page_title: History of Michigan Wolverines football in the Yost era
section_title: Notre Dame
hierarchical_section_title: History of Michigan Wolverines football in the Yost era / Rivalries / Notre Dame
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Frank Longman
context_page_description: The History of Michigan Wolverines football in the Yost era covers the period from the hiring of Fielding H. Yost as head coach in 1901 through Yost's firing of Tad Wieman as head coach after the 1928 season. The era includes the brief head coaching tenures of George Little and Tad Wieman. Wieman was head coach during the 1927 and 1928 seasons but contended that he had never truly been allowed to take control of the team with Yost remaining as an assistant coach and athletic director.
  During the 28 years of the Yost era, Michigan claims six national championship, had two additional undefeated seasons, and compiled an overall record of 180–37–11. In Yost's first five years as Michigan's head coach, the team compiled a record of 55–1–1 and outscored its opponents by a margin of 2,821 to 42. The teams from these years became known as Yost's "Point-a-Minute" teams, because their offensive production resulted in an average of at least one point being scored for every minute of play.
  Five of Michigan's coaches and nine of its players from the Yost era have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The five coaches are Yost, Little, Wieman, Bennie Owen, and Dan McGugin.
context_section_description: The Michigan–Notre Dame football rivalry also took on new significance, although the programs met only three times during the Yost era.  Michigan won the games played in 1902 (23-21) and 1908 (12-0).  In 1909, Notre Dame won for the first time in the series history.  Coached by Frank Longman, who had played for Yost at Michigan, Notre Dame defeated Michigan by a score of 11 to 3. The 1909 game gave birth to the "Fighting Irish" nickname. E. A. Batchelor, a sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press, submitted a report on the game with the headline: "'Shorty' Longman's Fighting Irishmen Humble the Wolverines to Tune of 11 to 3."  Batchelor opened his report as follows: 
  "Eleven Fighting Irishmen wrecked the Yost machine this afternoon. These sons of Erin, individually and collectively representing the University of Notre Dame, not only beat the Michigan team, but dashed some of Michigan's greatest hopes and shattered Michigan's fairest dreams."
  Notre Dame football historian, John Kryk, later wrote: "With that flowery lead, E.A. Batchelor of the Detroit Free Press popularized a moniker Notre Dame teams would later come to embrace – and aptly summed up the greatest athletic achievement to that point in Notre Dame history." Kryk noted that, according to Notre Dame folklore, Batchelor had overheard a Notre Dame player trying to motivate his teammates at halftime by pleading, "What's the matter with you guys? You're all Irish and you're not fighting worth a lick."
  Michigan was scheduled to play Notre Dame again on November 5, 1910.  Michigan protested Notre Dame's use of two players (Philbrook and Dimmick) who had reportedly played more than four years of college football.  After Notre Dame refused to bench the players, Michigan's Board of Control of Athletics canceled the game. The New York Times reported: "It is understood here that this ends all athletic relations between Michigan and Notre Dame."  The two teams did not play again for more than 30 years, the longest break in the history of the storied rivalry.
caption: Frank Longman's "'Fighting Irishmen' wrecked the Yost machine" in 1909.
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