Everyone Was Confused by Startling Flyover Before Michigan-Ohio State Game

Flyovers by military jets before marquee sporting events are commonplace across the landscape of American sports. The 2023 meeting of Michigan and Ohio State in Ann Arbor was no exception.

Except the flyover that happed before the game left everyone in the stadium and watching at home with a head scratching reaction.

Check out the action via ESPN's coverage captured by The Ute Fantatic X account:

While the game was broadcast on Fox, ESPN was doing their College Gameday pregame show from Ann Arbor and the picks, as they often do, ran over time. But with the broadcast team in the stadium, they needed to pause their picks due to the playing of the National Anthem by the Michigan band. The flyover was part of the Star Spangled Banner performance.

Michigan - Ohio State Flyover Explained

No it wasn't a passenger plane looking to make a landing at nearby Detroit Metro airport in Romulus.

According to a Michigan Athletics website, the flyover was performed by

A US Navy P-8 Poseidon from VP-62 based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville

The P-8 Poseidon is, according to Wikipedia, a

maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and derived from the civilian Boeing 737-800. It was developed for the United States Navy (USN).

The P-8 operates in anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASUW), and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles.

Of course the military plane that did fly over Michigan Stadium was worthy of the honor, it just wasn't quite was fans were expecting if they were more accustomed to a traditional military jet experience like this video captured in Ann Arbor in 2014 showing a full compliment of 5 jets and a bald eagle.

The flyover pilots and crew didn't get quite to space, but if they had, the may have had views like this: