Michigan began competing in intercollegiate football in 1879. The Wolverines are members of the Big Ten Conference and have won or shared 42 league titles, more than any other football program in any conference. Since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936, Michigan has finished in the top 10 a record 37 times. Their current head coach is Rich Rodriguez.
Program records and achievements
Wins and championships
Highest all-time winning percentage in NCAA Division I-A/FBS history (.736)
Most all-time wins in NCAA Division I-A/FBS history (882)
The most winning seasons (110)
The most undefeated seasons of teams currently competing in Division I-A/FBS (23)
One of only three schools with a winning record against every Division I-A/FBS conference
Attendance and television
The largest crowd to ever attend an NCAA football game: 113,090 on September 4, 2010 at Michigan Stadium vs. Connecticut
The longest streak in home game attendance of over 100,000 (229 games; since November 8, 1975 vs. Purdue)
The most televised school in college football history: 413 televised games
Current streaks
The longest current streak of games in Division I-A/FBS since last being shut out: 330 games; Michigan was last shut out on October 20, 1984, at Iowa; this is the second longest scoring streak in Division I-A/FBS history trailing BYU's 361-game streak from 1975 to 2003[4]
Honored pageantry
The number one sports rivalry: Michigan – Ohio State, according to ESPN's "10 Greatest Sports Rivalries"[5]
"The Victors" is one of the few fight songs in the Hall of Fame
Michigan has played in 39 bowl games in its history, compiling a record of 19–20. Before missing a bowl game in 2008, Michigan had made a bowl game 33 years in a row and had had a winning season for 40 straight years. From 1918–1945, the Big Ten Conference did not allow its teams to participate in bowls. From 1946–1974, only a conference champion, or a surrogate representative, was allowed to attend a bowl, the Rose Bowl, and no team could go two years in a row, with one exception.
Michigan plays two rivalry trophy games. Michigan plays Minnesota for the Little Brown Jug, with their record in games played for the Jug, which dates to 1909, being 65–22–3. The Wolverines currently hold the trophy having won the 2008 contest. Michigan also competes against Michigan State for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, which was introduced in 1953 by the then governor of Michigan, G. Mennen Williams. Michigan State currently holds the trophy for three years running. The overall series record for the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is 67–31–5 in Michigan's favor.
Michigan Most Valuable Player Award (1926-1994), officially renamed the Bo Schembechler Award (1995-present); winners of the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the Big Ten's MVP also noted:[8]
Jim Cnockaert (2003). Stadium Stories: Michigan Wolverines: Colorful Tales of the Maize and Blue. Globe Pequot. ISBN0-7627-2784-5.
Kevin Allen, Art Regner, Nate Brown, and Bo Schembechler (2005). What it Means to Be a Wolverine: Michigan's Greatest Players, Talk about Michigan Football. Triumph Books. ISBN1-57243-661-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
References
^"NCAA Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2014. pp. 13–18. Retrieved December 19, 2014.