The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Outback Bowl game after another injury to Dreisbach knocked him out of the contest. Griese threw for 287 yards and a touchdown on that day, but he'd certainly like one of his 37 passes back. Leading 6-3 in fourth quarter, Michigan drove inside the red zone, primed to ex- tend its margin. Under duress, Griese made a poor throw into the awaiting arms of Crimson Tide defender Dwayne Rudd, who returned the interception 88 yards for a touchdown en route to a 17-14 victory over the Maize and Blue. Griese had to wait eight long months to wipe that taste out of his mouth, but he did so in championship fashion, leading the Wolverines to the Big Ten and NCAA titles in 1997, completing 62.9 percent of his 307 pass attempts for 2,293 yards with 17 touchdowns and six interceptions. He was the Rose Bowl MVP. Hayden Epstein, UCLA, 2000: The nation's No. 1-ranked kicker in the class of 1998, Epstein had a big leg, kicking 51-, 52-, 56- and 57-yard field goals during his Michigan career. He was inconsistent overall, making just 61.9 percent of his 42 career tries, though, including two crucial misses at UCLA. U-M led the Bruins 20-17 late in the third quarter when it drove 50 yards on 10 plays, setting Epstein up for a 46-yard field goal try. He missed. However, his second miss was the killer. Trailing 23-20 late in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines went 58 yards on five plays but stalled out at the UCLA 7-yard line. Epstein came on for a chip shot 24-yarder, but sailed the attempt wide, and Michigan fell by that 23-20 score. Epstein would miss only two more kicks the rest of the season, going 7 of 10 for the year and helping Michigan beat Penn State, Ohio State and Auburn, in a bowl game. In his senior year, he connected on 13 of 20 field goals and averaged 39.3 yards on 71 punts. Anthony Thomas, Northwestern, 2000: Memories of the Wolverines' 54-51 loss to the Wildcats in Evanston, Ill., haunt Michigan fans to this day, but for all the nauseating numbers Northwestern put up on the U-M defense — 654 yards of offense, 27 first downs, 54 points — the Maize and Blue held possession of the football and the lead with less than a minute to go. Facing a second-and-three at their own 19-yard line, the Wolverines handed the ball off to Thomas. He broke thru a hole, going eight yards, before the ball was knocked out of his grasp. Three plays later, NU quarterback Zak Kustok connected with wide receiver Sam Simmons for the game-winning 11-yard score. Thomas was unfazed, returning a week later to rush for 171 yards and a score in a win over Penn State. He then posted 149 all-purpose yards and a TD to beat Ohio State, and finished his career with 182 rushing yards and two touchdowns in a 31-28 Capital One Bowl win over Auburn. Prescott Burges, Minnesota, 2005: Michigan had retained the Little Brown Jug for 17 straight seasons heading into its 2005 matchup with the Golden Gophers.