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After an uncomfortably close victory over Air Force last
weekend, Michigan is ready for a cupcake game. By all accounts,
this matchup with Massachusetts should do the trick. The
Minutemen have just risen to the Division-I FBS level and lost
badly to Indiana last weekend. Running back Mike Cox is making
his return to Ann Arbor, so be on the lookout for that storyline.
Ben Estes, Zach Helfand, Stephen J. Nesbitt, Luke Pasch
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Q&A: The Daily sat down with Kelsey
Kramer, an LSA senior and the grand-
daughter of legend Ron Kramer.
Man on the Mic: Bob Ufer was the voice of
Michigan football for 363 straight games.
He's long gone, but he's not forgotten.
Advance: Michigan is trying not to overlook
Massachusetts, but the Wolverines should
roll on Saturday.
Cover illustration by Marissa McClain
2012 Schedule
Alabama (Sept.1): Michgan's memory needs to
be short after this one. It should be anyway with
some of the hits the Crimson Tide dealt out.
Air Force (Sept. 8): Air Force ran all over Michi-
gan, but Denard Robinson returned the favor to
squeak out the 31-25 victory.
Massachusetts (Sept. 15): Easily Michigan's
weakest opponent in the midst of a grueling
schedule. Blowout alert in full effect.
Notre Dame (Sept. 22): May as well call this
showdown an instant classic before kickoff the
way this series has gone the past few seasons.
;4 Purdue (Oct. 6): The Boilermakers blasted
Eastern Kentucky in week one, and hope to give
Michigan a game in the Big Ten opener.
Illinois (Oct. 13): Michigan will miss Ron Zook,
who was fired after an 0-6 stretch to end last
season. But it might like Tim Beckman more.
S
Michigan State (Oct. 20): Wolverines could
snap a four-game losing streak to Sparty. If it
happens, avoid fans' (or players') raging fists at
all costs.
Nebraska (Oct. 27): Michigan handed the
Huskers a rude welcome to the Big Ten in 2011.
Prime time in Lincoln could be different, though.
Minnesota (Nov. 3): This game was a confi-
dence booster last year - a 58-0 drubbing. The
Little Brown Jug will stay in Ann Arbor again.
Northwestern (Nov. 10): In a late season
matchup, we'll find out who scraps harder: a
wildcat or a wolverine.
Iowa (Nov. 17): It's not heaven. It's Iowa - the
utterly mediocre squad that handed Michigan
one of its two losses in 2011.
Ohio State (Nov. 24): The reincarnation of the
Bo-Woody dynamic, Hoke and Meyer will com-
pete in 'The Game' for the first time at the Shoe.
STAFF PICKSA
Bob Ufer smiles as he calls Bo Schembechler's first Rose Bowl victory, in 1981.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF UFER FAMILY
Ufer (left) celebrates his 60th birthday, and Schembechler (right) his 51st, with Fritz Crisler.
The Daily football writers pick
against the spread to predict
scores for the top-25 and Big
Ten in the 2012 football season.
No.17Michigan(-46) vs.Massachusetts
No.1Alabama)(-3)at Arkansas
NoS. 2 USC (-6.5)atStanford
No.3 LSU(-43.5) vs.Idaho
No.4Oregon(NS)vs.TennesseeTech.
No. 5 Florida State (-24.5) vs. Wake Forest
No. 7 Georgia (-44.5) vs. Florida Atlantic
No.8 South Carolina (-33.5)vs. UAB
No.9 West Virginia(NS) vs. James Madison
No.10 Mich. State (-2.5) at No. 20 ND
No.11Clemson(NS)vs.Furman
No. 12 Ohio State (12) vs. California
No.13 Virginia Tech (-9) at Pittsburgh
No. 14 Texas (-13.5) at Ole Miss
No.15 Kansas State (-28) vsNorthlTexas
No.16 Texas Christian (-26.5) at Kansas
No. 18 Florida (PK) at No. 23 Tennessee
No.19 Louisville (-3) vs. North Caroina
No. 22 UCLA (-165)vs.Houstor
No. 24 Arizona (NS) vs. S. CarolinaState
No. 25 BYU at Utah (-t)
Minnesota (-1) vs. Western Michigan
Nebraska(-23)vs. ArkansasState
liisi( NS) vs. Charleston Southern
Purue (-23)vs.EasernMichigan
Northwesternt(-4.5) vs. BsneCege
Pen State(-8.5)vs. Nav
Iowa (NS)vs.NorthernI owa
Indiana(-3.5)vs.BallState
Wisconsin(-12.5) vs. Utah State
OeaWei
Ben
Estes
Massachusetts
Alabama
USc
Idaho
Oregon
Florida State
FloridaAtlantic
South Carolina
west Virginia
Michigan State
Clemson
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
Ole Miss
Kansas State
Kansas
Florida
Louisville
UCLA
Arizona
Utah
western Michigan
Nebraska
EasternMichigan
Nerthwestern
Penn State
Iowa
indiana
Wisconsin
34-24-1
Zach
Helfand
Massachusetts
Alabama
USC
Idaho
Oregon
Florida State
Georgia
South Caroina
west Virginia
Michigan State
Clemson
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
Ole Miss
North Texas
Kansas
Tennessee
North Carolina
UCLA
Arizona
Brigham Young
Western Michigan
Nebraska
EasternMichigan
Notwiceere
owa
Indiana
30-28-1
Stephen J.
