The University of Michigan is represented in collegiate football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level by the Michigan Wolverines football team. Michigan has the most number of outright victories in the history of college football.
Aside from its fight song and unique winged helmet, the squad is well-known for breaking attendance records at Michigan Stadium. They are also famous for their numerous rivalries, most notably the annual regular season finale against Ohio State, also referred to as "The Game," which was previously named as ESPN's finest sports rivalry.
In 1879, Michigan started playing football at the university level. The Wolverines were part of the Big Ten Conference from the beginning, having joined in 1896, with the exception of a break from 1907 to 1916.
Michigan has finished in the top-10 39 times since the AP Poll's inception in 1936 and has won or shared 45 league titles. The Wolverines have won 11 national titles, the most recent one coming from the 1997 team that was chosen as the winner of the final AP Poll.
How many National Championships has Michigan won?
Michigan has won the National Championship 11 times.
(1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, and 1997)
NCAA-designated major selectors have chosen Michigan as the national champion 18 times, including twice by the major wire-service AP Poll. There were typically no concurrent selectors prior to 1926.
Notable seasons in Michigan football history include 1901, when the team won the Rose Bowl and finished with an 11-0 record under Fielding H. Yost's coaching. The seasons of 1902 and 1903 proceeded with perfect records of 11-0 and 11-0-1, respectively. Michigan had an unbeaten 10–0 record in 1904.
The Fielding H. Yost-coached squad finished with 5–0 and 8–0 records in 1918 and 1923, respectively. Coach Harry G. Kipke and different selectors produced 8–0 and 7–0–1 results in the 1932 and 1933 seasons.
Fritz Crisler won the Rose Bowl, guided the 1947 team to a perfect 10–0 record, and they finished second in the final AP poll. Bennie Oosterbaan coached the team to a 9-0 record and a No. 1 rating in 1948. In 1997, Lloyd Carr's team went 12–0, won the Rose Bowl, and was ranked #1 in the Coaches and AP polls.
When was the last time Michigan won the National Championships?
Michigan’s most recent win at the National Championship was in 1997.
Lloyd Carr, an assistant at Michigan since 1980, was named interim head coach by the athletic director of Michigan for the 1995 season. But following an 8-2 start, Michigan removed Carr's interim title and appointed him as its 17th head coach.
Michigan's inaugural season ended with a 9-4 record. In his second season, Carr had a similar record of 8-4 and was selected to appear in the 1997 Outback Bowl. Charles Woodson, a punt returner and cornerback, brought Carr's team back to strength for the 1997 campaign.
Michigan was unbeaten that year. The Michigan defence, which finished the season ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, allowed only 9.5 points per game overall. The 1998 Rose Bowl victory gave Michigan its first national championship since 1948.
Further, in 1998, Woodson was chosen fourth overall by the Oakland Raiders in the NFL Draft, having won the Heisman Trophy for his achievements.
Michigan National Championships wins years
The National Championship Foundation (NCF) and the Helms Athletic Foundation (HAF) were the two most well-known selection bodies. Both the HAF and the NCF selected national champions in a retroactive manner; the HAF did so before 1936, and the NCF did so before 1979.
| Year | Coach | Selectors | Record | Bowl |
| 1901 | Fielding H. Yost | Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, NCF | 11–0 | Won Rose |
| 1902 | Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, NCF, Parke Davis | 11–0 | - | |
| 1903 | Billingsley, NCF | 11–0–1 | - | |
| 1904 | 10–0 | - | ||
| 1918 | Billingsley, NCF | 5–0 | - | |
| 1923 | 8–0 | - | ||
| 1932 | Harry G. Kipke | Dickinson, Parke Davis | 8–0 | - |
| 1933 | Berryman (QPRS), Billingsley, Boand, CFRA, Dickinson, Helms, Houlgate, NCF, Parke Davis, Poling, Sagarin | 7–0–1 | - | |
| 1947 | Fritz Crisler | Berryman (QPRS), Billingsley, Boand, CFRA, DeVold, Dunkel, Helms, Houlgate, Litkenhous, NCF, Poling, Sagarin, Special post-bowl Associated Press poll | 10–0 | Won Rose |
| 1948 | Bennie Oosterbaan | AP, Berryman (QPRS), Billingsley, CFRA, DeVold, Dunkel, Helms, Houlgate, Litkenhous, NCF, Poling, Sagarin, Williamson | 9–0 | - |
| 1997 | Lloyd Carr | AP, Billingsley, FWAA, NCF, NFF, Sporting News | 12–0 | Won Rose |
Michigan National Championships appearances
Besides the 11 wins, Michigan has been chosen seven more times by different NCAA-designated "major selectors" in the following years: 1910, 1925, 1926, 1964, 1973, 1976, and 1985.
