OCTOBER 17TH, 1981: #12 IOWA 9, (at #5) Michigan 7. In just under 18 months, Hawk fans will celebrate the 40th anniversary of this nearly historic team. I do hope that it is a celebration of celebrations. And maybe – just maybe – when they celebrate this particular victory, maybe by then the writer of these threads will, for the first time, actually put up a whoop and a holler for this win - or something.
Because this individual – who is constantly accused (especially by his spouse) of getting WAY too emotional – even now – every time an Iowa football game is on, was so stunned, so much in total shock that, as I turned off my AM radio in my car up in St. Paul, MN at game’s end, got out, and just stood there in the middle of the street staring at my car, when a good friend of mine saw me and asked me from a dormitory window what was wrong, I could barely get out of my mouth, “We just beat Michigan up in Ann Arbor.”
Because no matter how big the upset, no matter how unexpected a win was, most of the time, you can find something that applies a certain logic as to how that shocker actually happened. But when it came to this game, there was nothing – no fact, extrapolation of fact, theory, postulation, or even wild guess that could see this coming – or make sense of it once it did. This was Michigan – at Michigan.
Make no mistake, Iowa was indeed off to a great start that Fall. They had already beaten two Top Ten teams, and were undefeated in the Big Ten. But as huge as those wins were, they were both at home – in the friendly confines of Kinnick Stadium. And even though the conference standings were already in a jumble and were about to get far more so, almost all the upsets that season were home games for the winning team. And one of the few other notable road upsets of one of the top Big 10 teams that year – Minnesota winning at Iowa, was not the sort of win you put in your history books as among the best ever.
But this game belongs in one of the most prominent places in Iowa history books you will ever find, because this game was in “The Big House.” NO ONE wins at the Big House, a place where you have 106,000 fans cheering on a team that was perennially good, and even more so now that Bo Schembechler was walking the sidelines. How good? Woody Hayes only won at Michigan one time in the “Bo era” – his best team during those years only managed a tie in Ann Arbor when a Michigan kicker missed a short late field goal that would have won the game for the Wolverines. And seemingly ALL the fans were in the stadium that afternoon against Iowa, as Michigan entertained the 3rd–largest crowd in the history of the Big House that day – BY FAR the most people to ever see an Iowa game up until then.
As for Iowa, people forget – while we complain about how infrequently we beat Ohio State, prior to Hayden’s arrival, we had actually had far more success against the Buckeyes than we’d had over Michigan. Forrest Evashevski had beaten the Buckeyes four times himself. And in the overall history, we had won 10 games over Ohio State in those earlier years. But against Michigan, the grand total – starting with a win way back in 1900 – was four – 4!
So even though the college football world had been sent into shock in 1981’s first Fall weekend , with #1–rated Michigan falling to Wisconsin, it was noted that game also was a home game, at Camp Randall in Madison. And indeed, Michigan had righted the ship quickly by destroying the nation’s new #1 team, Notre Dame, the very next week – in the Big House, of course.
It didn’t help matters that all Iowa had for a field goal kicker that Fall was a truly green freshman out of Green Bay, Wisconsin, a tall, thin kid who seemed to have more of a passion for golf than he did for football, a young man named Tom Nichol. But he ended up being the star that afternoon.
Iowa scored first, a 20–yard Nichol FG on a short field after a Michigan fumble recovered by St. Paul, MN product Dave Strobel. Nichol added a 36–yarder in the 2nd quarter, then got the game–winning 30–yarder with 2:46 left in the 3rd quarter, which ended an Iowa drive that started with a Mel Cole interception in the end zone. THAT WAS IT for Iowa scoring that day – they got nothing else. But thanks to the defense, that is all Iowa needed that day. For the third time that season, and what ended up being 6 games overall, Iowa’s big–D held Michigan to only 7 points – a 17–yard pass from Steve Smith to famous receiver Anthony Carter in the 2nd quarter.
The defense was indeed dominating, and that, combined with a wonderful ball–control offense had the Hawks committing no turnovers, while holding Michigan to just 56 plays the entire games (compared to Iowa’s 73), and with a time–of–possession advantage of 37 minutes by Iowa to just 23 by the Wolverines.
Still, a game at the Big House meant you just knew – you just KNEW Michigan was going to find a way to win down the stretch – and a 34–yard pass from Smith to Carter in the game’s final 2 minutes seemed to confirm that. That is, until Michigan was called for holding on the play (more like tackling from behind) – as Andre Tippett was closing in quickly on QB Smith. Michigan failed on their successive plays and another Andre Tippett–influenced play on 4th down finished off the Wolverines.
