BY PETER NOORANI
For the Daily
Published November 18, 2009
A loss to Ohio State this Saturday would keep Michigan one win short of receiving bowl eligibility, but it would not be the first time the Buckeyes have kept the Wolverines out of the postseason.
More like this
In 1973, when the two teams met, Michigan — ranked number four at the time — had held the number one Buckeyes to a 10-10 tie. Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes admitted, “We had to win this one to go to the Rose Bowl." Luck appeared to be with the Buckeyes that year.
After the game, the Big Ten Athletic Directors voted 6-4 in favor of Ohio State going to Pasadena instead of Bo Schembechler’s Wolverines, according to a Nov. 27, 1973 article in The Michigan Daily. The coach was stunned by the decision.
Schembechler blamed votes against Michigan on “ignorance (and) petty jealousies”, according to the article, adding that the schools voting for Ohio State may have been acting on grudges.
Don Canham, the Michigan Athletic Director at the time, was an unpopular figure with Northwestern University officials after he played a part in preventing the Chicago Bears from playing at Northwestern’s Dyche Stadium, according to the article. Canham had also upset Michigan State University officials that year in a dispute over television rights. Both teams voted in favor of Ohio State.
More than satisfying grudges, however, Big Ten Athletic Directors may have voted for Ohio State because they felt that the Buckeyes had a better chance of winning in California, according to the Daily. Michigan’s star quarterback at the time, Dennis Franklin, had broken his collarbone in the fourth quarter of the game against Ohio State.
Cecil Coleman, Athletic Director of the University of Illinois had announced on the radio that he planned to vote for Michigan, according to the Daily. Following news of Franklin’s broken collarbone, he changed his mind. He was quoted by the Daily as saying that, “without Franklin, Michigan is not the best representative of the Big Ten.” Michigan State and Northwestern concurred.
Big Ten Commissioner Wayne Duke’s disclosure of the state of the Michigan quarterback lay at the center of Schembechler’s criticisms. The Michigan coach claimed that by sharing the condition of Franklin, Duke had had an unfair influence on the vote, a claim that Duke called “totally absurd”, according to the Daily article.
The Daily article noted that no one made a serious attempt to learn the extent of Franklin’s injury, and Michigan’s team physician had not been contacted.
Ohio State went on to beat the University of Southern California in the Rose Bowl, while Michigan did not play in a bowl game that year.
