For Saturday’s edition of This Week in Michigan Football History we headed back briefly to October 1st in 1927 and 1938 to acknowledge the first game at Michigan Stadium and the first time the Wolverines donned the coveted winged helmet respectively. From there we went to 1977 on this day exactly four decades ago, as General Bo Schembechler’s third-ranked Wolverines were set for an epic clash in Ann Arbor against fifth-ranked Texas A&M.   The game was a blow-out, but A&M was enamored with Bo and later tried to lure him to college station.   Here’s how it went down: [display_podcast] As always, this segment appeared on 1050AM WTKA and 1330AM WTRX’s epic KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff prior to each game.  You can hear it live inside the Go Labatt Blue Light Victors Lounge starting 4 hours prior to kickoff.  Go Blue! You can listen to all of This Week in Michigan Football History clips here. October 1st marks a very special anniversary in Meeechigan football lore for two of our most enduring traditions.First, Fielding Yost’s dream came to fruition on October 1st, 1927, as it marked the first game in Michigan Stadium, a 33 to nothing shutout of Ohio Wesleyan.  Eleven years later on this day in 1938, Fritz Crisler made his Wolverine coaching debut and outfitted the maize and blue with the iconic Winged Helmet for the first…

Here are the Decal Champions for Week 5 by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – If you are going to be anything in life, be clutch. Why? Because clutch is king! I’ve played and coached in enough sporting events to realize that you are not going to steamroll every opponent you face. You are not going to ace every test you take. Eventually you will play some one, some team, some coach, who is just as good as you are. When that happens, you gotta be clutch. Why? Because, you will have to scratch and claw and fight for every point you get. Invariably the difference will come down to one key play and when that play presents itself to you, you gotta make a clutch throw, clutch move and clutch catch. Just like Wilton Speight and Amara Darboh did in the final minutes against Wisconsin. Clutch throw. Clutch catch. Clutch! DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – With Channing Stribling the next man up due to injury, you just knew that the Badgers were going to throw to his side of the field to see what kind of game he had. In a close contest where turnovers & field position were key, #8 came up with TWO HUGE INT’s! The quality depth in the Michigan Secondary this year is starting to show its…

Dr. Sap doles out the helmet stickers after Michigan's big win over Penn State in 2016:

For Saturday’s edition of This Week in Michigan Football History, we go head back to 1949 when U-M was rolling with back-to-back national championships riding a 23 game winning streak that dated back to 1946.   Our friends from East Lansing were the opponent but their fans were up to NO GOOD: Foiled again! As always, this segment will appear all season on 1050AM WTKA and 1330AM WTRX epic KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff prior to each game.  You can hear it live inside the Go Labatt Blue Light Victors Lounge starting at 11:30am Saturday.  Go Blue! You can listen to all of This Week in Michigan Football History clips here. Follow MVictors on Twitter This week we go back to 1949, as coach Bennie Oosterbaan and the Wolverines entered the season as the defending back-to-back national champions. Michigan hoped to continue its remarkable 23 game winning streak that dated back to 1946. The season kicked off against Spartans of Michigan State College, in this game played 67 years ago today at the Big House.The more things change the more they stay the same, and wouldn’t you know it, our farming friends from East Lansing had more on their minds than just football. Before the game Spartan fans invaded Ann Arbor with the hope of executing a variety of pranks, or crimes, depending on your perspective. One group snuck into…

On the field right after the game Jake Butt talked about how Colorado punched them in the face, but “we punched back harder.”   Imagine that.  Punching back.  Sadly I feel like that’s a move we haven’t had around here for a long time.   A few other notes from the game: I’ve held back judgement on Speight until I saw him under pressure.  He got some Saturday and obviously had a few rough moments.  I even think he got a few boos (or maybe they were McDooooms) from the crowd.  He responded nicely by working with Butt on some higher percentage throws and seem to get more comfortable moving around and making plays.  I’m optimistic. On Peppers: Defense: We already know he’s quick, but on defense he not only gets to the spot, he’s stops guys dead.  He’s so strong for his size.  Once he engages it’s over – the opponent is stopped cold. Punts:  I can’t remember a better punt returner in the last few decades.  As Sap pointed out, he sets up the blocks and just picks a spot and attacks- every time. Hype:  I feel like this was the game where #5 truly lived up to all the love and all the hype.  If I’m a rival fan I’m thinking that the Peppers hype was just typical…

Here are the Decal Champions for Week 3 by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – In a game that was in doubt well into the 2nd half, Jake Butt stepped up and played like the dominant player we all know he can be. Not really needed or called upon in the first two games, #88 showed us that he still has it and needs to be accounted for where ever he is on the field. Seven catches for 87 yards is a testament to his importance in this offense. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – Easy to go with #5 here because Jabrill Peppers exemplified the critical, fundamental nature of playing defensive football. Much like a hammer that keeps hitting a nail, eventually the nail will go down. That’s what happened with CU’s QB. Sure he was gutty and made plays, but he got hit one too many times and you can’t make any plays when you are on the bench. With 9 tackles, 3.5 TFL and 1 sack, I credit Jabrill for playing a big part of Michigan’s (hammer) Defense. SPECIAL TEAMS CHAMPION – Did I not tell you that Peppers was going to take a kick to the house before the season was over? The dude has instincts that you just can’t coach. The way he returns kicks by setting up…

For Saturday’s edition of This Week in Michigan Football History we go back 28 years to a highly anticipated non-conference battle against Jimmy Johnson’s #1 Miami Hurricanes. [display_podcast] No, this one didn’t work out for your beloved Blue – but the tale of a football season is NEVER written in September! As always, this segment will appear all season on 1050AM WTKA and 1330AM WTRX epic KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff prior to each game.  You can hear it live inside the Go Labatt Blue Light Victors Lounge starting at 8am Saturday.  Go Blue! You can listen to all of This Week in Michigan Football History clips here. Follow MVictors on Twitter