For Saturday’s show we roll back to 1945. As I mention, that year is not the among the finest seasons in Michigan football history. But what Fritz Crisler did against the mighty Army team became part of the lore of college football history. Here’s the clip:
For the final home game of 2018, you can hear this live inside the Go Labatt Blue Victors Lounge starting at noon on Saturday, or on 1050AM WTKA or WTKA.com. You can catch an archive of the nine seasons of This Week in Michigan Football history clips here. Go Blue!
Here’s the script for Saturday’s edition:
This week we go back in 1945 ago as Fritz Crisler’s #14 Wolverines were set to face the #11-ranked Purdue Boilermakers at The Big House. 1945 isn’t among the all-time finest seasons in Meechigan football lore, but thanks to Crisler, the season holds a special place in the history of college football.
Before the beating the Boilers 27-13 on this day 73 years ago Team 66 had already faced the most BRUTAL schedule in the land. That 1945 season included match-ups against #1 Army, in a game played at Yankee Stadium, and later, against #4 Navy at Baltimore Stadium.
In the battle against Army, the Fritzmen faced one of the most power teams in college football history. The Cadets featured perhaps the fiercest duo EVER to lace them up in Heisman winners Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard.
To support football teams during world war II, the rules were bent to permit freshman to play. Naturally the service academies had little trouble finding men to play, especially Army!! But Michigan needed every young man they could find.
Fritz described the dilemma: “How were our poor, spindly-legged freshmen going to stand up against these West Pointers all afternoon???” As a leader on the college rules committee, Crisler had an idea. He knew of a subtle 1941 rule change that loosened another restriction during the war – namely more freedom to substitute players. But in 4 years no coach truly took advantage of it – until now.
To contain Blanchard and Davis, Crisler freely substituted “or platooned” players — and college football history was made. While Army won that 1945 game – Michigan kept it close. As Crisler later put it, “It should have been much, much worse” and his Wolverines returned home to face the rest of the schedule.
Along with the win over Purdue, Michigan closed the season with a 7-3 victory over the Buckeyes.Crisler’s innovative crew finished Number 6 in final the AP poll, and more importantly, set the course for future greatness. Just two years later the MAD MAGICIANS would dazzle the college football world and claim BACK-TO-BACK national championships.Go blue!
BEAT the Hoosiers!
