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There Are 96 Days to Michigan Football

Waiting for the opening Saturday of college football is agonizing. All we want is 13 weeks of Brent Musberger "pardner" one-liners, the buzz of Michigan Stadium in late November, and jokes about the Bowl Championship Series. Fear not, bleary-eyed traveler. This is a continuing series intended to get through the long, hot summer and back to the glory of football season.

By Kevin Bunkley
Gregory Shamus

Michigan did a lot of winning in the 1970s. Team 96 was on the verge of an undefeated season, and spent the entire year inside the top ten. Until they headed to Columbus. In those years only one team from the Big Ten was picked to go to a bowl game. Ohio State beat Michigan 12-10 and prevented a bowl trip. The nature of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry in those years was as it should have been: both teams prominently ranked, and the winner gets to play in January and the loser has to watch on television. The Ten Year War was at the peak in 1974 with Michigan on the bitter end, but struck back when Rick Leach got to campus.