:19 PM ^
I object to your characterization of that game as "best". More like "worst"....it cost us an undisputed national title.
Not sure how you can even be a Michigan fan if that's how you feel about that game.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
obligatory - still chilling after 2 decades
November 8th, 2019 at 12:29 PM ^
Given the aftermath, is it really obligatory?
November 8th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^
Yeah, I never like or want to watch that hit. That was a very disturbing play.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
I'm fine never seeing that play again.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:29 PM ^
Neither player ever played again...very disturbing.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^
Would that be flagged as targeting in 2019?
Drinking a bourbon in honor of Daydrion Taylor for that hit later this afternoon. Never played another down for Michigan, but that hit will still be legendary another 22 years from now.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
Yes. If the rule is meant to prevent anything, it's this. Both these dudes could have died on this hit, and they're still suffering the after-affects to this day.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
Probably, but the video doesn't strike me as 100% conclusive.
I was at that game, a then-student. It was the first or second offensive play where PSU really did anything, and that killed any of that momentum right then and there.
The thing I really recall is the sound. It was a hit that you heard everywhere in the stadium, and it wasn't just thudding but a foreboding type of sound. Been to a lot of games since, never heard anything quite like that again. Thankfully.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
I don't think there was helmet to helmet intent, but it was an extremely reckless play. Sometimes I think targeting rules go too far, but it certainly has had the impact of conditioning players not to do THAT, both for the safety of the opponent and their own safety. Players are exercising a heightened degree of control over their body and awareness and that kind of impact, even without specific intent, is becoming far less prevalent.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:58 PM ^
I say yes, he would be flagged for targeting. Taylor led with the crown of his helmet - even though there is clearly no helment to helmet contact, or even facemask, there is no doubt that he led with the crown. And the guy wasn't defenseless, either. Nonetheless, I believe that call would be targeting today.
November 8th, 2019 at 4:38 PM ^
There are a select number of plays in various games over the years that I remember vividly and could easily live without seeing again. This is one of them.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^
I remember this very well. Gathered at a friend's house to watch. Both "Judgment Day" games were utter blowouts and the only drama that day came from unranked Missouri.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:38 PM ^
14:48 of Game Day video, Quote from Kirk - "You have to try and catch Gerry Sandusky's unit off guard a little bit..."
If he only knew.....
November 8th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
I had to turn it off after a minute when they said “separate the men from the boys”.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
Not trying to make a judgment about whether you are from England or a visitor from the RCMB - but since Webster wrote his fine book, the word is "judgment", not "judgement".
Just pointing out for next time, my friend...
November 8th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
I believe this has taken the mantle of most frequently misspelled word in the English language.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
Enuf gramar natsis. Hoo kars iff werds ar mispeled. Wunts opan a tyme speling wuz nott uniphorm annd et wuz okey becuz peeple stil understud thee mesage.
(Getting through that with auto-correct on was very difficult.)
November 8th, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
Hoo kars
What does this have to do with Craig James?
November 8th, 2019 at 1:14 PM ^
It's not a misspelling, just an alternative, likely older, spelling.
November 8th, 2019 at 3:12 PM ^
I don't know about Webster's original, but according to that book's heir, judgement is a variant: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/judgment
November 8th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
I had SUCH an argument about this one time in high school. My friend insisted there absolutely was an E (well, 2) in "judgement" and it was totally wrong to omit it and I insisted that that E did not exist and should never exist in that word and that "judgment" was the only correct way. It was a really long, loud, and stupid argument. When we finally got to a dictionary, both spellings appeared. That shut us up. It got us yelled at by everyone else, though.
But I still say "judgement" is wrong, if not technically, at least aesthetically.
November 9th, 2019 at 9:35 AM ^
This is the definitive source on how to spell judgment. All other arguments are negated.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:40 PM ^
Can they just create a AI based on Keith Jackson to do every game in college football?
November 8th, 2019 at 1:06 PM ^
No need to have Al Michaels do an impersonation of me. I'm still available.
November 8th, 2019 at 4:29 PM ^
keith, that 'AI' is pronounced 'A' and then 'eye', as in artificial intelligence. your reception up in heaven must be tweaked. fix the rabbit ears.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:07 PM ^
And the big tight end finds hallelujah land.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
Why? Don't need AI. Keith Jackson is alive and well in semi-retirement.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
22 years ago today, we partied in President Bollinger's House.
November 8th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
This was the only day I can recall as a Michigan fan being dead certain we were going to win (aside from games against tomato cans). I woke up and couldn't believe there were still hours and hours and hours and hours until kickoff. I had to go drive around just to calm down.
I'm reminded of something relatively off topic. About 15 years ago I went to a Bears/Packers game with my friend who's had Bears season season tickets since he was a child. Various GB fans around us were wearing gaudy beaded necklaces. I asked "What's up with that?" He said, "Oh, that's simply because they won the Super Bowl in New Orleans, and they wear the beads to reminisce about the one great team in recent memory they've had." He then paused dramatically before saying, "We would never do that of course." (cue Chuck Swarsky)
I of course will always adore the '97 season. Having just graduated the year before, and making it back to Ann Arbor for nearly every home game, plus East Lansing, and of course Pasadena. We were oh so close in 2006. Also oh so close in 2016. But I'm finding myself ever more resigned to the fact that adoring 1997 may just remain the cornerstone of my fandom. I still have a chunk of Michigan Stadium turf plucked after The Game, moments before I exuberantly and incoherently screamed at Andre Weathers. I guess as long as I'm not wearing it, there's still some hope for next year...
November 8th, 2019 at 2:17 PM ^
Ha, we are the same age. However I was dumb enough to need 5 years to graduate so I was able to enjoy 1997 as a student. And I too still have a piece of Michigan stadium turf (and rose bowl) in two stolen Mitch's mugs stored away somewhere.
November 9th, 2019 at 1:58 PM ^
Even more ha - we are friends! I surely went to many of those games with you, including the Rose Bowl. (Though we didn’t sit together as I flew out ticketless and ended up buying a (unbeknownst to me) fake one on the street, but managed to make my way in anyways.)
November 8th, 2019 at 12:50 PM ^
A big game that Michigan won, that is still viewed as a big game after we won it?! WOW.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^
That was fun.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
That was a really good day. My smile muscles were sore at the end of the day.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
I was there. Amazing game. It seemed like we were up 17-0 in mere minutes. The crowd was so quiet as the game went on.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:25 PM ^
I was only a 8 at the time watching that game so my memory was a bit hazy, but damn was that an even more thorough ass kicking then I remember. PSU is lucky UM kinda coasted after going up 31-0 or it would have been worse.
November 8th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
Classic!
November 8th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
As a kid growing up in the 90's, PSU seemed like one of those teams Michigan never beat. Then 1997 happened, and it changed everything in that rivalry.
Here's hoping a similar "Judgement Day" can happen in a few weeks.