Hail to the victors!
The Suttmann family witnessed history on Monday night as Michigan defeated Washington in the College Football Playoff National Championship game 34-13 in Houston to capture the Wolverine's first national championship since 1997.
“As you might expect it was a once in a lifetime feeling and experience,” Logan Suttmann said. “We have been through a lot of lows, some highs, as Michigan fans in the last 15 years or so. I just never thought we would get it done. I’m blown away.”
Brothers and Leland graduates Logan and Noah Suttmann, along with Noah’s wife, Chelsea, and several friends traveled to the lone star state to witness Michigan capture a national championship.
“We rolled the dice two months ago and decided that we would not be trying to go to Pasadena (Rose Bowl),” Logan said.
Logan (07’), Noah (09’), and Chelsea (09’) are all Michigan alumni who bleed maize and blue.
The Wolverines were dominant in the championship game right from the beginning until Washington made it a game in the second half.
“Everybody was standing the entire game. We were only up seven points at halftime, and you kind of felt that momentum going back to them, and then (Michigan cornerback Will Johnson) got that interception to start the second half and I was back to elation,” Logan said.
Noah was a little less nervous than his brother Logan, knowing the Washington defense couldn’t handle the physicality of Michigan in the running game.
The Suttmann’s were able to go to the game thanks to Noah being a Michigan football season ticket holder. They got their hands on six tickets at a reasonable price of $800.
“800 bucks is a stretch for any human being on this planet. It certainly is for us,” Logan said. “When you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to see something like this, I wasn’t gonna pass it up. I’ll find a way to make it work.”
Regular ticket prices ranged from $1,300 to $1,400 in the lower bowl of NRG Stadium.
Months before the championship game, flights from Detroit to Houston cost $1,400, which prompted them to fly into Austin for nearly $750. The trip is expected to cost anywhere from $2,000 to $2,500 per person, which is on the cheaper side compared to others.
“It’s unbelievable. The stadium was so loud ... I’ve never heard a stadium get so loud,” Noah said. “Everybody was jumping around and high-fiving. That’s one of the special moments. It’s just a group of people coming together to celebrate a big victory.”
The Suttmann family had a fun night in Austin on Sunday and ate dinner at a new Chinese restaurant called ‘RedFarm.’
After spending the night in Austin they made the two hour trip to Houston.
“I went to Michigan from 2005 to 2009 and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. We debated the last three years and every year we didn’t go to the semifinals,” Noah said.
Logan, Noah, and Chelsea were having fun at the alumni tailgate outside of the stadium after getting settled into the hotel.
“Being with them is always fun. We have been going to games for a long time and we know how to do it,” Chelsea said. “It was such a great day seeing so many Michigan fans in the stadium ... There were a lot of Washington fans as well and it was a really friendly meeting at the game. It was all really positive.”
Chelsea’s favorite moment of the night was seeing electric touchdowns by Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, and singing Mr. Brightside by the band The Killers, a longstanding Michigan tradition.
We all said that it almost felt unfair because you could tell that just amped the team up so much. They played it right before (Michigan running back Blake Corum) had his two touchdowns,” Chelsea said.
Noah and Chelsea met in their Michigan dormitory.
“He was the only person that I ever met that had multiple computer monitors in his dorm room. His desk looked like a NASA workstation,” Chelsea said.
Logan, a Leland Public School Board member, and senior sales executive for Priority Health is married to his middle school sweetheart Ashley Suttmann, a first and second grade teacher at Leland.
The Suttmann family moved to Leland in 1992 when Logan was in third grade and Noah was in first grade.
It was a long, difficult road for Michigan football to reclaim the mountain top over the past two decades.
Luckily for Logan, his 14-year old son, Carter, is a Michigan Wolverine fan as well.
“(Carter) is hook line and sinker (a Michigan fan) just like I was at about the same age when Michigan was in the national championship game in 1997.”
Carter didn’t get to go to the national championship game because it wasn’t quite in the 2024 budget, but he has had remarkable experiences with his father over the last few years witnessing Michigan beat Ohio State the past couple of seasons.
The curse is broken
After Michigan split the national title with Nebraska in 1997, Logan’s father Clem Suttmann, gave him a Charles Woodson jersey to commemorate the season.
“That was my good luck charm all through college ... I realize that there were some pretty bad losses in that jersey and we hadn’t won another national championship,” Logan said.
The legend of the Charles Woodson jersey was growing amongst his friends as being cursed, but Logan would continue to wear it for big game after big game, and Michigan would continue to lose.
Michigan’s heartbreaking loss to Ohio State in 2016 finally convinced Logan that he needed to break the curse.
“Obviously the curse didn’t get broken in 2016. We lost the game in overtime,” Logan said. “Without a word said to anybody in my brother’s house ... I walked the three blocks to my old college house. Don’t even know who lives there. I grabbed a shovel from my brother’s garage, went behind my old college house next to a tree where I would remember it was and I buried that Charles Woodson Jersey.”
It took a little while, but it seemed Michigan’s fortune was beginning to turn. When Michigan finally defeated Ohio State in 2021. Noah asked Logan “are you going to go back and dig up that jersey?”
Logan declined believing that’s where the piece of cloth belonged. A new Charles Woodson jersey was given to him that year for Christmas, and that Charles Woodson jersey has brought good luck to say the least.
To this day that jersey remains buried at 1116 Packard Street near a tree.
“Somebody will find it someday,” Logan said. “Sometimes you gotta do those types of things .... I have bled maize and blue for so long. I’ve been on cloud nine for the last three years for sure. But the last two months have just been incredible and we’re so blessed to be able to go to (the big games).”
Noah added: “I think the jersey should stay in the dirt, but I think the curse is broken.”
