Michigan fans bask in championship win, as firefighters extinguish multiple small fires
Michigan fans roared across Ann Arbor and metro Detroit, revelling in the University of Michigan's victory over the Washington Huskies to win the College Football Playoff national championship.
Even before the clock ran out, fans streamed onto South University, home to bars and restaurants. They sang, “It’s Great to Be a Michigan Wolverine,” waved flags, shot off low-grade fireworks and snapped selfies. Men hoisted women onto their shoulders. Some fans climbed the adolescent trees lining the street. The smell of pot hung in the air.
Fans stood atop construction barriers to crane their necks for a better view of the historic moment. Smiling and peaceable despite the crush, they held cellphones aloft to record a moment students called a win for the ages.
By 12:25 p.m., a line of officers on bicycles started moving up South University to clear the street. They were not met with resistance.
Meanwhile, firefighters put out several fires after the game, including one that appeared to be a couch on fire near the Rock at Hill and Washtenaw streets, and two fires ― a couch and an ottoman ― at the same address on the 1100 block of Hill Street. In another fire, at the corner of Cambridge Road and Olivia Avenue, a mattress and clothing burned before firefighters put out the blaze.
'Michigan football is everything'
During the game, at the famed Brown Jug, Patrick Kaercher ditched his first class of the new year at Hope College in Holland to watch the Michigan game with his brother. It was a no-brainer. His communication and business management seminar could wait.
“Michigan football is everything,” said Kaercher, who wore his father’s T-shirt commemorating the last time Michigan claimed a national championship. “This is the first time in our lifetime that Michigan has a chance at the national championship”
He and his brother, Aaron Turley, a 26-year-old student at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, high-fived each other with every touchdown and pumped their fists in the air with each drive.
"It feels like we've been living and dying by Michigan football our entire lives," said Kaercher, whose family has season tickets. The win, "just feels good."
And yes, he plans to buy his own national championship T-shirt.
― Georgea Kovanis
Fans pack Michigan Theater
At the nearly century-old Michigan Theater in downtown Ann Arbor, a sold-out crowd of 1,400 U-M fans packed in to cheer on their Wolverines more than 1,000 miles away.
At halftime, the mood remained enthusiastically upbeat at Michigan Theater as U-M football led Washington by a touchdown.
Alesandra Touchstone, 24, a graduate student in social work at the university, scored seats near the front of the theater with her best friend from their hometown in Clarkston.
“We’re right where we need to be,” Touchstone said of U-M’s halftime lead.
Before kickoff, Michigan Theater CEO Russ Collins led the crowd in a rousing version of the school’s fight song accompanied by the historic theater's restored 1927 Barton Theater Pipe Organ.
Smack in the ornate theater’s middle, on the orchestra level, retired university nurse Jeanie Mack-Powers, 77, tucked in with her husband to her right and her close friend to her left. She was decked out in maize and blue U-M attire, ready to help push her local team to a decisive win.
“It’s been a chaotic season,” said Mack-Powers, who lives in Ann Arbor. “It’s hard when your coach has been suspended for six games.”
Football is in her blood. Mack-Powers’ father coached college football in Colorado, and she said she has been impressed by the character exhibited by this year’s Rose Bowl champions, especially the team’s standout running back.
LIVE UPDATES: Michigan vs. Washington for College Football Playoff national championship
“Blake Corum is smaller than most but he doesn’t give up,” she said, adding that the star player’s off-field charity work has been extraordinary.
As the final minutes of the game ticked to a close, with Michigan’s victory now easily in hand, Mack-Powers rose to stand with the rest of the Michigan Theater crowd. “I only have one statement to make now: If you believe it, it will happen,” she said with a smile.
― Matthew Dolan
Lifetime fans and new fans for life
When the school year began, University of Michigan students Avery Blalock, 18, and Asher Kampher, 19, wouldn't have expected to be watching Michigan against Washington in the College Football Playoff championship game on the jumbotron at Crisler Center, which hosted a student-only watch party.
