THE BIG GAME THAT LED TO ROSE BOWL IN 1981!

      It was 1981 and Hayden Fry was the coach. My ex and I were coming back from a trip to Niagara Falls and it was decided to swing around coming back and stop at Ann Arbor and see the Michigan vs. Iowa football game. We really lucked out in that the Friday night before the big game we got a room at a nearby hotel due to a last minute cancellation.

     That evening we partied with some of the Hawkeye faithful and the next morning scalped a couple of tickets from a former Michigan athlete. The seats were in the end zone, but, it was exciting to be in one of the largest football stadiums in the country. The crowd that day was estimated at 105,000.

    The stadium was built in the 1930's with a capacity of over 100,000 seats and that was just up until the 1980's. It was built in the ground so that when you walked in you were at the top row. The one thing that impressed me at the time was the restrooms. They were huge and you could line up 100 guys, so it seemed, to this endless metal trough of running water.

     There was ample parking all around and all the lanes, even for the interstate, were coming in before the game and all going out after the game. The final score was 9-7 in Iowa's favor and all of the scoring were on field goals by Tom Nichol. The funny thing was after the game all the Michigan fans that came up to us with congratulations. The season was only half over, but, they assumed anybody that beat them was probably going to the Rose Bowl.  Iowa did!