Michigan Conference Titles Wins
Michigan has won 45 conference titles, including 26 shared and 19 outright.
| Year | Split | Overall record | Big Ten record |
| 1898 | Outright | 10–0 | 3–0 |
| 1901† | Shared | 11–0 | 4–0 |
| 1902 | Outright | 5–0 | |
| 1903† | Shared | 11–0–1 | 3–0–1 |
| 1904† | Shared | 10–0 | 2–0 |
| 1906† | Shared | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| 1918† | Shared | 5–0 | 2–0 |
| 1922† | Shared | 6–0–1 | 4–0 |
| 1923† | Shared | 8–0 | |
| 1925 | Outright | 7–1 | 5–1 |
| 1926† | Shared | 5–0 | |
| 1930† | Shared | 8–0–1 | |
| 1931† | Shared | 8–1–1 | 5–1 |
| 1932† | Shared | 8–0 | 6–0 |
| 1933† | Shared | 7–0–1 | 5–0–1 |
| 1943† | Shared | 8–1 | 6–0 |
| 1947 | Outright | 10–0 | 6–0 |
| 1948 | Outright | 9–0 | 6–0 |
| 1949† | Shared | 6–2–1 | 4–1–1 |
| 1950 | Outright | 6–3–1 | 4–1–1 |
| 1964 | Outright | 9–1 | 6–1 |
| 1969† | Shared | 8–3 | |
| 1971 | Outright | 11–1 | 8–0 |
| 1972† | Shared | 10–1 | 7–1 |
| 1973† | Shared | 10–0–1 | 7–0–1 |
| 1974† | Shared | 10–1 | 7–1 |
| 1976† | Shared | 10–2 | |
| 1977† | Shared | ||
| 1978† | Shared | ||
| 1980 | Outright | 8–0 | |
| 1982 | Outright | 8–4 | 8–1 |
| 1986† | Shared | 11–2 | 7–1 |
| 1988 | Outright | 9–2–1 | 7–0–1 |
| 1989 | Outright | 10–2 | 8–0 |
| 1990† | Shared | 9–3 | 6–2 |
| 1991 | Outright | 10–2 | 8–0 |
| 1992 | Outright | 9–0–3 | 6–0–2 |
| 1997 | Outright | 12–0 | 8–0 |
| 1998† | Shared | 10–3 | 7–1 |
| 2000† | Shared | 9–3 | 6–2 |
| 2003 | Outright | 10–3 | 7–1 |
| 2004† | Shared | 9–3 | 7–1 |
| 2021 | Outright | 12–2 | 8–1 |
| 2022 | Outright | 13–1 | 9–0 |
| 2023 | Outright | 14–0 | 9–0 |
Michigan Division titles Wins
| Year | Division | Coach | Opponent | CG result |
| 2018 | Big Ten – East | Jim Harbaugh | N/A; lost tiebreaker to Ohio State | |
| 2021 | Iowa | W 42–3 | ||
| 2022 | Purdue | W 43–22 | ||
| 2023 | Iowa | W 26–0 | ||
FAQs
A. Michigan has won the National Championship 11 times (1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, and 1997).
A. Michigan's most recent National Championship win was in 1997.
A. Fritz Crisler coached the team to its first National Championship since 1948 in the 1997 season.
A. Michigan's undefeated season in 1997 led to a National Championship win.
