Michigan's 1,000th Win Birthed An Amazing List Of Some CFB Blue Bloods' Best Opponents Throughout The Years
Michigan's win over Maryland on Saturday was the Wolverines' 1,000th all-time, making them the first college football program to reach the milestone. Great accomplishment. Naturally, however, some people took a look at what wins were counted in those 1,000 and there are a few that don't hold up very well in 2023.
I'm told Ann Arbor High School had a nasty receiving corps in 1891.
As Jack Mac points out in his video, however, Michigan is far from the only school to count wins against high schools and YMCAs from 100 years ago. Pretty much every major college football program was scheduling literal schools for the deaf and teams from military bases in non-conference. The College Football Playoff committee would be incensed.
What a list. There are so many great teams on there but I have crafted my personal 10 favorite:
10. 17th Regiment
9. American Temperance
8. Arkansas Town Team
7. Illinois Cycling Club
6. LSU Alumni Association
5. Texas School for the Deaf
4. Kirksville Osteopaths
3. Saginaw Naval Brigade
2. Chicago Dental Infirmary
1. Jersey Shore YMCA
I guess we can't have college football teams go back to playing dentists or high schools, but we should bring back these games against the alumni associations. Imagine if we replaced meaningless and boring spring games with Alabama playing its spring scrimmage against a team with Tua Tagovailoa, Derrick Henry, DeVonta Smith and all of the All-Pros it has produced on defense. There wouldn't be an empty seat in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
It does seem like we should take a look across the board at what wins still count, though. Get rid of the high schools at a minimum.