Update: Refreshed the data with the 2021 weights: Original post: The posting things like the tale of the tape from the epic 1903 Minnesota and Michigan game always sparks a few chuckles. ICYMI: So I took a gander at the Roster Database at the Bentley Historical Library. Notes: The original dataset included a record for every player for every season. After removing rows that didn’t have weight and the bad data (1997 OG Eric “Plankton” Warner weighs 2.5 pounds), we had nearly 10,000 records. Keep in mind the “roster” appears to include everyone who even sniffed the gridiron – ineligible freshman, redshirts, and back-in-the-day second teams, etc. I’m not a data scientist and spent about 14 minutes on this. Chart FWIW: A closer look at the spikes and dips since the late 1980s, kind of looks like welp guy ¯\_(?)_/¯ Updated: Here’s the average height. Despite the big jumps of weight in the 80s and 90s, height has basically remained flat since the late 1960s: Comparing height and weight, here’s how much players weighed per inch of height – the welp pattern is exaggerated since weight jumped up and down, but height stayed about the same: Looking at home states. Stacking up the height and weight based on the listed home state – only shows those States with over 50…
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Fate, Cruelty and Our Share – Sights & Sounds | Michigan 29, Gophers 26
Given what happened two weeks ago you don’t have to feel for the Gophers – you have permission to leave the sympathy to everyone else. But I feel for them.
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Little Brown Jug Champions | Dr Sap’s Decals
Guest Post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis The last time Minnesota won the Little Brown Jug in Minneapolis, Marion Barber SENIOR was the running back for The Gophers. That was back in 1977, when Michigan was #1 in country and Jim Harbaugh was roaming the sidelines for the Wolverines – as one of the Michigan Coaches’ sons! Like Wilton Speight said, maybe the Football Gods WERE smiling down on Michigan Saturday night. Speaking of #3, here are your LBJ Champions: OFFENSIVE CHAMPION – Gotta give it to QB Wilton Speight. His first three completions in his career? WoW! He was obviously tight at first but it sounded like the old ball coach settled him down and stuck with him. Sure enough, he delivered the goods in a BIG way – especially on that 2-point conversion pass. He has come a long way since the verbal tongue-lashing he received from Coach Harbaugh that we saw on the HBO Real Sports feature a few months ago. DEFENSIVE CHAMPION – I haven’t seen a game end on a defensive stop since the 2012 OT Game against Northwestern when Kenny Demens made the pivotal play. But this one felt a lot like the 1993 Michigan – Penn State Game at Happy Valley. Michigan stopped JoePa and the Nittany Lions 4 times at the goal…
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Never Cross the Stripes
Violation! Even on Halloween this is frightening: This isn’t supposed to happen, people! Phone calls are being made to HQ.
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Getting it Wrong: Early (Incorrect) Stories about the Origins of the Little Brown Jug Rivalry
A look at many of the myths (most proven 100% false) about the origins of the Little Brown Jug rivalry. Let's go!
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Little Brown Jug History in < 4 Minutes | This Week In Michigan Football History
Wooo! If you want your Jug History dished out slowly over 1,000s of words, read every post in Little Brown Jug Lore here. If that’s not your speed, here’s the history of the jug CRAMMED into a 3:45 audio clip: [display_podcast] You can listen to all 6 years of This Week In Michigan Football History here. And don’t forget to catch the whole KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff on WTKA 1050AM starting 4 hours before each game, and of course live in the Bud Light Victors Lounge tomorrow starting at 11:30am. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Did Michigan Really Want the Little Brown Jug Returned?
The story of the origins of the Little Brown Jug rivalry is being retold and again this week. I’ve maintained for the past few years that the idea that Yost wrote a letter to Minnesota asking that the jug be returned is not only silly, there’s plenty of evidence to backup that it’s just false. To those just tuning in this week for some jug knowledge here’s the basic breakdown of what really happened, and further, why the idea that Yost wrote a letter to get the crock back is far-fetched at best.
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A Remembrance of Bill Daley
Michigan 1943 consensus All American fullback Bill Daley passed away on October 19, 2015 at 96 years old in Edina, Minnesota. He was a bruising and fast FB, HB and DB at 6 feet 2 inches and 206 pounds (big in those days). He led the 1943 Wolverines to Coach Fritz Crisler's first Big Ten Conference championship and a final AP 3rd place National ranking.
