The Wolverine

2021 Michigan Football Preview

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 27 aches. Chalk up a month of migraines for U‑M foes. After a full four weeks of the season, the Wolverines had surrendered six points. Schembechler liked his team, but never lost sight of what would get the Wolverines to a championship. He'd worked under Hayes, drew his coaching philosophy out of the OSU head coach's stubborn determination and outlook. Even amid the non‑conference romps, the shadow of what was to come drove Michi‑ gan's head coach. "He was pumped up and totally positive, totally convinced that we were going to beat Ohio State at the end of the year," Taylor said. "He always told us, 'The most important game you're going to play is the one you're running out of the tunnel to play today.' "He started saying that at the beginning of the season. But we found out, as the season progressed, he always had Ohio State and the Buckeyes in the back of his mind. We also found out later in the season, he had us practicing offensive plays and defensive plays designed to go against Ohio State. "We prepared for the team we were going to play on Saturday, but there were probably 10 or 15 minutes of practice, without him telling us, that were dedicated to stopping the Buckeyes offensively and defensively." Brutalizing The Big Ten Going to East Lansing isn't ever easy, or pleasant. Still, Michigan's 24‑13 win over the Spartans wasn't as tough as the final score indicated. The Wolverines doubled MSU's yardage, and Taylor ran wild again. He carried only 15 times, but racked up 117 yards with a 38‑ yard touchdown bolt among two TD runs. Slade, meanwhile, had settled in at quar‑ terback. He scored on a nine‑yard keeper, and proved outstanding in controlling the game on offense. "Slade was a hero in the MSU game," Rosiek offered. "The game ended with Michigan on the MSU 1, or the Wolverines would have scored another touchdown." As it was, Schembechler safely tucked a second straight win over the Spartans in his pocket. He'd learned about MSU the hard way in 1969, and never forgot. His Michi‑ gan teams won eight in a row against the Spartans after that '69 loss, and 17 in the 21 times he faced them. Darden posited that Schembechler might have to change some of his hard‑edged ways to make it in today's college football world. At the same time, he acknowledged his for‑ mer coach showed some sensitivity to activ‑ ism at that time — without detracting from football, of course. "He was starting to loosen up a little bit," Darden noted. "He would give us some time off. When we told him we wanted to par‑ ticipate in the BAM, the Black Action Move‑ ment sit‑down at the school, he said all right. He put it out to the press that we're canceling practice, so the guys could participate in this. "But what he did was, he made us practice on our off day. He didn't really give us any‑ thing, but at least he was open to the idea of letting us participate. I don't think he would have done that in '69. "He was actually getting a little mellow, I think — mellow for Bo, that is. He knew he had a good team. He knew he had seniors he could count on." The Wolverines' next four foes found no mellowness in Schembechler, or his team. Michigan steamrolled them by a combined score of 194‑27, simply obliterating more of the "Little Eight" in the Big Ten. The domination began in Michigan Sta‑ dium against Illinois, which navigated U‑M's defense like a three‑legged elephant trying to climb out of the Grand Canyon. The Non‑Combatant Illini managed 83 yards of total offense, with five pass completions. The Wolverines, meanwhile, kept it roll‑ ing. Wingback Glenn Doughty ran for a pair of touchdowns and scored a third on a pass from Slade. Taylor cashed in the other two touchdowns, and U‑M's suffocating defense did the rest. Michigan's 35‑7 romp the following week at Minnesota proved nearly a replay — except for the 73‑yard touchdown pass that gave the Gophers their only points. That glitch aside, the Wolverines cruised to a win, paced by Taylor's 166 yards and two touchdowns. Taylor's effort capped his three‑game ca‑ reer (freshmen were ineligible back then) against Minnesota with some gaudy numbers: 90 carries for 468 yards and six touchdowns. The Wolverines were just getting warmed up. They scored 124 points over the follow‑ ing two weeks, beginning with a 61‑7 win at home over Indiana. Taylor led an unstop‑ pable (489 yards) Michigan offense, scoring on runs of 43 and 66 yards on his way to 172 in a mere 11 carries. Slade and fullback Bob Thornbladh also scored two touchdowns each, while Darden did it again on defense. He picked off a pass "We'd been with Bo for three years, and we knew what we had. We just knew we could not get big-headed, and go out there and play the best football we could play, and not make mistakes. That was always key with Bo Schembechler — don't make mistakes. We knew we had a good team, and the coaches made sure we didn't get the big head." U-M ALL-AMERICAN RUNNING BACK BILLY TAYLOR Fullback Fritz Seyferth (above) ran for a first down on fourth-and-one, then on the next play delivered the key block that sprang Billy Taylor's go-ahead touchdown versus Ohio State. PHOTO COURTESY BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY

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