Given the buzz around the prospect of your beloved Wolverines opening the season in a maize alternate uniform, you should know it’s not the first time. Readers of this site are aware of the canary disaster of 1928, but here’s a refresher: I first read about all this thanks a tip from Bruce Madej, the legendary U-M SID, who reviewed the Uniform Timeline sent over a ditty from his book, Champions of the West. Within a section of the book talking about Fritz Crisler and the launch of the winged helmet at Michigan in 1938, it gets into a little uniform history— including this spicy meatball: The only change in the typical blue uniforms before 1949 came in 1928. As Michigan planned to play Navy in Baltimore, the Midshipmen refused to wear any other color than their traditional blue. Therefore, Michigan came out in bright yellow jerseys with blue numerals. The team was said to look like canaries, and the uniforms were put away after the 6-6 tie. Here’s the description from the November 8, 1928 Michigan Daily: Fast forward to today, and we can see that Navy did indeed have a uniform that resembled the gear the Wolverines wore back in the 1920s. (But note, FWIW, I think that happened a lot back then). Anyway – Via eBay, here’s…
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Bo’s Best Back – The Final Four
OK, Dr. Sap got us to this point now it’s up to you. Who was Bo’s Best Back? [listen to WTKA 1050AM @michiganinsider Friday 4/7 8am EDT for more] — MVictors (@MVictors) April 5, 2017 Here’s the bracket:
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Bo’s Best Back: Round 3
With the first two rounds in the books, it’s time to turn our attention to Round 3. This time, the criteria used for each pairing will be the best, or signature, run from each running back. When you think of these running backs, what play do you think of? Whose one play is better than the other’s? To make it easier for you and your memory banks, I went deep into the Dr. Sap Archives and captured what I feel is the best play/run for each of our remaining running backs. The links provided will give you a trip down memory lane for sure and bring us one step closer to determining Bo’s Best Back. Here are the brackets: ROUND 3 – BEST / SIGNATURE RUN 1970s BURTON REGION (#1) Rob Lytle vs. (#4) Russell Davis 1976 Rob Lytle 75-yard TD run vs. Michigan State 1976 Russell Davis 85-yard TD run vs. Stanford While Davis’s run was right up there with Tom Harmon’s record-setting jaunt against California in 1940, it did come against the Stanford backups. But should that matter? The run by Lytle is why he was dubbed the “Fremont Flash” by Bob Ufer. Another close one to call, but I gotta go with Lytle. That run against MSU served notice to everyone that Michigan and #41 were a…
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Bo’s Best Back: Round 2
By Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis Read the breakdown from Round 1 and here’s the updated bracket: Here are the round 2 match-ups and winners, again, based on each running back’s signature game – all as selected by Dr. Sap: 1970’s Burton Region (#1) Rob Lytle Season Opponent Att Net Yd Yd/Att TD Long 1976 Michigan St 10 180 18.0 1 75 (#9) Chuck Heater Season Opponent Att Net Yd Yd/Att TD Long 1972 at Illinois 29 155 5.3 2 15 This numbers in this pairing are surprising both players. Heater lugged the pigskin 29 times, gained over 150 yards and scored 2 TD’s in Champaign-Urbana. That’s solid! That being said, The Fremont Flash, as Bob Ufer used to call Rob Lytle, carried only 10 times against MSU in 1976, but #41 torched the Sparty D for 180 yards – an 18.0 yard per carry average (still a Michigan record to this day) – UNREAL!! Gawdy numbers all over the place, but Lytle gets the nod to move to Round 3. WINNER: ROB LYTLE (#4) Russell Davis Season Opponent Att Net Yd Yd/Att TD Long 1976 Stanford 7 116 16.6 2 85 (#5) Ed Shuttlesworth Season Opponent Att Net Yd Yd/Att TD Long 1972 Tulane 20 151 7.5 3 18 Another fullback matchup and this one is a doozie! Easy Ed…
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Bo’s Best Back: Round 1
Guest post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis Much like I did a few years ago with the Bo Brackets in trying to determine Bo’s best team, this time I decided to answer the age old question: Who was Bo’s best running back? There have been some great ones over the years and I thought it would be a fun look back on what these former Wolverines did on the gridiron. Again, when looking back, I kept the backs in their own era or decade – this makes it easier when comparing stats and accomplishments. As a result, I put the best 16 backs of the 70’s on one side and the top 16 backs of the 80’s on the other side of the brackets. I used the following criteria to help determine who would advance each round to become Bo’s Best Back: Round 1 – Best Stats (Yards Gained, TD’s, etc.) Round 2 – Best/Signature Game Round 3 – Best/Signature Run Round 4 – The Hypothetical Handoff. If you needed someone to carry the rock on 4th and goal on the last play to win the game, who would it be? Round 5 – Reader/Viewer Vote Alright, enough of the preamble. Below are the brackets: On to the match-ups! ROUND 1 – ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS BURTON REGION (#1)…
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Fake News
From the Michigan Daily archives, Saturday January 19, 1901: The news was a little less fake a couple weeks later, February 1, 1901:
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Michigan Returned to the Big Ten (1917) – But What if We Didn’t?
Given the history and deep ties between U-M and the B1G conference since those days astray, it seems hard to comprehend an alternate reality where your beloved Wolverines are not part of the conference. I really never have put much thought into the notion of U-M going it alone.
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The Old Man Himself
Check out this gem. From February 1946 and the Michigan Daily digital archives. Bill Mullendorf, an outgoing senior and Daily sport editor, composed what appears to be a farewell column. Instead of dropping a retrospective of the great sports triumphs during his days at the Daily, he chose instead to discuss an unplanned encounter a Michigan legend. It turns out he bumped into Fielding Yost at practice in the fall of 1944 and he shared a few memories. Amazing. Give it a read – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed: Yost passed away few months after this was published. Follow MVictors on Twitter
