UM vs. Wisconsin 9/27/08

Wisconsin comes to the Big House today for the Big Ten Home Opener. Today is the 500th game at the Big House and we are honoring our Olympic Athletes - including some guy named Michael Phelps. You may have heard of him - I guess he's big in Japan.

Our food theme for today is the "Dirty South." The menu for today's feast includes: biscuits & gravy and pigs in a blanket for breakfast and for our main meal - BBQ ribs, greens, mac & cheese with bacon and fried chicken wings. YUMMY!!

Reggie managed to get a new game - one that is "shocking" and we made it go with rumrunners. Always a good time.

We were all almost dreading this game - Wisconsin is always a solid team, one not to be taken lightly. PJ Hill is their star running back who is always tough - he hasn't done much against us, but he is not to be overlooked. Our offense is still less than productive and after a week off, who knows how they're going to do. Our defense is still a little questionable - we can't fault them for all of the errors during the ND game - most of that came off of turnovers with short yardage. So...onto todays game.

The tailgating was fun - as it always is. We had the opportunity to meet Denise Ilitch - she's running for the UM Board of Regents. Yes, I said Ilitch - you may have heard the name before if you live in the Detroit area. She was nice - stunned that I'm from C-bus wearing my UM gear though! What else would I wear?

My friend Todd finally arrived with his friend Aimee - she's a huge Phelps Phan and wanted to see him. He arrived in time to grab some grub and then onward to the stadium. If it weren't for Phelps, I don't think I would have gone in.

We arrived in our seats, watched the team warm up and bring on the band. They did their customary pre-game and then the Olympic Theme was played. WOOHOO!!! Bring on the Olympians! Peter Vanderkaay and Michael Phelps got standing ovations - Michael was sporting a "8" jersey - I finally figured out that it was for the number of Gold Medals that he won. Duh. I just thought he was friends with the current 8 Jonas Mouton.

I will keep the first half simple. It was the ugliest display of football I've seen in a long time. I mean U G L Y. Flat out nasty. It was terrible. 5 turnovers, -7 yards of passing and not much more rushing. The team was subject to questionable review calls - we should have had some overturned but they stayed with the ruling on the field. Damn. Lets just say that the team was booed off of the field at the beginning of halftime. I am not one to boo my team - I just said some really foul words - once the kids around me had gone.

The beginning of the 2nd half it looked like a different team. They finally gave up running the ball up the middle, Threet made some good reads of his receivers and the defense even scored a TD. After being booed off at the half to the fans making the Big House the loudest I've ever heard it, it was quite a turn around. I tell you - the Big House was rockin'. I personally hold us responsible for the false start on Wisconsin due to the crowd noise. It looked like Wiscy couldn't get a handle on anything and our defense was absolutely outstanding. They were able to minimize the damage in the first half by holding Wiscy to FGs instead of TDs. In the second half though, they were able to hold Wiscy to one TD in the latter aspects of the game - and were able to force punts the rest of the time. What a great comeback. We were down 19-0 at the half. We won 27-25. It was the largest comeback in Michigan Stadium history. I'm so glad we stayed. Many people left at the half and the 3rd quarter. We didn't and were rewarded with the 2nd best game any of us have seen.

Congratulations on winning the Big Ten home opener and the 500th Game at the Big House.

Bring on Illinois, "Juice" Williams, the spread O and Benedict Zook.

Always
Remember
Benedict
Zook!