Perspective on UC games of the recent past
Note: The following was posted by Will Stanley, ‘04, on the message boards in advance of tomorrow’s Battle for the Bell with UC. In it, he provides a unique perspective on the game. We thought this was worth saving for posterity.
As many of you know I played at MU in the not-to-distant past, so I have a slight pulse of the feelings and the emotions of the UC game. I can also relate this year’s Miami plight to out struggle 5 years ago heading into the UC game.
In 2001, we started out 0-2—we played tough at U of M, but didn’t even get a respectable score out of it (31-13) and then Iowa worked us good. We limped home to finish the 2000 season (remember the Marshall game and the 17-16 victory in the snow at Buffalo). We had a new, unproven QB and bit of controversy - remember Ryan Hawk? The country had just been attacked, and we had a game postponed...so there was really not a lot going for us at the time.
I’m sure that there was some heat on Coach Hep at that time...he was in his third season...his first two seasons were OK (7-4 and 6-5), but not great (especially since Coach Walker left on a 10-1 season). That is fairly similar to the fate of Coach Montgomery presently in the wake of the leagacy that Coach Hep eventually left.
Also, going into the 2001 UC game we had the memories of them scoring 52 points at Yager in 1999 and rolling us in 2000 at Nippert. So they had the psychological advantage (on paper at least) going into the game.
To put it simply, we didn’t have a lot going for us (on paper) as we entered the UC game. (Does this ring bells of our current team?)
However, I think the week without playing helped and the fact that we had a big game at home really helped. I was a special teamer back then, and remember playing one of my better games. I think all of us played well that day. I think our coaches coached well and we came out with a hard-fought 21-14 victory. The victory was HUGE!!!! It started a 7-game winning streak in 2001 and gave us a lot of confidence.
I remember in our walk-thru on Friday, Coach Hep told us to all go to the sidelines and just the 1st-team offense was on the field. He instructed them to get in “victory” formation and take a knee. He instructed us on the sidelines to practice running from our sideline to their sideline and getting the Bell. It was great!
I wrote this to remind us all of how the season can be changed with a Miami victory tomorrow. There are a lot of similarities to this team and the 2001 team. New QB, tough start, young Head Coach, beaten up ego, ect....
One of Ben’s defining victories as a QB was the 2001 victory over UC. It wasn’t his best game, but it was huge for him and for us as team/program. I think the same can be true for Mike and the 2006 team with a victory tomorrow. So keep that in mind when thinking about the game tomorrow!
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