The Buckeyes have beaten the Wolverines five straight times. It's been 2,187 days since Michigan last beat Ohio State. Yes, we're counting.
The football rivalry between the schools is special. There is hatred, yes. But there's also a certain respect, an acknowledgment that both schools are premier institutions of higher learning . . . even if Michigan is fielding a team that would struggle to beat many Cleveland-area CYO squads.
Saturday marks the 106th showdown between the Scarlet and Gray and the Maize and Blue. No better time for us Ohioans to learn a bit about the school up north.
The school was founded in 1817 in Detroit (20 years before Michigan became a state). The college's first name was "the Catholepistemiad," which was changed to "the University of Michigan" four years later when it was discovered that none of the students could spell "Catholepistemiad."
The first organized sport on the Michigan campus was cricket, in 1860. Baseball followed in 1864. The university is hoping organized football returns in 2010.
The UM library purchased its first book -- J.J. Audubon's Birds of North America -- in 1838. Students immediately pored through it, with crayons in hand.
Maize, a shade of yellow, and azure blue were adopted as the school's colors in 1867. The original scheme was going to be white and blue, but the football team's pants somehow turned yellow when they heard a state university in Ohio was in the works.
After the move from Detroit, the school first held classes in Ann Arbor in 1841, and the student body consisted of six freshmen and one sophomore. Students each paid a $10 fee and no tuition. The basketball players, on the other hand, were paid $10 to attend.
As late as 1845 the Ann Arbor campus was covered with a crop of wheat every summer, grown by a maintenance worker as part of his compensation. Today's students continue the tradition of on-campus cultivating, especially for an annual Ann Arbor festival called Hash Bash.
In 1869, UM established the nation's first university-owned hospital. "We need a place," said the university president at the time, "where our football players can convalesce and receive therapy after the Ohio State game."
The team at UM became known as "the Wolverines" around 1899. The name would stick until around 2001, when the team would become known as "OSU's doormat."
In 1901, legendary coach Fielding H. Yost took over the football team, winning six national championships with his "point a minute" teams. Current coach Rich Rodriguez has tried to follow in the footsteps, perfecting a "loss a week" system.
It is true that the Wolverines have 11 national titles. Two even occurred after the leather-helmet era.
One-time Michigan students include Ted Kaczynski, Jack Kevorkian and, perhaps scariest of all, Iggy Pop.
Michigan has long eschewed a mascot on the field. But in the 1920s, an actual live wolverine named Biff (no joke) was kept in a cage on the sideline. The practice ended suddenly and mysteriously, about the time the UM dorm mess halls began serving Biff Bisque, a gamey meat stew.
The crew of Apollo 15 placed a plaque on the moon in 1971 establishing a lunar chapter of the UM Alumni Association. "It's fitting," said a Michigan spokesman. "The moon is cold, desolate and dark, much like our campus after the annual loss to Ohio State."
Michigan is often referred to as "the Harvard of the West." That nickname came after "the Ohio State of the North" was rejected by a committee as "too much of a stretch."
Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:46 am
