Sixteen Seasons of Michigan Tailgates
College football game day is one of the best days of the year. Here’s what it’s actually like when we head to the Big House — and the eight recipes that often ride along.
There’s a familiar smell to a college football tailgate at six in the morning. Grills firing up from the few who beat you there. Bacon on a griddle two rows over. Beers cracking open, even before the sun is up.
There are faint conversations about the team this year, how much we all don’t like that team from Ohio, and just then a football you have nothing to do with sails over your head. The best part, the canopy is up and you’ve still got four hours before kickoff, which is exactly the point.
That’s the day I look forward to all year. Not the game. The day.
How this started
I’ve been coming to Michigan games since 2010. Sixteen seasons. I’ve missed exactly one, and that was 2020, when nobody was tailgating anything.
What I didn’t see coming, back at the start, was that the football would turn into the smaller half of it. You drive (for us) 2 hours North, you find your row, you drop the tailgate, and then this whole thing unfolds around you for hours.
People you’ve never met asking what your cooking. Somebody’s uncle explaining the offensive line to anyone who’ll hold still. A cornhole game that’s been going since before you got there and will still be going when you leave for the stadium.
Honestly I’d rather watch the game on TV. But you just can’t get the feels from the day anywhere else.
Two days I won’t forget
Fox brought Big Noon Kickoff to campus one year, and we got there early enough to end up right in the mix when the crew came out. The day’s special guest, Charles Woodson, worked his way down the line slapping hands. My kids got him. I got him too. My wife smiles and rolls her eyes when I still bringing it up, but honestly, I don’t blame her.
Then there was 2023. Four guys from Canada parked next to us, and within about twenty minutes we were deep into each other’s cooking. I walked them through what I run on the flat top. They went home with a couple bottles of my rub, and here from them from time to time!
That’s the part nobody warns you about. You show up for a football game and you spend an afternoon with over 100,000 of your closest friends.
Where we park
So the “real” tailgate is at the golf course, right off Stadium Blvd. But we’re always at Pioneer High School, right across Main from the stadium. You park on the grass fields — painted yard lines and everything — and you walk to the game. No shuttle, no half-mile hike from some overflow lot.
Couple things if you’ve never done it. Gates open at 6 a.m. for a noon or afternoon kick, 11 a.m. for a night game, and you genuinely cannot get in before that. Traffic in and out isn’t as bad as you’d think for over 100,000 people. Tents cap at 10×10. Rules do get updated, so give the current lot rules a look before you load up.
The one rule that changes your menu
Here’s the thing that trips people up, and it’s worth knowing before you pack:
“No open flames of any kind are permitted under any circumstance.”
What I run instead is a propane flat top and a pellet grill. The flat top’s burners sit enclosed under the griddle plate, so I’m cooking on hot steel rather than over a flame — that’s the workhorse for breakfast and pancakes at the early games or smash burgers when kickoff is under the lights. I wrote up the one I use in my Flatrock review if you want the details.
The pellet grill needs power and a gas generator’s not allowed, so I run mine off the truck. That gives me a closed cooker for anything that has to bake or hold: dips, nachos, a pan of brats sitting in beer. Mine’s the Timberline XL at home, but on game day I run my old school Traeger Tailgater that I’ve had since 2014.
Worth saying plainly: that’s what I bring and why I think it fits. The staff at the gate are the ones who decide, and rules get updated. If you’re unsure about your rig, ask them before you drive to Ann Arbor with it in the bed.
How the day actually goes
To make the morning easy, I load up my canopy, tables, chairs and my smoker in the truck the night before. Coolers get packed first thing in the morning, in the order I’ll need them, and drinks live in a separate cooler entirely.
First thing up when I get there is the Rocks BBQ 10×10 canopy, before rolling out the Yeti chairs and setting up the table. Then I get my Traeger Tailgater pellet smoker sitting right on my tailgate, with my RoseWood Blocks Co. American Flag XL cutting board riding shotgun for any last minute prep.