That's because they weren't football fans before Michigan's incredible 2023 season.
“I was never really much of a football guy until this year,” said Blalock, whose hometown is Jacksonville, Florida. “I got here, and it’s a big part of the school.” Kampher is from Oxford, approximately 60 miles northeast of Ann Arbor, but just like Blalock, he wasn’t a football fan until this season. His fandom flipped from nonexistent to diehard as the Wolverines put together a 14-0 record — beating Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa and Alabama, among others — to reach the national championship game.
Some students, though, have been Michigan football fans for life.
Trevor Probert, an 18-year-old student from Santa Clarita, California, grew up watching Michigan because his father was a fan. “My dad tried to go to Michigan, but he wasn’t able to go,” Probert said. “I’ve been watching Michigan all my life. This game means everything.”
Probert joined an estimated 3,000 other students, filling a third of the arena.
― Evan Petzold
'We are the Champions'
Heady calls of “Go Blue!” and widespread chanting of the U-M fight song rose into the air as the final moments of the night’s game ticked away at Royal Oak’s Emagine Theater.
Treyvon Harlin, 34, and Brianna Kline, 30, both of Harper Woods, were among those who came out to enjoy the camaraderie and victory.
“We’re both alumni,” said Harlin. “We love the maize and blue. We’re supporting our home team to get out of the house and celebrate with other Wolverine fans.”
Royal Oak’s Emagine Theater devoted three screens to the game, with beefed up security and fans decked out in blue and maize.
Kline described the feeling after the win as “top tier.”
“I’ll be smiling for the rest of the week,” she said.
“I feel like my tuition paid off,” said Harlin.
In the parking garage adjacent to the theater after the game, a crew of young women could be heard singing “We Are the Champions” high up in one of the stairwells, their voices reverberating throughout the garage: “Noooooooo time for looooooosers, ‘cause weeeeeee are the chaaaaaaaaampions…"
At the first touchdown, a dramatic 41-yard rush, the crowd in a packed Theater 11 went nuts. People leapt from their seats, men hugged and high-fived, and wild applause and cheers broke out with a potent sense of pride in the theater.
― Duante Beddingfield
'Everything I’ve ever dreamed of'
University of Michigan student Kenneth Hagle had possibly the most memorable outfit of anyone at Crisler Center.
Hagle, a 19-year-old sophomore, chose to wear his Timberland boots, maize-and-blue-colored overalls, large Michigan chain and “BET Team 144” hat. He got the overalls from his mother for his birthday last year.
His mother, Heidi Hagle, is the reason he is a Michigan fan.
“My mom went to school here,” said Hagle, who joined his friend, Aiden Nicholson, in the stands for the game.
Hagle, from Commerce, Michigan, traveled to Pasadena, California, for the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Michigan took down Alabama, 27-20, in overtime to advance to the national championship.
“I was in the student section,” Hagle said. “It was so much fun. I got student tickets, and my parents were like, ‘Let’s just go out there.’ I wasn’t expecting it to end in overtime, but I was pretty certain Michigan would win.”
Before Michigan sailed to victory, Hagle suggested what winning the national championship would mean to Michigan students.
"It would be the craziest thing ever. I would be so happy," he said. "It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
― Evan Petzold
'What community is all about'
Upstairs in the Michigan Theater's balcony, Praveena Ramaswami, 46, and her husband Madhan, 51, made a return trip to the theater after watching Michigan’s Rose Bowl overtime win here just a week ago.
“This is what community is all about,” Ramaswami said, adding she encouraged people she knew at the theater to hold such a viewing party.
Her husband Madhan received his MBA and Master’s degrees in aerospace engineering at Michigan, remembering well when U-M was last in the national championship for 1997.
“I sense the same energy and excitement tonight,” he said.
Back in the orchestra seats, Tu’Rone Elliott, 44, of Westland, settled in after traveling to U-M’s hometown. He said he wanted to be a part of history in person.
