1981: Michigan-70 Illinois-21

Probably the most memorable contest of the 1981 season. It was the first home game since the death of the legendary Bob Ufer who passed away just 12 days earlier. The fans payed tribute to Bob with a moment of silence.

The game itself was classic. The Fighting Illini put together their best squad in 18 years. They would finish the season 7-4, their highest season win total since their 1963 Rose Bowl team. Illinois jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the first quarter. At the start of the 2nd Quarter, they drove all the way to the Michigan 15-yard line looking to go ahead 28-7. The stadium was stunned with the Illini players pounding their chests and celebrating. But UM cornerback Jerry Burgei intercepted the Illini pass at the goal line and stopped the scoring threat. From then on, it was all Michigan as the Wolverines scored 63 unanswered points.

Several years later when Bo was asked if he ran up the score in this game, he said... "Anybody that got beat by that many points is going to say you ran it up. But the truth of the matter is, we were scoring with the third and fourth guys. We were scoring with EVERYBODY late in that game."

It was no secret that Bo was very angry with Illinois for firing Gary Moeller. And he did not like Illinois head coach Mike White who Bo considered a cheater for his recruiting tactics. Bo took great delight in pounding White's teams whenever he could.

Game played on November 7, 1981 in Ann Arbor.

Footage shot by Art Vuolo

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Michigan
• Wolverines
• Football
• Illinois
• Fighting
• Illini
• Big
• Ten
• Mike
• White

[BrenMcCloud]

The seats are so close to the field...like, there's maybe 5 feet bewteen the corner of the end zone and the stands...why isn't it like that now?

[WolverineHistorian]

The field was lowered after the 1990 season because the players on the sidelines obstructed the view of the fans in the first 4 rows.

[thegov1020]

mr histoiran was this michigans most lopsided win and i think mr ufer said somthing to em at the half if ya know what i mean

[WolverineHistorian]

Far from the most lopsided win. Fielding Yost's teams in the early 1900's beat teams by 100 points.

Off the top of my head, Bo's most lopsided wins while at UM were a 70-14 win over Navy in 1976 and a 69-0 win over Northwestern in 1975.

Bo beat Illinois 69-13 in 1986 and he beat Wisconsin 62-14 in 1988.

[crawford371]

was this Frank Beckman's first game as the pxp announcer?

[WolverineHistorian]

No. Frank did the entire 1981 season. He and Bob Ufer sort of shared duties for the first half of the season as Bob's health got worse and worse.

[1997goblue]

i'm 16 so the best Michigan blow out win i saw was a 58-0 win against Minnesota just this past season 

[TheGophers11]

If I remember Illinois was up in this game at half time and Bo let them have it, really surprised Michigan lost to WIS and Iowa that year. AC was a beast.

[ELJimO1985]

holy god bo really hated Illinois this game

[klondike999]

Steve Smith had some great speed for a qb.

[LOseIDon]

was it even possible to cover AC in single coverage? hahaha

[rikiking1959]

I took my then fiance" to this game I was 22 then and we just walked up to the ticket counter and bought 30 yrd line txs right in the middle of hundreds of Illinois fans and they were just giving it to us big time for the first 1/4, then they shut up the rest of the game GO BLUE!!!!

[thedynamic35]

The most lopsided Michigan win was in 1904. Michigan 130 West Virginia 0. LOL. Another reason their fans hate us

[BrenMcCloud]

ah, right...