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1952 Michigan

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

Schedule and results

Michigan in 1952, game by game: lost vs. No. 1 Michigan State 13–27; lost at Stanford 7–14; won vs. Indiana 28–13; won at Northwestern 48–14; won vs. Minnesota 21–0; lost vs. Illinois 13–22; won vs. Cornell 49–7; won vs. No. 10 Purdue 21–10; lost at Ohio State 7–27+42−20Lost 13–27 vs. No. 1 Michigan State-14No. 1 Michigan StateLost 7–14 at Stanford-7StanfordWon 28–13 vs. Indiana+15IndianaWon 48–14 at Northwestern+34NorthwesternWon 21–0 vs. Minnesota+21MinnesotaLost 13–22 vs. Illinois-9IllinoisWon 49–7 vs. Cornell+42CornellWon 21–10 vs. No. 10 Purdue+11No. 10 PurdueLost 7–27 at Ohio State-20Ohio State
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 27vs1Michigan StateL 13–⁠2740%
Oct 4atStanfordL 7–⁠1432%
Oct 11vsIndianaW 28–⁠1367%
Oct 18atNorthwesternW 48–⁠1449%
Oct 25vsMinnesotaW 21–⁠073%
Nov 1vsIllinoisL 13–⁠2259%
Nov 8vsCornellW 49–⁠769%
Nov 15vs10PurdueW 21–⁠1059%
Nov 22atOhio StateL 7–⁠2745%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Ohio State 27–⁠7; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 4th in the Western Conference.

In program history: The 107th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 140 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 5: 19
  2. Wk 6: 15
  3. Wk 8: 20
  4. Wk 9: 12
Record
5–⁠4
Conference
4–⁠2 tied for 4th in Western Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 12
Points
207–⁠134
Coach
Bennie Oosterbaan
Elo
1574 +23 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
13.4 No. 20 of 113 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Merritt Green
Most valuable player
Ted Topor

All-Big Ten

5 first team

First team

  • Robert TimmOGAP-1
  • Dick O’ShaughnessyCUP-1
  • Ted KressBUP-1
  • Art WalkerDTAP-1
  • Roger ZatkoffLB

From Wikipedia’s 1952 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1952 Western Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Wisconsin4–⁠1–⁠16–⁠3–⁠111
Purdue4–⁠1–⁠14–⁠3–⁠218
Ohio State5–⁠26–⁠317
Michigan4–⁠25–⁠4
Minnesota3–⁠1–⁠24–⁠3–⁠2
Illinois2–⁠54–⁠5
Northwestern2–⁠52–⁠6–⁠1
Iowa2–⁠52–⁠7
Indiana1–⁠52–⁠7

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