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‘.  

Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is a Schembechler-era savant and once again he’ll be diligently handing out his postgame helmet stickers after each game. Sap has pored over hours and hours of U-M games over several decades, and in these posts he’s able to tie the present to the past. I encourage you to subscribe to Dr. Sap on YouTube, or follow Sap on Twitter: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – Against Maryland, there were several players (once again) that were deserving of helmets sticker on offense. While that’s great to hear and see, it makes my job tougher. Speaking of tough, ain’t no one tougher on this Wolverine squad than Ben Mason!  My gosh he runs with such power, emotion, ferocity and intensity!  And, #42 got some hops, too!  Great day for a hurdle, isn’t it, @UMichFootball‘s @benchmason42? pic.twitter.com/WQub0a5nlR — Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 6, 2018 Never expected a fullback to leap defenders in a single bound, but that’s what Superman, er, Ben Mason did against the Terrapins, yesterday. His game is infectious and that’s saying something for a fullback who is not an every down player. But hey, maybe he should be! DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – I gotta tell ya, I was worried about this game – much like Bo used to worry about playing Northwestern back in he 70s.  Schembechler would routinely tell everyone how good and improved…

Sorry to be the bearer of these tidings, but if you are heading back to town this weekend for the Homecoming game there’s a couple things missing on campus: There will be no SAE Mudbowl this Saturday.   Organizers plan to hold the annual pigskin slopfest on November 3, 2018 and the event once again benefits Mott.  You can support it here.   I’m confident they will NOT be crowning a Mud Bowl “queen” either like they did in ’54: Moe’s is closed.  Yes, the iconic Moe Sports Shops on North University, a mainstay of campus for over 100 years, closed in June.   To cheer you up, here’s a Homecoming sign from 1947 posted up on East Quad:

Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis is a Schembechler-era savant and once again he’ll be diligently handing out his postgame helmet stickers after each game. Sap has pored over hours and hours of U-M games over several decades, and in these posts he’s able to tie the present to the past. I encourage you to subscribe to Dr. Sap on YouTube, or follow Sap on Twitter: So how many of you thought this game was over when the score was, 17-0? As poorly as the Wolverines looked, were you confident they would rebound? Did you really think this was going to be a tale of two halves? Did you know that prior to the Northwestern game in 1984, Bo said this? The more things change, the more they stay the same. So in that vein let’s hand out some helmet stickers, just like Bo did back in the day. OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – In tight games, like this one was, you wanna put the ball in the hands of your playmakers. Saturday night, that playmaker was Shea Patterson. When a 3rd down conversion was needed to keep the drive (and game) alive, #2 kept moving the chains with his arm and/or his legs. He played a gutty game and willed his team to victory. A game like that will not only endear you to your teammates & coaches, but…