Today's Tidbit... Michigan's Goal Line Punt Return of 1905

With just over 50 seconds left in the 2024 Rose Bowl, Alabama punted from its 42-yard line. The towering kick sailed to the 6-yard line, where Michigan's Jake Thaw muffed it before recovering the ball on the 1-yard line, where he was immediately tackled and thrown into the end zone. Under today's football rules, the sequence did not result in a safety; instead, Michigan received the ball at the 1-yard line. Things were not always so, and a similar event in the 1905 Chicago-Michigan game -played for the effective national championship- encouraged football to adopt the forward progress rule in 1906.

The Maroons and Wolverines were bitter rivals when they met in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, 1905. Michigan entered the game riding a 56-game win streak, having outscored opponents 495-0 in the first twelve games of the season, while Chicago had outscored its opponents by a mere 269-5 in its nine games.

The scene at the 1905 Chicago-Michigan game. (Library of Congress)