The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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44 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW those frustrations is an understatement. They stormed the field, unleashing fury on the Wolverines, who were trying to battle their way to the locker room. Jansen, in his final game against OSU, had hurt his ankle in the game. "I had it all taped up," he recounted. "People were coming up and kicking me. I don't hold any grudges on that. It's what makes that ri- valry so special. There is an absolute disdain for Michigan when you go down south of the border." Falk remembers the chaos with slightly more of a shudder in hindsight. "A fan came over and hit me," Falk re- counted. "I staggered a little bit, then some- body else came and hit me, until I fell down on the ground. They were swinging their fists and swinging their arms around. "I got to my knees, and then someone came along and slapped me in the head again, and knocked my glasses off. I thought, 'Oh, I've got to get my glasses.' I reached for my glasses, but somebody stepped on them. Fortunately, it just bent the frame a little bit. "I thought, 'I'll just hunker down here, until the wave stops.' But the wave never stopped. I learned what happens when people are in crowds in situations where they panic." Hunkering down might not have worked, but for some timely assistance. "The wave just kept right on coming," Falk said. "They kept smacking me. Fortunately for me, Doc [Daniel] Hendrickson and two Ohio state troopers were coming behind me. "I'm a big guy, and they had a hard time lift- ing me up. Once they got me on my feet, they were able to keep the people away and get me to the locker room." Falk sat down at a locker, literally knocked senseless. "I was delirious for quite a few minutes," he said. "You're trying to figure out where you are and what happened to you." That wasn't any fun, but what followed in the ensuing years proved worse. Ohio State fans went from going crazy over a victory against the hated Team Up North to expecting annual triumphs. Rivalry At Its Finest Some OSU fans have openly pined for Michigan to get back to what it once was, so the rivalry can again know the consistent feroc- ity of the "10-Year War," when Schembechler and his mentor, Woody Hayes, squared off annually with everything on the line. Schembechler came out on top there, 5-4-1, but started out 2-4-1, with every game a study in angst, ferocity and unabated intensity. Dennis Franklin, who guided the Wolverines at quarterback from 1972-74, migrated north out of Massillon, Ohio, to post a 30-2-1 re- cord and three top-six national finishes. Those teams didn't beat the Buckeyes, though, losing in Columbus 14-11 and 12-10, while playing to the infamous tie at Michigan Stadium in 1973. Michigan fans remember that one most, since Franklin's collarbone injury played a role in Big Ten athletic directors sending Ohio State to the Rose Bowl instead of the Wolverines. But Thornbladh remembers how the folks back home greeted the U-M quarterback. "The Ohio State people took great umbrage to the fact that he left the state of Ohio to come to Michigan," Thornbladh pointed out. "Denny was having wonderful success, and was a great player and a great guy and a great leader. When we got off the bus to go into the game, they were all yelling at Denny and the other guys from Ohio. "They were all calling them traitors. I'll not forget that." Michigan fans prefer to think of them as escapees. They've certainly provided some of the most memorable moments in the history of the series. Charles Woodson with the game-changing punt return touchdown in the national cham- pionship season. Desmond Howard, taking a punt to the house and posing for the Heisman both he and Woodson won. But it was Rob Lytle out of Fremont, Ohio, who helped tip the scales in the "10-Year War." As a senior, Lytle rushed for 165 yards on 29 carries and a touchdown in one of Michigan's most dominant efforts ever in the Horseshoe. The Wolverines took over Ohio Stadium and won in 1976, 22-0, a game Hanlon will never forget. "We just ran up and down the field with Rob Lytle," Hanlon said. "He ran wild, and us beat- ing them 22-0 was really a big surprise." Just two years earlier, Lytle, Hanlon, Schem- bechler and all of the Wolverines thought they'd won the game when placekicker Mike Lantry's 33-yard field goal appeared to go over or just inside the left upright. Instead, officials called it wide left, saddling the Wolverines with a misery-saturated 12-10 loss. Former Penn State football coach Joe Pa- terno, providing color commentary for legend- ary broadcaster Keith Jackson, said, "I thought he had it from this angle." Many agreed with Paterno. Schembechler swore until his dying day the kick was good. Michigan partisans concurred, ramping up their blood pressure with each successive re- play of the kick. "At least, the officials said he missed the field goal down there," Hanlon ruefully in- toned. "We lost the game because of that. That was one of the heartbreaks I remember, play- ing in that stadium." Overcoming All Obstacles Falk remembers some headaches as well. Michigan's present running backs coach, Ty- rone Wheatley, experienced one of them when thieves stole his helmet prior to Ohio State's 22-6 win in the 1994 game in Columbus. The U-M equipment man was executing his usual Saturday morning setup at the stadium, when someone asked if he'd moved some helmets. He responded no, then discovered five of them — including those of Wheatley, quarterback Todd Collins and tight end Jay Riemersma — had been pilfered. "They were surgically removed," Falk said. "They knew exactly the players they wanted to get. I had to fit everybody else with a helmet. Tyrone Wheatley's didn't really fit him the way he liked, and he had a tough game that day. They knew what they were doing. "From then on, we had armed guards in the locker room on the Fridays when we got there. They stayed until Saturday." On at least one occasion, a late-night visitor encountered those protectors of the winged headgear. Falk recalled asking one of the guards if anyone showed up the night before. Michigan holds a 19-14-2 advantage while playing at Michigan State, but the Wolverines' last win at Spartan Stadium came in 2007, a 28-24 victory that capped a three-game streak of U-M victories in East Lansing. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS