Michigan’s 1997 NCAA title aided by ballboys
Posted on June 19th, 2008 – 11:13 AMBy Michael Rand
Paul W. passes along an interesting story from the Detroit Free Press, which apparently only came to light recently. Two Michigan ballboys discovered that Northwestern was stealing Michigan’s football signals during a game in 1997 and alerted coach Lloyd Carr. Though the suggestion that it “saved the national title” might be a little strong, since the Wolverines were still leading 13-3 in the game at the time, there are some compelling elements. Here are a few key pieces:
The Wolverines were ranked sixth in the country. Northwestern was 2-4. But Michigan was struggling to move the ball, holding only a 13-3 lead at halftime. Northwestern had upset Michigan the previous two seasons. Now Datz and Youtan had an idea why. “There was a guy on their sideline that day, and he had our signals down pat,” Datz said. “Every time, he would scream into the defense what we’re going to do — pass or run — and he was almost always right. … They were blowing up draws, calling our counters and destroying our screen passes — all a big part of our plays that year. I was just screaming mad. Youtan and I are thinking to ourselves, ‘This guy has us.’ “
Best part? The story tracks down the Northwestern assistant and he confirms everything:
Until Appalachian State knocked off Michigan last September, the Northwestern games in 1995 and 1996 rated among the biggest upsets in U-M history. While those Wildcats had talent, it seemed improbable that a program that hadn’t beaten U-M since 1965 would take out the Wolverines two years in a row. Having an idea about U-M’s plays certainly helped. “That was what I would do,” said David Hansburg, a Northwestern graduate assistant those years. “If I could see them signal in plays, I’d watch. This was no Spygate, and there was no video of anybody. I equated it to being like baseball when you’ve got a runner on second base; it’s part of the game.”
In any event, check out the entire story. It’s well worth it. Also, consider whether we should do some investigating into the Michigan vs. Gophers game that year. The Wolverines only won by three touchdowns, and the Gophers did lead 3-0 at one point. Something seems fishy.
5 Responses to "Michigan’s 1997 NCAA title aided by ballboys"
It’s kind of wierd that with as much money as the football program at Michigan brought in that they couldn’t afford helmet receivers to radio in the plays in 1997. It’s not like Carl Pollad owns the University of Michigan. Let alone enough talent to sub in one player each time to bring in the plays.
If you’re stupid enough to have exactly one guy running signals, you deserve to have them stolen.
And according to the article, for two years before that all the defense had to do was watch the Michigan center, who only put his off hand on the ground for running plays. That’s ridiculously dumb, especially considering it apparently went on for two seasons and nobody on the Michigan sideline caught on that their center was tipping every play.
Jon
Doesn’t the Center always have to put his hand down? It is how he hikes the ball to the QB. Just a thought.
Not the offhand. I don’t know how people snap with the second hand down anyway–no way I could have pass blocked from that stance.
We had an opponent in high school where we knew their signals–I think they were the same as ours–but they didn’t know it. It was a fun game, actually, with our defensive coordinator calling out their plays as they were signaled in.
And no, Joker, it wasn’t Jordan–we beat you guys without knowing your plays.
Joker - I’ll think you’ll find, upon rereading, that I referred to said hand as his “off hand” - you know, the one that he’s not using to hike the ball to the QB.
Just a thought.
