Dear God, do the Michigan fans flatter themselves --
by omahadomer (2005-11-09 01:07:26)

they have a fine program that is noted, in particular, for coughing up hairballs in big games. Let's review the record of their greatest coach, Bo Schembechler --

1969: Michigan wins the Big 10 but then loses the Rose Bowl to USC 10-3
1970: Michigan is 9-0 heading into Ohio State but comes up short 20-9
1971: Michigan is 11-0 and facing heavy underdog Stanford in the Rose Bowl: 13-12 Stanford
1972: 10-0 heading into OSU: 14-11 Buckeyes
1973: 10-0 and Michigan has Ohio State at home: 10-10 tie and the conference athletic directors vote to send the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl
1974: 10-0 heading into Columbus: 12-10 Buckeyes
1975: 8-0-2 and have OSU at home: 21-14 OSU. But good news, the Big 10 now allows other Big 10 teams to go to a bowl. 14-6 Oklahoma over Michigan in the Orange Bowl
1976: Inexplicable 16-14 loss to Purdue, but Michigan finally gets by Ohio State and goes to the Rose Bowl. Oh goody: 14-6 USC
1977: Another dumb conference loss, this one 16-0 to Minnesota. But they beat the Buckeyes and they're back in the Rose Bowl and a huge favorite over 7-4 Washington, so finally Michigan's going to win the Rose Bowl. Oops: 27-20 Washington
1978: This time the conference gag is against MSU but the Wolves beat the Bucks again and are back in the Rose Bowl. Same song, 18th verse: 17-10 USC
1979: Michigan has Devine's worst team in Ann Arbor and the Wolves have already tuned up on Northwestern and it's ND's opener. No matter, Bob Crable blocks a game-winning FG attempt and ND wins 12-10. 8-3 Michigan finally gets an easy bowl opponent, UNC in the Gator Bowl. Thanks for playing Bo: 17-15 UNC.
1980: Finally Michigan wins a Rose Bowl (over Washington). But a 51-yard FG by Harry Oliver beats UM in ND stadium. The next week the stunned Wolves also lose to South Carolina, removing them from NC consideration.
1981: Bo finally beats ND (Faust's 5-6 team) and beats UCLA in a bowl game. The bad news? It's the Bluebonnet Bowl.
1982: Bo gets beat by Faust but still makes it to the Rose Bowl at 8-3 and plays UCLA. UCLA wins of course, 24-14.
1983: Good news: ND's off the schedule for Bo. Bad news, they have to play Washington again and lose 27-25. 9-2 Michigan gets invited to the Sugar Bowl where they lose to Auburn 9-7. Bo has now managed to lose 3 of the then-Big 4 bowls.
1984: Michigan flops around to a 6-5 record and then makes history as the weakest opponent ever in a bowl game for a national championship team as BYU gets by them 24-17 to claim the NC even though BYU would've been a 2-touchdown underdog to either Oklahoma or Nebraska.
1985: A conference loss to Iowa and a tie with Illinois keeps UM out of the Rose Bowl and NC consideration. UM does beat Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.
1986: Familiar scene. ND is jobbed by a bad call as the game-winning TD is ruled out of bounds. UM somehow loses to Minnesota in Ann Arbor but still makes it to the Rose Bowl where the Wolves lose 22-15 to ASU. ASU is now the 5th Pac 8 or 10 team to beat Bo's teams in the Rose Bowl.
1987: Lou drills UM 26-7 in Ann Arbor. Michigan suffers 3 more losses to go 8-4.
1988: Gillette's miss allows ND to win 19-17 setting up ND's 12-0 season. UM does finally manage to win the Rose Bowl over USC. ND defeats both participants in the Rose Bowl during the regular season.
1989: Rocket runs back two kickoffs and Michigan loses 24-19. Michigan plays well and wins the next 10 before losing the Rose Bowl to USC. ND beats both participants in the Rose Bowl, again.

And thus concludes Bo's career.