6A- Monday, September 12, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thousands attend first MS tailgate

Event prior to
night game draws
8,151 students
By MARY HANNAHAN
Daily StaffReporter
In following withthe landmark
first-ever night football game on
Saturday, the Michigan Student
Assembly also made school his-
tory with its first large-scale tail-
gate held earlier that day.
The "Under the Lights Tail-
gate" held at the Sports Coliseum
from noon to 7 p.m. offered stu-
dents free refreshments, includ-
ing pizza and soda along with the
opportunity to win two sets of
box seat tickets to the game and a
raffle for nine night game replica
jerseys.
MSA President DeAndree
Watson said the event was an
overall success and attracted sev-
eral thousand students.
"We've had a steady crowd of
people that has come through and
got some food and enjoyed some
entertainment, and then they've
gone on to other things, and that's
exactly what we expected," Wat-
son said in an interview at. the
tailgate.
Apart from the upbeat music
reverberating throughout the
building, the tailgate featured a
variety of student performances
by groups such as the Men and
Women's Glee Clubs, FunKtion,
the Friars and Groove. Students
also had the opportunity to have

their faces painted or tattooed
before the game to show their
school spirit.
Watson said MSA held the
event because the assembly
anticipated students would be
out drinking for a longer period
of time due to the late start of the
game.
"We wanted to give them an
alcohol-free venue to be able to
have some fun and get excited
before the game," he said.
Watson also said if there are
night games in future seasons,
students can expect MSA to con-
tinue to hold similar events.
Alys Alley, chief programming
officer for MSA, said she doesn't
think the number of students
who showed up was affected by
the change in venue from the tail-
gate's original location at Elbel
Field. The tailgate was moved
to the Sports Coliseum on South
Fifth Avenue because Elbel Field
was wet from previous rain.
"We were disappointed that
it had to be moved inside, but it
really hasn't cut down the num-
ber of students we've been able to
serve, and we were really expect-
ing this many students to come,"
Alley said at the event. "It was a
lot of fun, and it's really nice we
didn't have to mess with the rain
or anything."
After a long day of tailgating
and with cries of "free pizza" to
everyone passing by, the free food
proved to be a major draw for stu-
dents.
"I came mostly for the free
food and just being around fellow

students," LSA sophomore Noelle
Gibeson said. "Free food is defi-
nitely a big part of it, but I think
we're going to stay around for the
games and sign up to win prizes
or maybe come back."
LSA sophomore Alexa Wright
echoed these sentiments, say-
ing she came to the MSA tailgate
with a friend to get free food and
to have their faces painted.
"I think it's a good thing for
it to be here because I guess a
majority of pre-gaming is if you
know someone at a house or if
you know someone at a frat, so if
you don't, you have something to
do," Wright said. "Anybody can
come."
LSA freshman Danyaal Rang-
wala said he came to the MSA
tailgate to experience the atmo-
sphere.
"It's the first night game, it's a
rivalry and just the feeling here is
electric, and everyone is excited
for it," Rangwala said at the event.
"I came here just to hype myself
up more for the game, and you get
to meet aton of other people who
are just as excited as you."
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
CELEBRATES NIGHT GAME
Though Saturday's game start-
ed much later than usual, it didn't
stop University alumni from
startingthe festivities early.
As mobs of people gathered
near ESPN's outdoor setup for
the company's College GameDay
on Ingalls Mall, the Alumni Asso-
ciation shared in the excitement

0

0

JED MOCH/Daily
Desmond Howard, former Michigan football and NFL player and current ESPN analyst, speaks at the ESPN College
GameDay on Saturday at Ingalls Mall Howard was named a "Michigan Football Legend" at Saturday's game.

by hosting a free event Saturday
morning and providing free cof-
fee, donuts and fruit for past and
current students.
"With GameDay being out
here, it was a great opportunity
for us to be able to offer some-
thing to alums and students, and
so we created this opportunity for
people to be able to have a place to
come in out of the rain or what-
ever might be happening," said
Steve Grafton, president and CEO
of the Alumni Association.
About 1,500 alumni were reg-
istered for the event, according to
Grafton.
"It's fun to build this atmo-
sphere on a day that's as big as

this," he said. "We have people
from one year old to probably
close to 100, and that's kind of
what the Michigan family is
about."
As the morning progressed,
more alumni began to arrive with
their families. University alum
Jennifer Edwards, a 1992 gradu-
ate and Michigan Marching Band
alum, said she took her kids to the
Saturday morning event so they
could be a part of the Michigan
spirit.
"The kids got to meet the drum
major, which was probably the
highlight of their day," Edwards
said.
University alum David Dye,

another class of 1992 graduate,
said he decided to come to Ann
Arbor on Saturday to see for-
mer Michigan football and NFL
player Desmond Howard, who
was in his graduating class. How-
ard, currently an ESPN College
GameDay analyst, was honored
at Saturday's game with the first-
ever "Michigan Football Legend"
award.
"People offered me several
hundred dollars for parking and
tickets, but I said I just can't do
it because we have to go to the
game," Dye said. "There's not a
price on the first-ever night game
and Desmond being on campus -
memories are forever."

