The 1908 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1908 college football season. The team's head coach was Fielding H. Yost in his eighth year at Michigan. The team compiled a 5–2–1 record, outscored opponents 128 to 81, and held five of seven opponents to six points or less. After opening the season with a 5–0–1 record, and allowing an average of four points per game, the Wolverines lost badly in back-to-back games against the 1908 national champion Penn Quakers (29–0) and Syracuse (28–4).
Team captain and center Germany Schulz was academically ineligible for the first three games of the season, but his performance in the Penn game, withstanding the attack of multiple Penn players focused on knocking him out of the game, was told and re-told by sports writers for decades after the 1908 season had ended. In 1951, Schulz was selected as the greatest center in football history in a poll conducted by the National Football Foundation and became one of the initial inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Right halfback Dave Allerdice, who also handled punting and place-kicking responsibilities for Michigan, was the team's leading scorer with 64 points (exactly half of the team's total), despite missing the final game of the season with a broken collarbone. Allerdice also led the 1909 team in scoring and was a first-team All-American that year. Fullback Sam Davison scored six touchdowns in the team's November 1908 victory over Kentucky State. Davison's total is tied for second in Michigan history for the most touchdowns in a game, trailing Albert Herrnstein's seven touchdowns against the Michigan Aggies in 1902.
Schedule
Season summary
Schulz's academic ineligibility Team captain Germany Schulz missed the first three games of the season, because he had "three conditions in the engineering course, more than a player can carry and continue his athletic relations". Though "every effort" had been made for two weeks to have the "conditions" removed, those efforts had failed. The eligibility board met and concluded that Schulz could not play until he removed at least two of the conditions. Schulz ultimately had his eligibility restored in late October and was greeted with "cheers from the bleachers" when he appeared in his first practice on October 22, 1907.
Case
Michigan opened its 1908 season with a 16–6 victory over the team from Cleveland's Case Scientific School. The game was the 12th meeting between the two programs, and Michigan had won all 11 of the prior games by a combined score of 335 to 31.
The game was scoreless for most of the first half. Near the end of the half, Michigan drove to Case's 10-yard line and took a 4–0 lead on a field goal by Dave Allerdice. Michigan added two touchdowns in the second half, one on a run by William P. Edmunds and the other on a run by Donald W. Green. The latter touchdown was set up by a 45-yard run by Edmunds. Allerdice converted both extra point kicks. Case's score came in the last five minutes of the game and followed a fumbled punt by Albert Benbrook at Michigan's 20-yard line. It was Case's first touchdown against Michigan since 1901. The team that played for Michigan against Case was inexperienced, with Germany Schulz, Sam Davison, William Casey, and William Embs all absent from the lineup. Yost said after the game that "he played only eleven men who knew the signals."
Michigan's lineup against Case was Ranney (left end), Watkins (left tackle), Cully (left guard), Jeffries (center), Primeau (right guard), Benbrook (right tackle), Greene (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice and Torrey (right halfback), and Edmunds (fullback). Clayton Teetzel, an assistant coach for Michigan, was the referee. The game was played in 20-minute halves.
At Michigan Agricultural
In the second week of the season, Michigan played Michigan Agricultural to a scoreless tie in East Lansing. It was the fourth game in the Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry, and Michigan had won the three prior meetings by a combined score of 204 to 0.
The game was played in front of 6,000 spectators at East Lansing's College Field, and the Aggies' fans "went wild with delight" when the game ended. In Ann Arbor, the result was met with disbelief among Michigan fans who had expected an easy win. The Detroit Free Press called it "the greatest game of football ever seen in this part of the state." The Michigan Alumnus noted that Michigan's line was weak with Germany Schulz, Maurice Crumpacker and William Casey out of the game and opined that the Wolverines were outplayed and would have been defeated had it not been for Dave Allerdice repeatedly punting out of danger.
Michigan's lineup against Michigan Agricultural was Embs (left end), Watkins (left tackle), Kuhr (left guard), Jeffries (center), Primeau (right guard), Benbrook (right tackle), Greene and Lawton (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Edmunds (fullback). Neil Snow, the former Michigan All-American, was the referee. The game was played in 25-minute halves.
Notre Dame
On October 17, 1908, Michigan defeated Notre Dame, 12–6, at Ann Arbor's Ferry Field. The game was the eighth meeting in the Michigan–Notre Dame football rivalry. Michigan had won the first seven games (five of them by shutouts) by a combined score of 109 to 10.
Dave Allerdice scored all 12 of Michigan's points on three field goals – two in the first half and one in the last minute of the game. In addition to Allerdice, William Casey and Albert Benbrook were praised for their play against Notre Dame. Notre Dame fullback Vaughan scored the only touchdown of the game on a long run from the 50-yard line.
Michigan's lineup against Notre Dame was Embs (left end), Casey (left tackle), Crumpacker (left guard), Brennan (center), Primeau (right guard), Benbrook (right tackle), Ranney (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Davison (fullback). Hoagland of Princeton was the referee. The game was played in 25-minute halves.
At Ohio State
For its fourth game, Michigan defeated Ohio State, 10–6, in Columbus. The game was the 10th meeting in the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry, with Michigan having won eight of the prior meetings and tied once.
For the second consecutive week, right halfback Dave Allerdice accounted for every point scored by the Wolverines. Allerdice scored the team's 10 points on a touchdown, a field goal, and an extra point. After taking a 6–4 lead at halftime, Michigan's touchdown came at the start of the second half and was set up by a trick play. Allerdice faked a field goal, then passed the ball to Roy Ranney from midfield. Ranney was tackled at the two-yard line, and Allerdice ran for the touchdown from there and then kicked the extra point.
Michigan's lineup against Ohio State was Embs (left end), Casey (left tackle), Benbrook (left guard), Schulz (center), Primeau (right guard), Crumpacker (right tackle), Ranney (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass and Greene (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Davison (fullback). Hoagland of Princeton was the referee. The game was played in 35-minute halves.
Vanderbilt
On October 31, 1908, Michigan defeated Vanderbilt at Ferry Field by a score of 24 to 6. 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 games and tying one.
Right halfback Dave Allerdice accounted for 19 of Michigan's points with a touchdown, three field goals, and two extra points. Fullback Sam Davison also scored a touchdown, accounting for the remaining five points. Michigan's lineup against Vanderbilt was Embs (left end), Casey (left tackle), Benbrook (left guard), Schulz (center), Primeau (right guard), Crumpacker (right tackle), Lawton and Ranney (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Douglass (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Davison (fullback). Bradley Walker of Virginia was the referee, and Neil Snow was the umpire. The game was played in 35-minute halves.
Kentucky State College
On November 7, 1908, the Wolverines defeated the team from Kentucky State College by a score of 62 to 0, the team's highest point total since the 1905 "Point-a-Minute" team scored 75 points against Oberlin College. The game was the first and only meeting between the two schools.
The Wolverines scored six touchdowns in the first half and nine overall. Sam Davison was the scoring leader with 30 points on six touchdowns. Dave Allerdice contributed 17 points on two field goals and nine extra points. Donald W. Green, Maurice E. Crumpacker, and William Embs also scored touchdowns for Michigan. According to The Michigan Alumnus, Embs "played the greatest game of his career and was with Schulz at the bottom of every mix-up." After taking a 36–0 lead at halftime, there was a "perceptible letup" in the second half, as Yost played his substitutes, including Frank Linthicum and Thomas Riley.
Michigan's lineup against Kentucky State was Linthicum and Embs (left end), Casey (left tackle), Benbrook (left guard), Schulz (center), Primeau, Brennan and Riley (right guard), Crumpacker (right tackle), Ranney and Watson (right end), Wasmund and Cunningham (quarterback), Green (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Davison (fullback). Clayton Teetzel of Michigan was the referee. The game was played in 35-minute halves.
Penn
On November 14, 1908, Michigan lost to the Penn Quakers by a score of 29–0. After leaving the Big Ten Conference, Michigan played annual rivalry games against Penn at or near the end of the season. Penn was one of the dominant football programs of the era, winning seven national championships between 1894 and 1912 (including the 1908 national championship). Penn shut out the Wolverines in both 1906 (17–0) and 1907 (6–0), and Michigan hoped to avenge those losses in 1908. Instead, the Wolverines met the worst defeat of the Yost era.
Michigan's hopes to beat Penn were based to a large extent on its star center Germany Schulz. Penn announced before the game that it would bring four available centers so there "might be a fresh antagonist facing the Michigan captain throughout the game." Special trains from all over Michigan poured large crowds into Ann Arbor, and the crowd was said to be "the largest attendance which has been on Ferry Field." Though Michigan was beaten, Schulz's performance, and the pummeling he took from the Penn team, was recounted many times in the following decades.
In one of the few contemporaneous accounts, the Toledo Blade wrote that the Penn players, knowing that Schulz was "the power in the Michigan game," focused their energy on wearing him down. There were two Penn players who "did nothing but look after Schultz." And they did more than look: "In every scrimmage, he was bumped as hard as the rules allowed, and maybe a little harder, when nobody was looking. ... Every time Schultz started anywhere he would find a couple of Penn men digging headfirst into his stomach. They would elbow him, jam him with the straight arm, and if he went to the ground in a scrimmage there generally would be a knee grinding him in the wind. Pretty soon Schultz began to show it. ... He limped along pitifully. He couldn't run. His strength was almost gone. When he did tackle, his groan of pain could almost be heard in the stands." The Michigan fans continued to urge Schulz with yells of "G-r-r-r-r-rah, Schultz!"