1879 Michigan Wolverines football team
| 1879 Michigan Wolverines football | |
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| Conference | Independent |
| 1879 record | 1–0–1 |
| Head coach | no coach |
| Captain | David N. DeTar |
| Home stadium | none |
| 1879 college football records | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Princeton | – | 4 | – | 0 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yale | – | 3 | – | 0 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Massachusetts | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harvard | – | 2 | – | 1 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Penn | – | 2 | – | 2 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amherst | – | 1 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Navy | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| McGill | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toronto | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stevens Tech | – | 1 | – | 2 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rutgers | – | 1 | – | 2 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PA Military | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Racine | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Columbia | – | 0 | – | 3 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Swarthmore † | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1879 college football season. The team was the first intercollegiate football squad to represent the University of Michigan. They played two games, winning one and tying the other. In its first intercollegiate football game, Michigan defeated a team from Racine College. Irving Kane Pond scored the first touchdown, and team captain David DeTar scored the first point and the first field goal.
The 1879 football season began with a challenge from Racine College in the fall of 1878. The Chronicle (a weekly newspaper at the University of Michigan) published the following letter dated September 30, 1878, from C. L. Cleveland of Racine College, addressed to the secretary of Michigan's Foot-ball Association:
"Dear Sir, – We have organized a foot-ball eleven of members of our college, one of the objects of which is to create an interest for athletic sports in our western colleges. We, knowing that you having [sic] a foot-ball team, are exceedingly desirous of playing you this fall. The best offer we can make is this: Chicago seems to be the most convenient place. We will see that the White Stocking grounds are procured, tend to all the advertising, and give you two-thirds of the 'gate money.' We play according to modified Rugby rules, which we will be able to send you, in printed form in about a week. Trusting that you will present this before your association, and accept our invitation – in the meantime awaiting your prompt reply – I am respectfully yours, C. L. Cleveland, Sec."
On October 21, 1878, Michigan's Foot-ball Association met to consider the challenge from Racine. The association voted to accept the challenge on condition that the game be played in the spring. The Association explained: "Inasmuch as the University possesses no eleven, and as the lateness of the season prohibits the training of one, a game this fall is out of the question." On October 26, The Chronicle expressed skepticism, noting that past plans for an inter-collegiate game had been thwarted: "Our University is then, at length to engage in an athletic contest outside its own precincts. . . . Yet we have so often intended to put similar plans into execution, which have so invariably been frustrated through some unforeseen obstacle, that we are still in doubt as to the issue." The paper also emphasized the importance of winning: "[O]ne very important point must not be overlooked. It is essential that we win the first game. . . . Defeat would put an end to all our fond expectations, while success alone can make them possible."
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