The Kick That Never Happened: 199 Days to Michigan

Thirty-seven years ago, Washington kicker Jeff Jaeger got called back to the sideline -- and it didn't bother him one bit.

Jeff Jaeger lined up 130 extra-point kicks and he made 125 of them in his Washington football career. Just as memorable, though, was the one he didn't attempt.

The eventual first-team Associated Press All-America kicker was just a freshman in 1983, playing in his first game at Husky Stadium, when the UW rushed back from a 24-10 deficit to score a pair of touchdowns against Michigan.

The second score, Steve Pelluer's 9-yard toss to Mark Pattison, pulled the Huskies within 24-23 with 34 seconds left to play.

Jaeger ran onto the field for the conversion kick, only to get called back to the sideline.

The Huskies were going for two and the win.

"Quite frankly, I was OK with that," Jaeger said with a grin.

The kicker, everyone else on the UW bench and what was left of the 60,638 crowd -- and plenty of fans left the stadium once the third quarter ended -- watched as Pelluer found tight end Larry Michael in the back of the end zone for two points and a thrilling 25-24 victory.

"What a memory," Jaeger said. "All these years later, we can still look back on that."

The kick that never happened is a Michigan moment and part of the countdown to the Huskies' Sept. 5 opener against the Wolverines and the beginning of the Jimmy Lake coaching era. It's 199 days out.

Jaeger not only was a wide-eyed kid at the end of the day but also at the beginning. He ran down the tunnel that used to dip and rise before reaching the field and saw only south stands packed full of people. 

The biggest crowd he'd played in front of at Kent-Meridian High School was 3,000. The week before, he'd made his college debut before 26,000-plus at Northwestern. This was more than double that. The Husky Stadium sellout had his attention.

"For an 18-year-old freshman, that was kind of scary," Jaeger said. 

Yet he held up well against Michigan, converting a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter and PATs in the second and fourth quarters. 

A year later, Jaeger kicked 25- and 38-yard field goals and a pair of conversion kicks in a 20-11 victory over the Wolverines before a huge crowd of 103,082 in Ann Arbor.

As for the upcoming UW-Michigan encounter this fall, Jaeger will be in the stands and take a confident kicker's approach -- he won't miss it