Because I'm a sicko I just watched most of the fourth quarter of the 1980 Michigan Northwestern game
Posted on September 11, 2026 at 03:05:11 PM by Paul
Notes:
Michigan ran only 12 plays from scrimmage in the entire second half until they got the ball with 2:20 to go after Andy Cannavino picked off a pass as Northwestern was trying to score the tying touchdown.
Anthony Carter was the entire offense, catching two TD passes, the second one midway through the fourth quarter to break a 10-10 tie. Northwestern was in the midst of a six-season stretch in which they won a total of three out of 66 games.
Rich Hewlett was the QB for most of the game instead of Wangler. IIRC correctly Wangler started for the rest of the season after the offense averaged 4.8 ypp against the worst team in D-I.
An example of how things have changed: It was a very wet rainy day, both the ball and the turf were very slick, yet after Michigan made a first down after the Cannavino interception and could have just kneeled it out (Northwestern had no time outs left) Bo ran two more regular plays from scrimmage anyway. Lawrence Ricks kept asking for a towel because his hands were so wet.
The announcing team of Jim Brandstatter and Larry Page were laughably bad, failing to provide any information about anything, at a time when there were of course no graphics of any kind of the TV screen to tell you the down and distance or how much time was left etc.
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Because I'm a sicko I just watched most of the fourth quarter of the 1980 Michigan Northwestern game
- By Paul
September 11, 2026 at 03:05:11 PM
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