Turf and Grass records of Michigan Football
The game of college football changed in 1968. Or at least the way it looked in terms of what it is played on.
The invention of artificial turf as an alternative playing field surface to natural grass made its most notable debut when AstroTurf was installed at the Houston Astrodome in 1966. The Oilers moved into the Astrodome for the 1968 season and became the first pro football team to play on artificial turf.
However, they weren't the first football team to call an artificial turf field their home. Indiana State installed AstroTurf at their home field in 1967 which later caused a rush of primarily Northern schools to change over to AstroTurf or another form artificial turf due to the much lower cost of maintaining the field in cold conditions as opposed to that of natural grass.
The first game that Michigan ever played on an artificial turf surface was the same game as the head coaching debut of Bo Schembechler. September 20, 1969 at Michigan Stadium against Vanderbilt--42-14 Michigan win.
I went through and researched the history of each Big Ten stadium's field surface history for games Michigan played on the road as well as the surface of places where Michigan played non-conference road games, bowl games and neutral site games.
The following is Michigan's yearly record on Artificial and Grass surfaces beginning in 1968. Wisconsin was the first Big Ten school to install turf as they added it to Camp Randall Stadium for the 1968 season.
|
Season |
Turf |
Grass |
|---|---|---|
|
1968 |
0-0-0 |
8-2-0 |
|
1969 |
5-2-0 |
3-1-0 |
|
1970 |
8-1-0 |
1-0-0 |
|
1971 |
9-0-0 |
2-1-0 |
|
1972 |
8-1-0 |
2-0-0 |
|
1973 |
9-0-1 |
1-0-0 |
|
1974 |
8-1-0 |
2-0-0 |
|
1975 |
8-2-2 |
0-0-0 |
|
1976 |
10-0-0 |
0-2-0 |
|
1977 |
9-0-0 |
1-2-0 |
|
1978 |
9-1-0 |
1-1-0 |
|
1979 |
7-2-0 |
1-2-0 |
|
1980 |
8-1-0 |
2-1-0 |
|
1981 |
7-3-0 |
2-0-0 |
|
1982 |
8-2-0 |
0-2-0 |
|
1983 |
9-3-0 |
0-0-0 |
|
1984 |
6-5-0 |
0-1-0 |
|
1985 |
8-1-1 |
2-0-0 |
|
1986 |
9-1-0 |
2-1-0 |
|
1987 |
7-4-0 |
1-0-0 |
|
1988 |
8-1-1 |
1-1-0 |
|
1989 |
8-1-0 |
2-1-0 |
|
1990 |
6-2-0 |
3-1-0 |
|
1991 |
4-0-0 |
6-2-0 |
|
1992 |
2-0-0 |
7-0-3 |
|
1993 |
1-2-0 |
7-2-0 |
|
1994 |
1-0-0 |
7-4-0 |
|
1995 |
3-2-0 |
6-2-0 |
|
1996 |
2-1 |
6-3 |
|
1997 |
3-0 |
9-0 |
|
1998 |
2-0 |
8-3 |
|
1999 |
2-1 |
8-1 |
|
2000 |
1-0 |
8-3 |
|
2001 |
1-2 |
7-2 |
|
2002 |
2-0 |
8-3 |
|
2003 |
8-1 |
2-2 |
|
2004 |
8-0 |
1-3 |
|
2005 |
4-5 |
3-0 |
|
2006 |
9-0 |
2-2 |
|
2007 |
6-4 |
3-0 |
|
2008 |
3-6 |
0-3 |
|
2009 |
5-6 |
0-1 |
|
2010 |
5-4 |
2-2 |
|
2011 |
10-1 |
1-1 |
|
2012 |
7-3 |
1-2 |
|
2013 |
5-3 |
2-3 |
|
2014 |
4-6 |
1-1 |
- Artificial Turf: 272-81-5 (.767)
- Grass (since 1968): 142-64-3 (.687)
- Grass (all-time): 643-247-31 (.715)
Michigan Stadium has had several different types of turf surfaces. Record by stints of surfaces-
| Surface | Years | Record |
| Grass | 1927-1968 | 162-72-11 (.684) |
| Tartan Turf (artificial turf) | 1969-1981 | 73-8-3 (.887) |
| All-Pro Turf (artificial turf) | 1982-1990 | 46-10-0 (.821) |
| Prescription Athletic Turf (grass) | 1991-2002 | 63-12-1 (.836) |
| FieldTurf (artificial turf) | 2003-2009 | 36-14 (.720) |
| Duraspine (artificial turf) | 2010-present | 27-8 (.771) |
First and final games on these surfaces-
| Surface | First Game | Final Game |
| Grass | 10/1/1927- Ohio Wesleyan (W 33-0) | 11/16/1968- Wisconsin (W 34-9) |
| Tartan Turf | 9/20/1969- Vanderbilt (W 42-14) | 11/21/1981- Ohio State (L 9-14) |
| All-Pro Turf | 9/11/1982- Wisconsin (W 20-9) | 11/17/1990- Minnesota (W 35-13) |
| P.A.T. | 9/14/1991- #7 Notre Dame (W 24-14) | 11/16/2002- Wisconsin (W 21-14) |
| FieldTurf | 8/30/2003- Central Mich. (W 45-7) | 11/21/2009- #9 Ohio State (L 10-21) |
| Duraspine | 9/4/2010- Connecticut (W 30-10) |
Interesting note on this: both times Michigan has played their final games on grass field surfaces, they have been on the same date (November 16) against Wisconsin and both were victories.
Seems like a good use of a young man's time.
Truly, WD, you are a god among nerds.
The name of the surface in Michigan Stadium now is called Duraspine? I've never heard of that. I'm not saying there's not a difference, but it looks just like plain old FieldTurf to me.
This is a very interesting topic. This season, Michigan will only play one grass game (at Penn State). On the contrary, Georgia Tech will only play one turf game (at Notre Dame). Personally I think the FieldTurf (or Duraspine, I guess?) looks great in Michigan Stadium. It adds to the increased regal feel along with the brick and suites, and like WH stated, keeps the Block M and endzone writing immaculate year round.
I purchased a set of coasters made from the old turf. So my cocktails sit nicley on the same green that so many legends played on.
There were several different products in that promotion - coasters, door mats, wall hangings, etc - and AFAIK it was totally random what part of the field the pieces came from. So you might end up with part of a line, hash mark, or maize lettering.
post, oops
Article on the change to Duraspine.
It's made by FieldTurf but it's a safer and brighter version of FieldTurf.
The turf in Michigan Stadium is definitely bright.
WD, I understand that college isn't THAT time-consuming (especially in non-science majors), so I won't ask how you had time to do this research.
My question is how the hell you came up with the idea to do this? Do you just sit in your room brainstorming variables that could affect Michigan football? This is completely insane and completely you.
Not sure you have it in your big books of data but how do injuries stack up on the different playing surfaces. I saw it mentioned that there was a link between ACL tears and turf playing surfaces.
I forgot the 3-tie season in 1992. Frustrating season but ended with a Rose Bowl victory over Washington.
Undefeated season though.
nice story..
Strong stats. Has anyone looked at turf types at stadiums with the 5 or 10 best home records? There must be some advantage to playing on a familiar surface.
I hate turf
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