Historical significance of 78-0

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Scoring 70 or more has only been done 22 times in Michigan history. 

It was only the second time EVER that we scored 70 or more on the road.

Also was only the 4th time we did so in a B1G game.

Let's take a look-

Date Opponent Result
11/24/1888 vs Albion W 76-4
10/8/1892 vs Michigan Athletic Association W 74-0
11/18/1893 vs Northwestern W 72-6
10/26/1901 vs Buffalo W 128-0
11/23/1901 vs Beloit W 89-0
9/27/1902 vs Albion W 88-0
10/8/1902 vs Michigan State W 119-0
10/25/1902 vs Ohio State W 86-0
11/8/1902 vs Iowa W 107-0
10/8/1903 vs Albion W 76-0
10/10/1903 vs Beloit W 79-0
10/21/1903 vs Ferris State W 88-0
10/8/1904 vs Kalamazoo W 95-0
10/12/1904 vs Physicians & Surgeons (Chi) W 72-0
10/19/1904 vs American Medical School (Chi) W 72-0
10/22/1904 vs West Virginia W 130-0
10/25/1905 vs Albion W 70-0
11/25/1905 vs Oberlin W 75-0
10/21/1939 at Chicago W 85-0
9/25/1976 vs Navy W 70-14
11/7/1981 vs Illinois W 70-21
10/8/2016 at Rutgers W 78-0


 

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raleighwood

October 12th, 2016 at 10:21 AM ^

.....but I think that the 1976 game between Navy (Carter) and Michigan (Ford) was the first and only time that the alma maters of the two presidential candidates played against each other in an election year.

That was my brother's freshman year at Michigan and I sort of think that I was at the game (was in 6th grade) but don't completely remember.

 

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raleighwood

October 12th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^

I did some additional research going back to 1928 (hard to Wiki some of the losing candidates prior to that).  Using the "undergrad" criteria, I found one other instance of presidential candidates playing each other in football during an election year.  Bush (Yale) vs Gore (Harvard) in 2000.  It still looks like Navy vs. Michigan was the first time.

Another interesting note:  Thomas Dewey (lost to FDR in 1944 and Truman in 1948) was a Michigan grad.  Born and raised in Owosso.

 

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MGoBrewMom

October 12th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^

I was arguing with my Dad because he said we haven't scored 70 points since he was alive. I vividly remembered we beat a military branch school 70-14 because I was there. I couldn't remember the year, but I remember loving how the cheerleaders did flips off the wall for every point. Apparently, I was 12 when that happened. So thanks for the post, WD.

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JClay

October 12th, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^

The statement it was the 4th Michigan broke 70 in a B1G game is shaky, at best.

Aside from the fact that the Big Ten name wasn't used until 1917, neither Ohio State nor Michigan State were in the Big Nine/Western Conference as of 1902.

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LSAClassOf2000

October 12th, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^

For the most part, that seems to be the case here, but to be fair, Michigan never had the chance to play the Chicago College Of Osteopathic Medicine, which for many years was tops in their conference - I believe the Chicagoland Physician's Conference -  for deep body massages, if nothing else. That, and trying to get to Downers Grove can be hard at certain times of the day anyway, so I imagine the logistics of such a matchup came into play 100 years ago too. 

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Alton

October 12th, 2016 at 11:00 AM ^

The last 2 times Michigan scored 70 points (1976 Navy, 1981 Illinois), Michigan was losing the game midway through the second quarter.

Navy led Michigan 14-12 in the second quarter and I think (going from memory) it was only 21-14 at halftime.  Illinois led Michigan 21-7 in the second quarter and was very close to going up 28-7 until Michigan grabbed an interception in the end zone.

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Durham Blue

October 12th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^

I find it impossible to compare scores today with anything before about 1960.  The parity in the game today, the heightened competition, the fact that it was a B1G foe (yes, a weak one but still) on the road and not an FCS tomato can at home, etc, all make it much more difficult to dominate in the fashion that we did.  I rate our 78-0 win as the most historically dominant win in Michigan history.

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Ali G Bomaye

October 12th, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^

I like to imagine that "Physicians & Surgeons" isn't actually a school, but rather a random collections of doctors who Michigan happened to scrape together as an opponent.

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MGoVictory

October 12th, 2016 at 4:40 PM ^

I am curious, I've heard that Michigan set a team record with nine rushing touchdowns in the 78-0 win against Rutgers, but certainly many of these other games had more rushing touchdowns, particularly in the 100+ games. What gives? Lack of a box score in those early game?

Also, some news outlets, like mlive, called this "the program's third largest margin of victory ... ever." This doesn't make sense unless that are excluding games before the 130-0 drubbing of West Virginia on 10/22/1904.

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drzoidburg

October 12th, 2016 at 6:33 PM ^

So it looks like 11th largest margin of victory out of 926 wins, and 2nd largest on the road I wonder if Rutgers could beat 1903 Beloit...toss up i'd say

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