Staff Writer / November 6, 2025
It was going to be the greatest match-up in College Football history. The Michigan Wolverines would face their greatest rival, the Western Michigan Broncos. A game so big, it couldn’t be contained in America. The potential for national healing, world peace, and potential national championship trophy were on the line. And then, everything went geplatzt.
The history of the Michigan/West Michigan match-up is unlike any other in college football. Meeting for the first time during the height of World War II, September 25, 1943. It was a day like any other, except it was Saturday and they were going to play football.
The Broncos entered Michigan Stadium with one goal in mind: Steal the plans for Michigan’s ultimate weapon. Yes, it was an unfortunate mix up. The Broncos believed they were on a mission to uncover a secret plot by the Wolverines to end the war and take complete control of Europe. Turns out, they were only there to play football. By the end of the game, Western Michigan trailed by 51 points and the Broncos would never be the same.
They faced the Wolverines 6 more times, losing by a collective 218 points in front of over 650,000 people. The days and years were bleak. A shot at redemption in the greatest rivalry known to college football seemed long.
Until July 25, 2025. The Wolverines announced they would face off against the Broncos for the 8th time. The game wouldn’t be played in America, though. No, this game is far too big to be contained by such a small country. So, they decided to take it to a much smaller country, Germany.
Germany? World War II? After 80 years is it possible the Broncos were right all along?
The answer is no.
The Germans have decided they simply can’t handle hosting the greatest rivalry in all of sports and they’ve canceled negotiations.
The game will be played at the Big House as usual.
Why? Because no one really understood why you would play this game in Germany anyway.
Lexicon
“Das Spiel ist vorbei” means “The game is over”
“Geplatzt” means “Burst, or fell through”