Lucas at 50: Magical memories vs. Michigan
September 20, 2019 | Football, Mike Lucas
A look back at how the Badgers turned the tables on the Wolverines
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UWBadgers.com Senior Writer Mike Lucas is celebrating 50 years of covering the Badgers in 2019. Join us throughout the season we take a look back at some of the most memorable moments from his career in Madison.
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Setting the scene: a flashback from September 12, 1981.
Wisconsin 21, Michigan 14
There was no shortage of bulletin board material, and Wisconsin head coach Dave McClain was more than willing to tap into it – starting with a newspaper clipping on Michigan fullback Stanley Edwards, who was willing to say publicly what others may have been thinking.
"We beat some teams on name and character alone," said Edwards, whose son Braylon would exhibit the same brashness and confidence years later while playing for the Wolverines. "When we take the field and they see those maize and blue helmets, it strikes fear in some people's hearts."
Michigan defensive back Mike Jolly, who played in the mid-to-late '70s for Bo Schembechler, made it even more personal. Jolly was quoted as saying some of his teammates used to stand on the sidelines and bet on how many points the Wolverines would score against the Badgers.
Fact? Or fiction? Jolly's greater point: he sensed fear in an opponent like Wisconsin, then a Big Ten bottom-feeder. There was an argument behind that sentiment, too, since Jolly was on Michigan teams that drubbed the Badgers by lopsided margins of 56-0 in 1977, 42-0 in 1978 and 54-0 in 1979.
In 1980, the final score was 24-0, a sign of progress. At least from the UW's perspective. After the Badgers held the Wolverines without a first down for the final 22 minutes of the game, nose guard Tim Krumrie said, "We knew for the first time that we could compete and play with them."
The students in the north end zone of Camp Randall Stadium also sensed that upgrade in competitiveness and were largely responsible for a 10-minute delay in the third quarter when they made so much noise that Michigan refused to snap the ball until the fans quieted down.
Facing a fourth-and-1 from the UW 4, quarterback John Wangler stepped up under center but backed off and complained to referee Glen Fortin that his teammates couldn't hear the snap count. Fortin waved him on and Wangler stepped away seven times as the crowd got louder and louder.
The Badgers were warned twice and then stripped of their timeouts, one by one. That was followed by two delay-of-game penalties that led to a first-and-goal from the 1. Wangler eventually took the snap and handed off to tailback Butch Woolfolk who scored, making it 17-0.
The entire fiasco was orchestrated by the scowling Schembechler. Smug as ever in his gamesmanship, he directed Wangler from the sideline. None of which was surprising to McClain, who was well aware of the rules of engagement having coached for Schembechler at Miami of Ohio.
As it was, the Badgers came out of that '80 loss with confidence and conviction.
"When you get knocked around — not just beaten on the scoreboard, but beaten physically — that becomes something in the back of your mind and your heart that you want to change," said UW safety Matt Vanden Boom. "We knew something had changed and that gave seed to our ambition for '81."
During the week leading up to the 1981 opener, McClain pulled out all stops knowing that his team would be a huge underdog to the No. 1-ranked Wolverines. He had the marching band show up for Thursday's practice and he had the scoreboard read: Wisconsin 17, Michigan 14.
During the pre-game warmups, some Michigan players came out of the tunnel and jogged around the Wisconsin players loosening up in front of the north goalpost. Circling their prey, some of them were shouting, "We're No. 1" before jogging to their end of the field.
"It annoyed me a lot," Krumrie said. "They were really cocky."
Not for long. Statistically, the Badgers dominated in plays (78-53), first downs (23-8) and total yards (439-229; 89 of which came on one Woolfolk touchdown run). The UW defense was relentless, and it all started up front with the tenacious play of Krumrie, Darryl Sims and Mark Shumate.
On the first play of the game, Woolfolk was tackled for no gain.
"We put him flat on his back and that established the tempo," said Dave Levenick, one of the leaders in a linebacker corps that included Guy Boliaux, Larry Spurlin and Kyle Borland.
