1883 Michigan-Yale Game
Michigan's 1883 team was the only non-Eastern team playing football at their level. This series uses period publications to cover Michigan’s trip east to play Wesleyan, Harvard, Yale, and the Stevens Institute in nine days.
Previous posts in the series: Intro | Wesleyan
Two days after playing Wesleyan in Hartford, the Wolverines faced Yale in New Haven. The game was played at Hamilton Park, which hosted horse races, baseball, and football, including serving as home to Yale football until Yale Field opened in 1884.
There were an estimated 400 to 600 fans to greet the Yale team when they arrived wearing their blue jockey caps, canvas jackets, brown breeches, and blue stockings, while Michigan wore their usual outfits.
Although the Wolverines no longer suffered train lag as they had against Wesleyan, they were not ready for the freight Yale delivered that day. From the start, Yale ran over and around Michigan. While the available reports lack clarity, Yale appears to have scored touchdowns on its first five possessions.
Under the rules of the time, the team that was scored upon kicked off, and Michigan kicked away following each Yale score. Partway through the half, they chose to "baby" the kick, booting it a yard or two and picking it up, a tactic Princeton devised. Babying the ball allowed Michigan to run the ball a few times and burn some clock. While Yale led 48-0 at halftime, they were 6-0 entering the game, having won by an average of 73.5 to 0, so things were working normally for them.
Michigan played better in the second half, with Gemmel, the Wolverines' best player, making several nice runs. Several more Yale touchdowns, a Yale field goal, and two Michigan safeties, then worth one point apiece, resulted in a 64-0 score.
The players for each side are listed below. Mr. Kellogg of Yale Medical School was the referee.
Mr. Kellogg was likely Francis Bartlett Kellogg, a first-year medical student who, despite the overwhelming score, was criticized by H. S. Mahon, a Michigan substitute, who sent the report home to The Chronicle. Mahon noted that:
The referee had the bad habit of shutting his eyes to fouls by Yale at critical moments for Michigan.
1883 University of Michigan, The Chronicle, November 24, 1883
Nevertheless, the Wolverines had to suck it up. They faced Harvard in Cambridge the following day for their third game in four days.
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Wesleyan had been termed Yale's 'practice agency' ..