Nonconference top 10 road wins are rare
Of course wins like tonight's are unusual. We've had two top 10 nonconference wins away from home in the last ten years, but those were both neutral site games (vs. #8 Memphis in Maui in 2011, and the famous win at MSG over #4 UCLA in 2008). We've have a few top 10 road wins in recent years, but those have all been conference opponents (mostly Sparty). However, none in the nonconference on the road.
Many Michigan teams don't get a chance to play a top 10 nonconference team on the road, and those that do are obviously heavy underdogs. Interestingly, it looks like our last two such wins are both against Duke. The most recent was December 8, 1996, a 62-61 victory for #7 Michigan over #10 Duke. Of course, that season was vacated by sanctions.
The most recent unvacated road win against a top 10 opponent was #1 Michigan defeating #5 Duke on December 5, 1964. Yes, 1964.
So enjoy tonight, everyone. This is not something you see every decade.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:35 PM ^
I am. Great work on pulling up the data
November 14th, 2018 at 10:38 PM ^
Looking forward to this phenomenon being normal from now on. Go Blue!
November 14th, 2018 at 10:48 PM ^
Good stuff - we will revel in this one for several days. This current program is a wonderful representation of our beloved University of Michigan.
November 14th, 2018 at 10:50 PM ^
#Perspective
November 14th, 2018 at 11:06 PM ^
Good shit, Jedd!
November 14th, 2018 at 11:25 PM ^
Wow, thanks for posting this.
November 14th, 2018 at 11:29 PM ^
Poole disagrees
Get used to the new norm
November 14th, 2018 at 11:36 PM ^
So wait, both times you mentioned we were ranked higher. Have we ever done it as a lower rank?
Great digging by the way. Awesome info.
November 15th, 2018 at 12:58 AM ^
My first thought as well.
I would also be curious to see the largest margin we have won on the road as the underdog against a ranked team. Tonight's margin had to have been among the largest.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:23 AM ^
Isn't this the largest margin of victory UM has ever had on the road against a ranked team?
November 15th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
Yes it is. Largest home margin was 36 over #3 Purdue in 1987. We also had a 32 point neutral site win over #19 Syracuse in 1997. This was the largest road margin, and I don't think it's close.
November 14th, 2018 at 11:51 PM ^
Recorded this game so I'm late to the party. But believe me. I enjoyed it
November 14th, 2018 at 11:53 PM ^
We have a chance for another top 10 win in 2 weeks against North Carolina rank 7. Home game!
November 15th, 2018 at 12:18 AM ^
Revenge tour part deux is underway
November 15th, 2018 at 12:03 AM ^
I enjoyed it very much; thank-you. But let me pick a nit. The data only show that they have been rare. As to whether they still are, or whether they will be, after tonight I choose to believe not. Welcome to a new frequency.
November 15th, 2018 at 12:30 AM ^
Nice stat. But given M's ranks in those two Duke games, M's loss would have been the bigger news. Wins are... just meh.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
I would think that a #7 team going on the road at #10 would be an underdog, or at best a pick 'em. Road wins at top 10 teams are never "meh" no matter what your ranking is.
November 15th, 2018 at 1:26 AM ^
Ok cool. Hook em.
November 15th, 2018 at 5:07 AM ^
Thumbs up, Tom
November 15th, 2018 at 7:42 AM ^
Doesn't seem right. What was Michigan State ranked last year when we beat them the first time?
November 15th, 2018 at 7:48 AM ^
MSU still hasn't been booted out of the Big Ten. I wouldn't argue if they were put on double secret probation and had their status reviewed every six months.
November 15th, 2018 at 7:50 AM ^
They were #4. But the OP is talking about nonconference top-10 wins. State may be out of our league, but they are still in our conference.
November 15th, 2018 at 8:00 AM ^
Great information, although the whole vacated / unvacated distinction doesn't sit well with me, especially because - in this particular instance - when Duke loses, the world wins and for an evening, you are a hero as a result.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^
I agree with that, and it's especially annoying that many of those road losses were to Duke, and particularly gratifying that the two previous wins were both against Duke. I only made the distinction to have a reason to include the fact that the last time (and, it turns out, the only time) before 1996 was 1964, just to show how rare it really was.
November 15th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
Those were the days: Cazzie Russell, Bill Buntin, and oh so close to a national championship. Impressive football team too. A great year to be a student on campus.
November 15th, 2018 at 8:32 AM ^
Just out of curiosity, how many nonconference road games against Top 10 opponents have we played. You mention the 2 wins over the last 55 years. How many losses were there?
November 15th, 2018 at 8:52 AM ^
I was able to find these losses in the last 20 years.
2016 at #2 UCLA
2014 at #10 Duke, at #1 Arizona
2009 at #1 Kansas
i only checked wikipedia and the data on the 97-2008 years isnt great there so I might have missed a couple because of that.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^
There is a (not particularly obvious) link in the OP to all of the game schedules (and lots of other info) from the mgoblue.com website. If you scroll down enough there are game scores for each season in Michigan history, including Michigan's rank, opponent's rank, and game location.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
Good question, and unfortunately I can't edit the OP to put this in there.
Last night's win broke a streak of (EDIT: 12) consecutive road losses to top 10 nonconference opponents.
The 1996 win broke a streak of 13 consecutive road losses to top 10 nonconference opponents. We didn't play very many such games in the late 70s and early 80s for some reason.
Anyway, our record in those games is now up to 3-25 in the last 55 years.
While looking, I dug a little deeper: The AP basketball poll didn't start until 1948, and wasn't done continuously until the 1950-51 season. So in the entire AP poll history, we are now 3-26 in road games against top 10 nonconference opponents. Note: I am counting in that total "road" losses to UNLV in a "neutral site" game in Las Vegas, along with a "neutral site" loss to UCLA in L.A.
Note: Edited to fix my inability to read.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:27 AM ^
You are doing the work of a hero. Props.
November 15th, 2018 at 9:35 AM ^
I counted 11, here's the ones I missed.
2009 at #1 UConn
2007 at #5 Georgetown
2006 at #1 UCLA
2004 at #4 Georga Tech
2002 at #4 Duke
2000 at #2 Duke
1998 at #3 Duke
November 15th, 2018 at 12:26 PM ^
I accidentally counted a neutral site loss to Duke as a road loss, so it was actually 12 consecutive losses.
Here's a list of the recent loss streak:
Dec. 2016 @ #2 UCLA
Dec. 2014 @ #3 Arizona
Dec. 2013 @ #10 Duke
Dec. 2009 @ #1 Kansas
Feb. 2009 @ #1 UConn
Dec. 2007 @ #6 Duke
Nov. 2007 @ #5 Georgetown
Dec. 2006 @ #1 UCLA
Nov. 2004 @ #4 Georgia Tech
Dec. 2002 @ #4 Duke
Dec. 2000 @ #1 Duke
Dec. 1998 @ #3 Duke
November 15th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
Great stats/info. Indeed it makes last night’s game all the more enjoyable!