a


ROHAN
From Page 1A
been working on this play all
summer. Down by three points.
Thirty seconds left. Ball on the
20-yard line.
Gallon runs the slow wheel
route, leaking out to the sideline
and up the field. If the play is
run perfectly, he could surprise
everyone. This time, the only
defender that could've disrupted-
everything ran to cover Roy
Roundtree, who was streaking
across the field.
Eight seconds were left on
the clock when Gallon ended his
sprint at the 16-yard line. Michi-
gan was in field-goal range.
Brady Hoke wanted to go for the
win.
Why the hell not?
This game, by all possible

logical explanations, should
have ended horribly wrong for
the Michigan Wolverines.
Here was a chance to get
Hoke a signature win, add a
chapter to a rivalry.
one hundred thousand-plus
people would never forget this if
Hoke did it right.
And Notre Dame was handing
him the game.
Your mind tells you that 400-
plus yards of offense should
result in more than a 24-7 lead
by the fourth quarter.
In your heart, there is no
explanation for why Denard
Robinson had the ball on the
16-yard line with eight seconds
left with a chance to win. It was
the kind of game you don't want
to explain, but just consume, like
a fine meal.
With a defensive lineman
hugging his ankles, Robinson

isn't supposed to throw a frozen
rope to Junior Hemingway, lead-
ing him perfectly for a 77-yard
gain in the third quarter.
Three plays later, the ball isn't
supposed to pop out of Stephen
Hopkins' hands - as he's about
to be stopped short of a touch-
down - and direct itself neatly
into Robinson's care for an easy
score. 24-14.
Gallon, perhaps the shortest
player on the field at 5-foot-8,
isn't supposed to beat anyone
on a fade route in the endzone.
24-21.
This night's new logic says
otherwise.
The ball isn't supposed to slip
out of Notre Dame quarterback
Tommy Rees's hand as he fol-
lows through on the potential
nail-in-the-coffin touchdown
late in the fourth quarter. Michi-
gan recovered.

The Wolverines had no busi-
ness stopping Fighting Irish
running back Cierre Wood, who
had gashed them, on three third
down-and-short situations in
the second half. But they did.
Inexplicably, Michigan had
a chance - after all of Michael
Floyd's 112 first-half yards, after
not getting any pressure on
Rees, after Robinson played so
erratically in the first half.
By the end, Robinson had
446 total yards, 98.7 percent
of Michigan's offense. But he
had help. History keeps the key
characters in games like these -
Brandin Hawthorne and Jordan
Kovacs's third-down heroics,
J.T. Floyd's goal line intercep-
tion, Hemingway's two jump-
ball catches.
Then there was Gallon, who
had six career catches before
this night.

And don't forget the would-
be hero, Vincent Smith, who
weaved in and out of several
Irishmen, scoring a 21-yard
screen pass for the go-ahead
touchdown with a little more
than two minutes left. 28-24.
"I mean, everybody thought
the game was - nobody knew
what was going on," said Robin-
son, just stopping short of saying
he thought the game was over
when Smith scored.
"Was there still time on the
clock? Like I said before, until
(it's) 'zero, zero' on the clock,
that's the only time the game is
over."
But 80 yards in 30 seconds?
Come on.
Twelve hours earlier ESPN
analyst Lee Corso put on the
Michigan helmet, striking Des-
mond Howard's Heisman pose,
picking the Wolverines to win.
The city was buzzing, the
stadium transformed into the
late-night party Dave Brandon
planned. Howard was hon-
ored before the game. Images
flickered across the screen of
all of the memories he made.
History was blending with the
current team's exciting future.
This first night game was
manufactured by Brandon to
mean something, and Hoke's
team didn't hold up its end of
the bargain in the first half.
So with eight seconds left,
Hoke decided to go for it. He
had two timeouts and eight
seconds to work with.
"We were at least going to
give it a shot to the endzone,"
Hoke said. "Why not go for the
win? I mean, you play to win."
When Robinson lofted the
ball high toward Roundtree,
who was in single coverage, it
didn't matter how Michigan
had got there.
No one would remember
Robinson's shaky start - only
his high spirals to Gallon and
Roundtree, floating against
the Big House lights. Notre

Dame's miscues would be a foot-
note. A detail. Not the story.
Kovacs. Floyd. Hawthorne.
Hemingway. Smith. Gallon. Rob-
inson.
And soon to be Roundtree.
He caught the ball, in the cor-
ner of the endzone, where every
Michigan receiver should dream
of catching a game-winning
pass.
An unadulterated joy released
into the night. Three straight
last-minute wins over Notre
Dame? On last-second passes?
How improbable. Yet, how fit-
ting on this night.
Think about the poor souls
that left with Michigan down17
points. Or with four minutes left,
when Robinson threw an inter-
ception in the endzone. Or poor
Gary Gray, the Notre Dame cor-
nerback who had the best view
in the Big House for Roundtree's
and Gallon's touchdowns.
The record crowd will have
the indelible images of a bunch
of college kids celebrating with
100,000 of their closest friends
and Robinson skipping up and
down the sidelines before run-
ning to that corner of the Big
House where he likes to cel-
ebrate.
As "The Victors" boomed
into the night sky, one man who
can now say he witnessed it all
turned to a group of students he
had never met and offered a bit
of wisdom: "I'm an old (exple-
tive) man, and I've been to a lot
of (expletive) games in my time,
and that was the second-best
game I've ever seen.
"Savor this moment."
The details become fuzzy,
but the heroes and the result? If
you were there, under the lights,
you'll never forget.
-Rohan can't believe
Michigan pulled off the same
deal on Notre Dame three years
in a row. He can be reached at
trohan@umich.edu. Or follow
him on Twitter @TimRohan.


RELEASE DATE- Monday, September 12, 2011
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