The 1909 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1909 college football season. The team's head coach was Fielding H. Yost in his ninth year at Michigan. The Wolverines compiled a record of 6–1, outscored opponents 116 to 34, and held six of seven opponents to six points or less.
The team began its season with four consecutive victories, including close calls against Case (3–0) and Marquette (6–5) and dominating performances against Ohio State (33–6) and Syracuse (44–0). The team's sole setback came in the fifth game, losing to Notre Dame (11–3) for the first time in nine games between them. Following the game, a Detroit newspaper described Notre Dame's predominantly Irish-American lineup as a group of "Fighting Irishmen", giving birth to the team's nickname.
The Wolverines then finished the season with impressive road victories over two of the best teams in the country. In Philadelphia, they defeated the 1908 national champion Penn Quakers, 12–6, breaking the Quakers' 23-game winning streak. In Minneapolis, they defeated the previously unbeaten 1909 Western Conference champions from Minnesota, 15–6. The 1909 Minnesota game was the first game played for possession of the Little Brown Jug, the oldest rivalry trophy in college football.
Several players from the 1909 Michigan team received recognition for their performance. Left guard Albert Benbrook was the first Western lineman (and the fifth Western player at any position) to be selected as a first-team All-American by Walter Camp. Both of Michigan's halfbacks, Dave Allerdice and Joe Magidsohn, were chosen by Camp as second-team All-Americans and also received first-team honors on Walter Eckersall's All-Western team in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Allerdice, who was the 1909 team captain, also received first-team All-American honors from The New York Times and syndicated sports columnist Tommy Clark. Magidsohn was the first Jewish athlete to win a varsity "M" at the University of Michigan. Andrew Smith was also named the first-team All-Western center, despite having only moved to the position for the last two games of the season.
Schedule
Season summary
Preseason
In July 1909, Michigan hired Philip Bartelme as the school's second athletic director following the resignation of Charles A. Baird. The change in athletic directors led to speculation that Michigan might be prepared to return to the Western Conference. In September 1909, Barthelme stated his intention to return Michigan to the conference, though he did not think the time was yet right. He told the press, "I always have thought that Michigan's place is in the conference, and moreover, I have thought that when conditions were so we could return, it would be the only thing for us to do. However, I am not so sure that that time has come." He noted that the "training table" was the biggest obstacle to Michigan's rejoining the conference and contended that the training table was "a great factor in getting the men into the condition necessary for hard football" and avoiding serious injuries.
Michigan's fall training camp began on September 20, 1909, at Whitmore Lake. Twelve men reported on the first day of camp, including five veterans who had won varsity letters on the 1908 team: team captain Dave Allerdice, quarterback William Wasmund, guard Albert Benbrook, James K. Watkins, and Roy Ranney. The most significant loss from the 1908 team was All-American center Germany Schulz. By the time training camp ended two weeks later, the team had grown to 22 players, and The Michigan Alumnus reported that it promised to be one of Michigan's best teams in years, with "one of the speediest and most aggressive backfields in the west, if not in the country."
The 1909 season was played under changed rules. The rule changes for 1909 included reducing the value of a field goal (whether by drop kick or place kick) from four points to three points. Michigan's Board in Control of Athletics also re-established a freshman football team in 1909 after the freshman football program had been ceased four years earlier. Michigan head coach Fielding H. Yost said at the time, "It is to the freshmen that we must look for our future Michigan teams and I am glad that it has been decided to allow us to have such a team. Under competent coaching such as they will have the men will learn a lot about the Michigan style of playing and this will be invaluable when they come up for the Varsity team in future years." Prentiss Douglass was hired as the coach of the freshman team, and he led the freshman to a 5–0 record.
Case
Michigan opened its 1909 season at Ferry Field with a 3–0 victory over the team from Cleveland's Case Scientific School. The game was the 13th meeting between the two programs, and Michigan had won all 12 of the prior games by a combined score of 351 to 37.
Michigan played "old-fashioned football" against Case, with the exception of two unsuccessful on-side kicks. Case blocked two of Dave Allerdice's punts, a problem that The Michigan Alumnus attributed to the inability of new men in Michigan's line to protect Allerdice from Case's rushers. The game was tied 0–0 late in the game. Michigan's only points came with a few minutes remaining on a field goal by Allerdice from the 35-yard line. In the Chicago Daily Tribune, Walter Eckersall wrote: "The old reliable, Allerdice, was called into commission, and he delivered the necessary boot to register enough points to win for his team." Despite the disappointing performance of the offense, the defense played a strong game, allowing only three first downs, one on a long forward pass, one on an end run, and one on an on-side kick.
Michigan's narrow margin of victory over Case raised concerns about the team's prospects. The Michigan Alumnus attributed the low score to two factors "the disheartening frequency of the Michigan fumbles" and "the unexpected strength of the Case veterans" (the Case team had nine veterans among its starting eleven). The New York Times blamed Michigan's close call on injuries: "Injuries and lack of training resulted in Michigan having a crippled line-up against the veteran Case eleven." The Detroit Free Press noted that the lack of healthy substitutes forced Michigan to play a conservative game so as to avoid further injuries.
