November 22, 1969: The most famous game in the history of the Midwest's greatest college football rivalry is played in front of 103,588 fans at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
Glenn Edward Schembechler Jr. had played for Wayne Woodrow Hayes at Miami University of Ohio, and coached under him at Ohio State, before becoming Miami's head coach, and was now in his 1st year at Michigan. "Bo" had the Wolverines ranked Number 12 in the nation. But "Woody" had won the previous year's National Championship at Ohio State, his Buckeyes had won 22 straight games, and were still ranked Number 1.
Michigan had long been the leading football power in the Big Ten, but the 1950s saw the rise of Woody's Buckeyes, and of Duffy Daugherty's Michigan State University, and the Wolverines fell back. From 1950 to 1968, Big 10 football titles had been won (some of these races ending in ties) by Illinois in 1951, 1953 and 1963; Wisconsin in 1952, 1959 and 1962; Purdue in 1952 and 1967; Michigan State in 1953, 1965 and 1966; Iowa in 1958 and 1960; Minnesota in 1960, 1962 and 1967; Indiana in 1967 (a 3-way tie with Purdue and Minnesota); Ohio State in 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961 and 1968; and Michigan only in 1964. Only Northwestern had failed to win a title.
Chalmers "Bump" Elliott, a former Michigan star, coached them to that 1964 Conference Championship. Over the next 4 years, Michigan went 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 and 8-2. Elliott was fired, and Schembechler was hired away from Miami. Just as Woody had made beating Michigan -- or, refusing to say the name, calling it "That school up north," or TSUN for short -- Bo made beating Ohio State, and Woody, the Wolverines' priority.
The Wolverines came in at 7-2, having lost a non-conference game to then-Number 9 Missouri at home, and away to Michigan State. That was their only Big 10 loss, so this game would be for the title. And the Buckeyes were looking to win another National Championship, with fellow undefeateds Texas, Arkansas and Penn State keeping an eye on them. Which they could do, because it was televised nationally on ABC.
Ohio State had quarterback Rex Kern, running backs Jim Otis and John Brockington, and nose tackle Jim Stillwagon, and safety Jack Tatum. Michigan had offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf, guard Reggie McKenzie, receiver Glenn Doughty and tight end Jim Mandich. In other words, both teams were loaded.
But while Michigan had a great offensive line, it was their defense that told the story. Ohio State scored the 1st touchdown, but missed the extra point. Michigan scored a touchdown, and made their extra point, and the 1st quarter ended with Michigan up, 7-6. Ohio State scored another touchdown, but Michigan stopped him on the two-point conversion attempt. But Michigan came right back, scored another touchdown, then another, and then a field goal. At the half, it was Michigan 24, Ohio State 12.
Bo remembered his defensive coordinator, Jim Young, telling his players that Ohio State would not score in the 2nd half. He bounded the blackboard with the formations written on it with each word: "They! Will! Not! Score! Again!" Young went on to become the head coach at Arizona, Purdue and Army.
He was right: Neither team scored again. Michigan missed a field goal, then ended the next 2 Ohio State drives with interceptions. Woody hated the passing game, saying, "Three things can happen when you throw the football, and two of them are bad," meaning an incompletion and an interception. The Ohio State defense got better in the 4th quarter, but their offense didn't, and it remained 24-12. Michigan forced 6 interceptions and a fumble, and had ended Ohio State's streak, and become the Big Ten Champions.
As the fans rushed onto the field, and the Wolverines carried Bo off their shoulders, ABC announcer Bill Flemming said, "There it is! What has to be the upset of the century!" He had forgotten about Army losing to Carlisle in 1912, Notre Dame in 1913, and Army in 1947; and Centre College beating Harvard in 1921.
Michigan's upset of Ohio State was the 1st of 10 games between Woody and Bo, from Bo's arrival in Ann Arbor in 1969 until Woody had to be fired in 1978, were known as The Ten-Year War, with Bo "winning," 5-4-1. Michigan won in 1969, '71, '76, '77 and '78. Ohio State won in 1970, '72, '74 and '75. The '73 game was a tie.
Bo (left) and Woody
Woody and Bo remained friends until Woody's death in 1987. Bo lived on until 2006, dying the day before that year's game, which became one of college football's periodic "Games of the Century."
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November 22, 1969 was a Saturday. These other noteworthy games were played that day:
* Number 2 Texas were idle. The next week, they beat arch-rival Texas A&M. Number 3 Arkansas were idle. The next week, they beat Texas Tech, setting up the "Game of the Century" showdown. Texas won it, winning the Southwest Conference title, and its automatic berth in the Cotton Bowl. Arkansas fell to Number 3,
* Rivalry: Number 4 Penn State beat the University of Pittsburgh, 27-7 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh. A win the next week over North Carolina State gave Penn State, an independent with no conference title available to them, an undefeated regular season, and an invitation to the Orange Bowl.
