College football’s bowl bonanza began in earnest Saturday with five can’t-miss games.
The Gildan New Mexico, Las Vegas, Raycom Media Camellia, AutoNation Cure and R+L Carrier New Orleans bowls reek of tradition and pageantry.
OK, maybe not. In recent years, bowl games have piled up in such great numbers that teams with losing records routinely make appearances.
Twenty years ago, there were 18 bowls and only three teams with 6-5 records were selected. Twenty-six of the 36 participants had at least eight wins. The halcyon days of only deserving teams playing in bowls were exhausted a decade ago. Rewind 40 years and there was a world in which 10-win teams were home for the holidays.
From 1972-74, Michigan went 30-2-1 — both losses and the tie came to Ohio State — yet the Wolverines never played in a bowl game. Michigan’s dastardly fate, as famed radio man Bob Ufer would say, spurred change in the Big Ten.
It resulted in Michigan’s first Orange Bowl appearance on New Year’s Day 1976, a site the Wolverines will become reacquainted with in two weeks.
“Unfortunately, it’s become such a big business,” said former Michigan quarterback Dennis Franklin, a three-year starter from 1972-74. “The essence of why you were originally supposed to go to a bowl game was to celebrate a successful season.”
In 1973, Michigan didn’t lose a game. By any measure, it’s rated as one the best seasons in program history. But it ended in bitter fashion, with the fallout still reverberating today.
“It doesn’t go away,” Franklin said. “It was ridiculous, first of all, that we weren’t going to the Rose Bowl. But we didn't really have any visions of going anywhere else because we weren’t allowed. It wasn’t something that you could conceptualize because it wasn’t possible. It was very upsetting.”
On Nov. 24, undefeated No. 1 Ohio State and undefeated No. 4 Michigan played to a 10-10 tie. The conference’s Rose Bowl berth would come down to a vote among its athletic directors. There was almost universal agreement that Michigan, which dominated the second half, would represent the Big Ten in Pasadena.
The conference’s antiquated rules contributed to that belief. Only the Big Ten champion could play in a bowl game — always the Rose Bowl — and it was just two years before that the Big Ten did away with its no-repeat rule, barring teams from playing in the Rose Bowl in consecutive seasons.
Ohio State played in the Rose Bowl after the 1972 season, so the assumption was Michigan would go in 1973. Ohio State assistant coach Ed Ferkany said the coaching staff thought their season was done and linebacker Van Ness DeCree congratulated Michigan players on the field about their impending trip to California.
The Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer and Detroit Free Press all predicted Michigan would win the athletic director vote. The newspapers were wrong.
As Schembechler arrived in Detroit on Sunday to tape his weekly TV show, a reporter alerted him to the vote: 6-4 Ohio State.
“You’re kidding,” said Schembechler, as recounted in the 1974 book The Wolverines.
“I’m very bitter about it. I resent it,” he said. “It’s a tragic thing for Big Ten football. This is the lowest day of my athletic career either as a player or coach. I think petty jealousies and politics were involved.”
Conspiracies still surround the vote.
Franklin suffered a fractured collarbone in the final minutes of the Ohio State game. In his postgame press conference, Hayes said, “It’s a shame he won’t be able to play in the Rose Bowl.” But Franklin’s status was unknown.
Schembechler accused Big Ten commissioner Wayne Duke of orchestrated votes against Michigan because of Franklin’s injury.
“I want him to come and tell my team it isn’t good enough,” Schembechler said. “I want him to tell Dennis Franklin that in his medical opinion, he cannot play. Duke’s running scared. He wants to win the Rose Bowl to help his own personal prestige.”
The Big Ten was in the midst of a four-year losing streak in the Rose Bowl, leading some to think — Schembechler most ardently — Franklin’s injury spooked Duke. He has always denied any impropriety.
Incredibly, one year later another vote would decide the Rose Bowl. It was much easier this time because of Ohio State’s win against Michigan, but a false report indicating Michigan won the athletic director vote circulated, leaving the Wolverines dejected once again.
Soon after, the Big Ten scrapped its one bowl team rule, which dated to 1906, allowing the 1975 Wolverines to play in the Orange Bowl.
“When things change in life, somebody has to make the sacrifices,” Franklin said. “Obviously, we were one of the teams to do that. There’s some good feeling centered around that.”
History could be repeating itself in some fashion more than four decades later.
Michigan is appearing in the Orange Bowl, its quarterback suffered a reported collarbone injury and there’s controversy surrounding the Big Ten’s postseason bowls.
Penn State’s — and Michigan to some extent — exclusion from the playoff is drawing scorn after the Nittany Lions won the Big Ten and defeated Ohio State, which is ranked No. 2. Franklin lobbied to be on the playoff committee when it was first announced, thinking his past history could serve him well.
“A playoff system is probably best for college football,” Franklin said. “It does make a lot of sense because you have the true sense of a champion. In the not-too-distance future, it’s probably going to turn into eight teams.”
Ironically, Penn State’s consolation is the prize Franklin never experienced: the Rose Bowl.
Contact Kyle Rowland at: krowland@theblade.com, 419-724-6110, or on Twitter @KyleRowland.
Michigan vs. Florida State
■ Records: Michigan is 10-2, 7-2 Big Ten; Florida State is 9-3, 5-3 ACC.
■ What: Capital One Orange Bowl
■ Where: Hard Rock Stadium; Miami Gardens, Fla.
■ When: 8 p.m. Dec. 30
■ TV: ESPN
■ Radio: 100.7 FM
■ Line: Michigan by 7
■ Over/under: 53
First Published December 18, 2016, 5:56 a.m.
