Wolverines Look Back Fondly At The Perfect 1997 Season

On3 imageby:John Borton10/14/22

JB_Wolverine

Editor’s Note: Michigan football’s 1997 national championship team will be in Ann Arbor this weekend for their 25th reunion and to be recognized during the first quarter of the Penn State game Oct. 15. Prior to the game, the university will formally dedicate The Lloyd Carr Tunnel at Michigan Stadium in honor of the beloved U-M coach who led that 1997 team to an undefeated 12-0 season, the Big Ten title, a Rose Bowl victory and the No. 1 ranking in the final Associated Press poll. This article originally appeared in The Wolverine’s 2022 Football Preview magazine. Limited quantities of that 160-page issue are still available here at the close-out price of $10.

It’s been 25 years since Charles Woodson strutted around The Big House, a rose clenched in his teeth and a national championship beckoning.

The Wolverines finished the job in Pasadena, capping a 12-0 season and hearing head coach Lloyd Carr proclaim: “You have left a wonderful legacy for every team that ever follows you! You just won the national championship!”

A quarter-century later, those words still resound. The meaning of the accomplishment has deepened, to those who erupted with joy in that locker room.

“At 20, you look at things one way,” noted Rob Renes, a defensive line stalwart and now assistant superintendent at Reeths-Puffer Schools in Muskegon. “Twenty-five years later, you look back and go, ‘Wow!’ In the big scope of things, and knowing how many terrific programs, storied programs, that there are, it really was quite an accomplishment.”

“When you’re 45 to 50 years old, your perspective has changed a ton,” agreed Jon Jansen, newly named radio analyst for Michigan football games. “College football has changed, the business of college athletics has changed. You look back, and you see how hard it was to do what we did.

“Every year that goes by, there’s a greater appreciation for what we were able to accomplish.”

They look back and revel in the untainted record, and the close calls along the way. They survived Notre Dame and a flurry of turnovers, 21-14, in Week 3. They scored one touchdown on offense and still managed to outlast Ohio State at home, 20-14. They sealed the deal in a nerve-wracking 21-16 Rose Bowl win against Washington State, one that kept fans flinching to the final possession.

But the one they remember best involved Iowa, a 21-7 halftime deficit and a riveting rally carrying them to a 28-24 home victory. A 64-yard interception return of a Brian Griese pass set up a 1-yard touchdown, then Iowa’s Tim Dwight raced back 61 yards for a punt return TD and Michigan headed into halftime in deep trouble.

“That game sat us all up at halftime,” Renes recalled. “We were going, OK, we’ve got some digging to do to get out of this. Getting out of that one, we knew things could be special.”

Michigan outscored the Hawkeyes 21-3 in the second half, growing stronger by the moment.

“At the end of that game, they knew the plays,” Jansen insisted. “They knew our calls. They knew everything of what was going on, and they still couldn’t stop us. That is one of the greatest moments, as an offensive lineman, in running out the clock, that I can ever remember.”

Lessons for a lifetime

All along the way, the Wolverines were learning lessons they’d apply for decades. Some insist they incorporate that winning mindset every single day.

“Coach [Jim] Herrmann used to talk about better or worse,” Renes said of Michigan’s defensive coordinator. “‘We’re going to be better or worse today!’ You never stay the same.

“Each day, whether I’m faced with a professional task or a personal task, those thoughts race through my mind. Sometimes I need to dig deeper than others, but very seldom do I take on any kind of endeavor without realizing the importance of giving my best consistently and committing myself to my task of intentionally working to get better. I don’t want to get worse.”

Neither did Carr’s crew in 1997. They dominated at Penn State on Judgment Day, 34-8. They rode Woodson’s 78-yard punt return touchdown and their relentless defense past Ohio State.

In the end, they did what no Michigan team had accomplished in 50 years, and heard the words still seared onto their consciousness.

“Singing ‘The Victors’ after the game, and when Lloyd said, ‘You guys just won the national championship!’ I’ll never forget that, as long as I live,” Jansen assured.

“When Lloyd said that, it’s one of those pinch-me moments. It’s like, I can’t believe I’m living this dream. I can’t believe this is my life.”

One uncomfortable pinch arrived when the coaches voted Nebraska to the No. 1 spot, making it a split title between the schools. That’s made for some hard-edged arguments over who fielded the better team.

“Both Nebraska and Michigan, we all would have loved to be able to hash it out on the field,” Rene said. “I have no doubt, and I’ve never had a doubt, that we would win. But I’m sure [Nebraska’s then-quarterback and current head coach] Scott Frost feels the same way.

“We’ll never have the opportunity to find out, but not only did I think about it, not only do I think about it, it’s probably to an unhealthy level. I think we’ll all be in the nursing home with walkers, thinking, if we could take ’em on now, we would.”

“Trust me,” Jansen added. “If that scenario happens, and we’re in the same nursing home, I will still have my pads and my helmet. We will tee it up. Jay Feely will kick the ball off.

“And we will kick their ass, like we would have done in ’97 and any year since then. I don’t care if I’m 85 years old, 90 years old. We will kick their ass.”

1997 Michigan Football Results

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

BIG TEN CHAMPIONS

Head coach: Lloyd Carr

Captains: Jon Jansen and Eric Mayes

Overall record: 12-0

Conference record: 8-0 (first place)

DateOpponentResult
Sept. 13ColoradoW, 27-3
Sept. 20BaylorW, 38-3
Sept. 27Notre DameW, 21-14
Oct. 4at IndianaW, 37-0
Oct. 11NorthwesternW, 23-6
Oct. 18IowaW, 28-24
Oct. 25at Michigan StateW, 23-7
Nov. 1MinnesotaW, 24-3
Nov. 8at Penn StateW, 34-8
Nov. 15at WisconsinW, 26-16
Nov. 22Ohio StateW, 20-14
Jan. 1Washington State
(Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif.)
W, 21-16

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