Michigan has played international games before

November 5, 1880 at the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. 

Only the 3rd game in program history and it was played at the Toronto Lacrosse Club in front of a crowd of 300 fans. Michigan beat Toronto 13-6-

On November 6, 1880, the Michigan football team played its only game of the season against the team from the University of Toronto. The game was the third official game played by the Michigan football team since it began during the 1879 season and the first by Michigan in a foreign country.

The team left Ann Arbor on Friday morning, November 5, on the Michigan Central Railroad. The Chronicle described the traveling group as "a very jolly party" that enlivened the trip with college songs. The team arrived in Toronto on Friday night and stayed at the Rossin House Hotel in the city center. Because of "damp and dismal" weather on Saturday morning, few of the players engaged in sight-seeing and the Toronto team proposed postponing the game until Monday.

The teams opted to proceed with the game as scheduled on Saturday. The game was played at the Toronto Lacrosse Club starting at 2:55 pm and was scheduled for two 45-minute innings. The Chronicle described the playing conditions:

"[T]hroughout the whole of the first inning, the rain was increasing, and, joined with a cold wind from the north, soon drenched and all but froze both players and spectators. The ground was slippery and muddy, the water stood in pools, the ball was soon heavy, and in short circumstances were decidedly against either good playing or enjoyment of it."

The temperature became colder in the later afternoon, and the Toronto team proposed ending the game after the first inning. The teams ultimately agreed to play a shortened second inning of 37 minutes. During the first inning, Michigan was aided by having the wind at its back and running downhill on a slightly sloped field. In the second inning, the teams switched sides. The game ended at 4:27 pm with Michigan ahead 13–6. The scoring for Michigan consisted of "one goal, two touch downs [one by halfback William Calvert], and two tries for goal, against three safety touch downs which Toronto was compelled to make."

Michigan's starting lineup against Toronto was Elnathan P. Hathaway (140 pounds, fullback/goalkeeper), Randolph W. Brown (165 pounds, halfback), Richard Millard Dott (145 pounds, halfback), Edmond H. Barmore (147 pounds, quarterback), John "Tubby" Chase(178 pounds, captain and forward), Richard G. DePuy (150 pounds, forward), Frank Gates Allen (170 pounds, forward), William Graham (150 pounds, forward), Walter S. Horton (155 pounds, forward), William B. Calvert (158 pounds, forward), and Collins H. Johnston (150 pounds, forward). Frank Wormwood began the game as the umpire for Michigan, but he was called into the game to replace DePuy, who was badly injured after being "bunted into the fence by a Toronto man."Charles Thomson took over as the umpire for Michigan.

After the game, the Toronto team hosted the Michigan team at a reception held at the College Residence. The team spent Sunday in Toronto and departed on the 9:50 Great Western train on Monday morning.

The most recent international game was played on November 7, 1885 against the Windsor Club.

The score of this game is disputed. Bentley Historical Library claims it was a 10-0 Michigan win but there are multiple newspaper accounts of the game that say it was an 8-2 Michigan win. Wouldn't be the first time that U-M records were inaccurate, but nonetheless a win is a win-

On November 7, 1885, Michigan officially began its season with an 8–2 victory over the Windsor team from the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU), a league that was instrumental in the development of Canadian football. (The Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton teams in the Canadian Football League began as members of the ORFU.). The Windsor team had advanced to the second round of the ORFU playoffs in 1883.

The game was played in Windsor, Ontario, under Canadian rules. The match was Michigan's second game played in Canada, the first having been a victory over the University of Toronto in 1880. The Canadian rules allowed each team to have 15 men on the field. In addition, the ball was not snapped back from the line, but was instead “dribbled until it is out of the rush.”

The Chronicle (a University of Michigan weekly newspaper) noted that the team played well despite being unacquainted with the Windsor rules. The Michigan Argonaut credited the victory to James E. Duffy: "The game was practically won by Duffy who in the middle of the first inning succeeded in kicking a goal from in field, thus scoring six points."The intermission was called at 4:30 p.m. with Michigan leading 8–0. After a 15-minute break, the game resumed at 4:45 p.m., and Windsor scored two points on "rouges," described in The Chronicle as follows: "Michigan made a rouge; one point for Windsor. . . . The ball went out of bounds and on being thrown in, a rouge was made by Michigan." The game was eventually stopped because of darkness. The Michigan Argonaut called the victory “a flattering one, as being entirely unacquainted with the Canadian rules, our team expected to be defeated.”

The Windsor team hosted a banquet for the Michigan team at the British American Hotel.