13-0 again, with historical context

TL;DR - I did this last year and the general consensus in the comments was that ’21-22 was the best 2-year run since we won back to back natties in 1947-8. I don’t think we pass that era or 1930-33, but I think this era is equal to the famous 1901-1905 Yost era. So not best ever, but yes this is a golden age, and probably 3rd or 4th best era in Michigan FB history, and 2nd best of the poll era. Better than Bo, Mo, and Lloyd…with appropriate caveats to 1997 elevating the mediocre years around it.

I decided to wait until after the Big Ten ‘ship this year. So, let’s first acknowledge that ’22-23 surpasses ’21-22 because we beat MSU, and then acknowledge that it cannot be greater than ’47-48 because…back to back natties. So we’ll spend a bit of time focusing on why this 3 year run is a golden age, and where it stacks up.

But yes – this is a golden age. What a time to be a Michigan Wolverine. The last time we beat OSU thrice in a row was ’95-97. The last time we won shares of 3 straight Big Ten titles was when we won 5 straight from ’88-92, and went 4-0-1 against OSU (the tie was the last one.) We also went 4-1 against MSU during that time, with 1990 being the only loss and only 1 of the 5 B10 titles we shared (with MSU). That really was an incredible run. We had a similar 3 year run from ’76-78, 3-0 against OSU, 2-1 against MSU. Both runs we finished every season in the top 10. I think those two runs are comparable to this one. EXCEPT. From ’88-92, OSU only finished in the AP poll once. From ’76-78 they were much better, but 1978 they were 7-4-1 and unranked. 3 straight top 5 matchups is akin to the matchups from ’69-76…and we didn’t win 3 straight then. We only won 3 TOTAL.

Also of note – this is the first time OSU won’t win a share of the conference or division for 2 straight years since ’03-04. It’s the first time they won’t win a conference title for 3 straight years since ’99-01…the end of Cooper and the beginning of Tressel. We have, in fact and repeatedly, slayed the beast. We are now the beast. And despite more competition than when we'd done so under Bo and Mo.

So yea, this 3 year period is pretty fairly described as the best since Bo came to town. And from 1951 to 1968, there weren’t very many championship seasons in the Big House (just one, 1964). But from 1945-1950, M went 4-0-1 in the game, won 4 big ten titles in a row (1947-50), 3 of them outright (1949 was shared with OSU, whom we tied), and won 2 natties. From Seth’s “The Teams” podcast, M’s big rival at the time wasn’t OSU but was actually Minnesota for the Jug – they tied us in 1950 but otherwise had a miserable season, and lost every other game against us all the way back to 1942. We started playing MSU annually in 1945, and went 4-1 against them, the lone loss coming in 1950. They were not yet in the Big Ten. I think it’s safe to say that this era was comparable to the current era – dominating our 3 main rivals, winning the Big Ten and winning 2 national championships. The 2021-23 era is behind this, only because of the lack of natties. And we’d need 2 to equal it.

Other fun facts – M has never had back to back 13-0 seasons, although this wasn’t even possible until 2007. From 1906-1970, it was impossible to win 12 games in a season. Nevertheless M’s 3 straight 12-win seasons is unprecedented, as are our 2 straight 12-0 starts (in ’47-48, we went 9-0 and 10-0, and for the rest of that run had 2-3 losses or ties, often early in the season). We started 10-0 in 1904-05 and 1901-02, and were 7-0 for 5 straight seasons. So let’s talk about that era.

In 1903, we tied Minnesota in our 8th game before winning the rest – which led to the tradition of the Little Brown Jug. Michigan did defeat OSU every year of this run, but OSU was not in the Big Ten and was not a major rival. We did not play Michigan Agricultural – the predecessor to MSU – at this time. Our big rival was Chicago, whom we went 4-1 against but lost a heartbreaker to in 1905 – and did not allow a point against from 1901-1903. While contemporaries – probably correctly – viewed the eastern teams as superior to Michigan of this era, there is no denying Michigan was the most dominant team in The West and the Big Ten. That’s not that different from now vs the SEC, although I believe we have a good shot of ending the era of Southern dominance on January 1st.

One other notable era that exceeds the current times were Harry Kipke’s squads from 1930-33. Over 4 seasons, the Wolverines went 21-1-1 in the league (31-1-3 overall) – and shared the big ten title all four seasons because we didn’t always play other undefeated league teams. (I wonder if this is weirdly relevant next year.) From 1930-32 we shared the Big Ten title with teams we didn’t play, and in 1933 we shared with our then primary rival, Minnesota, whom we tied. We won national titles in 1932 and 1933 based on the accepted methodology of the time. In 1934, the defending national champs had a steep dropoff, finishing 1-7 and seeing Willis Ward banned from competing against Georgia Tech because of Michigan caving to Jim Crow. Less seriously but still relevant, our primary rival was about to become the last team in CFB history to win 3 national titles in a row (Minnesota, 1934-1936). In 1935, Ohio State became Michigan’s annual season-ending game. In 1936, the AP poll was first instituted. Michigan was miserable from 1934-37, never finishing above .500. Tom Harmon joined the freshman team in 1937, and in 1938 Fritz Crisler and the Winged Helmet debuted in Ann Arbor. Crisler was the coach of the 1947 championship team, and his understudy (and former Wolverine star) Bennie Oosterbaan took over as HC in 1948 before hanging up the whistle in 1958.

The immediate aftermath of the depression era titles was as bad as the Rod and Hoke era, but I'd say worse because of what came just before and under the same coach. But natties are natties, even if they’re disputed. So if we’re ranking these eras, there are 3 that compare to what we’re seeing now. I think 1945-1950 is probably the peak, although 1930-1933 was very good. Both saw the program fall off in the aftermath (as is inevitable), but 1934-37 was much worse than the 1950s and 1960s. 1945-1950 also came AFTER Michigan had fallen behind their national-championship-winning primary rival to depressing depths and worked to surpass them (sounds familiar, but I'm talking about Minnesota - not Ohio State). 1901-1905 basically established the program, in a way that Bo did from 1969-1978, and that lasted for 20-something years until Kipke re-invented the program and then crashed spectacularly. 

F Pettiti and Day for trying their darndest to derail what are the golden days. And what an amazing job by Team 144 to go out and win the damn thing anyway. But hopefully, we’re not done yet. I think with a natty, there's no denying we surpass the Yost era undefeateds. And who knows? In 2024, maybe team 145 takes this golden era and makes it platinum.

In conclusion: it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine! GO BLUE! BEAT BAMA!