October 12 marks the anniversary of the first time Michigan faced Michigan State on the gridiron. Of course, our East Lansing brothers have had a few name changes over the years. For this first meeting in 1898 they were Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C.), in 1925 that evolved to Michigan State College (MSC), and finally in 1955, MSU.
The name changes extend to the nickname as well. Back in 1898 M.A.C. went as the Aggies. It wasn’t until around 1925 that the school adopted the Spartans moniker.
The first game in the series didn’t require much out of your Wolverines. According to the October 13, 1898, Michigan Daily:
The Varsity defeated the eleven from Michigan Agricultural College yesterday afternoon by a score of 39 to 0 in a game that did not afford them half the practice that they would have in a line-up against the third scrub eleven.
Things worked out just fine for Michigan in 1898. A few weeks later the season ended with a win over Chicago. This earned U-M’s first Big Ten title in history and inspired student Louis Elbel to compose ‘The Victors‘.
