The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1386887
THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 25 offensive line and some serious talent in the backfield, led by Taylor. Meanwhile, the heart of Hayes' great teams from 1968-70 — middle guard Jim Stillwagon, running back Leo Hayden, quarterback Rex Kern, safety Mike Sensibaugh and others — were long gone. Michigan football historian Bob Rosiek re- calls it this way: "Even though we were going to be starting a rookie quarterback, the feeling coming into the sea- son, as the sum- mer grew to an end, was that nobody could pos- sibly stop Michigan. "I mean, this was going to be an easy 11-0 year. There was tremendous confidence in the air. There was great expectation that we'd not only win the conference, but we'd win big." Not that Schembechler went along with the narrative — not in the slightest. His job in- volved taking the raw materials and building the machine even better. Side trips into feel- ing good about his team only detracted from the mission. Not to mention the fact that there were issues that might need to be addressed. After all, the Wolverines might indeed need to throw the football at some point. Schembechler wasn't convinced it would be happening any time soon. In fact, following the first spring scrim- mage months earlier, Schembechler let ev- eryone — especially his team — know that the Wolverines weren't up to par in the post-Don Moorhead days at quarterback. The defense was the driving force behind Michigan's undefeated regular season in 1971, finishing the year first in the Big Ten in scoring defense (6.9 points allowed per game), rushing defense (66.0 yards allowed per game) and total defense (197.0 yards al- lowed per game). PHOTO COURTESY BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY