We’ve had some crazy college football games over the years, but one of the strangest was the famous “Snow Bowl” between Michigan and Ohio State on Nov. 25, 1950. (pic. above courtesy of the Ohio State Library).
It was snowing so hard at times that the announcers couldn’t see the field Watch this video (old film): Snow Bowl and more film of the game.
The temperature was +10F at noon and there was a howling NE wind which gusted to 35 mph during the game. Ohio State’s kicker, Vic Janowicz said after the game that “It was like a nightmare.”
“My hands were numb and blue. I had no feeling in them and I don’t know how I hung onto the ball. It was terrible. You knew what you wanted to do, but you couldn’t do it,” he continued.
Another player remarked that his assignment was to go past the line of scrimmage to block a linebacker. When he moved past the line, it was snowing and blowing so hard he couldn’t find the guy he was supposed to block.
Michigan won the game 9-3 despite not getting a first down, not completing a pass and punting the ball 24 times (for 723 yards). Ohio State had just 18 yards passing and a net offense of 16 yards. The Buckeyes punted the ball 21 times.
Ohio State blocked a Michigan punt and recovered at the Michigan 8-yard line. They ran three plays and lost yardage back to the 21. Then Vic Janowicz kicked a 37-yard field goal. Some still regard this as the best field goal ever kicked given the conditions.
Michigan scored its points on blocked punts, falling on one in the end zone for its touchdown and getting a safety on another blocked punt.
Over 79,000 tickets were sold for the game, a full house. Believe it or not, of those, roughly 50,000 came to the game. A few of them actually tried to light fires in the stands. Volunteers and the Boy Scouts tried to clear snow from the field during time outs.
The temperature fell from 39 degrees in Columbus at 8 PM EST on Thursday evening, to 20 (F) by midnight. By 7 AM EST Friday morning, the temperature in Columbus was down to 8 (F) above zero with snow whipping across the Buckeye State. Between Thursday night and Friday, 2.3 inches of snow fell on the city of Columbus. Temperatures on Friday only rebounded to 11 (F) during the afternoon. Another 7.5″ of snow fell on Saturday.
The storm brought (by far) the coldest cold and the heaviest snow of any November storm. Colburn Creek West Virginia had 62 inches of total snowfall. Several other locations had over 50 inches. From Thursday night through Tuesday, 14.9 inches of snow fell on the city of Columbus. Portions of eastern Ohio received in excess of 20 inches of snow with much deeper drifts The wind blew the snow into gigantic drifts. Grand Rapids, Michigan dipped to 10 below zero, the coldest temperature ever in November in Grand Rapids. Amazing record low temperatures of +5 in Birmingham, Alabama, and +3 in Atlanta were recorded.
After the storm, temperatures warmed to above average and the snow melted, resulting in some flooding.
References and Further Information
More information on the game and weather can be found here:
This year’s Michigan-Ohio State game is this Saturday, November 30 on FOX. The weather looks partly to mostly sunny, cool and dry with a brisk west wind at 10-15 mph. Michigan is a 20-point underdog as I write this.
The weather should be cloudy with rain showers at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. That’s from 8:30 am – noon on WOOD TV8. It might repeat at 2 pm (but most everyone will be watching the Detroit Lions/Chicago Bears game.
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I’m thankful for everyone who reads my blog. Have a great Thanksgiving Day.
