Mike Wallace explains his job on Michigan football game days. Video by Mark Snyder/DFP
Standing on the Michigan Stadium visitors sideline Oct. 8, 1994, Mike Wallace did a mental double-take.
In his first year working the chain crew at the Big House, he found himself next to Michigan State coach George Perles near the end of a 40-20 rout by the seventh-ranked Wolverines.
"He puts his arm around me and says, 'What would you call now?' " Wallace said recently.
Wallace was pretty sure Perles wasn't serious, but being new to the game, he chuckled and kept working.