The most famous, and best-supported, of the
Michigan varsity teams is the football team. Michigan's football program
is among the most storied and successful in college football history.
Michigan won the first Rose Bowl game in 1902, has won an NCAA-record
849 games through the 2005 season, and has an all-time winning
percentage of .745, also an NCAA record. The Wolverine football program
claims 11 national titles: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932,
1933, 1947, 1948 and 1997.
Michigan has a major rivalry with Ohio State, considered one of the
fiercest rivalries in American sports. In a pair of ESPN fan polls, in
2000 and 2003, the Michigan-Ohio State series was voted the greatest
rivalry in sports.[2] Michigan's meeting with Ohio State is always the
last game of the regular season and has provided many memorable
contests, such as the "Snow Bowl" of 1950. The game often decides the
Big Ten title.
Michigan also has an intrastate rival in Michigan State; the schools'
football teams compete for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. The Wolverines have a
tradition-rich history with the University of Minnesota. The two
football teams compete for the Little Brown Jug, a five-gallon jug with
the respective schools' "M" on either side and the scores of previous
games down the middle. The Little Brown Jug is the oldest trophy in
Division I-A football, first appearing in 1903.
Finally, the University of Michigan has a rivalry with the University of
Notre Dame. According to popular history, football was introduced at
Notre Dame in 1887 when members of the Michigan football team taught the
game to a group of Notre Dame students while spending the afternoon in
South Bend, Indiana, where Notre Dame is located, en route to play
another school in Chicago. Michigan won the game, 8-0. The game
traditionally takes place early in the season. Going into the 2006
season, Michigan has played Notre Dame more than any other school
outside the Big 10 conference (33 times) and UM leads Notre Dame
head-to-head with an overall 18-14-1 all time record.
