1897 Michigan Wolverines football team
| 1897 Michigan Wolverines football | |
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| Conference | Western Conference |
| 1897 record | 6–1–1 (2–1 Western) |
| Head coach | Gustave Ferbert (1st year) |
| Captain | James R. Hogg |
| Home stadium | Regents Field |
| 1897 Western Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin $ | 3 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago | 3 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 11 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan | 2 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 1 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois | 1 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 2 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue | 1 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 3 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern | 0 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota | 0 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1897 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1897 Western Conference football season. The team, with former Michigan halfback, Gustave Ferbert, as head coach, compiled a record of 6–1–1 and outscored opponents by a combined score of 168 to 31. The team suffered its first setback with a scoreless tie against Ohio Wesleyan in the second game of the season. The season also featured the first game between Michigan and Ohio State, with Michigan winning the game by a score of 34 to 0. Michigan won its first two Western Conference games against Purdue (34–4) Minnesota (14–0), but lost the final game of the season to Amos Alonzo Stagg's Chicago Maroons by a score of 21 to 12
After losing the final game of the 1896 season due to the kicking of the University of Chicago's Clarence Herschberger, the Michigan football team began practice early in 1897, gathering in late August. The team announced that, as a direct result of the 1896 loss to Chicago, a "radical change" was being made in the method of play. Michigan promised to produce an improved kicking game, with more hard work being dedicated to kicking than any other part the game.
The expectations for the 1897 team were low. Michigan had lost most of the players from the 1895 championship team. One eastern newspaper described the talent level in Ann Arbor as follows:
"The University of Michigan football team of '97, as compared with Michigan teams of tho past few years, is decidedly weak and uncertain. It is not as good by any means as the eleven of last fall. It is not in the same class with the champion eleven of '95. What it lacks is first, weight, second, experience, and third, 'ginger.' There are other lacks as well, but those three are most noticeable."
Adding to the difficulties, Michigan's team captain, J.B. Wombacher, contracted typhoid fever and was unable to report to the university in September. Wombacher had played every game at center for Michigan in 1896. Shortly before his illness, The World of New York had published a football preview feature in which Wombacher had been touted as the key to Michigan's success:
"The man who will captain the Unlversity of Michigan eleven is a big, strapping fellow, who was forced into the game by his classmates because of his size and ability to get over the ground. His name is John B. Wombacher, and he hails from Peoria, Ill. He plays centre rush and is something terrific."
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