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Book Excerpts
Chapter - 1969
 The electricity was palpable in
the stadium, and the Michigan defense fed off of it.
They shut down the Buckeye offense in three plays on
the following possession and forced a punt. Mike Sensibaugh boomed a punt that came into Barry
Pierson’s hands at the Michigan 38. Pierson shot
through the first wave of defenders and was off to
the races. He set up blocks downfield as he wound
his way through Ohio State territory before he was
finally brought down at the 3 yard line by Sensibaugh
and Bruce Jankowski.
It wasn’t Pierson’s first
long return of the year, but it was the biggest. “We
had actually had about 5 or 6 long returns like that
earlier in the year,” Pierson remembers. “Back then,
the first wave of defenders didn’t come down under
control and one move would often help you break
free. After I got past them, my teammates did a
great job blocking downfield. I just followed them.
It couldn’t have come at a better time.” ABC
broadcaster Bill Fleming commented on the reaction
of the crowd: “Michigan Stadium is in absolute
bedlam!”
Excerpt taken
from The Ten Year War: Ten Classic Games Between Bo
and Woody
Copyright 2005, Joel Pennington (Photo Above
From Bentley Historical Library)
Chapter -
1973
ABC likes to film both teams as they storm the field
before the game. Traditionally, the Ohio State team
would run out the tunnel, break left, then mass in
front of their sideline piling on each other. On
this day, John Hicks led the Buckeyes out of the
tunnel and went straight for the Michigan “Go Blue”
banner. As Wolverine students held the banner that
the Michigan team would run under, the Ohio State
players tried to tear it down. The Buckeye
players piled on the banner and jumped up and down,
trying to rip it apart. After a few seconds, they
retreated towards their own bench. Obviously, the
partisan Michigan crowd went crazy, booing the
Buckeyes. From his perch in the pressbox, Michigan
broadcasting legend Bob Ufer went berserk. “They’re
tearing down Michigan’s coveted M Club banner! They
will meet a dastardly fate here for that. They have
the audacity, the unmitigated gall to tear down the
coveted M banner!” The Michigan players didn’t wait
for the banner to get back up. They stormed the
field and jumped and cheered on the sidelines before
the banner was righted. After a few seconds the
banner was fixed and the Wolverine players ran
underneath it. ABC broadcaster Chris Schenkel said,
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen two teams more fired
up. They can’t wait to get after each other.”
Excerpt taken
from The Ten Year War: Ten Classic Games Between Bo
and Woody
Copyright 2005, Joel Pennington (Photo Above
From Bentley Historical Library)
Chapter -
1975
Michigan defensive coordinator Gary Moeller felt
very confident at halftime. “After that first series,
we really controlled their offense. We were all over
Griffin, and our defensive line was putting a lot of
pressure on Greene when they passed. If we could
keep it up, we thought we’d win the game.” Archie
Griffin remembers thinking that the Buckeyes just
needed one big play to loosen up the Michigan
defense. “They were really focusing in on me. We
hoped that would open up other parts of our offense,
but they did a great job of shutting us down. We
knew we could come back in the second half and move
the ball. We just needed to get some momentum.”
The third quarter didn’t
bring the momentum the Ohio State offense was
looking for. On the opening drive of the second half,
the Buckeyes gained over 9 yards on three plays; but
Woody decided not to gamble on 4th down from his own 29
and punted the ball away. Michigan took over on
their own 42 and quickly moved the ball to the Ohio
State 34 where they faced 3rd and 4. Leach ran an
option play to try to get the first down, but Ray
Griffin blitzed into the backfield to disrupt the
play while Nick Buonamici dropped Leach for a
two-yard loss. On 4th down, Greg Willner was short on
the 53-yard field goal attempt and Ohio State took
over at their own 20.
The teams traded punts on
their next few possessions. As the third quarter
progressed, Michigan was slowly winning the field
position battle. The Wolverines managed to get at
least one first down on each drive while Ohio State
went three and out on every possession. Leach, Lytle,
and Bell continued to get decent yardage but the
exhausted Buckeye defense always managed to stop
them short of scoring territory. The Ohio State
offense, on the other hand, was completely shut down
by Michigan. Griffin drew two or three tacklers
every time he touched the ball, and Pete Johnson and
Greene fared no better.
Excerpt taken
from The Ten Year War: Ten Classic Games Between Bo
and Woody
Copyright 2005, Joel Pennington
(Photo Above From Bentley Historical Library)
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