One of the most iconic moments in recent college football history involves a failed punt during the 2015 rivalry game between Michigan and Michigan State. Fortunately, it appears as though the Wolverines have put that curse behind them.
A recent viral video from practice in Ann Arbor does not reflect the current reality of the Kyle Whittingham era.
The video was filmed during the 2023 college football season. Social media is spreading misinformation!
Michigan had trouble with the snap!
No. 7 Michigan State traveled to Ann Arbor to play No. 12 Michigan at 2:30 p.m. on October 17, 2015. The Wolverines had only one loss at the time. (To Utah, which is rather ironic given the present day discourse.) The Spartans were undefeated.
More than 110,000 fans packed into The Big House for the in-state rivalry matchup. Even College GameDay was in town.
The game ultimately came down to the final play. Michigan held a two-point lead over Michigan State and went to punt the ball away on 4th-and-2 with 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Wolverines punter Blake O’Neill fumbled the snap, which was picked up by the Spartans and returned the other way for a walk-off touchdown. It was an unbelievable finish to an instant classic.
To this day, the words “HE HAS TROUBLE WITH THE SNAP” are banned in Ann Arbor. Fans will spontaneously combust.
Fortunately, Michigan has come a long way since the fumble against Michigan State in 2015. The Wolverines went 40-3 from 2021-2023 and won a national title in 2023. They don’t care as much about what happened ~11 years ago. It is out of sight, out of mind.
A viral video of the Wolverines’ punter is not from the Kyle Whittingham era.
Although Michigan fans are no longer concerned about 2015, it is a moment in time that will haunt them forever. No matter how many games they win, they cannot escape Sean McDonough’s iconic call.
The most recent example is a viral video on social media that has — as of this writing — been viewed more than 1.8 million times in the last 17 hours. It shows a punter at the University of Michigan fumble the snap during practice. He then kicks the ball directly into the back of his own teammate’s head. The caption implies that this video was filmed in 2026.
However, if you look closer, the video is labeled with a date from November 2023. The punter in the video is Stone Anderson, who was a freshman at Michigan in 2023. He later transferred to Wisconsin and is now retired.
Have no fear, Wolverines fans. The viral video is not from spring practice or summer workouts during the Kyle Whittingham era. This is a thing of the past. And Michigan won a national championship in 2023 so the curse has been lifted.