page_title: 1909 Michigan Wolverines football team
section_title: at Penn
hierarchical_section_title: 1909 Michigan Wolverines football team / Season summary / at Penn
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Joe Magidsohn
context_page_description: The 1909 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1909 college football season. The team's head coach was Fielding H. Yost in his ninth year at Michigan. The Wolverines compiled a record of 6–1, outscored opponents 116 to 34, and held six of seven opponents to six points or less.
  The team began its season with four consecutive victories, including close calls against Case and Marquette and dominating performances against Ohio State and Syracuse. The team's sole setback came in the fifth game, losing to Notre Dame for the first time in nine games between them. Following the game, a Detroit newspaper described Notre Dame's predominantly Irish-American lineup as a group of "Fighting Irishmen", giving birth to the team's nickname.
  The Wolverines then finished the season with impressive road victories over two of the best teams in the country. In Philadelphia, they defeated the 1908 national champion Penn Quakers, 12–6, breaking the Quakers' 23-game winning streak. In Minneapolis, they defeated the previously unbeaten 1909 Western Conference champions from Minnesota, 15–6.
context_section_description: On November 13, 1909, Michigan played the Penn Quakers in front of 15,000 spectators at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.  Since leaving the Big Ten Conference, Michigan had played annual rivalry games against Penn at or near the end of the season.  Penn was one of the dominant football programs of the era, winning seven national championships between 1894 and 1912.  The 1909 game was the fifth meeting between the schools, and Penn had won the first four games by a combined score of 63 to 10.
  Penn, which had won the 1908 national championship and had an ongoing 23-game winning streak, was favored again in 1909.  Before the game, Coach Yost refused to predict the outcome but said that "he had confidence in his team to give Pennsylvania the hardest fight since the series started."  The Wolverines came away with an upset and won the game by a score of 12 to 6.  The game marked the first time a Western team had defeated one of the "Big Four" (Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn) which had dominated the sport of college football since the game originated almost 40 years earlier.
  
  The battleship USS Michigan, which had been delivered two months earlier and represented the state of the art in naval engineering, was anchored at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on League Island on the day of the game.  Out of loyalty to the team that shared a name with their ship, 250 crewmen from the ship were granted leave to attend the game.  Accompanied by the ship's band, the sailors marched onto the field before the game started, "each man carrying a maize and blue pennant, heads up and chest out."  The unit's color bearer presented team captain Dave Allerdice with a silken flag (pictured at right) that was hung in Michigan's trophy room.  One of the favorite yells repeated by the sailors was:
  "Two stack, twin screw, battleship queen,
  Michigan, Michigan football team."
  In a surprise move, Yost moved Andrew Smith from his usual position at right guard to the center position against Penn.  Smith had not played at the position until two days before the team left for Philadelphia, and Yost had Smith practice snapping the ball in the aisle of the Pullman car that took the team east.  At every stop on the trip, Yost also had Smith practice his long snaps on the station platforms.  Smith ended up playing so well at the position against Penn and Minnesota that he was selected by Walter Eckersall as the first-team center on his All-Western team.  Michigan's captain, Allerdice, played the game with his hand in bandages after breaking a small bone in his left hand.
  Right halfback Joe Magidsohn scored both of Michigan's touchdowns within the first ten minutes of the start of the game.  Allerdice kicked both extra points.  The first touchdown was scored less than two minutes into the game and was set up by a trick play.  With the ball at the 22-yard line, Michigan lined up to kick a field goal, but the formation was a fake.  William Wasmund took the snap from center and ran backward and to his left.  Wasmund tossed the ball back to Dave Allerdice who was trailing behind Wasmund.  Allerdice began running with the ball, then stopped behind the blocking of the fullback.  Allerdice passed to Magidsohn who was running toward the right sideline.  Magidsohn caught the ball at the 26-yard line and ran downfield before he was tackled at the five-yard line.  Magidsohn scored on a short run two players later, and Allerdice kicked the extra point.
  Michigan's second touchdown followed a fumble by Penn quarterback Miller.  Michigan drove 80 yards on five plays, with Magidsohn carrying on four of the five plays. On the final play of the drive, with the ball at Penn's 25-yard line, Wasmund took the snap and circled to his right with the other backs, creating the appearance of a mass play to the right side.  Wasmund then tossed the ball to Magidsohn at the 35-yard line.  With the defense moving in the direction of the apparent mass play, Magidsohn ran left into a clear field with Edmunds and Wells blocking for him.  After Michigan took a 12–0 lead, Penn scored a touchdown an
caption: Joe Magidsohn was Michigan's first Jewish football player.
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