Recapping 2006 Michigan-Ohio State: 13 years ago?

I remember when “13 years ago” was a long time. The fall of the Berlin Wall was “13 years ago” to the people watching the Invasion of Iraq on their nightly news. For the 26 year old standing in line for the first iPhone in June 2007, “13 years ago” found him or her bawling over Kurt Cobain’s death.

Amazing, though, how “13 years ago” now feels a lot nearer. #2 Michigan visited #1 Ohio State, you guessed it, 13 years ago. Even if you were not a fan of either team (kudos for that, btw), you were probably aware of the hype surrounding the matchup. Two storied teams, An Game, National Championship play-in, Carr-Tressel, Bo’s death, the list goes on. The biggest question on a lot of minds was, could there be a rematch in the MNC game?

Many of you undoubtedly remember that malarkey. Some will recall the resurgent Florida Gators lurking in the shallows, a hungry gleam in the eye of some guy named Irving Meyers. Irving? I don’t know, something like that. 13 years is a long time ago. Which brings me to my next point. Err, first point.

As I was watching the game, it struck me that many of the players, coaches, and announcer speak seems like it was just yesterday, while others were from a time long forgotten. Lloyd Carr, Troy Smith, James Laurinaitis, Chad Henne, and Brent Musberger carefully explaining how to get something on iTunes (that’s “iTunes”), are all great examples of people and things from an ancient time. On the other hand, Beanie Wells, Mario Manningham, Jake Long, and both Michigan AND Ohio State getting favorable calls seem so fresh in my mind it hurts. 13 years ago is maybe both a long time ago and a mere snap of the finger.

Anyway, Ohio State won a thriller. Paraphrasing my two line review in the game thread: Two incredible receiving corps, two excellent running back stables, a couple brilliant plays called by each coach, and plenty of hard hits, most of which were legal at the time. 42-39, Buckeyes, their third consecutive victory over the Wolverines, and number three of 15 victories in their last 16 matchups.

Both teams would go on to lose their bowl games. May that tradition never die.