For some reason, that didn't stand out to me at the game. But thinking on it now, I don't know why it didn't. It just seemed so natural that there shouldn't be any billboards.
A few other observations on Michigan Stadium and the atmosphere:
Michigan fans are unfailingly cool: Around both Detroit and Ann Arbor all weekend, we didn't have a single interaction with anybody that wasn't positive. Yeah--they're very proud of their school. I mean, people think we're arrogant; they've never met the Michigan fanbase. But even so, they were uniformly pleasant, gracious, and informed.
Michigan Stadium isn't quiet: I had the expectation that it would be a pretty sedate atmosphere, both because of the fanbase and because of the stadium architecture. But at least through the first quarter, the crowd was really very loud. I'm not saying it was the loudest place I've ever been, but it was definitely louder than most. And the addition of the giant suite complexes on both sides really keeps the sound in. The Eyes of Texas was really loud after the game as the sound bounced between the suites.
The hype video is great: I mean, you know it's going to be great when it starts with James Earl Jones (RIP) putting on his headphones. But it also includes a fair amount of academic hype. And that's something we ought to have a little more of. We have nine Nobel laureates and a couple Turing recipients on faculty and a bunch more as alumni. That's shit we ought to have on the jumbotron.
On the game:
Fuck deferring to the second half: We won the toss and elected to receive. That's really out of fashion these days, because it eliminates the chance of getting a late score in the first half and then getting the ball back in the second. And it puts you in a bad spot if you come out and go three-and-out to start the game, which frequently happens in a tough game on the road. It set a tone and conveyed a message, and we went out and marched right down the field and should have had a TD.
There was real "it don't make a shit" energy about that.
Our OL is huge: Television doesn't really convey how big and fast these guys are. But when you see it in person against another top team, it's kind of astonishing.
Arch is a man: You just see him in warm-ups, and it's clear that he's a pro. Even the Michigan fans were noting it. And by halftime, the Michigan fans around me were hoping Arch would go in just so they could see the show. I told them that we don't put Arch in just to hand off; if he goes in, he's running the offense. But that's what they were hoping for--they wanted to see Arch sling some passes.