The game is notable for SO MANY reasons. Among them was that a live TV broadcast was almost impossible to find that day. Apparently there were closed–circuit broadcasts going on in places like the Iowa Memorial Union, and someone said there was even one at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids. But with some pretty strict restrictions on how many times one team was allowed to be on TV, no one was going to waste a perfectly good Michigan game on a team like Iowa. Apparently, there was a re-broadcast later that night on WMT/KGAN TV out of Cedar Rapids.
Iowa also shut down what was truly a very high–powered Michigan offense. Anthony Carter was close to 100 yards receiving on 5 catches and that only UM TD – but Michigan only completed one other pass the entire game. The Big 10’s leading rusher up to that time, Butch Woolfolk, was held to just 56 yards and ended up not even being the team’s leading rusher that day.
Still, it took a HUGE series of events to make this game the mega–classic stunner it turned out to be. After Iowa lost the next two weeks, they needed a lot of help – and they got it. We have already talked about the Ohio State–Michigan game, which also was in Ann Arbor (though by then, Earle Bruce, not Woody Hayes, was coaching the Buckeyes) – a game Michigan DID dominate offensively, but still could not get the scores they needed to finish off the Bucks.
But another key game, even though it was a home game, was Minnesota, behind 5 TD passes from QB Mike Hohensee, upsetting Ohio State in Minneapolis, 35–31. That did mean that Minnesota ended up beating both co–champs that season. Trouble is, they couldn’t beat anybody else, and ended up 4–5 in conference play. The other key players that season – Wisconsin, who, as mentioned earlier had beaten both Ohio State and Michigan that year, lost to the same Illinois squad that stomped Iowa (both games in Champaign), as well as to the Michigan State team Iowa took apart the last week of the season. Illinois, meanwhile, lost every conference road game that season except for lowly Northwestern.
Looking back, Iowa really was the best of any of the Big 10 teams that year and most assuredly deserved to go to the Rose Bowl. And it is possible this game could have finished #1 in this thread, except for the game EVERYBODY knows is going to be – and has to be #1. But even at #2, perhaps someday, before this writer dies, he will go somewhere and celebrate this victory somehow.
The game highlights for this games are here: .
Because this individual – who is constantly accused (especially by his spouse) of getting WAY too emotional – even now – every time an Iowa football game is on, was so stunned, so much in total shock that, as I turned off my AM radio in my car up in St. Paul, MN at game’s end, got out, and just stood there in the middle of the street staring at my car, when a good friend of mine saw me and asked me from a dormitory window what was wrong, I could barely get out of my mouth, “We just beat Michigan up in Ann Arbor.”
Because no matter how big the upset, no matter how unexpected a win was, most of the time, you can find something that applies a certain logic as to how that shocker actually happened. But when it came to this game, there was nothing – no fact, extrapolation of fact, theory, postulation, or even wild guess that could see this coming – or make sense of it once it did. This was Michigan – at Michigan.
Make no mistake, Iowa was indeed off to a great start that Fall. They had already beaten two Top Ten teams, and were undefeated in the Big Ten. But as huge as those wins were, they were both at home – in the friendly confines of Kinnick Stadium. And even though the conference standings were already in a jumble and were about to get far more so, almost all the upsets that season were home games for the winning team. And one of the few other notable road upsets of one of the top Big 10 teams that year – Minnesota winning at Iowa, was not the sort of win you put in your history books as among the best ever.
But this game belongs in one of the most prominent places in Iowa history books you will ever find, because this game was in “The Big House.” NO ONE wins at the Big House, a place where you have 106,000 fans cheering on a team that was perennially good, and even more so now that Bo Schembechler was walking the sidelines. How good? Woody Hayes only won at Michigan one time in the “Bo era” – his best team during those years only managed a tie in Ann Arbor when a Michigan kicker missed a short late field goal that would have won the game for the Wolverines. And seemingly ALL the fans were in the stadium that afternoon against Iowa, as Michigan entertained the 3rd–largest crowd in the history of the Big House that day – BY FAR the most people to ever see an Iowa game up until then.
