This was a very interesting list to put together. I wasn't old enough to remember a lot of these performances or players when they were at Michigan, though I have seen some in throwback videos. Most of them I'm only familiar with through their name, at least until Erick Anderson and beyond.
- 21 - Calvin O'Neal (1975 vs. Baylor)
- 20 - Ron Simpkins (1977 vs. Ohio State)
- 19 - Paul Girgash (1982 vs. Illinois)
- 19 - Mike Mallory (1984 vs. Purdue)
- 19 - Andy Moeller (1985 vs. Illinois)
- 18 - Mike Taylor (1970 vs. Ohio State)
- 18 - Mike Boren (1981 vs. Navy)
- 18 - Mike Boren (1982 vs. UCLA)
- 18 - Tim Anderson (1984 vs. Purdue)
- 18 - Garland Rivers (1984 vs. BYU)
- 18 - Al Bishop (1987 vs. Alabama)
- 17 - Phil Seymour (1968 vs. Cal)
- 17 - Ron Simpkins (1979 vs. Ohio State)
- 17 - Mike Boren (1982 vs. Illinois)
- 17 - Mike Boren (1982 vs. Michigan State)
- 17 - Mike Mallory (1985 vs. Iowa)
- 17 - Al Bishop (1987 vs. Minnesota)
- 17 - Erick Anderson (1991 vs. Ohio State)
- 17 - Steve Morrison (1992 vs. Illinois)
- 16 - Ron Simpkins (1977 vs. Washington)
- 16 - Ron Simpkins (1978 vs. Arizona)
- 16 - Ron Simpkins (1978 vs. Michigan State)
- 16 - Andy Cannavino (1979 vs. Ohio State)
- 16 - Jarrett Irons (1994 vs. Colorado)
- 16 - Jarrett Irons (1996 vs. Ohio State)
This was originally posted on September 10, 2019.
I happened to see both the of the top two games. Baylor was the SWC defending champions and were good. Game ended at 14 - 14. Had to look that last part up. It was a big deal for them to come up here and get that done.
ReplyDeleteBuckeyes had Archie, Pete Johnson who in at least one of our games was bigger than all of our starting defenders and Cornelius Greene, who I always thought of as an under appreciated QB. Woody was starting to throw a little bit and Corny, for the times, wasn't bad at it. Helluva option QB. Having Archie Griffith and Pete Johnson for your option backs didn't hurt, but you didn't really want Corny turning it up with the ball either. There is video out there of Pete Johnson scoring the game winning touchdown in that game, he was just massive.
Ray Griffith had the huge Ricky Leach pick that set up the winning TD. I still don’t know what the hell Ricky was thinking on that play … but I digress.
Defense was much different in those days. The idea was to create a pile at the line of scrimmage and keep your LBs, who were the definition of the football term "thumper”, clean. Those guys ran sideline to sideline with the action, having two out of the three options, the belly to the FB and the QB keeper. Box safety usually was responsible for the pitch.
The king of this approach to defense was George Perles who was mostly responsible for the design of the “Steel Curtain Defense” and made Percy Snow a first round pick in whatever year he came out.
Calvin O’Neal was a real good LB, but Ron Simpkins was just a beast of a LB. Maybe not quite as big as some, particularly the now discredited as a Michigan Man, Mike Borin, but absolutely big enough. Simpkins had some speed the others didn’t have and that “Nose for the football” thing going on.
The other “Nose for the football” guy on this list is Mike Mallory. That guy was always around the football.
It’s such a different game today. I seriously doubt that any of these numbers will ever be seriously threatened.
I was at the 1975 game against Baylor as well! My sister, who was attending U-M, didn't care for sports, so she gave me her season tickets. I enjoyed her season pass for the 1975 and 1976 seasons.
DeleteMichigan had tied Stanford the week before (19-19), so a second straight tie game was a bit of a disappointment for a teenage boy dreaming of Michigan steam-rolling everyone.
I'm surprised there's no 1976 representatives here. That was a beast of a defense that year, shutting out five opponents, including Ohio State. Maybe the '76 defense was a bit more balanced.