Historical context for bad football in the State of Michigan
I watched most of our debacle against Indiana, a decent amount of MSU's trainwreck vs. Iowa, and not much of the entirely predictable shitshow from the Lions against the Vikings. It got me thinking, when was the last time that all three teams were this bad? So I did a little research, because it's more fun than working.
I was surprised to find that there have only been 4 seasons since the Lions started playing in 1930 where none of the three teams had a winning record. Our Wolverines are responsible for much of that, as long stretches of success eliminated the chance of this happening for literally decades at a time. Not surprisingly, MSU often rose up during our (relatively rare) stretches of losing seasons to save the group. The Lions were the Lions, and contributed very little to the achievement.
The seasons are:
1958: One year after their final championship, the Lions went 4-7-1. Sparty checked in at 3-5-1, while the Maize and Blue were 2-6-1. This obviously was when ties were still a thing.
1967: Coming off the Game of the Century/10-10 tie with Notre Dame, MSU dropped to 3-7. Michigan was 4-6, while the Lions went 5-7-2.
1984: Michigan State and Michigan both finished 6-6, with Michigan losing to "The Courageous" Robbie Bosco and BYU in the Holiday Bowl to give BYU the National Championship. The Lions-or perhaps they had become the Loins by then-turned in a stellar 4-11-1 record.
2009: Michigan. Rich Rod. 5-7. MSU. Dantonio. 6-7. Loins. Who really cares. 2-14.
November 9th, 2020 at 8:41 AM ^
Remind me again, who are these Lions you refer to?
November 9th, 2020 at 8:43 AM ^
Loins. lol.
November 9th, 2020 at 8:49 AM ^
The solution is so obvious. Harbaugh to the Lions and Patricia to the Wolverines.
November 9th, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^
Voting booth dropped on my head last Tuesday. Just woke up from the coma this morning. What did I miss?
November 9th, 2020 at 8:58 AM ^
It isn't just the football teams. The Red Wings had the worst record in hockey. The Tigers are going through what is about their worst stretch in history. The Pistons are a disaster and the Lions are the Lions. Now the Wolverines and Spartans have joined the party. It is tough being a sports fan right now.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:20 AM ^
We're left with Detroit City. Winning football in Detroit! Or, rather, Hamtramck.
November 9th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^
As a lifelong Tigers fan, I can't imagine comparing these recent poor seasons with the awful stretch from 1994-2005, 12-consecutive losing seasons and the 2002-2003 bottom-fall-out-to-historical-proportions stretch.
November 9th, 2020 at 11:18 AM ^
We averaged 107 losses from 2001-2003. From 2002-2004 it was 105 losses. We averaged 103.33 from 2017-2019. While not the worst I would argue it is pretty damn bad. Those are the worst 3 year stretches in Tiger history.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:04 AM ^
Thanks for digging this up. Another question would be as a state with an NFL team and CFB teams does anyone else have as few championships as us in the past 50 years or so? I think Michigan's 1997 title puts us above Arizona, North Carolina and Minnesota. We should be tied with Georgia and Tennessee who both have one CFB title.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:46 AM ^
In the B1G Footprint:
Illinois - 1 (Bears)
Maryland - 1 (Ravens)
Too bad you're not including the Arena League.
November 9th, 2020 at 10:32 AM ^
November 9th, 2020 at 4:21 PM ^
Nice catch Illinois is a good one, like the other guy said Ravens actually have two Superbowls '00 and '12 aka the year of Flacco.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:32 AM ^
Next year is the Lions' year! I swear!
November 9th, 2020 at 9:38 AM ^
Nice touch with the Cowardly Lion on the helmet there.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:43 AM ^
So you're saying it's an historic season?
November 9th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
I bowled a no tap 300 at Superbowl in Canton in 2009. Therefore, I singlehandledly saved sports in the Detroit area. You're welcome.
November 9th, 2020 at 2:24 PM ^
Pattern couldn't be more clear:
'58 was the very end of the "classic era" = last time UofM ranked in the AP at any point in the season after being ranked every year for the first 20 years.
After '67 UofM rebounds including Bo and The Upset *
*(soon to return)
'84 the low point of Bo's career that led to good teams struggling for the next three years including a "Kinnick Nightmare", An Iliini Tie, A Guy named White from MSU, The Foggie Gopher, all culminating in the rare loss to Indiana.
THAN UofM went on to it's BEST DECADE of the modern era!
In 2009 they are rock bottom and have to dig out the next decade, till here we are today:
Glitch Year 2020!
And it all starts all over again :)
November 10th, 2020 at 1:50 AM ^
Chippewas finished in the Top 25 in 2009 and have a shot at it this year as well. Chips only losses were to 8-5 power 5 teams on the road (Arizona and BC). I don’t think Michigan is as bad this year as it was in ‘09 but there are parallels, starting with a bad defense