Minnesota and Michigan played each other twice in 1926, including Fielding Yost's last game as head coach in the season finale. Why?? Here's the deal.
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The Dickinson System: How an Econ Prof determined the National Champion
Harry Kipke’s 1932 and 1933 teams were champions not by virtue of a poll of writers or coaches. The two titles were determined by the most widely recognized method at the time: the Dickinson System, a formula devised by Illinois economics professor Frank Dickinson that ranked college teams at the end of each season.
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Mascots and Death
The Detroit News announced the winners of its Michigan Wolverine mascot design contest early this morning.
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Depression Radio – 1930s Michigan Football (WTKA audio)
You didn’t hear me this morning? That’s probably because I was on with Ira on WTKA 1050AM at 7 a.m. and you were still sawing logs. But have no fear my well-rested friend, the podcast goes here (give it a few seconds to load up): [display_podcast] It’s a segment of nearly 25 minutes of uninterrupted Michigan football history, talking about Harry Kipke and the wild 1930s. We hit on just about everything and of course there was caller Ed at the end of the segment. For more context on several of the items discussed today: The charity Game with Wisconsin (1931) When the Little Brown Jug disappeared from 1931-1933 Whitey Wistert, the first of the great #11 Wistert brothers (1931-..) The fall of Harry Kipke (1937) Keeping Tom Harmon at Michigan (1938) The Willis Ward Protests (1934) Speaking of the Willis Ward/Gerald Ford and the 1934 Georgia Tech game, I mentioned on air that the documentary created by the guys at the Emmy-nominated Stunt3 Multimedia is scheduled to debut sometime around August (still waiting on official word). I understand that Stunt3 is accepting new investors for their projects if you or someone you know wants to get into the film game—contact them here if interested.
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Moe’s Knows Bo
Good for Moe’s and UGP for scoring an exclusive partnership with the Bo people. A portion of the proceeds from each sale of Bo Schembechler apparel will be donated to the Heart of a Champion Research Fund and they’re nice: Rumor has so additional designs are in the works so stay tuned. Go Blue, Go Bo, Go to Moe’s!
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Poof Goes the Vest?
The saga continues on the Big Ten all-time coaching statistics. Readers of this site know that at the urging of a pesky blogger, the Big Ten officials updated their records last season to reflect the time Michigan left the conference from 1907-1916. The result was a boost to Fielding Yost’s lead over Jim Tressel in conference win percentage by coaches from .833 to .888 (here are the current numbers, through last year’s bowls): Mark Snyder discussed the ramifications of the Ohio State self-imposed vacated wins on the all-time records in this recent piece, & note Mark corrected Yost’s official win pct last night ;) As Snyder points out, I think we can assume nothing is official until the NCAA/Big Ten complete their investigations. I asked the Big Ten offices to confirm and I’m guessing they will say it be resolved when the investigation is completed. [Update July 11] I got the expected response from the Big Ten’s Scott Chipman: My question: Scott, is there an official ruling from the Big Ten on how the Ohio State sanctions/vacated wins affect Tressel’s conference win percentage? Or is this all pending the final NCAA/B10 rulings on the sanctions? Chipman’s reply: Greg, As of right now, that’s all TBD. I see a few possible outcomes that could impact these records once again: Final Punishment…
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40,000 Jugs
Enhancing the analysis of the true origins of the Little Brown Jug rivalry, I add this nugget. We know that in the aftermath of the 1903 brutal battle with Minnesota, Michigan left a water jug behind and after a series of events a college football tradition was born. As discussed in much detail here, the common contention that Fielding Yost requested that Minnesota athletic director Louis “Doc'” Cooke return the Wolverine water jug (and was told he’d have to “win it back”) never happened.
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Dirty Harry (WTKA audio)
When I hopped in the car Friday morning I was happy to hear the discussion on the WTKA 1050AM morning show focused on the 1930s and in particular, former M coach Harry Kipke. Ira took a few calls including a notable one from listener Don who broke down the whole discussion of “worst” three year stretch ever, and the fall of the Kipke era. Here’s Don’s call: [display_podcast] Well done, Don. As far as Don’s online Michigan historian, I’m pretty sure that’s me and he’s correct that you can find a lot more on that era on these pages. Regarding the worst stretch ever, I started that discussion three seasons ago when local writers started calling RichRod’s first the worst of all time. And despite what folks say (including our athletic department), by almost any measure the 3 year stretches from 1934-1936 and from 1935-1937 are worse, and Don adds some great points about our dismal performance against our rivals. It’s not so much that I care if you make a statement about the worst or best or whatever. But out of respect for those who care about the history and traditions of this university, at least mix in a “one of the” or “among the” before you drop in the word “worst” or “best”, assuming you are not willing to…
