When New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson late Sunday night to win Super Bowl XLIX, many fans on Twitter began calling it one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time.
In the process, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Michigan’s quarterback from 1997 to 1999, won his fourth Super Bowl and third Super Bowl MVP Award. But 15 years earlier, Brady had starred in another title game, the 2000 Orange Bowl, which saw No. 8 Michigan defeat No. 5 Alabama, 35-34. The game story appeared in the Jan. 5, 2000 edition of The Michigan Daily under the headline “One for the Millennium.”
So following Brady’s historic win, the Daily looked back on its story from that game, Brady’s last as a Wolverine.
“If you’re a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders,” Brady told the Daily then. “You want to be the one to make the decisions.”
And while he had to rely on Butler’s heroics to seal the win Sunday, Brady certainly thrived late in the game. He led the Patriots on two touchdown drives in the game’s final eight minutes, covering 68 and 64 yards, respectively. But the drama of the game was on the other end of the ball, where Wilson’s interception from inside the 2-yard line with 18 seconds remaining sealed the Seahawks’ fate.
Similarly, in the 2000 Orange Bowl, Brady threw a 25-yard touchdown to tight end Shawn Thompson in overtime to put the Wolverines ahead by seven. While the Crimson Tide scored a touchdown, their kicker, Ryan Pflugner missed the extra point to cost Alabama the game.
The Daily’s description of the game espoused a sentiment those watching Super Bowl XLIX can certainly identify with.
“As shocking as the conclusion was,” wrote Daily Sports Editor Andy Latack then, “it was a fitting ending to one of the craziest — and best — Michigan games in recent memory.”
The stunning finishes weren’t the only similarities, though.
Brady’s stat line from the Orange Bowl read: 34-for-46 completions for 369 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. And while he threw two picks in the Super Bowl, he also produced a similarly successful line of 37-for-50 passing, 328 yards and four touchdowns.
“Tom Brady has everything you want in a quarterback,” said then-Michigan coach Lloyd Carr after the Orange Bowl. “The guys around him love and believe in him, and if you knew him, you’d believe in him too.”