As for Iowa, people forget – while we complain about how infrequently we beat Ohio State, prior to Hayden’s arrival, we had actually had far more success against the Buckeyes than we’d had over Michigan. Forrest Evashevski had beaten the Buckeyes four times himself. And in the overall history, we had won 10 games over Ohio State in those earlier years. But against Michigan, the grand total – starting with a win way back in 1900 – was four – 4!
So even though the college football world had been sent into shock in 1981’s first Fall weekend , with #1–rated Michigan falling to Wisconsin, it was noted that game also was a home game, at Camp Randall in Madison. And indeed, Michigan had righted the ship quickly by destroying the nation’s new #1 team, Notre Dame, the very next week – in the Big House, of course.
It didn’t help matters that all Iowa had for a field goal kicker that Fall was a truly green freshman out of Green Bay, Wisconsin, a tall, thin kid who seemed to have more of a passion for golf than he did for football, a young man named Tom Nichol. But he ended up being the star that afternoon.
Iowa scored first, a 20–yard Nichol FG on a short field after a Michigan fumble recovered by St. Paul, MN product Dave Strobel. Nichol added a 36–yarder in the 2nd quarter, then got the game–winning 30–yarder with 2:46 left in the 3rd quarter, which ended an Iowa drive that started with a Mel Cole interception in the end zone. THAT WAS IT for Iowa scoring that day – they got nothing else. But thanks to the defense, that is all Iowa needed that day. For the third time that season, and what ended up being 6 games overall, Iowa’s big–D held Michigan to only 7 points – a 17–yard pass from Steve Smith to famous receiver Anthony Carter in the 2nd quarter.
The defense was indeed dominating, and that, combined with a wonderful ball–control offense had the Hawks committing no turnovers, while holding Michigan to just 56 plays the entire games (compared to Iowa’s 73), and with a time–of–possession advantage of 37 minutes by Iowa to just 23 by the Wolverines.
Still, a game at the Big House meant you just knew – you just KNEW Michigan was going to find a way to win down the stretch – and a 34–yard pass from Smith to Carter in the game’s final 2 minutes seemed to confirm that. That is, until Michigan was called for holding on the play (more like tackling from behind) – as Andre Tippett was closing in quickly on QB Smith. Michigan failed on their successive plays and another Andre Tippett–influenced play on 4th down finished off the Wolverines.
The game is notable for SO MANY reasons. Among them was that a live TV broadcast was almost impossible to find that day. Apparently there were closed–circuit broadcasts going on in places like the Iowa Memorial Union, and someone said there was even one at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids. But with some pretty strict restrictions on how many times one team was allowed to be on TV, no one was going to waste a perfectly good Michigan game on a team like Iowa. Apparently, there was a re-broadcast later that night on WMT/KGAN TV out of Cedar Rapids.
Iowa also shut down what was truly a very high–powered Michigan offense. Anthony Carter was close to 100 yards receiving on 5 catches and that only UM TD – but Michigan only completed one other pass the entire game. The Big 10’s leading rusher up to that time, Butch Woolfolk, was held to just 56 yards and ended up not even being the team’s leading rusher that day.
Still, it took a HUGE series of events to make this game the mega–classic stunner it turned out to be. After Iowa lost the next two weeks, they needed a lot of help – and they got it. We have already talked about the Ohio State–Michigan game, which also was in Ann Arbor (though by then, Earle Bruce, not Woody Hayes, was coaching the Buckeyes) – a game Michigan DID dominate offensively, but still could not get the scores they needed to finish off the Bucks.
But another key game, even though it was a home game, was Minnesota, behind 5 TD passes from QB Mike Hohensee, upsetting Ohio State in Minneapolis, 35–31. That did mean that Minnesota ended up beating both co–champs that season. Trouble is, they couldn’t beat anybody else, and ended up 4–5 in conference play. The other key players that season – Wisconsin, who, as mentioned earlier had beaten both Ohio State and Michigan that year, lost to the same Illinois squad that stomped Iowa (both games in Champaign), as well as to the Michigan State team Iowa took apart the last week of the season. Illinois, meanwhile, lost every conference road game that season except for lowly Northwestern.
Looking back, Iowa really was the best of any of the Big 10 teams that year and most assuredly deserved to go to the Rose Bowl. And it is possible this game could have finished #1 in this thread, except for the game EVERYBODY knows is going to be – and has to be #1. But even at #2, perhaps someday, before this writer dies, he will go somewhere and celebrate this victory somehow.
The game highlights for this games are here: .
