First Year Coaches vs. OSU

Submitted by Onas on
Here is a little trend I found regarding first-year coaches in the Michgian-Ohio State legacy. In the last six times Michigan has brought a new coach to the game, they’ve won:

Carr 1995, 31-23 (#12 UM vs #2 OSU in AA)
Moeller 1990, 16-13 (#15 UM vs. #19 OSU in Cbus)
Bo 1969, 24-12 (#12 UM vs. #1 OSU in AA)
Eilliot 1959, 23-14 (NR vs. NR in AA)
Oosterbaan 1948, 13-3 (#1 UM vs. NR OSU in Cbus)
Crisler 1938, 18-0 (#17 UM vs. NR OSU in Cbus)
- Kipke breaks this reverse-streak with his 0-7 loss in 1929.

Buckeye coaches, on the other hand, have not done as well. Of their last six coaches only two have won in year one (Tressel in ‘01 and Earle Bruce in ‘79.) The others, Cooper, Woody, Fesler, and Bixler (Bixler only coached one year) all lost.

Another important note: two of those six UM victories were pretty big upsets. Carr in ‘95 and Bo in ‘69. In each of those years the highly-ranked Buckeyes were expected to dispatch of their struggling, re-orienting rivals on route to the National Championship. I wonder what the story will be this year.

(P.S. I posted this originally on the e-hovel my friends and I 'maintain' at www.bigtenfans.com)

Comments

jamiemac

June 30th, 2008 at 10:54 AM ^

While that certainly is a great historical trend in our favor, there is another one out there that does not reflect well upon the upcoming season.

Our previous four head coaches all lost their first game against Little Brother, Michigan State.

Elliot in 1959 was hammered 34-8, at home no less, by Sparty. It was part of a 0-6-2 run that Michigan had vs Sparty during the 1950s and early 1960s!

Bo lost in 1969 in a game where both teams were ranked in the top-15.

Moeller lost the 1990 game in the famous Desmond possible PI in the end zone on the two-point try. UM was ranked #1 going into the game!

Lloyd dropped a classic to MSU in 1995 up in East Lansing on a late TD. That game is memorable because the ABC feed cut in with breaking news of the Rabin assassination right in the middle of a punt return for a TD by MSU. Might have been Mushin Muhammed (sp?) on that return, I dont know. I was living in northern Michigan--clear MSU territory--and people partied into the night. Damn them!!!

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 8446

mjv

June 30th, 2008 at 4:06 PM ^

I was a freshman that year and was sitting in the first row in that corner.  That was the single worst PI non-call I have ever witnessed.  If Desmond had been a lesser receiver and completely wiffed on the attempted catch, the call would have been made.  The fact that he basically caught the ball (At the time I felt that it could have been ruled a catch) was what kept the yellow hankie in the ref's pocket.  That game led to us coming out flat against Iowa.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 3655

kgh10

June 30th, 2008 at 8:14 PM ^

I don't know about any of you, but I'd easily give up a loss to Sparty and break our 6 (should be 8) game winning streak than to keep the OSU losing streak going.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 3149

jamiemac

June 30th, 2008 at 11:35 PM ^

Could not agree more.

I tick off a lot of teams that I really want to beat most years before even mentioning Sparty.

 A 10-2 season with losses to ND and OSU. Not sure I define that as a true success in UM football lore.

A 10-2 season with wins over ND and OSU, but a loss to MSU (especially if said game is in East Lansing). Thats something I could live in most cases.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 8446

Dan Man

July 1st, 2008 at 12:18 AM ^

You can probably find many trends predicting both success and failure for us vs. OSU this year. Much more problematic is that we won't have any experience at QB (and probably Threet, who isn't ideal for the spread). I'll say this - we probably won't beat OSU, but we will be above the middle of the pack in the Big 10. Thanks to Barwis conditioning, we'll be able to push around the Sparties, Hawkeyes, Boilermakers, etc., of the world.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 1097

dabadeeblue

July 1st, 2008 at 10:10 AM ^

i get stupid hunches now and then, but i really think feagin is going to be a surprise (in a good way). the kid embraces competition and he seems psyched up about his chances to be a startin qb at um. so i see him getting the nod from richrod, i predict he'll start for the miami game.

..agree with kgh, i don't mind losing to lil bro this year only if we could that w in ku'lumbus.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 112