CONTENTS

CONTINUE: PART 3

PART 2

Turning the Corner (6-2)

E. Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Northwestern, Indiana, Minnesota

Lowly Eastern Michigan couldn’t have picked a worse week to come to Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines were not only physically bigger than EMU, they were also enraged, and they served up a thrashing that was just what the doctor ordered.

Although they put up 59 points, the secondary still allowed 343 yards passing.  Tom was sharp throughout and Henson came out in garbage time and went 3/6 and threw a touchdown pass of his own. But ultimately the victory proved little…

The team's first real chance at redemption came against Michigan State in the annual battle for state bragging rights.

"We've seen [the Paul Bunyon trophy]," Tom said. "It's about seven or eight feet tall, so I look up to it. It's a pretty ugly trophy. Coach always says, 'You don't miss it 'til it's gone.'"  The mayors of Ann Arbor and East Lansing made a bet that the loser would fly the other school's flag over City Hall for a day.

Looking back on the MSU rivalry Tom recently said, “You have respect for the rivalry and the tradition, but you just don't like Michigan State. You don't like seeing green. I haven't had a green shirt or a green jacket or anything green in five years. There's so much more to that game." Tom often speaks to reporters in the second person -- a habit, as S.I.’s Mike Silver pointed out, that was shared by Montana as a way of deflecting attention.

Going into the game, Lee Corso attacked Michigan's character and toughness on ESPN. In The Daily, Joe Rexrode predicted, "Tom Brady will be wishing he hadn't beaten out seventh-year senior/waste of scholarship Scott Driesbach for the starting job after a few up-close encounters with Robaire Smith."

In The Reveiew, Borkow added,

If the Spartans keep up their level of play and Michigan does not grow some heart soon, things could get messy when the Spartans come to town. The last time the Wolverines started 0-2, it was 1988 and Bo Schembechler was at the helm of the ship. Michigan went on to finish the rest of its games unbeaten, at 9-2-1 on the season.

All in all, things do not look promising for Michigan football so far this season. If they fail to turn around soon, the 8-4 seasons of the recent past might even begin to look desirable. It will take heart, conditioning, and a stable, consistent field-commander at quarterback to help the Maize-and-Blue rebound from their worst start in a decade, but if last season taught U of Michigan anything, it is that miracles do happen.

Controversy continued to simmer in The Daily...

Brady strives to achieve perfection
Nicholas Cotsonika

Tom Brady politely excused himself from the table, his turkey sandwich half-finished, and sat down alone near the back of the room. As his teammates discussed Michigan's gimpy running game and dreary defense over lunch, Brady kept to himself, away from the attention, putting pen to paper. At first glance, he appeared to be studying. "Homework?" someone asked. Brady looked up and smiled, then continued. He was filling out a work sheet for quarterbacks, breaking down the defensive tendencies of this week's opponent, Michigan State.

He was studying. He was doing what he has since this strange season began: learning his craft quietly, while U-M's struggles occupy center stage. The Wolverines, defending national champions, are 1-2 entering the Big Ten season. But Brady isn't the reason.

Brady has emerged as solid and stable, confident and capable. By no means is Brady a star. He is still establishing himself as a leader, still smoothing the rough edges of his game. But he is doing what was expected of him -- making steady progress -- and he hasn't become a focal point for criticism. "I don't get confused very often," Tom said. "Very rarely do I not see a certain coverage. I'm pretty much always aware of where the defense is, where they're bringing blitz from, where they're dropping into zone coverage. The things I need to continue to improve on are just making the quick decisions, and that comes with repetitions."

Perhaps the biggest threat to Brady's progress has been Henson, who has encroached on Brady's territory enough to steal some of those precious practice plays. Carr said he met with Brady and explained U-M's reason for inserting Henson: Though quarterbacks coach Stan Parrish said teams "can't have a guy looking over his shoulder."

If Brady is disturbed by the situation, he hasn't appeared so publicly. He compared sitting out a series while Henson plays to staying on the bench because of a fumbled kickoff. "When Coach decides to put Drew in the game, I have to deal with that. When I do get called on to come in after Drew, I have to go out there and perform."

He scribbled down his analysis of the Spartans, who, if it weren't for U-M's sad secondary, would rank last in the Big Ten in pass-efficiency defense. This could be the time to go long, to show his stuff. His sandwich sat, still half-finished. Brady looked at his work sheet instead and licked his chops. A season that has been anything but satisfying for U-M starts anew Saturday, and Tom Brady, above all else, is hungry.

Against the Spartans -- for the fist time -- Carr sat Henson for the whole game. He watched with a baseball cap instead of a helmet as Tom directed a 29-17 win.

Early on, it didn’t look like his homework would pay off. He completed his first pass of the day to an MSU cornerback in double coverage. Afterwards he denied he felt undue pressure, “(Henson) didn’t affect me at all. I’ve thrown interceptions in practice with coach yelling at me. You just got to keep a level head, that’s all.”

As usual, he recovered to break a 10-10 tie with a touchdown to Tai Streets, and later in the 4th-quarter he dove in for another score (set up by a 48 yard pass to the goal line).  The Daily wrote, "Brady showed uncanny calm and demonstrated a fine touch on some thread-the-needle passes."

Afterwards Carr raved about Tom’s resiliency.  His performance earned him co-Big Ten player of the week honors (shared with Ron Dayne), and the game went a long way in establishing Tom as “the man.”

But overall Carr was far from satisfied, "I can't remember ever wanting to win a game so bad. I am extremely proud of this football team, but we are not a good football team and we can get much better."

Afterwards, Tom gave everyone else credit -- especially the guys who least deserved it -- and then ripped his own performance. It was a blueprint for the press conference fans would see repeated a thousand times over,

"It was a total team effort. The defense really stepped up today. With the run Thomas made today, it does not get much better than that. When you see Tuman out there and open, you just have to get the ball to him. He is going to make the catch. I gave up a turnover on the first drive and I am constantly learning. I learned a lot today. The line played better today. I hardly got hit all day. The line did a heck of a job."

The last vestiges of the apathy that permeated the locker room at the beginning of the season were slowly fading. But they had not yet found momentum.

They were next off to Kinnick Stadium for a cold, wet and poorly played game (8 turnovers and 19 penalties).

It was Tom's first sub-par outing but he made all the critical plays needed to win.  Michigan jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 14-yard pass to Streets culminating a 14-play, 84-yard drive that consumed 6:20. Despite five penalties on the drive, Tom bailed them out by completing six of seven passes.

But after the brilliant start, he threw TWO 1^st-quarter picks.  The first was deflected off the hands of Marcus Knight but the second was ugly. He acknowledged, "It was the first time the rain has played a factor for me. If you're going to win championships, you can't turn the ball over. You can't put your defense in bad situations like that."

But trailing 7-9 in the 4^th quarter, he pulled things together and recorded his first official 4^th-quarter comeback…converting a key 3rd-and-7 to help set up Jay Feely in the wet conditions for a chip shot that won the game 12-9.

In the first half alone, the offense compiled a whopping nine penalties for 59 yards, killing nearly all of the drives. The Hawkeye crowd was a big contributor to the false starts.  As The Daily put it, "Brady even tried to help his linemen out by rushing the snap count at one point, but it was to no avail as Michigan continued to trip over its own feet." 

But they desperately stumbled into the victory.

It wasn’t pretty but it was classic Big Ten football. “I know a lot of people are going to talk about how ugly it is," Carr said. "I think it's a wonderful win in difficult field conditions. I thought it was a defensive football game."

Hayden Fry was proud of his team’s effort, "We played our hearts out. Our defense played tough and good, forcing turnovers and holding them to one touchdown.”

If the conditions for the Iowa game had been nasty, the Northwestern game at Ryan Stadium was a total mudfest.

It was a game of field position, which Michigan gutted out 12-6.

Not much passing, although with 35 seconds left in the first half, Tom scored the game's only touchdown on a 30-yard pass to Tai Streets. The defense held strong in the second half while the offense kept the Wildcats on the sidelines with one last clock killing scoring drive…a 12-play, 65-yarder that took 5:40. That and a key safety added up to 12 points which was more than enough on that day.

The Daily added, “Although the field conditions forced some wobbly passes, one statistic was the most glaring of all: Zero interceptions. If nothing else, Brady took care of the ball. And his team followed his lead.”

"I can't remember ever being in a game with that much mud," said Brady. "The rain's really not all that bad. But the mud - it was terrible out there."  Freshman Justin Fargas (another fair weather kid from Cali) ran hard through the slop all game long.

There was a clear sense that homecoming week against Indiana was a must win, but it was another close call…

Freshman Antwaan Randle El was already considered the best option QB in the country. According to Joe Falls of The Detroit News, “If Barry Sanders was a quarterback, this is what he would look like.” Western Michigan HC Gary Darnell added, "He was like trying to catch a 180-pound bass."

In the first half, Carr called a tailback option pass inside the red zone to Streets, but it was intercepted. With the game tied 7-7 in the 3^rd quarter, Michigan faced a critical 3rd-and-18. Tom launched a perfect 51-yard bomb to Streets, who coasted in for the go-ahead score.

With a field goal, Indiana cut the deficit to 14-10 with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

Then, with Randle El eyeing another comeback, Tom engineered a magnificent 10-minute, 19-play, 88-yard clincher that straddled the fourth quarter and extended the lead to 11 points.  He missed just one of seven passes when Terrell slipped.  On 3rd-and-goal he hit Streets in the corner of the end zone to put the game out of reach for good.  The highlight play of the drive was Tom's 16-yard scramble on 3rd-and-9 from Michigan’s 44.

Afterwards, Streets said he might have been lucky, "I might have given him a little subtle push but the ref didn't see it, so I just thank God that it came through. Tommy threw a great ball."

Despite the win, Randle El had rushed for 146 yards.

The victory was as opportunity to be self-critical. As Tom put it,

"I think everyone was a little riled up at the beginning. Any time you get a Big Ten win in October it's an emotional win. We've got Minnesota next week and they're going to present a challenge to us. But we're focused as improving as an offensive unit and as a team. The defense will take care of itself, they play with a lot of heart."

In The Review, Borkow reflected,

"Against Notre Dame and Syracuse Carr benched Brady for Henson, which had to shatter his starter’s confidence.  Although since the MSU game Brady seems to have earned himself the starting spot. His ability to capture the confidence of Lloyd Carr has led to him earning the confidence of his teammates as well."

Indoors against Minnesota, Tom overcame a disturbingly poor rushing performance by unleashing the deep ball and pulling out a 15-10 victory to retain the "Little Brown Jug" for the 12^th consecutive year.

On account of -23 yards rushing on 33 carries, Tom’s 282 yards didn't just account for ALL of the offense, but MORE THAN ALL of the offense.  On the first play of the second series he took a page from the previous week and hurled a 76 yard touchdown to Tai Streets (4^th longest pass in school history), who finished the day with 192 yards (just 5 yards shy of the school record set by Jack Clancy in 1966). As The Daily put it,

Numbers place Brady as the bionic man, throwing long and longer. But he took four sacks, and the ground game was nonexistent, losing 23 yards on the day. Just as he did against Indiana, Streets reached for a beautiful ball, maintaining his balance before sprinting into the end zone to stun the opposition. This time, the pass went for 76 yards and, on one play, established Michigan's air attack - and Brady's arm -- the only source of pride for the Wolverines.

The Minnesota Daily added, "Despite Brady's success throwing the football, the Gophers' defense played with reckless abandon, hurrying him and tallying four sacks."

But with zero running game, the offense couldn’t find any consistency and the game went into the 4^th quarter in a 10-10 deadlock.

With 12 minutes to go, Gophers' DT John Schlect snuffed out a draw and forced an Anthony Thomas fumble. The ball bounced toward DE Curtese Poole with nothing but turf in front of him, but Poole bobbled it and Tom jumped in and stole it back. Though the effort didn't show up in the stats it undoubtedly saved the game. "Tom Brady made a great fumble recovery," Carr said. "That was a tremendous play for our football team."

Then with under 11 minutes, James Hall sacked Billy Cockerham in the end zone for a safety that gave Michigan a slim 2-point lead. On the ensuing drive Tom killed the clock by marching the length of the field on a series of clutch throws to Streets,

Trapped in the end zone after a 13-yard gain was negated by a Jeff Backus face mask penalty, Brady threw a ball only Streets could catch. 39 yards later, Streets secured the toss and Michigan was marching again. Overcoming their rushing deficiencies proved to be the most difficult task for the Wolverines. The drive continued as Thomas struggled to gain two and three yards on each handoff, running between the tackles. So Brady went back to Old Reliable, Streets, who hauled in a 23-yard pass to bring Michigan within a breath of the end zone.

Although Tom fumbled at the goal line, he managed to recover it and they went on to kick the field goal to extend the lead and ensure the win.

Afterwards he said, "We took advantage of their man coverage. I wasn't insulted that they challenged us [to throw]. We beat them, so it's flattering, I guess." HC Glen Mason was proud of his defense, “I don’t think the Vikings could’ve held them to -23 yards rushing.”

Through a stretch when the Wolverines were struggling with injuries and complacency, they’d been in position to lose to the Gophers, Hawkeyes, Hoosiers and Wildcats. Tom's leadership and playmaking was quietly carrying the team, but they did not yet reflect the confidence of their quarterback. Running 23 yards in the wrong direction in the Metrodome was hardly indicative of smashmouth Michigan football.

Despite winning their 6^th-straight game, the national and local critics ripped the team to shreds.

Ahead loomed three sleeping giants -- Penn State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. All three were ranked in the top-10 and had posted a combined record of 24-2. Three wins would put them back in the driver’s seat for the national championship – certainly not the expectation, but a goal nonetheless.  You could’ve gotten 100-1 odds for two out of three wins, but if they could somehow manage that they’d be in line for the Citrus Bowl -- a welcome thought given the way things had gone.

Tom had a sharp read on the team’s pulse. He knew they needed to find their intensity in a hurry. At his press conference he publicly challenged his teammates, "Things are written and said externally, but you wonder, ‘God, can we run the ball against Penn State?'"

He added that he felt they were on the verge of being "pretty good” -- a candid if not categorical estimation. It wasn’t the time to sing their praises, not with the brutal stretch ahead. The papers mocked his remarks, but all the criticism served a constructive purpose -- it stirred the echoes. They were about to find their heart...

Roaring Back: Penn State, Wisconsin (8-2)

"I had an equipment manager at Michigan who had so many Big Ten rings he didn't have enough fingers for them. One day he said to me, 'You know what Tom?' -- and I'll never forget this -- 'You know what my favorite ring is?,' and I said 'what's that?,' and he said, 'The NEXT one.'  That's how I think…'the next one.'" – Tom

Heading in, Paterno was looking for an edge and set his sights on Michigan’s underrated offense,

The quarterback has done very well for them. Their problem has been inopportune penalties and turnovers and not interceptions because the quarterback has been careful with the football, but they have had some fumbles and lost them. They have had a problem with punt returns at times where the ball has been on the ground. These are the things that make it tough for them to win really big. Every game I have seen, they have really dominated the game. There was no question about which team was the better football team in the games I have looked at.

I cannot tell you what happened the first two football games, except I know both teams who beat them were good football teams. I think Notre Dame has only lost one game and Syracuse, obviously, is a fine football team. I know right now that Michigan has as good a chance as anybody to go back to the Rose Bowl.

Michigan heard the criticism all week after the Minnesota game, from the media and the fans. They felt hurt and mad.

Their resentment manifested into a 27-0 thumping of the Nittany Lions that elevated UM back into the top-15.  Paterno was shut out for the first time since 1987. The 27 points were the most yielded by the Lions all season.

It was important for Tom to start sharp and he did just that, scoring on the first possession. On 3^rd-and-11 from the PS 26 he hit Aaron Shea for the only 1^st-quarter TD allowed by the Lions all season…it was all they would need.

Down 10-0 in the first, the Lions drove down and appeared ready to claw back into the game. Sharat Raju recounted the goal line stand in The Daily,

At the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter, the Lions gained possession following a Clarence Williams fumble. But in a first-and-goal situation on the two-yard line, the Wolverines turned away Penn State's charge four times. "I remember telling Marcus Ray and Sam (Sword) that 'after we stop them, we're going to go crazy,'" said safety Tommy Hendricks. "So when we stopped them there, we went crazy."

Paterno had a chance to kick the field goal on fourth down from the one, and nearly did, but he sensed they had to get the ball in the end zone…it was a matter of pride. When Michigan stopped them, the game was practically over…after one quarter.

With the Lions’ stunned and the Big House on fire, the whole thing snowballed. Penn State moved the ball one last time and set up a 1^st down at the UM 20, but the defense stuffed Chris Eberly and then Travis Forney missed a 32-yard field goal. With 4:30 left in the half, Tom hammered it home on an 80 yard drive (Brady: 4/4 for 66), converting two 3^rd downs and finding Streets in the end zone on a fade pattern.

In the second half, the offense controlled the ball for over 20 minutes. The final humiliation was a touchdown drive eating up 7:15 of the 4th-quarter, completely sustained by Thomas and Fargas, 11 plays, 11 runs. PSU was able to hold Michigan to 2.9 yards per carry but they were tough, clock-grinding carries that helped ice the game.

Michigan recorded four interceptions, shut down Penn State’s running game, blocked a field goal, and recovered a fumbled punt. In between Tom had a chance at a 3^rd touchdown pass but it was intercepted at the one yard line…the pick had zero impact but marred an otherwise flawless performance.

Overall, it was an indication of what they could accomplish when the running game and defense showed up, and there was plenty of credit to go around for everyone.

It was the first time Michigan beat Penn State at the Big House.

Tom was charged with emotion, "You saw a fired up Michigan team. This was the most enthusiastic we've been in eight weeks. We were sick of people saying we couldn't do things. When you keep hearing you can't do things, that challenges you. We have a lot of guys who know what it takes to be a champion."

Ironically, he himself had been one of the naysayers, but of course it had all been calculated. In The Sporting News, Rich Thomaselli considered the impact of Tom’s leadership,

Brady questioned whether the Wolverines would ever put together a complete game on offense and defense -- let alone beat the Nittany Lions and be considered an elite team. Justified or not, maybe that's what the team needed. "This team was flat on its back after the first two games," Lloyd Carr said. "But we had to get to our feet, and before we could get to our feet we had to get to our knees."

Meanwhile Paterno was plain embarrassed, "I was concerned if somebody decided to run right at us, whether we were strong enough.” Penn State fans pointed the finger at QB Kevin Thompson, but the reality was that nobody would’ve beaten Michigan on that day. In fact, the Lions went on to thrash Northwestern 41-10 the next week.

But for Michigan, things didn’t get any easier against Wisconsin, which was coming off a 26-7 demolition of Minnesota.

In the last home game of the season, the Wolverines carried their momentum over against the unbeaten Badgers, and handed them their only loss in 1998…27-10.

Technically, it was Tom's first "championship game," as 111 thousand were on hand to watch the team clinch a 2^nd-straight Big Ten title.

The Badgers outsized the Wolverines, but Michigan was a team possessed…

Against the nation’s top rated defense, Michigan’s O-line opened big holes as the ground game racked up an astonishing 257 yards …evenly split between Anthony Thomas and Clarence Williams. The defense also held Ron Dayne to his lowest output of the season -- just 53 yards. Senior LB Sam Sword had a big day on defense, "We had no fear of Dayne."

The Badgers took the early 7-0 lead before Tom answered with a touchdown to tie.  A 60-yard run by Thomas then put Michigan up 14-7. UM extended the lead to 21-7 before the half on a clutch drive which used up all the remaining time -- a 13-play, 89-yarder on which Tom completed third-down passes of 32 and 11 yards.

Perhaps the most inspired/inspiring effort came when fullback Aaron Shea blocked three Badgers to allow Thomas to walk into the end zone untouched for his second score.

Michigan then held on in the second half for the utterly dominating 27-10 win. Postgame, HC Barry Alvarez seemed almost bewildered.

Prior to Wisconsin, Clarence Williams had been benched for three games, but after an early fumble Carr stuck with him and he responded. Afterwards Williams said, “[sitting out] was a tough moment of my life, to tell you the truth. I'm happy because I believe in myself and I prayed. I was happy for hanging in and having my teammates believe in me."

A team that had run backwards against the Gophers just two weeks earlier was able to lap the length of the field two and a half times against a monster Wisconsin unit. It was as clear a difference in intensity as you’ll ever see.

The critics had been silenced and everyone was jumping back on the bandwagon. They were up to 11^th in the polls and stood one game away from a shot at the unthinkable.

The Main Event

By Jim Rose

Daily Sports Editor

When Ohio State and Michigan square off tomorrow, all eyes will be on the quarterback.

Early in this football season - say, a little more than two months ago - there were signs indicating that Tom Brady's days as Michigan's starting quarterback were numbered.

From the get-go, the stars seemed to be aligned against Brady. Fifth-year senior Scott Dreisbach was more experienced, after all; incoming freshman Drew Henson had the fans, the Yankees and Sports Illustrated on his side. Heck, even Lloyd Carr called Henson "the most talented quarterback" he'd ever been around.

So Brady - who came oh-so-close to winning the job from Brian Griese a year earlier, but as backup was relegated to the sidelines during the Wolverines' 12-0 season - didn't exactly take over with his name in lights. In fact, you might even say that he toiled in the shadow of his backup - Henson, the phenom everyone wanted to see.

And after the Wolverines opened the season with a pair of losses, the cries for Henson didn't get any quieter.

With a repeat national title already out of the question by Sept. 12, there were more than a few fans who called for the season to become one big Henson training session.

But then something happened: The Wolverines started winning - with Brady at the helm. That was on Sept. 19. And they haven't stopped yet.

Now, one victory from an improbable return trip to the Rose Bowl, there's no longer any question whose team this is. With Brady guiding the offense, the Wolverines have won nine straight games - and the Henson experiment is a distant memory. What looked at the beginning of the season to be a bona fide quarterback controversy has fizzled in the past several weeks - while Michigan, on the other hand, has ignited.

Heartbreak at the Horseshoe: Ohio State (8-3)

"It was a street fight -- 15 rounds -- and we got beat. We made too many mistakes."- Tom

Against #7 Ohio State, the stakes were clear, a 19^th–straight conference victory would send them back to Pasadena for another unlikely Rose Bowl...a loss would force them to share the Big Ten crown with their archrivals. It was the eighth time in ten years the OSU game had both the conference title and a bowl berth at stake. Ohio had suffered eight losses to Michigan in the previous nine years, despite being favored in six of those losses. Two of the losses cost the Buckeyes the national championship. John Cooper had become known as “the second most popular football coach in Ann Arbor.”

Back home hopes were high, but the optimists were quickly silenced in what became a bloody massacre...

With 94,000 on hand at the Horseshoe, a series of early special teams blunders put Michigan in a 21-3 hole.  They played the last 50 minutes chasing out of a black abyss -- three separate 18-point deficits. Michigan had proven they could dominate a quality opponent at home when things went their way in the early going, but this time things were different.

The leaky Michigan secondary allowed a record 217 receiving yards to David Boston. After rushing for 257 yards against Wisconsin, they managed just FOUR net yards against OSU. With Ohio’s defense playing downhill, they sacked Tom SEVEN times and picked him off twice.

In a heroic but ultimately futile effort against the country's #1 pass defense, Tom assaulted Michigan passing marks for completions (31), attempts (56), and yards (375) – a triple crown -- all for naught.  It was the most stinging defeat of his career…there would be no miraculous BCS berth for a team – now clearly HIS team -- that was starting to show real mettle.

To make things worse, RT Jon Jansen turned his left ankle in the 2^nd-quarter and played the rest of the way in pain. TE Jerame Tuman, a critical blocker, left the game in the first half with a mild concussion.

In the final 2:38 of the first half they went to shotgun and Brady pulled them within 11 points by going 6/8 for 68 on an 80-yard drive, converting a 3rd-and-10 with a 24-yard pass to Knight to keep it alive. As chirpy as ever, Tom then reminded the Buckeyes of their chokes in years past, “Brady told us it was time for us to fold,'' strong safety Damon Moore said. “I told him we would find out. I hope he learned a lesson.”

In the 2^nd half they came out in shotgun again and started to move the ball but senior LB Jerry Rudzinski made a diving, juggling interception. Four plays later, Joe Germaine hit David Boston on a 43-yard bomb for their fourth touchdown. It was the costliest error of Tom’s career. Never in their history had Michigan overcome an 18-point deficit, and the way Ohio State was playing, the game was realistically over.

But win or lose, Tom had an opportunity to prove what he was all about -- not just for his team but also for himself. As the situation became more hopeless, it triggered subconscious instincts inside him.

This wasn’t about clichés. He was half mad, fighting for the sake of fighting. The final quarter was a formality and there weren’t many players buying in…but co-captain Jon Jansen wasn’t one of them. Playing with a noticeable limp in a lost effort, Jansen refused to be pulled out.

OSU contained Michigan to field goals on the next two possessions.  After an OSU punt, they moved out of the shadow of their end zone to midfield before successive sacks pushed them back to the 34-yard line and forced a punt.  With the Buckeye offense applying the brakes, Tom again took over and immediately moved into OSU territory after connecting with Knight for 36 yards.  But after three plays gained five yards, his final pass on 4th-and-5 was intercepted…mercifully perhaps.

With 27 seconds on the clock, the Buckeyes holding the ball at midfield with a 31-16 lead and thousands already on the field celebrating their first win over Michigan since 1994, Carr conceded and marched across the field to shake hands with John Cooper.  Michigan was never able to execute the gameplan after the early miscues...the event became Tom Brady versus Ohio State and 94,000 earsplitting Buckeyes.

It was a worthy ravaging by the thugs in scarlet and gray, and an almost psychotic demonstration of resolve by a handful of Wolverines. Had the entire team played with such reckless abandon things might’ve been different. But this was highly uncommon valor, and they were still learning what Tom was about.

Afterwards Jansen choked back sobs, "Whenever you're playing in such a historic series you want to finish on top. It's unfortunate that we can't this year. It's such an emotional game and emotional series that the highs are real high and the lows are real low."

Breaking three major school records was obviously no consolation for Tom, "There's only one stat that's important to a quarterback, and that's wins and losses.”

Cooper praised the quarterback’s prolific stand, and bluntly added, "We shut their running game down to almost nothing."  With over 700 yards of passing between Brady and Germaine it was unlike any of the previous 94 UM-OSU games.

It was the loudest Cooper had ever heard the Horseshoe. In 2004, Jerry Rudzinski harkened back to the game in The Dayton Daily News,

“I remember the pre-game meeting with players only. "Michael, Joe, David, Dee...go be athletic and make plays for us. Everyone else in this room, let's get in a fistfight!" We held Tom Brady's offense to four yards rushing, it meant a 15-point Buckeye victory. The crowd joined us on the field for the best party I have ever attended. The entire state didn't care about a Big Ten title. They just cared about beating Michigan.”

Michigan was forced to share the conference crown with Ohio, but considering how far they’d come after being left for dead, another Big Ten title was still an achievement worth savoring…just not on that particular day.

Hawaii (9-3)

“I was relaxing, drinking water and chewing gum” – Anthony Thomas

Usually the Ohio State game marks the end of the season, but in '98 Michigan signed on for a trip to Honolulu. With the bitter taste left over and a Bowl game on the horizon, the Hawaiian interlude was hardly as fun as they’d imagined back in September. It was like being asked to appear in the Pro Bowl a week after losing the Super Bowl.

The Rainbow Warriors were on a 17-game losing streak -- despite playing in the amateurish Western Athletic Conference -- and after their long trip, the Wolverines were in no mood for sympathy. They took out their aggression in Aloha Stadium -- running over the Warriors for 325 yards on the ground -- in a 48-14 victory.

After allowing a field goal to start the game, Brady rallied for FIVE consecutive touchdown drives...2 passes, 3 runs. Halftime score, 35-3.

The Daily put it this way,

"Brady put a Carr show in reverse, running the game like a public practice, on another team's home field. It was like beating up on a bunch of junior high kids in green uniforms. The Michigan offensive machine - no laughing please - found its sole weapons, Tai Streets and Anthony Thomas to put the game out of reach, 35-3 at the half."

But when the Rainbows scored again early in the 2^nd half Thomas was sent back in the game for one more play,

"They told me I was finished at halftime," Thomas said. "So I was relaxing, drinking water and chewing gum. Then somebody told me to get loose again, and I was like, 'Get loose again?'"

While 41-17 was hardly what you would term "striking distance," Carr was unamused. He didn't want the game getting any closer.

All it took was one play. Thomas took the ball from Brady and promptly raced 80 yards for a touchdown, making the score 48-17 and effectively squashing whatever minuscule hopes the Rainbow Warriors may have held of making a comeback.

At that point, Carr had no choice but to send Tom and the first team out to the golf course. Henson even outran the Rainbows’ defense for a 34 yard TD of his own, although he was just 3-of-9 passing. Both Kapsner and Dreisbach got snaps in the 4^th quarter as well.

It’s unlikely Michigan will ever accept another invitation to Hawaii, or be asked to return for that matter. Carr maintained he wasn't running up the score for the Bowl rankings.  The spread going in was 40 points, and had the first-team played in the second half it might’ve been 100 points.

On the cautionary side were the 328 passing yards allowed, but overall the stats were worthless.

The final Big Ten rankings bear out the overall sloppiness of the 1998 Michigan team:

8th in penalties

9th in turnover margin

8th in punting

6^th in yards per carry

2^nd in third-down efficiency

2^nd in yards per passing attempt

Individually, Tom was the 3^rd ranked passer behind Joe Germaine and just below Drew Brees – an impressive mark in his first season, particularly in light of the pressure from Henson and the weight of expectations to repeat. He exceeded Griese’s 1997 yardage by about 600 yards. Tai Streets finished 3^rd in the conference in receiving, and Anthony Thomas, although inconsistent, finished as the 5^th leading rusher.

The 1999 Citrus Bowl

Arkansas (11) vs. Michigan (15)

Jan. 1, 1999 Orlando, FL

"It was a story of a quarterback named Brady that did in Arkansas." - SI.com (1/9/99)

“They kept a calm head and drove the ball down our throats.” – Arkansas Safety Zac Painter

In the Citrus Bowl Michigan faced another character-driven team that season, the tough upstart Razorbacks. Arkansas featured the nation’s 7^th best run defense and 16th ranked scoring defense, and offensively they’d scored more points than they had since 1970. A late fumble did them in against Tennessee, but overall they’d had a tremendous season after being written off at the beginning of the year. The stakes were clear for UM. A win would give them a great ten win season, a loss would mean the 5^th four-loss season in the last six years.

In order to get acclimated to the heat, the team arrived in Florida two weeks early. Carr had done the same thing with the ’97 squad prior to the national championship game in California. The team practiced for four days in Melbourne, before heading to Orlando.

It was Tom’s first real taste of a championship game and he was excited about playing in Orlando,

When you get down there in the warm weather on the nice field, it makes for perfect conditions for a passing attack.