“I’ve been a fan since I was a kid,” said Elliott, who came to the theater with his brother to watch the game.
Elliott said his aunt and sister attended U-M, often bringing him to campus to soak in the football experience. On Monday night, he predicted the team’s impressive but controversial season would end with in a final victory.
“I think it’ll be 33-27, but I don’t really care because a win is a win,” he said before the game started.
It turned out the score was a bit more lopsided.
― Matthew Dolan
Watching from Buffalo Wild Wings 'wouldn't feel right'
Two hours before kickoff, fans lined up outside bars along Main Street and also along S. University, waiting to snag a seat to cheer on the Wolverines.
Bri Anderson, a 21-year-old sophomore stood outside the Brown Jug, waiting for friends. Other friends were inside, holding a table; those friends had arrived at the popular spot about 1 pm.
“It’s more fun to be in an environment with everyone watching” than at home, Anderson said. There’s another benefit: “I don’t understand football fully, so I know when people cheer it’s good.”
With more than 50 people in line outside, J. Wilton, a 24-year old grad from Warren, opted to start his evening with the televisions on the patio outside; he found out fans ordering food and drink on the patio would get preferential treatment over non-paying customers waiting in line.
“It wouldn’t feel right watching in Buffalo Wild Wings on the other side," he said.
Even though it was standing room only, J from Warren was happy to get inside the bar just in time did the coin toss.
Inside the Brown Jug, as kickoff neared, the crowd watching the pregame show got louder. It screamed when Harbaugh popped up on the TV. And when the Michigan Marching Band showed up. And again for J.J. McCarthy showed up. They booed Washington.
With every Michigan first down, the crowd roared louder.
― Georgea Kovanis
'They proved it'
Julia Kahn, 24, was the first student in line at Crisler Center this afternoon to watch the jumbotron streaming Michigan football against Washington.
That's not something she expected when she arrived on campus for law school.
“I went to a very small undergrad, and we did not have good sports,” said Kahn, who went to Wesleyan University in Connecticut before arriving in Ann Arbor. “When I got here, I was a little bit of a hater, but they proved it."
Kahn showed up in line at 3:30 p.m. Monday outside Crisler Center, which the university opened for a student watch party. Doors opened at 6:30 p.m.
"I felt like I had to be a fan after watching them," Kahn said. "They’ve been really good the past few years, but this year has been something special.”
― Evan Petzold
Playing against J.J. McCarthy
Carson Thomas, 18, may be among the few in Crisler Center who played against Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Thomas attended Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana. His high school team played against McCarthy several times when McCarthy went to Nazareth High School in La Grange Park, Illinois, from 2017-19 before finishing his high school career at IMG Academy in 2021.
Thomas recalled a particular game from McCarthy’s sophomore season in 2018. “He played against my high school,” Thomas said. “He outscored us like 62-3 or something.” The score was actually 55-17. That year, McCarthy led his high school to a win in the Illinois Class 7A state championship.
― Evan Petzold
The run up to game time has been an opportunity for Michigan loyalists to show off their fandom and bask in win after win, hoping for one more victory tonight.
Jeff Holzhausen displayed the hat he dons and the cowbell he mans every home game before setting off to Houston to do the same for the Wolverine's national championship game. Like a lot of fans who stick to their game-day rituals, Holzhausen wouldn't dream of diverting from routine.
The Wolverines' first championship game since splitting the national title with the University of Nebraska after the 1997 season offers Kenn Domerese more history to add to his collection. The Fenton resident's basement is a museum of U-M sports memorabillia, including a framed score sheet from the Michigan Wolverine’s first national championship in 1901.
Stay tuned for more University of Michigan football fandom from across metro Detroit.
Free Press staff writer Andrea May Sahouri and intern Amelia Benavides-Colóncontributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan fans bask win, as firefighters put out multiple small fires
