Tuesday Quick Hits: Wisconsin Game Observations

• First things first, kudos to the crowd on Saturday. From the blimp shots on ABC, the maize out looked great. It probably was the best one Michigan has had yet, which likely has to do with the fact that maize shirts were being passed out to fans at some gates as they entered the stadium. AT&T sponsored the shirts to give Michigan the ability to pass them out.
• Another aspect of the crowd that I have to give big props to is those that organized and were part of the navy block "M" in the student section. I was very wrong about how it would turn out as it was anything but an epic failure. The "M" itself looked good and it actually stayed together for the entire game. According to the organizer of this whole thing, a block "M" in the student section may become a regular occurrence.
• One final thing I want to mention about the crowd is how loud it was in the second half once Michigan made this a game. The student section was loud on every play following the Kevin Koger touchdown, and other areas of the stadium were actually getting into it as well. I think it was probably the loudest the stadium had ever been for a sustained period of time, and when John Thompson scored on the interception return, that specific moment may have been the loudest I had ever heard Michigan Stadium.
• John Thompson's interception that was returned for a touchdown is a Pontiac Game Changing Performance nominee this week. Head on over to ESPN to vote for Thompson.
  
• Michigan's 27-25 win over Wisconsin featured the program's second largest comeback ever and the largest comeback by a Michigan team at Michigan Stadium.
• At halftime, Terrance Taylor delivered a speech to his teammates that seemed to get them pumped up.
  

  "I was very loud at halftime," Taylor said. "Very vocal." [...]
  
  "It was a lot of things," said Taylor, who had eight tackles and a fumble recovery in Michigan's 27-25 comeback victory. "Just the situation, my last year, my first last Big Ten game at home, the 500th game, getting booed off the field."

  Taylor's speech came before the coaches even got to the locker room, showing the leadership he has.
  
• Rich Rodriguez got a Gatorade shower after he shook Bret Bielema's hand following the game.
• Carson Butler did not play at all against Wisconsin, which is likely a direct result of him getting ejected against Notre Dame. Kevin Koger got his first playing time of the season and did an excellent job of filling in. He didn't have any penalties, did a nice job of blocking, and caught Michigan's first touchdown of the game that started the comeback.
  
• There were so many familiar faces on the sidelines watching this game. Of course, the most recognizable to most was probably Michael Phelps, who got a huge standing ovation. Phelps was honored with other Michigan Olympians before the game and even spoke to the team prior to kickoff as well.
• On top of the Olympians, there were a ton of former players at the game. Just off the top of my head, here is the list of who I remember being there: Drew Henson, Jeff Backus, Ronald Bellamy, Adam Kraus, Mike Hart, Marlin Jackson, Jake Long, Pierre Woods, Shawn Crable, Mario Manningham, Jamar Adams, Ryan Mundy, John Navarre, Anthony Thomas, Rueben Riley, and Ali Haji-Sheikh. Nick Sheridan's dad, Bill, who is a coach for the New York Giants, also was at the game. I'm sure I missed a few simply because so many former players were at the game.
• Isiah Thomas was also at the game as he is sort of touring the nation each week to watch college football. He had a Michigan hat on and is actually a fan as it turns out.
  

  "I went to a lot of Michigan games and am a Michigan fan," said Thomas, who played two years of basketball at Indiana and won the national championship. "I was an IU basketball fan, but all of us adopted Michigan as our football team."

  MVictors has a picture of Isiah from the game.
• Even though Michigan Stadium's capacity is lower than usual this season, the Big House still had a bigger crowd on Saturday compared to the Penn State-Illinois game. Specifically, there were 109,833 at the Michigan-Wisconsin game and 109,626 at Penn State's game.
• To commemorate Michigan Stadium's 500th game, there were markings on both 25-yard lines that indicated the feat. Again, MVictors has a picture of what I'm talking about.
  
• If you're a student, please do not sell your ticket to an opposing fan. I can't even describe how annoying it was to see a countless number of Wisconsin fans in the student section. I had the pleasure of sitting behind two of them. Although they weren't douchebags like many of the other Wisconsin fans at the game, I disliked the fact that I even had to be near an opposing fan in the student section. They did leave after the third quarter, but still, if you're a student, make sure you sell your tickets to Michigan fans.
• A lot has been made about how the team was booed off the field at halftime. Although I understand why people dislike the idea of booing the team, I can understand why people did considering it was the worst half of offense I had ever seen. I'll admit it; I booed as the first half came to a close. However, I did so only because Rich Rodriguez and the coaches decided to not take a knee to end the half. Instead, they decided to have Steven Threet attempt a Hail Mary. Threet was hit when he threw the ball and it was intercepted and returned all the way back to the 8-yard line. In that situation it would have been better to just take a knee as the chances of actually scoring were very low and only something bad could happen as we nearly saw.
• John Thompson had to have stitches after he "busted" his chin and tongue up.
  
• A couple Wisconsin fans that were in the student section got ejected at halftime. I didn't see what sparked the incident, but they were standing up and shouting at Michigan fans and were getting stuff thrown at them. I have no idea if they provoked the Michigan fans or what, but the incident ended with them getting ejected.
• Jason Gingell took over the kickoff duties after Michigan's first kickoff of the game. Gingell actually kicked the ball out of the end zone once, so hopefully we see more of that in the future.
• There is some confusion over why Travis Beckum, who is arguably one of Wisconsin's best offensive players, didn't play until the fourth quarter of Saturday's game.
  
• I mentioned last week that I wanted everyone to boo the Wisconsin band for their actions the last time they were in Ann Arbor. They were booed, but that wasn't the only punishment they faced apparently. For the post-game band show, Michigan went by themselves while the Wisconsin band just sat off to the side and waited for U-M to finish. Once Michigan did finish and marched completely out of the stadium, Wisconsin then did the "Fifth Quarter." I could be wrong, but it appeared that Michigan wasn't even going to give Wisconsin a chance to be unclassy this time around, so they made UW wait to do anything until they were gone.
  
• Two temporary lights were placed on the top of the east side steel structure. In the past, portable lights have been brought in with trucks parked outside of the bowl. Since there are structures that support the lights now, trucks are no longer necessary.
• It looked like the south videoboard had something wrong in the middle of the screen. I don't know if it was just the glare of the sun or what, but it seemed like there were pixels that were constantly white and never changed. Problem or not, it is time to start considering the addition of HD videoboards. It would be tough to replace the old scoreboard since a project like that would cost some money, but hey, what's another $10 million or so at this point?
• After the game ended, some students in the lower rows attempted to rush the field. A few made it onto the field only to be abruptly met by police. I did notice a couple students running around the field with the team, but it didn't appear that the police noticed them.
• When the team came over to the student section after the game, any idea of rushing the field quickly ended since the team was already with the students. Some players jumped up onto the walls to really get close to the students and others celebrated from the field. This is a new tradition that happens after a win anyways, but it really was fun considering how great the game was. Most of the student section stayed until the team left, which was nice to see.
• The halftime show was very unique and very entertaining.
  
• The Hoover Street Rag really wrote up a nice post about the game.
  
• Photo galleries: GoBlueWolverine (of recruits at the game; I like how Will Campbell dressed), Detroit News, Free Press, and MGoBlue.