Earle Bruce and Bo Schembechler on The Game
By Tom Orr and John Porentas

The Great Players

[Editor's Note: This is part four of a five-part series featuring the recollections of Earle Bruce and Bo Schembechler on The Game during their respective coaching tenures.]

Already this week, Earle Bruce and Bo Schembechler have described some of the most memorable games they experienced in the OSU-Michigan rivalry.

But those games would not have been nearly as special without certain players stepping up to make big plays, and have career days on the biggest stage of the entire season; The Game.

According to Bruce, that final Saturday of the regular season is the only true measure of a player’s excellence.

“I think there's no doubt that if you have a great football player, the only margin of being great is if you play great against Michigan. What the hell are you if you play good in all the games except your rival game?

“The rival game is the game you’ve got to give your best effort in. That has to be the measuring stick. Who would say he played nine good games but we lost the Michigan game? That doesn't make him a great player in my book.

“The great players play great in the great football games.”

Both coaches singled out several players for particularly outstanding performances.

“Marcus Marek was a guy who played four years against Michigan, intercepted a pass in all four football games, was probably the leading tackler,” Bruce said.

“In his freshman year Michigan is on a drive to win the football game or do something on the four yard line and stopped him cold and we took over the ball. They not only are a great player in that game but they make great plays. When you make great plays, interceptions are great plays, fumble recoveries are great plays, obviously stops like that or a knock-away stands out.”

To Bruce, another standout played down in the trenches.

“Joe Lukens for four years played well against them at guard. When I look at the film of Joe Lukens (you see him) diving all over, running all over, hitting, just playing his heart out.

“Another guy that stands out in my mind is a young man by the name of Dave Morrill who did an outstanding job as a defensive tackle in both years he played in that game. His dad was a Michigan basketball player, and here is playing against Michigan.

“After the game Bo congratulates him on his performance because he did stand out, he stood out and played well. He had a fine career, but he played his best football games against Michigan.

“I think of Chris Spielman. Chris Spielman is a guy that played well against Michigan, all over the field making tackles, diving in, because he knows the importance of that football game.

“Pepper Johnson played well against them. Jerome Foster, who was from Michigan, played well against them. He was a defensive tackle and a middle guard, played both positions, and played them well. Cris Carter always played well against Michigan, gave great effort, more effort that day as far as blocking and running and making big plays. He made big plays, he made big catches, he did everything you could ask him to do.”

“Mike Lanese had a great catch that made the difference in a 7-6 ball game (in 1984). We were on a possession down and he makes a jump and catch that puts us in a first down position and we go on down to score and we break the game open.

“When you look at it, Tim Spencer in the 1981 game ran the ball and caught the ball. On two 80-yard drives he was the leading rusher and the leading receiver. When you talk about effort, that’s what wins for you.”

Schembechler didn’t hesitate for a moment when asked which Michigan player had performed the best against Ohio State.

“I didn’t coach him, but the greatest performance against Ohio State was here in Ann Arbor when (Tim) Biakabutuka ran for more than 300 yards.

“You know why he was that good? The great runner for Ohio State, Eddie George was on that team, and all the talk was Eddie George; what Eddie George was going to do to Michigan and all that. Well, Biakabutuka took that personally, because he thought he was a pretty good back, too. I think that was the greatest performance I have ever seen by a Michigan back in any game.”

Given Schembechler’s affinity for the running game, it’s probably not surprising that the other two players he singled out played the same position as Biakubutka.

“(Rob) Lytle’s performance down there in the (1976) 22-0 game was outstanding. We both always had good backs. I suppose Jamie Morris had some good games against Ohio State.”

On the other side of the field, Schembechler said that he never wanted to face one Buckeye runner in particular. In fact, when asked which OSU player he was happiest to see graduate, he laughed.

“On the basis of having played against him so often, I would have to say Archie. Just get rid of him,” Schembechler said, chuckling.

“Ohio State had backs that probably were more talented than him. But he had a knack for hitting holes and coming out the other end. He was a tough back to handle.”

Bruce similarly had no problem recalling players in winged helmets who made certain November Saturdays miserable.

“Well, I remember very vividly my first Michigan game there was a guy on Michigan's team playing wide receiver who caught two long touchdown passes against us,” Bruce said.

“I got tapped on the shoulder by one of our assistant coaches, Wayne Stanley, and he said ‘Coach, that’s the player I was talking about when we were trying to recruit him last fall, and you told me we had too many receivers, to worry more about the big guys, not the big receivers.’

“I said ‘After this, you pound the table when you've got a player like that. You pound the table and don't let me do something like that.’”

That player of course was Anthony Carter, one of the greats of Michigan history.

“He played well against us,” Bruce said. “Although we shut him down a few years, he played well against us when they won the football game.”

“I think (Butch) Woolfolk in 1980 played exceptionally well, ran for 180 yards, ran extra hard because of the poor showing he had in 1979.

“Bo challenged him all through spring ball, always threw up to him about how he got hit on the four-yard line how he got hit by freshman linebacker (Marcus Marek).”

Part I, The Game that Made the Game

Part II, The Buckeyes Send Earle Out a Winner

Part III, Ohio State vs. Michigan, Years to Remember

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