This was the culmination of the first year we really started to do the big tailgate parties, and we got good and cranked up for this one. Ohio State already had the best record — 12-0 — of any team of my lifetime, but it would all be for naught if we couldn’t beat Michigan. This also sealed the tradition of Uncle Crappy being forced to wear shorts to games, no matter what the weather. And it was cooooolllllllld in the College of Pharmacy parking lot that morning, but we had lots of Bushmills Irish whiskey on hand, and that helped a bunch.

Despite our recent record when we had more on the line than the Wolverines, I never really felt nervous, even being down at halftime. I remember the eruption when Clarett caught the pass at the 10. I remember the eruption when Maurice Hall scored a couple days later. The bedlam when we stopped Michigan’s penultimate drive by forcing a Navarre fumble. And then there was Will Allen’s interception at the end of the game.

My father and I, at ages 65 and 36, respectively, actually managed a respectable chest-bump when we met at the truck after the game. And then he sprung it on us … our Christmas gift that year — as well as our birthday gifts the following year — would be a trip to Tempe for the Fiesta Bowl.

That’s another story … maybe I’ll tell it when we’re getting ready for this season’s BCS game.