* Rivalry: Number 5 University of Southern California (USC) beat Number 6 University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), 14-12 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC thus won the Pacific-Eight Conference title. They went on to beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
* Rivalry: Number 7 Missouri beat Kansas, 69-921 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. This gave "Mizzou" the Big Eight Conference title, and an automatic berth in the Orange Bowl. Penn State beat them, to complete an undefeated season, and make a claim for the National Championship.
* Number 8 Notre Dame beat Air Force, 13-6 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. For the 1st time since their "Four Horsemen" season of 1924, 45 years, the Fighting Irish accepted a bowl berth, taking on Number 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Texas won, and were awarded the National Championship. Penn State fans have whined about being bypassed for that title ever since.
* Rivalry: Number 9 Tennessee beat Kentucky, 31-26 at McLean Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. The next week, Tennessee beat Vanderbilt, and won the Southeastern Conference title. They had only lost 1 SEC game, to the University of Mississippi, who had lost 2 of them. By rights, the Sugar Bowl should have invited Tennessee, as both SEC Champions and the higher-ranked team. Instead, they invited Arkansas and "Ole Miss," as neighbors with an established inter-conference rivalry.
Ole Miss won the Sugar Bowl, and so, in the span of 64 minutes of football, Arkansas went from a good shot at the National Championship to a 2-loss team with nothing to show for it.
* Rivalry: Number 10 Louisiana State University beat Tulane, 27-0 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Stuck behind Tennessee and Ole Miss in the SEC, LSU were not invited to any bowl game.
* Rivalry: Number 14 Stanford beat the University of California, 29-28 at the old Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.
* Rivalry: Number 16 Nebraska beat Oklahoma, 44-14 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma.
* Rivalry: Number 17 Purdue beat Indiana, 44-21 at Seventeenth Street Stadium (now Memorial Stadium) in Bloomington, Indiana.
* Rivalry: Boston College beat the University of Massachusetts, 35-30 at Alumni Stadium just outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
* Rivalry: Yale beat Harvard, 7-0 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut. It did not make up for the previous year's famous 29-29 tie.
* Rivalry: Maryland beat Virginia, 17-14 at Byrd Stadium (now SECU Stadium) in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland.
* Rivalry: The University of Richmond beat the College of William & Mary, 28-17 at Cary Field in Williamsburg, Virginia.
* Rivalry: Duke beat North Carolina, 17-13 at Duke Stadium (now Wallace Wade Stadium) in Durham, North Carolina.
* Rivalry: South Carolina beat Clemson, 27-13 at Carolina Stadium (now Williams-Brice Stadium) in Columbia, South Carolina.
* Rivalry: Miami University beat the University of Cincinnati, 36-20 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.
* Rivalry: Minnesota beat Wisconsin, 35-10 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis.
* Rivalry: New Mexico beat New Mexico State, 24-21 at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
* Rivalry: Oregon State beat Oregon, 10-7 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.
* Rivalry: Washington beat Washington State, 30-21 at the old Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* And in New Jersey, Rutgers beat Colgate, 48-12 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; while Princeton beat Dartmouth, 35-7 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton. Earlier in the season, these 2 Jersey teams, who had played in the 1st college football game 100 years earlier, played at Rutgers, and Rutgers won, 29-0. Both teams finished the Centennial season at 6-3.
The other major rivalries were played the next week. On Thursday, November 27, Thanksgiving Day, Texas beat Texas A&M, Virginia Tech beat Virginia Military Institute (VMI -- Virginia were not yet Tech's biggest rival), and Ole Miss beat Mississippi State.
On the Saturday, November 29, Army beat Navy, Georgia Tech beat Georgia, Florida beat the University of Miami, Tennessee beat Vanderbilt, Auburn beat Alabama, Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, and Arizona State beat Arizona.
Pro football was played the next day. Baseball was out of season. There were 5 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Phoenix Suns, 128-114 at Madison Square Garden. Willis Reed scored 37 points.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 132-116 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now the McCamish Pavilion) in Atlanta.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 125-106 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The San Diego Rockets beat the Boston Celtics, 125-116 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Elvin Hayes scored 41 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the team that was supposed to be their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Warriors, 106-98 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California. Jerry West scored 40 points.
There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Los Angeles Stars beat the Carolina Cougars, 120-117 in overtime at the J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
And there were 5 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-0 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Oakland Seals, 4-2 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* And the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.
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