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1951 Michigan

4–⁠5 (4–⁠2 Western Conference), coached by Bennie Oosterbaan.

Michigan, 1951
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Schedule and results

Michigan in 1951, game by game: lost vs. No. 2 Michigan State 0–25; lost vs. Stanford 13–23; won vs. Indiana 33–14; won at Iowa 21–0; won vs. Minnesota 54–27; lost at No. 3 Illinois 0–7; lost at Cornell 7–20; lost vs. Northwestern 0–6; won vs. Ohio State 7–0+27−25Lost 0–25 vs. No. 2 Michigan State-25No. 2 Michigan StateLost 13–23 vs. Stanford-10StanfordWon 33–14 vs. Indiana+19IndianaWon 21–0 at Iowa+21IowaWon 54–27 vs. Minnesota+27MinnesotaLost 0–7 at No. 3 Illinois-7No. 3 IllinoisLost 7–20 at Cornell-13CornellLost 0–6 vs. Northwestern-6NorthwesternWon 7–0 vs. Ohio State+7Ohio State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 29vs2Michigan StateL 0–⁠2557%
Oct 6vsStanfordL 13–⁠2361%
Oct 13vsIndianaW 33–⁠1471%
Oct 20atIowaW 21–⁠054%
Oct 27vsMinnesotaW 54–⁠2776%
Nov 3at3IllinoisL 0–⁠734%
Nov 10atCornellL 7–⁠2039%
Nov 17vsNorthwesternL 0–⁠668%
Nov 24vsOhio StateW 7–⁠053%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Ohio State 7–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; 4th in the Western Conference.

In program history: The 106th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 140 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 17
  2. Wk 6: 15

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1951.

Record
4–⁠5
Conference
4–⁠2 4th in Western Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 15
Points
135–⁠122
Coach
Bennie Oosterbaan
Elo
1576 −52 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
10.0 No. 26 of 116 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Bill Putich
Most valuable player
Don Peterson

Drafted in 1952

The 1952 draft
Rd 6Tom Johnson OTGreen Bay Packers

All-Big Ten

3 first team

First team

  • Lowell PerryEAP-1; UP-1
  • Tom JohnsonOTAP-1; UP-1
  • Roger ZatkoffLBAP-1; UP-3

From Wikipedia’s 1951 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1951 Western Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Illinois5–⁠0–⁠19–⁠0–⁠14
Purdue4–⁠15–⁠4
Wisconsin5–⁠1–⁠17–⁠1–⁠18
Michigan4–⁠24–⁠5
Ohio State2–⁠2–⁠24–⁠3–⁠2
Northwestern2–⁠45–⁠4
Minnesota1–⁠4–⁠12–⁠6–⁠1
Indiana1–⁠52–⁠7
Iowa0–⁠5–⁠12–⁠5–⁠2

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.