Nesbitt
Massachusetts
Alabama
USC
Louisiana State
Oregon
Florida State
Florida Atlantic
UAB
west Virginia
Michigan State
Clemson
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
Te xas
Kansas State
Texas Christian
Tennessee
Louisville
Houston
Arizona
Brigham Young
Minnesota
Nebraska
owa
Ball State
34-24-1
Luke
PaschM
Michigan
Alabama
USC
Idaho
Oregon
Florida State
Florida Atlantic
South Carolina
West Virginia
Michigan State
Clemson
Ohio State
Virginia Tech
Te xas
Kansas State
Kansas
Florida
Louisville
Houston
Arizona
BrighamrYoung
Minnesota
Nebraska
Estern Michi gan
Penn Stten
owa
Indiana
Wiconin
34-24-1
Mc ahon,
Marching'
Band
Michigan
Alabama
USC
Louisiana State
Oregon
Florida State
Florida Atlantic
UAB
west Virginia
Michigan State
Clemson
Ohio
Virginia Tech
Texas
Kansas State
Kansas
Tennessee
Louisville
UCLA
Arizona
Utah
Western Michigan
Nebaske
EasterMichigan
owa
ndiana
Wisconsin
him to be the keynote speak-
er to kick off his re-election
campaign at Crisler Arena.
Beckmann wasn't fol-
lowing in the footsteps of a
man - he was following an
established institution that
very suddenly wasn't there
anymore.
Six games after the trip
to Madison, Michigan was
home against Northwestern.
"I went up to go to-the pre-
game show with Bo that Fri-
day before the Northwestern
game, and when I got there
to the football office, Bo was
coming out of his office with
his coat and hat on, and he's
crying," Beckmann recalled.
"He said, 'We just lost Uf'
"It was probably the most
difficult game I ever had to
do ... It was a big loss for all
of us."
Beckmann never tried to
copy Ufer. He doesn't have
the horn, doesn't have the
farcical nicknames. He's
more of an 'Xs and Os' guy,
and he doesn't buddy up with
the team quite like the old
man did.
He doesn't sell insurance
to the whole coaching staff
either.
But for following a legend,
Beckmann has done a heck of
a job. It's been 31 years since
his first broadcast, and Beck-
mann has compiled quite the
repertoire of memorable calls
himself.
"There's one play in the
1997 National Champion-
ship year, and he made a call
on a Woodson play against
Ohio State in the final game,"
said Beckmann's partner
and color commentator Jim
Brandstatter. "He was stand-
ing up in the booth and he
was pointing at the field, and
he made a call that, for that
moment, for that play, it was
absolutely perfect.
"It was in his mind, his
body, his voice. I never said
a thing after he got done.
I stood there in the booth,
looked at him and applaud-
ed."
Most Michigan fans pick
Ufer's call of the 1979 Indi-
ana game as their favorite,
which is ironic because you
can't hear his voice for half of
it. At points, his screaming is
inaudible, and Patton's horn
is blaring too loudly.
But that was the point.
When the crowd went nuts,
Ufer didn't tell his audience
the crowd went nuts - Ufer
went nuts with them.
With the score tied at 21
apiece, six ticks on the clock
and the ball on the Hoosier
45-yard-line, Johnny "Win-
gin" Wangler zipped the ball
30 yards down the middle of
the field and hit Carter, who
skirted a couple of tackles on
his way to the goal line.
Ufer's reaction was both
immediate and captivating.
"You start to smile, from
the time Anthony catches
the ball, and you don't stop
smiling until Bob says there's
a break," said Brandstatter.
"And it's like a three-minute
long thing. His absolute and
complete joy and eupho-
ria over that play, and how
Michigan rescued a victory
from a tie - he brought all of
his considerable skills to bear
on that play."
As Schembechler ran out
onto the field to celebrate
the victory with his play-
ers, Ufer told his listeners,
"Bo Schembechler is look-
ing up at Fielding H. Yost in
football's Valhalla, and Bo
Schembechler says, 'Thank
you Fielding Yost! Thank you
Fielding Yost for that one!"'
Ufer may very well go
down in history as the first
and only sportscaster to
mention Valhalla - the
mythical hall where fallen
warriors who died in combat
would rest under the Norse
god Odin - in a play-by-play.
Now, as Ufer himself rests
a mere 20 feet from Yost in
Ann Arbor's ForestHill Cem-
etery, Michigan fans can look
up to football's Valhalla and
say, "Thank you Bob Ufer.
Thank you Bob Ufer for that
one'.,
2 FootballSaturday - September 15, 2012
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