What has the Michigan Football Association historically accomplished in the year following a national championship?

The University of Michigan has won 12 national championships, the most recent of which came in the 2023 season (that never gets old). With the 2024 season quickly approaching, we wanted to take a look at how previous Michigan teams have fared in the years following a national championship win.

1901-04: Yost’s four-time consecutive victory

Fielding Yost won Michigan’s first national championship in 1901 with his first “Point-a-Minute” team. That season, the Wolverines outscored their opponents 550-0. Yost then won the national championship again in 1902, 1903 and 1904, and did not lose a single game that entire season.

Michigan’s first loss since 1900 came in the season finale of the 1905 season, when Michigan traveled to Chicago and lost 2-0. The Maroons were named national champions and the Wolverines had to settle for second place. Michigan then went 4-1 in 1906 when the forward pass was introduced.

1918: A championship season shortened due to the war

Yost’s 18th season in Ann Arbor brought Michigan another league title, even though the season itself had been shortened due to World War I travel restrictions. Following the championship season, Michigan suffered its worst year of the Yost era in 1919, finishing 3-4 and in seventh place in the Western Conference. It was the only time in Yost’s entire career that his Michigan team finished below .500.

In 1920, things improved somewhat. The Wolverines finished 5-2, but failed to finish in the top five of the conference.

1923: Yost is back on track and delivers

In the midst of a 20-game winning streak, Yost brought Michigan another title in 1923 (though national championships were not officially recognized at the time). The Wolverines went 8-0 and barely gave up any points. In 1924, George Little took over as coach for his only season. Michigan went 6-2 before Little left to take the same job at Wisconsin.

Yost quickly returned as head coach in 1925 and nearly won the national championship in 1925 and 1926.

1932–33: Kipke wins two championships in a row

In the fourth and fifth years of the Harry Kipke era, Michigan won two consecutive national championships. Thanks to an outstanding defense, Kipke did not lose a single game in either season.

Unfortunately, things went downhill in 1934, when the Wolverines finished 1-7, last in the conference. This was Michigan’s worst record since 1881, when the team went 0-3. Interestingly, the captain of the 1934 team was Gerald Ford.

Kipke never fully recovered and was eventually replaced by Fritz Crisler.

1947-48: Michigan thwarts Notre Dame’s hopes with two different coaches

Michigan won back-to-back national championships in 1947 and 1948, narrowly edging Notre Dame in the AP poll in 1947 and crushing the Fighting Irish in the AP in 1948. The transition from Crisler to Bennie Oosterbaan couldn’t have been smoother, as both coaches capped off their undefeated seasons in style.

In 1949 and 1950, Oosterbaan continued to be successful, winning shares of the Big Ten title. However, his teams could not remain perfect, finishing 7th and 9th respectively. Oosterbaan then hit some rough patches in the early 1950s, but his 1948 national championship title remains with him.

1997: Lloyd Carr achieves perfection

Fifty years later, Michigan finally returned to the top, finishing 12-0 and winning the national championship in the eyes of most except those in the state of Nebraska. In 1998, Carr’s Wolverines went 10-3 and secured a share of the Big Ten title despite losses to No. 22 Notre Dame, No. 19 Syracuse and No. 7 Ohio State. A Citrus Bowl victory over Arkansas helped soften the blow of the loss to Ohio State, and Michigan landed at No. 12 in the AP poll.

Carr had solid teams for the rest of his tenure, but never finished higher than fifth nationally in 1999.

2023: Jim Harbaugh leads Michigan back to glory

The Michigan Wolverines are the defending national champions. Time will tell how the 2024 team backs that up.

If we exclude the 2023 championship (2024 is not yet set), of Michigan’s 11 other national championships, the Wolverines have defended their title five times. Six of the 11 times Michigan lost a game or less the following year, three more times Michigan lost 1-3 games, and only twice has it truly been too late.

Harbaugh was not the first Michigan football coach to resign after a national championship season; Yost (1923) and Crisler (1947) did the same, although Yost returned after a brief one-year hiatus.

The important thing here is that Michigan championships are typically played in brackets and groups, so hopefully Sherrone Moore can take advantage of the talent and culture in his locker room.