FootballSaturday, September 17, 2016
4

By JAKE LOURIM 

Managing Sports Editor

Michigan Stadium is usually silent.
It is silent through the offseason. 

It is silent at night. It is silent today.

And then there are the rare 

moments of silence when the largest 
building in football is packed with a 
crowd of 100,000-plus people who 
don’t make a sound. For some, that 
silence can drown out any of the 
roars from past memories — John 
Wangler to Anthony Carter in 1979, 
Desmond Howard’s Heisman pose 
in 1991, the first night game against 
Notre Dame in 2011.

That 
hush 
descended 
upon 

Michigan Stadium on Sept. 24, 1994, 
when Colorado quarterback Kordell 
Stewart launched a 64-yard Hail 
Mary to Michael Westbrook, who 
jumped and caught it in the end 
zone to cap a remarkable comeback 
and stun the Wolverines. The play 
became known as the “Miracle at 
Michigan,” etched in the minds of 
both fan bases forever.

Colorado returns to Michigan 

Stadium this weekend for just the 
second time since that game and the 
first time since 1997. To some, the 
Buffaloes’ first trip is but a memory. 
To others, it’s not even that.

Just 23 players on Michigan’s 

current roster were born before the 
“Miracle at Michigan” in 1994. But 
the former players, coaches, staff and 
reporters in attendance will never 
forget it.

***

‘The world changed’

The battle between No. 4 Michigan 

and No. 7 Colorado was one of the 
biggest matchups in the country that 
week. The Wolverines were coming 
off a 26-24 victory at Notre Dame 
two weeks earlier, in which Remy 
Hamilton kicked a game-winning field 
goal to improve Michigan to 2-0. The 
Buffaloes, meanwhile, had trounced 
then-No. 10 Wisconsin, 55-17, the 
previous Saturday.

Both rosters featured loads of 

future NFL talent. Todd Collins 
quarterbacked the Wolverines, who 
also boasted a defense led by Steve 
Morrison, Ty Law, Jarrett Irons and 
Chuck Winters. Running backs Tyrone 
Wheatley and Tshimanga Biakabutuka 
and wide receiver Amani Toomer went 
on to have long pro careers. Colorado 
may have had even more offensive 
firepower, with Kordell Stewart under 
center, Michael Westbrook and Rae 
Carruth at wide receiver and Heisman 
Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam at 
running back.

Jon Falk, equipment manager, 

1974-2013: “Everybody knew that 
it was going to be a tough game. We 
practiced hard. The focus was really 
good for the whole week. All the 
players were psyched, and we went 
out there. And it was a tough week 
of practice, and it really was geared 
to win that daggone game. And to 
be honest with you, they had some 
better players than we did. They 
were pretty daggone good that year.”

The Buffaloes struck first, driving 63 

yards in 11 plays for a Salaam touchdown 
in the opening quarter. After a Michigan 
field goal, they scored again in the 
second on a 27-yard pass from Stewart 
to 
Westbrook 
before 
Biakabutuka 

answered with a four-yard run that 
trimmed the deficit to 14-9. Just before 
halftime, Colorado lined up for its first of 
two Hail Mary tries.

Chuck Winters, free safety, 

1992-1996: “The same exact play 
that happened at the end of the 
game, but the difference was that we 
weren’t on the field right before — 
like a two-minute drill — so we were 
fresh. … All the receivers never made 
it down the field, and I ended up 
getting the interception going into 
halftime. We walked into halftime 
feeling good.”

Michigan came out with new intensity 

in the second half, running its streak 
of unanswered points to 23 in the third 
quarter. Wheatley gave the Wolverines 
the lead, and Hamilton added to it 
with another field goal. Collins threw 
a 65-yard bomb to Amani Toomer to 
make it 26-14 — though, importantly, 
Michigan missed its second two-point 
conversion of the game.

Still, that lead stood with three 

minutes to go in the game. Colorado 
drew within 26-21 on a one-yard run 
by Salaam with 2:16 left, and the 
Wolverines couldn’t run out the clock 
on the ensuing possession. Colorado 
took over on its own 15-yard line with 
15 seconds to go, and a 21-yard pass 
from Stewart to Westbrook put the 
Buffaloes in position for the Hail Mary 
try with six ticks left.

Steve 
Morrison, 
linebacker, 

1990-1994: “The thing I remember 
is just the seconds weren’t flying off 
the clock. They got more plays than 
we thought you’d normally get. … It 
wasn’t like anybody was celebrating 
early. But we were certainly focused, 
and we went back on the field and the 
world changed.”

The two teams called their final 

plays of the game: “Rocket” for 
Colorado, “30 Victory” for Michigan, 
the “30” signifying a three-man 
front with two defensive ends and 
one tackle. With just six seconds left, 
many fans had left the stadium, and on 
the field, the Wolverines knew a huge 

victory was within their grasp.

Morrison: “We certainly weren’t 

thinking we were going to give up 
a whatever-yard touchdown pass 
there. I think we were just concerned 
about finishing the game and doing it 
the right way. There wasn’t anything 
in retrospect, looking back, that I 
saw, you know, ‘That’s a problem’ or 
‘We got cocky’ or anything.”

Thomas 
Guynes, 
offensive 

lineman, 1992-1996: “It’s a little bit 
easier for me to expect the worst, 
but you’re hoping for the best. 
That’s where my head was at — not 
so much that my guys couldn’t do 
it or anything like that, or there 
was any doubt. But just the way the 
momentum shifts were going back 
and forth, I don’t know, it was weird. 
It just kind of felt like there might be 
some shenanigans in the works.”

***

The miracle

Colorado lined up with Westbrook, 

Anderson and Carruth all split wide 
to the left of Stewart, who was under 
center. Salaam was in the backfield, 
with a fourth wideout to the right.

Keith 
Jackson, 
play-by-play 

commentator, on the broadcast: 
“One more, with six seconds.”

Bob Griese, color commentator, 

on the broadcast: “I think he just 
went over and said, ‘Just throw it up.’ ”

Just Michigan’s three linemen were 

even visible in the TV shot, the rest of 
the defenders back deep to guard the 
pass.

Stewart 
took 
the 
snap, 
and 

immediately Colorado double-teamed 
each of Michigan’s defensive linemen: 
right tackle and guard against left end, 

center and left guard against defensive 
tackle, left tackle and running back 
against right end. The pocket formed 
around Stewart as all four receivers 
sprinted toward the end zone.

Jarrett 
Irons, 
linebacker, 

1992-1996: “My job was to jam the 
inside receiver and then kind of just 
fall back in case someone catches 
something underneath. So I jam my 
guy and obviously get him out of his 
route, and I was kind of falling back.”

Winters: “We only rushed three, 

but we felt like if we rushed three, we 
would have more guys in coverage, 
which would allow us to get more 
jams. Now a different philosophy is, 
you can rush four and then put more 
pressure on the quarterback and 
don’t allow him time.”

Stewart dropped back as far as his 

own 26. He moved 
forward, 
then 

backward to elude 
the right end, then 
forward again to 
gather momentum. 
An 
instant 
after 

the last second ran 
off the clock, he let 
the ball go with his 
front foot at the 
27-yard line.

Falk: “We were 

within his grasp two or three times, 
and then all of a sudden, he had 
enough room to launch it like a shot. 
The ball was up in the air, and we’re 
all standing there, looking at the 
ball.”

Guynes: “The offensive line, we 

were on the south side of the sideline. 
So our bench, before you got to the 
cutoff on the sideline, was right there, 
and that pass was thrown into the 
south end zone. So I was pretty much 

right there. I just don’t recall seeing it 
live. I feel like I was sitting on the bench 
and just waiting to hear, ‘Interception, 
ball batted down, incomplete pass,’ 
whatever. I’ll just go grab my helmet 
and let’s get out of here.”

Morrison: “I was kind of hovering 

there, and the rocket ball went up in 
the air. I remember glancing over my 
shoulder and tracking the ball with 
my eyes and at the same time trying 
to run towards it. When I got there 
(Westbrook) was probably one or two 
or three yards deep in the end zone. 
I don’t remember, but I was probably 
around the 10-yard line, five-yard 
line. I wasn’t that far. I saw it go in 
his hands. I had a really good view of 
it, actually.”

As the ball started to fall, Westbrook, 

Robinson and Carruth had all gathered 

around the five-yard 
line just outside the 
left 
hash 
mark. 

Michigan had five 
players in coverage 
— Winters and Law 
among them — with 
Morrison 
among 

three 
stragglers 

behind them.

Falk: 
“To 
be 

honest with you, 
I thought it was 

going to fall at the 15- or 20-yard line. 
I looked up and I said, ‘There’s no way 
it’s gonna make it into the end zone.’ 
But all of a sudden, it was just like the 
wind (lifted) the ball up, and that ball 
was headed down, and all of a sudden 
it just lofted back up in the air.”

With Colorado’s three receivers in 

position, Robinson, Carruth, Law and 
Winters all jumped for the ball at the 
same time around the two-yard line. 
The ball bounced off their bodies and 

Miracle at Michigan, 22 years later

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Colorado wide receiver Michael Westbrook caught the game-winning Hail Mary pass that stunned Michigan on Sept. 24, 1994.

“It felt like there 
might be some 
shenanigans in 

the works.”

