The 1922 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1922 Big Ten Conference football season. In Fielding H. Yost's 22nd season as head coach, Michigan compiled a record of 6–0–1 (4–0 in Big Ten Conference games), outscored opponents 183–13, and tied with Iowa for the Big Ten championship. On defense, the team did not allow its opponents to score a point in the first five games of the season, and its scoring defense of 1.85 points per game is among the lowest in Michigan football history.
Highlights of the 1922 season included participation in dedication games for Vanderbilt University's Dudley Field, the first large athletic stadium in the South, and Ohio State University's Ohio Stadium. In the latter, the Wolverines shut out the Buckeyes, 19–0.
Halfback Harry Kipke led the team in scoring with 48 points in six games, handled punting responsibilities, and was also one of the team's best defensive players. Kipke was a consensus All-American, receiving first-team honors from Walter Camp, Athletic world, Walter Eckersall, Norman E. Brown, and Lawrence Perry. Team captain and right end Paul Goebel was also selected as a first-team All-American by Athletic world magazine based on polling of 214 coaches. Left end Bernard Kirk, who received first-team All-American honors from Eckersall, died of meningitis in December 1922 after sustaining a brain injury in an automobile crash.
Schedule
Preseason Months before the start of the 1922 season, reports circulated that Fielding H. Yost intended to resign as Michigan's head football coach. He had served in that capacity since 1901 and had taken on additional responsibilities as the university's athletic director in 1921. In late February 1922, Yost denied the reports and said, "I have just begun my real work at Michigan, and I am not considering resigning."
The months before the 1922 football season also brought change to athletic administration in the Big Ten Conference. The member schools created a new position for a commissioner of athletics and appointed John L. Griffith to the post. In August 1922, Yost, who was a member of the committee that chose Griffith, rejected suggestions that Griffith's appointment was an indication that there were compliance problems that needed to be corrected. Rather, Yost described the appointment as a "progressive move" toward solving future problems. Yost noted, "At least ninety-five percent of the men are good, perhaps five percent are bad, yet we hear more about the five percent who go wrong than the much greater number who play the game on the square."
Several key players from the 1921 team were lost to graduation. These included halfback Eddie Usher, who played for the Green Bay Packers in 1922, and fullback Frank Steketee, who had been a first-team All-American as a freshman in 1918. Despite the loss of Usher and Steketee, the 1922 backfield was promising with Irwin Uteritz, Harry Kipke, Franklin Cappon, and Doug Roby all returning from the 1921 team. Michigan's biggest weakness going into the 1922 season was the center of its line. All-American center Ernie Vick graduated and joined the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team in June 1922. Also gone were starting right guard, Hugh Wilson, and starting left guard, "Duke" Dunne. The 1923 Michiganensian summed up the challenges facing the 1922 team, "When the football season of 1922 opened, Coach Yost was confronted with two big problems, to build a line strong enough to withstand the onslaught of opposing backs and to beat Ohio State."
Season summary
Week 1: Case
Michigan opened the season on October 7, 1922, with a 48–0 victory over the "Scientists" from Case Scientific School. (Michigan opened its season with a home game against Case 16 times between 1902 and 1923.) Facing an easy opponent in Case, head coach Fielding H. Yost opted to spend the day watching the Ohio State game in Columbus, Ohio. Yost was accompanied in Columbus by team captain Paul Goebel and starting quarterback Irwin Uteritz. Two of Yost's assistants also spent the day on scouting missions, with George Little watching the Michigan Aggies and A. J. Sturzenegger watching Vanderbilt. Second-year assistant Tad Wieman was left in Ann Arbor as the game-day coach against Case.
The game was played in drizzling rain with a ball that was described as being "as slippery as the well-known greased pig." The first quarter was scoreless, as Michigan played defensive football, punting on first and second downs. Harry Kipke attempted a drop-kick for a field goal late in the first quarter, but the kick fell short. In the second quarter, Kipke ran 26 yards around right end for the first touchdown. On the next drive, Doug Roby scored Michigan's second touchdown on a 37-yard run, "arming off three tacklers and outrunning three others." Michigan's next possession began with a 43-yard kickoff return by Kipke and ended with a 15-yard touchdown run by Roby around the right end. Ray Knode drop-kicked all three extra points in the first half, and Michigan led at halftime, 21–0.
On Michigan's first play from scrimmage in the second half, Herb Steger took the ball at midfield and ran the length of the field for a touchdown. The Detroit Free Press described Steger "cleverly dodging, twisting, and straight arming" through half of the Case team and called it "the most sensational run of the contest." Steger place-kicked for the extra point after his touchdown. Later in the third period, Franklin Cappon intercepted a pass (his second interception in the quarter) and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. Knode missed the extra point, and Michigan led, 34–0, at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Michigan scored twice. The Wolverines' sixth touchdown came on a 30-yard run through left tackle by Kipke, and the final touchdown was scored by Roby on a 12-yard run around right end. Knode kicked both of the extra points in the fourth quarter. Playing with an inexperienced line, Michigan was penalized several times for offside and holding. Despite the penalties, the Detroit Free Press praised Ed VanDerVoort for opening holes on offense and being immovable on defense, Jack Blott, who was "always under the plays" on defense, and Eddie Johns, who played with only one day's practice. Michigan's 48 points were scored by Roby (18), Kipke (12), Steger (7), Cappon (6), and Knode (5).
Michigan's starting lineup against Case was Kirk (left end), Blahnick (left tackle), Rosatti (left guard), Blott (center), Johns (right guard), VanDervoort (right tackle), Neisch (right end), Knode (quarterback), Roby (left halfback), Kipke (right halfback), and Cappon (fullback).
Week 2: at Vanderbilt
For its second game, Michigan traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to play Vanderbilt. The game matched Michigan head coach Fielding H. Yost against his former player and brother-in-law Dan McGugin. Owing to the relationship between Yost and McGugin, the two teams played nine times between 1905 and 1923, with Michigan winning eight times. The 1922 game was also the official dedication game for Vanderbilt's new stadium, Dudley Field, the first large athletic stadium in the South.
The team left Ann Arbor for Nashville at midday on Thursday, October 12, accompanied by Coach Yost and the team's trainers Archie Hahn and Billy Fallon. Sam Greene, who became one of the leading sports writers in Detroit over the next 40 years, covered the trip. He reported that, shortly after arriving on Friday morning, the team was taken by friends on an automobile trip to The Hermitage, the plantation that had been owned by Andrew Jackson. In the afternoon, the team conducted "a brief limbering drill" at Vanderbilt's new field. In his pre-game report, Green expressed concern that, despite assistant coach Sturzenegger's scouting report, the team was overconfident:"The Michigan boys are confident that they will win. Perhaps they are a trifle too confident. It can not be denied that the Wolverines are thinking more of the first conference game next Saturday with Ohio State than they are of the impending tussle with the southern squad. The feeling is too general among the players that this is more or less of a pre-season game." Further supporting Greene's position that overconfidence may have led the Wolverines to look past Vanderbilt, The New York Times reported that, five days before the Vanderbilt game, Coach Yost had already begun "pointing the Wolverines for their tussle two weeks hence with the Buckeyes." Michigan also lost the services of its most experienced lineman, Eddie Johns. Johns had been on academic probation, and it was discovered that his probation had not been lifted when he played against Case. Accordingly, he was not permitted to travel with the team to Nashville.
Elaborate dedication festivities preceded the game. Michigan players participated in a "monster parade" through the streets of Nashville. Cornelius Vanderbilt IV traveled from New York to participate, and Tennessee Governor Alf Taylor spoke at midfield, welcoming the Michigan team. Coach Yost also spoke briefly, and three airplanes flew overhead during the flag-raising, one of them dropping a specially decorated football onto the field.
In the first quarter, Michigan drove the ball to Vanderbilt's five-yard line, but the Vanderbilt defense held. After that, Michigan had difficulty moving the ball. When the first half ended, the Vanderbilt fans cheered wildly that the Commodores had held the Wolverines scoreless. In the second half, Michigan drove to the Vanderbilt 25-yard line, but the Commodores held again. Field goal attempts by Jack Blott and Paul Goebel failed, and the game ended in a scoreless tie. Michigan converted six first downs in the game, while Vanderbilt converted only once. Michigan totaled 122 yards from scrimmage, while holding the Commodores to only 21 yards from scrimmage.
Jess Neely, Lynn Bomar, and Gil Reese were credited with strong performances against Michigan. Although the result was viewed as a disappointment among Michigan fans, the 1923 Michiganensian noted that the game had matched "two of the best football machines in the country" and proved that Michigan's inexperienced line had become "a dependable stonewall defense."1923 Michiganensian, p. 223. Michigan was the only team to shut out Vanderbilt during the 1921 or 1922 seasons. Vanderbilt and Michigan were the top two defenses in the nation as measured by points against per game. Vanderbilt under McGugin was one of the first great Southern football teams, and put together consecutive undefeated seasons in 1921 and 1922. During those years, with help from line coach Wallace Wade, the Commodores shut out the leading football teams in the South, including Alabama in 1921 (14–0), Texas in 1921 (20–0), Tennessee in 1921 (14–0), Georgia in 1922 (12–0), Kentucky in 1922 (9–0), and Sewanee twice (9–0 and 26–0).
Michigan's starting lineup against Vanderbilt was Kirk (left end), Muirhead (left tackle), Blott (left guard), Slaughter (center), Steele (right guard), VanDervoort (right tackle), Goebel (right end), Uteritz (quarterback), Kipke (left halfback), Roby (right halfback), and Cappon (fullback). Substitutions for Michigan were by Neisch, Rosatti, Knode, Henderson, and Steger.
Week 3: at Ohio State
After the scoreless tie with Vanderbilt, Michigan traveled to Columbus, Ohio, and for the second week in a row participated in the dedication ceremonies for a new football stadium – Ohio Stadium. Interest in the game was intensified due to the opening of the new stadium and because Ohio State had beaten Michigan three years in a row – the Buckeyes' longest winning streak in the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry up to that time. The animosity was also fueled by rumors that Ohio State officials had instigated a Big Ten investigation into the eligibility of Michigan halfback, Doug Roby.