1938 Michigan Wolverines football team

1938 Michigan Wolverines football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 16
1938 record	6–1–1 (3–1–1 Big Ten)
Head coach	Fritz Crisler (1st year)
Offensive scheme	Single-wing formation
MVP	Ralph Heikkinen
Captain	Fred Janke
Home stadium	Michigan Stadium
Seasons ← 1937 1939 →

1938 Big Ten football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#10 Minnesota $	4	–	1	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
#16 Michigan	3	–	1	–	1			6	–	1	–	1
Purdue	3	–	1	–	1			5	–	1	–	2
#17 Northwestern	2	–	1	–	2			4	–	2	–	2
Wisconsin	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	3	–	0
Ohio State	3	–	2	–	1			4	–	3	–	1
Illinois	2	–	3	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
Iowa	1	–	3	–	1			1	–	6	–	1
Indiana	1	–	4	–	0			1	–	6	–	1
Chicago	0	–	4	–	0			1	–	6	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Week 1: Michigan State at Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total Michigan State 0 0 0 0 0 • Michigan 0 7 0 7 14 Date: October 1, 1938 Location: Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI Game attendance: 82,500 Referee: J. S. Getschell (St. Thomas)

Week 2: Chicago at Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total Chicago 0 7 0 0 7 • Michigan 6 12 7 20 45 Date: October 8, 1938 Location: Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI Referee: Lyle Clarno (Bradley)

Week 3: Michigan at Minnesota

1 2 3 4 Total Michigan 0 0 0 6 6 • Minnesota 0 0 0 7 7 Date: October 15, 1938 Location: Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN

Week 4: Michigan at Yale

1 2 3 4 Total • Michigan 2 0 6 7 15 Yale 6 7 0 0 13 Date: October 22, 1938 Location: Yale Bowl New Haven, CT Referee: J. E. Keegan (Pittsfield, Mass.)

Week 5: Illinois at Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total Illinois 0 0 0 0 0 • Michigan 7 0 7 0 14 Date: October 29, 1938 Location: Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI Referee: James Masker (Northwestern)

Week 6: Penn at Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total Penn 0 0 0 13 13 • Michigan 0 13 6 0 19 Date: November 5, 1938 Location: Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI Referee: James Masker (Northwestern)

Week 7: Northwestern at Michigan

1 2 3 4 Total Northwestern 0 0 0 0 0 Michigan 0 0 0 0 0 Date: November 12, 1938 Location: Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI Referee: Fred Gardner (Cornell)

Week 8: Michigan at Ohio State

1 2 3 4 Total • Michigan 0 6 0 12 18 Ohio State 0 0 0 0 0 Date: November 19, 1938 Location: Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH Game attendance: 67,554 Referee: James Masker (Northwestern)

The 1938 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1938 Big Ten Conference football season. After the firing of Harry Kipke in December 1937, Fritz Crisler took over as Michigan's head coach in February 1938. In the first year of the Crisler era, the Wolverines compiled a 6–1–1 record and outscored opponents 131 to 40, allowing an average of only five points per game. The team's only setbacks were a 7-6 loss to Minnesota and a scoreless tie with Northwestern. The Wolverines finished the season ranked No. 16 in the final AP Poll. In the post-season rankings compiled by Frank Dickinson, the University of Illinois professor who developed the Dickinson System, Michigan ranked sixth in the country.

Michigan's senior guard Ralph Heikkinen was a unanimous All-American in 1938. He also won Michigan's Most Valuable Player award and finished second to Howard Weiss in close voting for both the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference.

Three Wolverines, Ralph Heikkinen, halfback Tom Harmon and quarterback Forest Evashevski, were selected as first-team players on the 1938 All-Big Ten Conference football team. Senior tackle Fred Janke was the captain of the 1938 Michigan team.

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