The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538670
SEPTEMBER 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 21 Chandler, Ariz., always looked on from a safe distance. This represented something else alto- gether. Temperatures for the 2024 version of The Game topped out around 33, but dipped to 12 factoring in the wind chill. The night before, Columbus proved every bit as bracing. That's when Michigan- newcomer Zvada and other special teams performers drove from the team hotel to The Shoe itself. They were there to adjust to landmarks, work on visualization inside the stadium, and just get comfortable in enemy terri- tory. Easier said than done. "I just remember it being so cold, and we didn't want to be out there more than we had to," Zvada recalled. "As we're walking back to the car, a group of fans, students, whatever, pull up. We're all wearing Michigan stuff. "They're yelling and screaming at us. That just attracts more guys. We're like, 'We've got to get out of here before a whole mob pulls up.' I'm thinking this is all just over a football game. If this is the night before, I can't imagine what we're going to be experiencing the next day. It was crazy." Zvada found out, firsthand. And his wordless answer just stoked the fire more. The record-setting placekicker gut- booted the Buckeyes at the end of each half in the Wolverines' shocking 13-10 upset. With 2:15 left in the first half, Zvada hammered a freeze-dried pigskin for a 54-yard field goal, allowing Michigan a 10-10 halftime standoff. The normally optimistic kicker wasn't so sure on that one, but he didn't wave head coach Sher- rone Moore off. "That was a tough kick in those cold conditions," Zvada said. "But Coach Moore was like, 'Yeah, you got it. You can do this.' I was like, 'Hell yeah, let's do this.'" Then with the score still tied follow- ing 29:15 of frozen, scoreless, second-half football — and an Ohio Stadium crowd ready to choke on its iced Skoal — Zvada fired through the game winner. He booted himself into the lore of The Game and put his cell phone into danger of melting down. "People would tell me, it's the biggest rivalry in sports," Zvada said. "But I don't think — until that day actually happened — I really understood the true hate those teams have for each other. Being from the West Coast, I've watched the rivalries but I didn't really know about them and the deep, deep roots. It was intense, and something that I enjoyed. It's kind of fun to be the villain. "It was pretty surreal. It didn't really hit me. I knew we had won the game, but I didn't know how big that moment was — not just for the team, but for the fan base and everyone, until we got on the plane and I started reading things online. It was euphoric, and something I never want to forget. It's something I want to keep chasing." He gets to continue the chase, after lov- ing college football enough at this level to give it another shot in 2025. Just looking back a few years, it's amazing this long shot ever got that chance. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Zvada earned one Division I offer com- ing out of Valley Christian. One. Butch Zvada's 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining gave Michigan a 13-10 lead, which held up for the win at No. 2 Ohio State last fall. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL