Classic Big Ten Football: Ohio State at Michigan, 1971

Every week, the Big Ten Blog will break down one classic game from the Big Ten's long, storied history. Today, we're going back over 40 years to an incident that really, really, really, really, really, really, really should have been televised.

We're always fans of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry here (or Michigan-Ohio State) (or Ohio-TTUN or Them-Them or whatever they want to call each other),  and we feel a little cheated that one particular game never made it to television.

That would be 1971, when Ohio State was (relatively) struggling at 6-3 and headed to top-ranked, 10-0 Michigan. The game was so devoid of drama that the decision was made not to televise it, and as such the only existing film came from coaches' highlights, which were helpfully posted online by YouTube user WolverineHistorian.

The game was, as most Michigan-OSU games are, a classic. Michigan was an absolute beast of a team that year, winning its first 10 games by an average score of roughly 40-6, and the ball was on the Ohio State side of the field for the vast majority of the ballgame.

But Michigan's drives usually lost steam or resulted in turnovers in Ohio State territory, and after a stunning 85-yard punt return touchdown by the Buckeyes' Tom Campana, Ohio State took a 7-3 lead late in the third quarter.

Michigan, however, had a decisive drive still left in it, and after several key first downs, Billy Wilder took an option pitch and streaked down the sideline for a 21-yard touchdown with just 2:07 left in the game, delighting the Big House and giving Michigan a late 10-7 lead.

2:07 is plenty of time, though, even with just one timeout left on Ohio State's side of the ball. The Buckeyes managed to get into Michigan territory on the drive—a rare feat for an offense that gained just 138 yards and seven first downs on the day—but Michigan safety Tom Darden went over the top of Ohio State Dick Wakefield for the game-sealing interception on Michigan's 32-yard line, and though Woody Hayes thought there should be a flag, none was thrown.

Wait, did we say "thought there should be a flag?" Because that might be underselling it just a tad.

In an incident that would have caused a sport-wide scandal and broken Twitter had it happened in 2012, Hayes ran out onto the field, confronting referee Jerry Markbreit and demanding a penalty be called. That led to this exchange (or so Hayes remembered it), per the Evening Independent:

Hayes: Aren't you going to call that penalty?
Markbreit: What penalty?
Hayes: That interference call.
Markbreit: I was 40 yards away. How can I call it?
Hayes: I was 50 yards away and I could have called it!

That confrontation landed Hayes one 15-yard penalty. Nonplussed, Hayes was dragged by fellow coaches and players back to the sideline, where he—not making this up—destroyed the down marker and ball marker, resulting in another 15-yard penalty and an ejection from the game. And it wasn't televised so there's no video of it.

Hayes eventually incurred a one-game suspension for his tirade, and was fined a thousand dollars by Ohio State for the incident.

Imagine how many outrage ships would be launched from Troy had a coach today done what Hayes did. We mock the red-faced barons of the sideline like Brian Kelly or Mark Mangino, but they never grabbed game equipment and broke it out of anger, nor did their tirades ever result in suspension (and make no mistake, there'd be a lot more than one game of forced vacation waiting for a coach who did that today).

Would Hayes be fired for his tirade today? Probably not at Ohio State, but in a fake football conference like the Big East, that option would totally be on the table. At the very least the self-flagellation of public, sullen-faced apologies and acknowledgement of attending anger management classes would be in order. But back then? Times were different, as they say.

In fact, Hayes certainly didn't care for that kind of forced contrition. At the end-of-season banquet the following Monday, Hayes said the play was "the worst called play in the history of college football" (Portsmouth Times), that he had a "justifiable complaint" that was "not dealt with acceptably" (The Morning Record), and that he "would been ashamed if I hadn't gone out there" (St. Petersburg Times).

Ohio State finished that season at 6-4, leading some like the Lakeland Ledger to wonder if Hayes' act was wearing thin in the face of such mediocre results; the Buckeyes responded by ripping off four straight Rose Bowl appearances and six straight seasons with at least a share of the Big Ten title before things went a little sour for Hayes and the 7-4-1 Buckeyes at the 1978 Gator Bowl.

Michigan, meanwhile, was flying high heading into a Rose Bowl showdown with 8-3 Stanford. Little did the Wolverines know at the time, but Stanford would pull the massive 13-12 upset for the win, and this would be just the second of five straight seasons where the Wolverines would go unbeaten and untied before losing or tying the season finale. Ohio State would provide four of the heartbreaks in that spree; this season's loss would be the only one that came in Pasadena.