48 Fun Facts About Michigan Football

What is the nickname of Michigan Stadium?

The Big House hides its scale: most of the stadium was built below ground level, so its 107,601 seats are hard to judge from the street.

What are Michigan's official colours?

Maize and blue were chosen by students in 1867, but with no standard set the shades varied across campus, so in 1912 the regents had the exact colours fixed with sample ribbons.

Which school did Michigan players teach football in 1887, then beat 8-0?

Notre Dame's team was only weeks old, so the two squads were first mixed for a practice session to show the hosts the rules; the Fighting Irish count the match that followed as their first game.

Which team shared the 1997 national title with unbeaten Michigan?

Nebraska edged past Michigan in the final coaches' poll after a 42-17 Orange Bowl win in Tom Osborne's last season as coach, while the AP writers kept the Wolverines first.

Michigan holds which all-time distinction in college football?

Most wins of any programme, and the first to reach 1,000: the milestone came against Maryland in November 2023, with head coach Jim Harbaugh suspended and away from the sideline.

Which Michigan defensive end was the 2021 Heisman runner-up?

Aidan Hutchinson set Michigan's single-season sack record that year, and the Lions used the draft's second pick to keep the Michigan-born star in his home state.

Which coach introduced the winged helmet at Michigan in 1938?

Fritz Crisler brought the design with him from Princeton, adding Michigan's colours because he thought the bold wings would help his passers spot receivers downfield.

Which team did Michigan beat 49-0 in the first Rose Bowl, played in 1902?

Stanford, coached a year earlier by Michigan's own Fielding Yost, asked to stop early; the Tournament of Roses then staged chariot races instead, and football did not return until 1916.

Which coach's team ended Fielding Yost's 56-game unbeaten run at Michigan in 1905?

Amos Alonzo Stagg's Maroons scored the only points Michigan allowed all season, a safety, after the Wolverines had won their first 12 games by a combined 495-0.

Fielding Yost's nickname came from which phrase he kept barking at his Michigan players?

'Hurry Up' Yost later became athletic director and built Michigan Stadium, insisting on footings that would let it grow past 100,000 seats.

Fielding Yost's 1901-05 Michigan teams, who went 55-1-1, were known by which nickname?

Point-a-Minute was barely an exaggeration: across those five seasons Michigan outscored its opponents 2,821 to 42.

Which Michigan student composed the fight song The Victors in 1898?

Louis Elbel had paraded behind the band singing 'Hot Time in the Old Town' after a 12-11 win sealed the title, and decided such a victory deserved something more elevating.

A win over which university inspired the writing of The Victors in 1898?

Chicago was the favourite and the conference championship was on the line, so the 12-11 upset on Thanksgiving Day sent Michigan students parading in the dark behind their band.

Michigan Stadium, built in 1927, was modelled on which Ivy League school's stadium?

Yale's bowl was the model, though Fielding Yost had wanted room for well over 100,000; the regents settled on 72,000 seats at a cost of $950,000.

Michigan Stadium's announcer traditionally reads out which small Pennsylvania school's scores?

Slippery Rock became such a crowd favourite that it has since played at Michigan Stadium itself, drawing 61,143 fans in 1979, a record for its division.

Which Michigan halfback known as 'Old 98' won the 1940 Heisman Trophy?

Tom Harmon twice survived the loss of his plane as a wartime pilot, earning the Silver Star and Purple Heart, then played professionally for the Rams; his son Mark became an actor.

Which future US president played centre on Michigan's undefeated 1932 and 1933 national title teams?

Gerald Ford was voted the team's most valuable player in 1934, then turned down offers from two NFL teams for a coaching job that could put him through law school.

What was Bo Schembechler's real first name?

Glenn Edward Schembechler was 'Bo' for life because his sister, trying to say 'brother' as a small child, could only manage that.

Which sign did Bo Schembechler famously hang in the Michigan locker room?

'Those Who Stay Will Be Champions' held good: many players quit during his brutal first off-season in 1969, but everyone who stayed four years under him left with a conference title.

Which prize eluded Bo Schembechler at Michigan?

A national championship is the one honour Michigan does not claim from his 21 seasons: in 1973 his unbeaten team tied Ohio State 10-10, and the conference's athletic directors sent the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl instead.

After retiring from coaching in 1989, Bo Schembechler became president of which baseball team?

Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell was dropped during his presidency, a decision Schembechler defended in public; the club's next owner brought Harwell back to the microphone.

Bo Schembechler came to Michigan in 1969 from which Mid-American Conference school, where he had played?

Miami of Ohio is where Schembechler played tackle under the very coach who later became his great rival at Ohio State; he then coached Miami to two conference titles.

Bo Schembechler's duels with his old Ohio State mentor are remembered as what?

The Ten Year War ended with the pupil ahead: Schembechler went 5-4-1 against the man who had coached and employed him, with the conference title usually at stake.

Which Ohio State coach, Bo Schembechler's former mentor, lost to him 24-12 in 1969?

Woody Hayes brought the top-ranked Buckeyes and a 22-game winning streak to Ann Arbor as 17-point favourites, then watched Michigan intercept six passes for a first-year coach he had trained himself.

Decades before their football rivalry began, Michigan and Ohio sent militias to contest which city?

