Denard Robinson, top, and his Michigan teammates celebrate a fourth quarter touchdown during a 35-31 win over Notre Dame on Saturday. The celebration continued until 3:30 a.m. at Brady Hoke's home.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Can you blame them?

BEFORE

For Junior Hemingway, it began even before the contest started, when he was called into equipment manager Jon Falk's office after warmups.

"He was just like, ‘When you come back up from warmups, make sure you come in so I can change your jersey,’" Hemingway said during the team's weekly news conference. "I’m thinking, 'Change my jersey? For what?' I'm like, 'I don’t know, what’s the reason?'

"They wouldn’t tell me, so I came back up and they showed it to me and I’m like, ‘Ohhh…cool.’"

The "it," of course, was the "Michigan Football Legend" patch that will adorn the No. 21 jersey henceforth after Saturday's honoring of former great Desmond Howard.

As Howard was being honored on the field and the world was learning about the patch, Hemingway was, too.

He also had a chance to talk with the man he will honor the rest of the season.

"I talked to (Howard) before the game in the locker room and he just told me, ‘Just keep your emotions down for the game, stay composed and just let everything come to you and you’ll be all right,’" Hemingway said.

Composed he stayed. Hemingway caught only three passes, yet rolled up 165 yards, scored one touchdown and set up another. Besides Denard Robinson, Hemingway was Michigan's best offensive force.

That's one way to break in the new patch.

"After the game, everyone was like, 'Can’t believe it. Did that really just happen?'" Hemingway said. "It was part of history, being the first night game in Michigan history, the most crowd attendance in NCAA. It's something I’ll be able to tell my kids, my grandkids."

Hemingway also will be the last player (along with fellow No. 21 Raymon Taylor) to wear the number before it joins the No. 1 in being selectively handed out.

“I think there will be a thought process to it,” Hoke said of assigning the No. 21 going forward.

DURING

After Roy Roundtree caught the game-winning catch — while fighting off pass interference — senior defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen didn't know what to do.

He wanted a chest bump, so he turned to the first person he could find. He wasn't thinking, he said. Just reacting.

He found athletic director Dave Brandon.

"I was going for it, and I don't think he knew," Van Bergen said. "With a player, you make eye-to-eye contact, you start gathering for the jump. You got it timed out, you've practiced this kind of thing.

"You could tell he was kind of rusty, but I'm sure he'll come along."

An NCAA-record 114,804 people attended Michigan Stadium's first night game in its 84-year history. Players said it was the loudest home crowd they've ever heard.

"We were watching film on it and the cameras were shaking, you could barely see the film because it was so loud and the stands were moving," Van Bergen said.

A lot of people probably feel like chest bumping Brandon, who was the architect of it all.

Brandon said afterward Michigan might pursue adding one night game per year. Hoke said he wouldn't mind an annual night game, despite favoring afternoon kickoffs, because of the national exposure and recruiting experiences that come with them.

Wins always help, too.

While the fans in the stands celebrated their team's fourth-quarter comeback, players — and former players — did the same.

"(Former cornerback) Marlin Jackson was going nuts, he's right next to me and jumping around and grabbing guys," Van Bergen said. “(Former center) Steve Everitt almost knocked me down a couple different times.

"When I got that fumble, I’m trying to celebrate with some of my guys. This blonde guy in a yellow shirt (Everitt) comes up and just smacks me. It was probably one of the harder hits I had of the game.

"It was great to have those old guys back. They were into it. It was really like we were representing them with the Ms on our chest with the traditional jerseys. It was crazy to feel the passion that they had for us and the game.”

After all that excitement, how did Van Bergen sleep that night?

“I had adrenaline, I was all jacked up,” Van Bergen said. “I was too excited.”

So was Hoke.

AFTER

Hoke, who has said he's not much of a sleeper anyway — he grinds his teeth, for those truly interested in the sleep cycles of Michigan's head coach — had 35 to 40 guests at his home when he returned from the game.

Needless to say, there wasn't much sleeping going on. Hoke finally checked in around 3:30 a.m., after briefly savoring the win.

"I have a lot of family in the Midwest, believe me," he said. "Nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, and in-laws — the whole deal. Everybody found a place on the floor and went to bed, but it was late — 3:30, maybe, by the time you say hello and talk to everybody and be as gracious as I can be.”

Then, it was back to work, with an eye on Eastern Michigan (noon, BTN) and moving to 3-0, presumably so his players can work on their chest bumps.

Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2588, by email at kylemeinke@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.