The Unforgettable!

Oct. 1, 2003

Editor’s Note: The following was written by George Wine in October, 1995. It is one of many columns George wrote while sports information director at the University of Iowa or as a member of the editorial staff for Voice of the Hawkeyes. It is also one of more than 100 that have been reprinted in “Black and Gold Memories,” a book published by the UI Athletic Department that’s now available for purchase at www.barnesandnoble.com.

Has it really been 10 years? Has that much time passed since the Hawkeyes, ranked No. 1 in college football, hosted Michigan, ranked No. 2?

The records say that game was played on October 19, 1985, at Kinnick Stadium before a capacity crowd of 66,350. Hard to believe, but that was a decade ago.

My own recollections of that week focus on this question: How was I going to fit all those folks who wanted to cover the game into the press box? While Hayden Fry was formulating his game plan and preparing his team for the biggest game he had ever coached at Iowa, I was worried about press box space.

Funny how we all have our own priorities. But I had never been through a space crunch like this one, and I never experienced one like it again.

Brent Musburger, Dick Vermiel and what seemed like a CBS-TV crew of thousands were there, every major daily newspaper in the Midwest was there, many publications in the USA were there, and every bowl representative was there.

Somehow, I got them all in the press box.

The kick-off was moved to 2:40 p.m. to accommodate television. The nation was eager to watch this match up of Hayden Fry and Bo Schembechler- the new kid on the block versus the establishment. The winner of this game would have a leg up on the Big Ten title and perhaps the national championship.

Because of the late kick-off, Musco Lighting was brought in and for the first time since it was built in 1929, Kinnick Stadium was illuminated. Musco set up at midweek and ran a test after dark, lighting up the whole west side of town.

How much pre-game excitement could we stand?

Some games do not live up to their hype, but this one did, and then some. The game started in good football weather, 60 degrees with a light wind from the north. Because we had a better passing game than Michigan, we were hoping forecasters were wrong about the chance of rain. They were.

These things about the game stuck in my mind:

With no score in the second quarter, Chuck Long completed a pass to Scott Helverson in the back of the south end zone. An official ruled Helverson was out of bounds, but TV replays showed it would have been a touchdown. “Is a bad call going to cost us the game?” I wondered. Rob Houghtlin kicked a 35-yard field goal on the next play.

At halftime, Iowa had out-gained Michigan by a two to one margin and had a two-to-one advantage in possession time. But Michigan was leading 7-6 and I wondered, “Is that bad call going to beat us?”

With six minutes left in the game, Michigan had a 10-9 lead and a third-and-two on it’s own 35. On a play over right guard, Jamie Morris was thrown for a two yard loss by Larry Station. Morris said later, “Just before the snap Larry Station was looking right into my eyes. I should have called time out.”

Iowa took the punt at it’s own 22, and converted three third down plays to put the ball at the Michigan 12. With a few seconds left Iowa called timeout to set up for a field goal. “They’re trying to ice you,” Hayden chuckled to his kicker.

The atmosphere was almost surreal as Houghtlin booted the ball up into the darkness. It was nearly 6 o’clock and the sky was black. There was no time on the clock when the ball sailed between the uprights. The stadium exploded. The bad call did not beat us.

The Hawkeyes poured from, the west sideline and jumped all over Houghtlin and his holder, Mark Vlasic, who was buried under a mess of humanity and twisted his knee, putting him out of action for a couple of weeks.

The final stats showed Iowa had an advantage in first downs 16-9, total yardage 422-182, and possession minutes 38-22. I thought, “We should have won by two or three touchdowns.” But that would not have made this one of Iowa’s epic games.