"We brought our 'A' game at every level," said Vanden Boom, who shared the secondary David Greenwood, Von Mansfield and Clint Sims. "The score was closer than it really should have been."
Woolfolk's long scoring run had tied the game at 14-all in the third quarter.
The Badgers punched back on the next possession.
McClain had drawn up a screen play out of the shotgun formation specifically for the Wolverines defense. And it worked to perfection with quarterback Jess Cole (pictured in top photo) getting the ball to tailback John Williams, who rambled 71 yards for what would be the game-winning touchdown.
There was still a lot of time left in the game, a full fourth quarter, but the Badger defense wouldn't allow the Wolverines to get anything going on offense. Quarterback Steve Smith was making his first career start for Schembechler and he was clearly rattled.
Smith completed three passes to his guys and three to Vanden Boom.
He was 3-of-18 for 39 yards, while Vanden Boom had three picks in the final six possessions.
"We caught them maybe on a sideways day," said Vanden Boom, whose son, Danny, is a backup quarterback on this season's Wisconsin team. "We beat them in every phase."
Offensively, the Badgers had noteworthy balance: 181 passing yards, 257 rushing yards.
In retrospect, where does the Cole-to-Williams screen rank among the greatest scoring moments against Michigan? It's definitely in a Top Three discussion along with a couple of draw plays.
• • • •
In 1993, tailback Terrell Fletcher scored on a 12-yard draw, the only touchdown in a 13-10 victory over the Wolverines, the first over Michigan since that day in 1981. "Fletch made a couple of guys miss and the place went crazy," said quarterback Darrell Bevell.
After losing to Minnesota the week before, this was a bounce-back game for the Badgers. "It was the two big boys, us and Michigan," said offensive tackle Joe Panos. "And we were going to find out who the bully really was … we ended up being the bully."
Panos also ended up being one of the postgame heroes, dragging people to safety after hundreds were trapped or trampled from the force of a human surge at the northeast end of the stadium.
The cascading force was so powerful that an iron railing at the base of the stands was lifted from its concrete moorings, leaving bodies piled one on top of another, four and five deep.
Miraculously, no one was killed.
While Brent Moss rushed for 128 yards and was the Offensive Player of the Game, Michael Brin, a seldom-used walk-on receiver was singled out for a much more prestigious honor.
Brin was named Peter Jennings' ABC Person of the Week after pulling one student from the crush of bodies and administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to another.
A zoology major at Wisconsin, Brin went on to medical school in Chicago and is now a physician in the Milwaukee area. He will serve as the Badgers' honorary captain on Saturday.
• • • •
In 2005, the Badgers snapped a six-game losing streak in the series with an exhilarating, come-from-behind 23-20 win over Michigan in front of a raucous crowd of 83,022 at Camp Randall.
Trailing 16-13 in the fourth quarter, the Badgers drove 52 yards on 11 plays for the winning score. Tailback Brian Calhoun, an exciting dual-threat out of the backfield, had touches on seven of the first eight snaps: five runs for 20 yards and two catches for 19.
That set up a first-and-goal from the Michigan 4.
On first down, quarterback John Stocco's pass was batted down at the line of scrimmage. On second down, cornerback Leon Hall broke up a throw intended for Jonathan Orr in the end zone.
Seeing that the Wolverines were voiding the middle of the field and rushing hard on the edges to pressure Stocco, UW wide receivers coach Henry Mason suggested a play to Barry Alvarez.
A quarterback draw.
Not known for his running skills, Stocco later admitted that he was surprised by the call.
The Wolverines were even more surprised.
Getting blocks from Jason Palermo on Gabe Watson and Matt Lawrence on Pat Massey, Stocco followed Calhoun and center Donovan Raiola upfield and scored the winning TD with 24 seconds left.
In what Stocco labeled as one of the most unbelievable atmospheres that he has ever experienced, it was the first of what is now four straight wins over Michigan in Madtown.