With that, I am set to start cooking, and I don’t usually stop until about an hour before game time. Even with that, I’ve got plenty of time to relax, throw back a few beverages and spend some time relaxing outside, throw the football, play some cornhole and just soak it all in!
My favorite recipes that travel
These are what I actually make in the lot. All of them are tagged Tailgate on the site if you want the running list. Some may need some adjustments, or you may need to substitute the grill you use, but they can all make you the start of the tailgate.
Stuff that holds while people wander
Simple Guacamole
NO COOKER · 15 MIN · SERVES 6
Four avocados, red onion, cilantro, lime, and 2 tablespoons of Rock’s Coffee Rub. The coffee’s what makes people ask what’s in it. Make it there so it doesn’t brown on the drive.
Game Day Cheeseburger Dip
275°F · 45–60 MIN · SERVES 6
Ground chuck, Velveeta, pepper jack, chili, Rock’s Coffee Rub. Goes on the pellet grill and looks after itself, which is the main reason it works here. Brown the beef at home the night before and you’ve cut your lot time in half.
Tailgate Sheet Pan Nachos
350°F · 20–25 MIN · SERVES 6
One sheet pan straight onto the grates. Use thick chips or the whole thing turns to mush under the cheese, and serve them the second they come off. Nachos don’t wait.
The mains
Beer Bath Brats on the Traeger
350°F · 45 MIN · SERVES 6
Two packs of brats, two cans of Miller Lite, peppers, onion, 2 tablespoons of Rock’s Anytime Seasoning. Simmer in the pan, then sear. This is the most forgiving thing on the list — the beer bath means they’ll sit there without drying out while people drift off to somebody else’s setup.
Ham & Cheese Sliders
350°F · 30 MIN · SERVES 6
Hawaiian loaf toasted on the flat top, Swiss, ham, chipotle aioli, then 15 to 20 minutes at 350°F to pull it together. Uses both cookers, which is exactly why it belongs in a lot.
Wings, two ways
Gameday Wet Wings
400°F · 45 MIN · PULL AFTER 45
Traeger Whiskey Dust and Rock’s Irish Whiskey BBQ Sauce. Sticky, saucy, and worth the napkins.
Summer BBQ Crispy Pellet Grill Wings
400°F · 45–50 MIN · SERVES 5
Rock’s Summer BBQ Spice Blend. Dry and crisp instead of sauced. Bone-in wings won’t dry out at that heat, so you can cook these to look and feel instead of chasing a probe around.
The side
Smoked Mac & Cheese, Gluten and Dairy Free
300°F · 20–30 MIN · SERVES 6
Gluten-free pasta, almond milk, nutritional yeast, dairy-free Colby Jack, bacon on top. This one stays in the rotation because there’s somebody in every group who can’t eat the regular version, and nobody should spend the afternoon on chips.
If you only bring three
Cheeseburger dip, the beer bath brats, and Smoked Mac & Cheese.
The cheeseburger dip gets eaten while everything else getting prepped and cooked. The brats hold as long as you need, and the Smoked Mac & Cheese comes prepped in a pan, just needs heated up. Between these, you’ve covered the snacking, the meal, and the long middle stretch where people come and go. Everything else is a bonus.
What I’d tell you after sixteen years
Don’t bring a cook that needs three hours and a probe. You’re on somebody else’s clock — save the brisket for your driveway.
Bring a folding table. The tailgate stops being enough room about ten seconds after the cutting board comes out.
And leave room in the day for the thing you didn’t plan. The Woodson high five wasn’t on any list. Neither were the guys from Canada. Some of the best parts of sixteen years of doing this showed up because we got there early and stuck around talking.
If you find your way to a game, look for the Rocks BBQ flag flying and come say hi. I’ll have some rubs in the truck, probably my Anytime Seasoning and my Coffee Rub for sure.
Tell me what you’re cooking in the lot this fall. I’m always looking for the next thing to put on the flat top.
