The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/402034
ohio state (arguably the greatest upset in college football history?) and resulted in a share of the Big Ten championship. Bo had delivered on his promise to his seniors and the rest of the team. For the record, he also kept that promise to every other Wolverine who played his full eligibility from 1969-1989 — "Those Who Stayed Were Champions" — all of them! Bo's "underdogs" accomplished some great things in his first season, the 90th season in Michigan Football History and the 100th season of col- lege football — not a bad start for the coach who was Don Canham's second choice. The impatient buck- eye had accomplished what many experts thought was impossible. Michigan stopped the buckeyes' 22- game winning streak, knocked them out of the No. 1 spot in the national rankings, and avenged the debacle from 1968. Remarkably, it all happened in just 332 days, counting from the day he was hired until the day the Michigan Stadium scoreboard read: Michigan 24 — osu 12. That's how it all started in Ann Arbor for Bo and his Wolver- ines. But, one game, one season, does not make a career. Let's take a closer look at Bo's entire "body of work" from 1969 to 1989. Maybe we can learn how he put Michigan Football back on the national college football radar. OVERALL TEAM WINS FROM 1969 TO 1989 Here is a summary of my research into the teams that stood out in the years that Bo roamed the Michigan sidelines. Most teams played 10 to 11 games during this era and the totals include all bowl wins. (Note: This data was gathered from the College Football Data Warehouse and the USA Today College Football Encyclopedia). Rank Wins School 1. 210 Nebraska 2. 199 Oklahoma 3. 196 Penn State 4. 194 Michigan 5. 194 Alabama 6. 181 ohio state 7. 179 BYU 8. 178 USC 9. 175 Notre Dame 10. 173 Arkansas Bo's Wolverines moved up 28 spaces on the college football win- ner 's board during his tenure. His impact was significant to say the least. The Wolverines played 52 more games during the Bo Era and won 80 more games in that 21-year period. This worked out to almost four (3.81) more victories per year during the Bo Era. Nationally, this tied them for fourth-best along with Alabama. I listed Michigan ahead of Alabama because they won their 194 games in 247 chances while the Crimson Tide did it in 248 attempts. As a historical note, Michigan, ohio state and Arkansas were the only teams in this elite group not to win at least one major national champion- ship during this era. Of course, Bo and Woody were too busy beating each other during this era so each