Crazy stuff from Michigan Football History

Blowouts:

In 1901, Michigan beat Buffalo 128-0 en route to a National Championship. On the season, Michigan outscored its opponents 550-0.

In 1902, Michigan's wins included the following;

Michigan beat Albion 88-0
Michigan beat Michigan Agriculture (MSU) 119-0
Michigan beat Ohio St. 86-0
Michigan beat Iowa 107-0

For the season, Michigan outscored its opponents 644-12! Michigan shut out nine of its eleven opponents. Michigan won the National Championship that year as well.

In 1904, Michigan outscored its opponents 567-22 which was good for a 10-0 record and another National Championship.

In 1923, Michigan outscored its opponents 150-12 which was good enough for an 8-0 record and another National Championship.

From 1901-1905, Michigan outscored its opponents 2,821-40. During this stretch, Michigan went 55-0-1. The combined winning percentage of Michigan’s opponents was .695.


I can’t believe the following is true:

In 1903, Michigan outscored its opponents 565-6 but unbelievably did not win every game!!! They tied Minnesota 6-6 but still finished 11-0-1 to win another National Championship.

In 1905, Michigan outscored its opponents 495-2……and finished 12-1!!!!!!!!!! Michigan lost 2-0 on the last day of the season to deny the Wolverines another National Championship.

In 1922, Michigan outscored its opponents 183-13 but did not go undefeated. Amazingly, Michigan won every game in which they allowed the opponents to score. They tied Vanderbilt 0-0.

In 1925, Michigan outscored its opponents 227-3….and finished 7-1. Michigan lost to Northwestern 3-2.


Alter Egos:

Most of Michigan’s in-state opponents have changed their names since the early 1950's.

Michigan Agricultural College became Michigan St.
Central State Teachers College became Central Michigan
Western State became Western Michigan.
And my personal favorite……Michigan Normal became E. Michigan.

In each case, I think I liked the former name better. Can you imagine what things would be like if they didn't change their names? ABC would have to decide which games to show:

Ohio St. vs. Penn St. or Michigan vs. Central State Teachers College

Oklahoma vs. Texas or Michigan vs. Michigan Agricultural College

Miami vs. Va. Tech or Michigan vs. Michigan Normal


Different game:

Through the first 56 years of Michigan football (1879-1934), 63% of all Michigan games ended with someone being shutout. Michigan allowed zero points in 43% of its games during this time.


Harmon, Howard and Woodson have company:

Michigan QB Harry Newman won the Douglas Fairbanks Award in 1932 as the College Football MVP. The award was the predecessor to the Heisman tropy. I would venture to guess that most people have never heard of Harry Newman. This just goes to show how certain awards are probably given more reverence than they should. If Harry Newman was the College Football MVP in 1932, how is that any different than what Charles Woodson did in 1997? Both were the player of the year but only one played when the Heisman existed. Newman should probably have more notoriety than he does. Remember, Tom Harmon is renown as one of the great Michigan players ever but what do we really know about him? Probably not too much more than we know about Harry Newman.


Down time:

From 1934-37, Michigan averaged 5.6 points per game on offense.


Gopher domination:

From 1933-1942, Michigan went 0-9-1 against Minnesota. In those 10 games, Michigan averaged 3.9 points per game. Michigan rebounded quite nicely by going 49-10-1 against Minnesota over the next 60 years.


Back to back:

In 1947, Michigan outscored its opponents 394-53 on its way to a 10-0 record and the National Championship.

In 1948, Michigan won another National Championship going 9-0 and outscoring its opponents 252-44.

So damn close:

1970-1974 was the most unbelievable stretch in Michigan football history.

Here are the points for and against:

1970 288-90
1971 421-83
1972 264-57
1973 330-68
1974 324-75

Here is how Michigan started each season:

1970 9-0
1971 11-0
1972 10-0
1973 10-0
1974 10-0

Here is how Michigan finished each season:

1970 9-1
1971 11-1
1972 10-1
1973 10-0-1
1974 10-1

Michigan’s undefeated/untied seasons were ruined on the last day of the season for five straight years. Florida St. thought wide left/right was bad.

In 1971, Michigan lost to Stanford by 1
In 1972 Michigan lost to Ohio St. by 3
In, 1973, Michigan tied Ohio St.
In, 1974, Michigan lost to Ohio St. by 2


Michigan also started the 1975 season 8-0-2 but finished 8-2-2. That’s six straight seasons of being undefeated past November 20 without finishing unbeaten/untied.

That had to have been brutal for everyone involved.

Schedule these teams:

Among active D-1 college football programs, only Arizona St., Army, BYU, North Carolina, Oklahoma, USC, Tennessee, and Texas have winning records against Michigan. In each case, Michigan is one win away from being .500 against these teams. No team that has played Michigan more than 9 times has a winning record against the Wolverines.

Among big time D-1 programs, Michigan has never played LSU, Clemson, Va. Tech, Kansas St., Texas Tech, Louisville and Mississippi St.