Michigan's lineup against Case was Rogers (left end), Edmunds (left tackle), Benbrook (left guard), Watkins (center), Smith (right guard), Wells (right tackle), Borleske (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Bertrand and Magidsohn (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Lawton (fullback). The game was played in 20-minute halves. The referee was Eldridge of Michigan.
Ohio State
In the second week of the 1909 season, Michigan defeated Ohio State, 33 to 6. The game was the 11th meeting in the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry, with Michigan having won nine of the prior meetings and tied once.
Right halfback Dave Allerdice was the scoring leader for Michigan, tallying 18 points on three field goals, four extra points, and a touchdown. He also made good use of the on-side kick for long gains and had two 40-yard runs that set up Michigan touchdowns. Michigan outscored Ohio State, 21 to 0, in the first half. Michigan's touchdowns were scored by fullback George M. Lawton (2), Allerdice, and right tackle Stanfield Wells. Ohio State's only points came on a touchdown late in the second half. Michigan halfback "Doc" Freeney allowed a long punt to roll past him, tried to pick up the ball at the two-yard line, and fumbled. Ohio State's sub-center, Boone, recovered the ball in the endzone.
The Michigan Alumnus praised Allerdice for "a great exhibition of his abilities" on both defense and offense. The same publication also noted that right tackle Stanfield Wells had shown himself as "an all-around player", breaking through the Ohio line to tackle runners for a loss and opening large holes on offense for the Michigan backs. The Detroit Free Press wrote that Allerdice was "in a class by himself." Starting left tackle William Edmunds sustained a dislocated left collarbone against Ohio State and missed the next three games.
Michigan's lineup against Ohio State (starters listed first) was Rogers and Pattengill (left end), Edmunds (left tackle), Benbrook (left guard), Watkins (center), Smith and Conklin (right guard), Wells and Hines (right tackle), Borleske (right end), Wasmund (quarterback), Freeney and Magidsohn (left halfback), Allerdice (right halfback), and Lawton and Clark (fullback). The game was played in 35-minute halves. The referee was Hoagland of Princeton.
At Marquette
For the third game of the season, Michigan traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to play a Marquette team coached by the former Wisconsin star, William Juneau. The game was the first between the two schools. Michigan was handicapped in the game by injuries to multiple players. Edmunds, Smith, Pattengill and Freeney all missed the game, and fullback George M. Lawton played despite a midweek injury that left him "more fit for the hospital" than for the job of playing fullback. The Detroit Free Press wrote that "the hoodoo that has tirelessly pursued Yost and Michigan ever since the 1905 Chicago game" had returned. The losses were offset to some extent by the decision of William Casey to rejoin the team in time for the Marquette game. Casey had quit the team after the 1908 season, but was persuaded by pleading from Yost, Allerdice and friends to return to the team. He was the team's starting left tackle in the final five games of the season.
The field was wet and slippery, such that "fast work was impossible." Michigan won the game, 6–5, scoring its only points early in the first half. After driving to Marquette's 30-yard line, Dave Allerdice lined up to kick a field goal, but the field goal attempt was a fake, and Allerdice executed an on-side kick that Michigan recovered at Marquette's five-yard line. After a penalty moved the ball to the one-yard line, Lawton scored the touchdown, and Allerdice kicked the extra point. Ring Lardner, covering the game for the Chicago Daily Tribune, wrote: "As has been the case frequently during the last three seasons, it was Allerdice's good right toe that gave the Wolverines the victory."
Several minutes after Michigan's touchdown, Allerdice lined up to punt from Michigan's 15-yard line. The snap from center went over his head, and Marquette recovered the ball at the two-yard line. Marquette scored on its third attempt, but Marquette's right halfback Munsell missed the extra point, and Michigan led 6–5. In the second half, Michigan played a defensive game, punting the ball at "almost every opportunity." Ring Lardner reported that Michigan's coach "evidently had instructed Allerdice to play a kicking game", and the team "appeared loathe to try its offense." Late in the second half, Michigan narrowly preserved its lead after a field goal attempt by Allerdice was blocked at the Marquette 45-yard line. Marquette's fullback, Schroeder, picked up the ball and ran toward Michigan's goal "with a clear field before him." Lawton ran after Schroder and made a leaping tackle that saved the game for Michigan.
The Michigan Alumnus wrote that Yost had played a conservative game to save his new plays for the big games ahead and to avoid further injuries to his players. Lardner wrote: "That Michigan did not play its game nor show its strength was apparent. Yost brought his team here for the purpose of winning by any kind of score. Straight football was order throughout the Michigan side. Not one solitary forward pass was attempted by the Wolverines, and onside kicks and other modern stunts were as scarce as a Frenchman in a brewery." In contrast, Marquette's coach Juneau "showed his whole hand and it was full of delayed and forward passes of kinds apparently new to Yost's youngsters."