Toledo went to Ohio after the 1835 stand-off, and Michigan accepted most of the Upper Peninsula in exchange as the price of statehood.

Michigan beat Ohio State 9-3 without a first down in which 1950 game?

The Snow Bowl was played in a blizzard: Michigan punted 24 times and scored all nine points, a safety and a touchdown, off blocked Ohio State punts.

In 2000, which network ranked Michigan-Ohio State as the greatest North American sports rivalry ever?

ESPN made that call in 2000; the fixture had been played every year since 1918, a run broken only in 2020, when a COVID-19 outbreak in Michigan's squad forced a cancellation.

Which Michigan running back scored five touchdowns in the 42-27 win over Ohio State in 2021?

Hassan Haskins tied a Michigan single-game record that had stood since 1968, and the win ended an eight-game losing run against the Buckeyes.

Michigan and Minnesota play for which trophy when they meet?

The Little Brown Jug began as a 30-cent water jug that Michigan left behind in Minneapolis in 1903; Minnesota kept it, and the two have played for it since 1909.

Which Michigan receiver beat Indiana in 1979 with a 45-yard touchdown catch on the game's final play?

Anthony Carter's score came moments after Indiana had tied the game at 21; the All-American receiver went on to 37 touchdown catches for Michigan and the Hall of Fame.

Michigan and Michigan State play each year for a trophy depicting which American folk hero?

Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack, salutes Michigan's past as a lumber state; Governor G. Mennen Williams donated the four-foot wooden statue in 1953.

What did Desmond Howard say he 'chickened out' of before settling on his famous 1991 Heisman pose?

A backflip was the plan, he said later; instead he struck the trophy's stiff-arm pose a few yards past the goal line as ABC's Keith Jackson called 'Hello, Heisman!'

Desmond Howard is the only player to win Super Bowl MVP purely for what?

Special teams play was all he needed: the Heisman-winning receiver did not catch a single pass in Super Bowl XXXI, but ran a kickoff back 99 yards for the Green Bay Packers.

Which NFL team drafted Charles Woodson fourth overall in 1998?

Oakland Raiders fans saw him leave for Green Bay, where he won Super Bowl XLV and a Defensive Player of the Year award, then return in 2013 to finish his career where it began.

Which coach led Michigan's unbeaten 1997 team to the national title?

Lloyd Carr had taken over only as an interim coach in 1995 and was given the job outright later that year; his third team allowed just 9.5 points a game.

Which pick in the 2000 NFL Draft was Michigan quarterback Tom Brady?

199th overall made Tom Brady the seventh quarterback taken in 2000; the sixth-round afterthought went on to win a record seven Super Bowls.

Which lower-division team stunned fifth-ranked Michigan 34-32 in the 2007 season opener?

Appalachian State blocked a field goal in the final seconds, and the loss dropped Michigan from fifth in the AP poll to out of the top 25 in a single week.

Which Colorado quarterback beat Michigan with a 1994 Hail Mary?

Kordell Stewart threw the ball more than 70 yards in the air with Colorado trailing 26-21, and Michael Westbrook caught the deflection; the play is known as the Miracle at Michigan.

Before returning to coach Michigan in 2015, Jim Harbaugh took which NFL team to a Super Bowl?

The San Francisco 49ers reached Super Bowl XLVII under him and lost 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens, who were coached by his older brother John.

Whom did Michigan beat in the College Football Playoff final to cap the 2023 season?

Washington arrived unbeaten, but Michigan ran for 303 yards, 174 of them in the first quarter alone, and won 34-13 to finish 15-0.

Michigan reached the 2023 season's title game by beating which team 27-20 in overtime in the Rose Bowl?

Alabama needed a touchdown to extend overtime and was stopped on fourth down at the three-yard line, after Michigan had tied the game late in regulation.

Which Michigan running back scored a nation-leading 27 rushing touchdowns in 2023?

Blake Corum had knee surgery after an injury late in 2022; he came back to set Michigan's single-season record and scored twice in the title game, where he was named offensive MVP.

Which Michigan staffer was accused of running the sign-stealing scheme that got Jim Harbaugh suspended in 2023?

Connor Stalions, a former Marine officer, was accused of sending friends to future opponents' games to film their sideline signals; he resigned as the team went on to win the national title.

Jim Harbaugh left Michigan in 2024 to coach which NFL team?

The Los Angeles Chargers were a return of sorts: he had been their quarterback in 1999 and 2000, when the team still played in San Diego.

Which former Michigan star took over as head coach in 1948 and won the national title in his first season?

Bennie Oosterbaan had spent 20 seasons as a Michigan assistant after his All-American playing days, then went unbeaten at the first attempt as head coach.

The Big Ten was popularly known by what name when Michigan helped found it in 1896?

The Western Conference is why The Victors hails 'the champions of the West'; Michigan later spent about a decade outside the league before returning in 1917.

Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez for the 2008 season from which school, his alma mater?

West Virginia was home: Rodriguez grew up in the state and played for the Mountaineers, and after his Michigan spell ended with the 2010 season he later went back for a second stint in charge.

Which head coach, hired in January 2024, was the first African American to lead the Michigan programme?

Sherrone Moore had already gone 4-0 as acting head coach during Jim Harbaugh's 2023 suspensions, including the win over Ohio State; Michigan fired him for cause in December 2025.