The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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28 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2026 up prone on the ground, face down and arms extended, having come up empty at the 3. "There weren't too many human be- ings walking around on the earth that could've caught the ball and maintained his balance and avoided three tacklers who had great angles on him," Wangler said. "Tim Wilbur, who was an All-Big Ten defensive back, had a really good an- gle on him and didn't get him. His knee was really close to the ground, and it re- ally opened everybody's eyes to what a special talent he was, getting into the end zone after all of that." Carter caught 17 passes as a fresh- man that season, with 7 going for touch- downs. He averaged a phenomenal 27.2 yards per catch in his first season. And in a stellar career, A.C. established a Big Ten record with 37 touchdown catches … but none was more famous than this one. MICHIGAN 18, VIRGINIA 17 Aug. 26, 1995 Ann Arbor Lloyd Carr was in his first game as Michigan's interim coach, and nobody knew if there would be a second season for the defensive coordinator who had been elevated to take the place of close friend Gary Moeller. The first 47 minutes of Carr's head coaching career couldn't have started much worse, as Michigan trailed 17–0 with 12:55 remaining before rallying. Scott Dreisbach, a 19-year-old red- shirt freshman making his collegiate de- but, had already thrown two costly in- terceptions, and the booing got louder as the futility continued. But Carr had in- formed Dreisbach that he was going with him all the way and stuck to his word rather than switching to redshirt sopho- more Brian Griese, whose college debut came later that season when Dreisbach was injured. Carr had played quarterback at Mis- souri and Northern Michigan, and he knew the importance of having the coach totally in your corner. The starting quar- terback definitely rewarded his coach by throwing for an amazing 236 yards in the fourth quarter and a school-record 372 yards for the game. Dreisbach got it all started by com- pleting 41- and 43-yard passes to Mer- cury Hayes on a touchdown drive that culminated with a 2-yard scoring run by tailback Ed Davis. Then Dreisbach hit Hayes for a 31-yard touchdown pass on an out route with 7:47 remaining. The Wolverines still trailed 17–12, though, because a missed point- after kick after the Davis run was followed by a failed two-point conversion play. The Wolverines would get one fi- nal chance, with the ball 80 yards from the Virginia end zone and 2:35 remain- ing. Dreisbach's mojo, though, appeared to vanish as quickly as it had appeared once the Wolverines reached the 15-yard line with 18 seconds to play. He over- threw tight end Jay Riemersma and wide receiver Amani Toomer on consecutive plays, and then for some bizarre reason threw a pass well short of the end zone to Tyrone Butterfield – who said he knocked it down rather than grab it and get tackled quickly because time would have expired. There was one more play on fourth down with four seconds remaining. Dreisbach looked off primary receiver Toomer to the left and threw to Hayes in the right corner of the end zone. The pass had plenty of touch on it and dropped into the waiting arms of Hayes, who had beat future Pro Football Hall of Fame corner- back Ronde Barber and the additional coverage help from safety Paul London. The only question was whether Hayes was in bounds, and replays showed he'd gotten his left foot down to confirm the referee's signal for a touchdown in the days before video review. The touch- down triggered perhaps the wildest dog pile the Big House had ever seen on that hot, late-summer afternoon. "There were four seconds left, and I knew I had to put the ball in the end zone – especially because the linemen were yelling at me to throw the ball in the end zone," Dreisbach said. "I was going to go to Amani Toomer, but Virginia rotated their coverage. So, I looked across to Mercury Hayes, and he was wide open." "My goal was to make sure I was in bounds and catch the ball," Hayes added. "I was stutter-stepping to stay in bounds, but I was really concentrating on the ball. I knew it would be the last play. I caught the ball and then a whole bunch of guys jumped on me, so I knew it was over." ❏ Steve Kornacki has covered Wolverine athlet- ics for the Detroit Free Press, Ann Arbor News and MGoBlue.com. He currently writes for The Kornacki Wolverine Report on Substack.com. Michigan receiver Mercury Hayes brings down a 15-yard touchdown pass from Scott Dreisbach at the end of the game to beat Virginia 18-17 in the 1995 Pigskin Classic. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY Michigan receiver Braylon Edwards turned in an unforgettable triple-overtime game against Michigan State on Oct. 30, 2004, when he connected with quarterback Chad Henne for the game-winning 24-yard TD catch to finish off a 45-37 victory. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN