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1888 Michigan Wolverines football team

1888 Michigan Wolverines football
1888 Michigan Wolverines football team.jpg
Conference Independent
1888 record 2–1
Head coach no coach
Captain James E. Duffy
Home stadium Ann Arbor Fairgrounds
Seasons
← 1887
1889 →
1888 college football records
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Yale         13 0 0
USC         2 0 0
Notre Dame         1 0 0
Harvard         12 1 0
Princeton         11 1 0
California         6 1 0
Cornell         4 2 0
Michigan         2 1 0
Northwestern         2 1 0
Trinity         2 1 0
Virginia         2 1 0
Wake Forest         2 1 0
Lake Forest         2 2 0
Minnesota         1 1 0
Indiana         0 0 1
Miami (OH)         0 0 1
Massachusetts         2 4 0
Richmond         1 2 0
North Carolina         1 3 0
Navy         1 4 0
WPI         1 4 0
Rutgers         1 7 1
Penn State         0 2 1

The 1888 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1888 college football season. The team compiled a 2–1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 94 to 36. The team scored 76 points against Albion College, a single-game Michigan record that stood until Fielding H. Yost's 1901 "Point-a-Minute" team scored 128 points against Buffalo. The team closed its season with a Thanksgiving Day game against a "picked team" from the Chicago University Club that The New York Times called "undoubtedly the greatest football event that ever took place in the West." The captain of the 1888 team was halfback James E. Duffy who had set the world's record for dropkick distance in 1886.

In its first issue of the 1888–1889 academic year, The Chronicle (a weekly newspaper at the University of Michigan) expressed concern over the prospects for the school's football team. The newspaper noted that the team had lost some of its most valuable men and urged "everyone who has played foot-ball or who thinks that with practice he could play," to try out for the team. In another article, the same newspaper opined that the 1888 team was "crippled by the general breakup of last year."The Chronicle repeatedly complained that the professional departments, especially the law and medicine departments, had failed to demonstrate their college spirit by participating on the team. Students who were unable to play were urged to assist the team in its practice sessions or to donate money to a fund to be used in purchasing uniforms and equipment for the team. For those willing to assist the team in practice, The Chronicle wrote: "Don't be afraid of a rough tumble or a laugh for an awkward play."

On September 29, 1888, the seniors defeated the juniors in the annual "football rush." The seniors won the competition "in two straight innings." On October 17, 1888, Theodore Roosevelt, then a "scholar and writer of New York," visited the Michigan campus and delivered a speech. The Chronicle reported on Roosevelt's comments directed at the football team: "Theo. Roosevelt has no fear of the murderous Sioux or of a cattle stampede, but he does claim that it is not healthy to get in the way of the U. of M. rugby team." In late October, the team began practicing every evening at 4 p.m. All students who were "strong enough for the game" were again reminded to come out and practice with the team.


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