1890 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1890 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1890 college football season . The team compiled a 4 – 1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 129 to 36 . The team captain was William C . Malley . George P . Codd , who later served as the Mayor of Detroit and in the United States Congress , was the team ' s manager . George Jewett , who played at the fullback and halfback positions from Michigan , became the first African American to play football at Michigan . After Jewett , no other African American played for Michigan until the 1930s . Eight years before Jewett ' s debut for the Michigan football team , Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first African - American to letter for Michigan , doing so on the baseball team . Schedule . Season summary . Albion . Michigan opened its season on October 11 , 1890 , with a 56 – 10 victory over the team from Albion College . Despite the lopsided score , " The Chronicle - Argonaut " critical of the team ' s performance : " Last Saturday ' s game with Albion showed quite conclusively that our foot ball players are not yet in the best of form . Though the score was 56 - 10 in our favor , still Albion ought not to have scored at all and our men should have made more points , if we expect to hold our own when we meet a team that can play . The men did not play with their heads , were very weak in blocking and did not follow the ball as they should have done , nor did they respond to signals readily enough . " at Detroit Athletic Club . On October 18 , 1890 , Michigan played the team from the Detroit Athletic Club in Detroit . Michigan won the game , 38 – 0 . A steady rain began to fall at 2 : 00 in the afternoon and continued intermittently throughout the game , which started at 3 : 30 p . m . The first half was 45 minutes , and Michigan scored three touchdowns on runs by Malley and Jewett . Michigan led 18 - 0 at halftime . In the second half , darkness and steady rain made it difficult to see the game from the stands . Michigan scored four more touchdowns in the second half . Traynor of Michigan was kicked out of the game for " shin kicking . " One published account of the game noted : " Jewett ' s lay was a revelation to the Detroiters and his work was fully up to standard . . . . A detailed account of the game is unnecessary since it was simply a series of rushes , touchdowns and trials at goals by the U . of M . , the latter generally unsuccessful by reason of the rain , which prevented any brilliant playing . " Michigan ' s starting lineup against D . A . C . was Roger Sherman ( left end ) , Prettyman ( left tackle ) , Sutherland ( left guard ) , Chadbourne ( center ) , Trainer ( right guard ) , Malley ( right tackle ) , McKean ( right end ) , Holden ( quarterback ) , Jewett ( left halback ) , Grosh ( right halfback ) , and Dygert ( fullback ) . Pearson replaced Traynor after he was ejected from the game . at Albion . On October 25 , 1890 , the Wolverines played their second game of the season against Albion . The game was played on Albion ' s home field . Michigan won 16 - 0 . Grosh scored Michigan ' s first two touchdowns , and Jewett kicked a goal . Albion scored on a long touchdown run by its halfback Anderson , but the referee did not allow the points . The first half ended with Michigan leading , 10 - 0 . In the second half , Jewett scored a touchdown and kicked the goal after touchdown to extend the lead to 16 - 0 . Albion scored another touchdown on a long run by Albion quarterback Burnham , but it was also disallowed . Sherman and Chadbourne of Michigan were both ruled out of the game for slugging in the second half . Michigan ' s starting lineup against Albion was Roger Sherman ( left end ) , Pearson ( left tackle ) , Trainer ( left guard ) , Chadbourne ( center ) , Sutherland ( right guard ) , Malley ( right tackle ) , McKean ( right end ) , Holden ( quarterback ) , Jewett ( halback ) , Grosh ( halfback ) , and Dygert ( fullback ) . Players appearing in the game as substitutes for Michigan were Sam Sherman and McMorran . Bert Carr who later played for Michigan was the starting left guard for Albion . Purdue . For its fourth game of the 1890 season , Michigan faced the Purdue Boilermakers in Ann Arbor on November 1 , 1890 . Michigan won , 34 - 6 . The game marked the first football game between two teams that would later become members of the Big Ten Conference . The game received a total of six lines of coverage in the " Detroit Free Press " . The newspaper noted : " The game was hotly contested . James E . Duffy , the famous halfback of the team of ' 88 and ' 89 , played in the game , relieving Jewett , who was injured . " vs . Cornell . After winning its first four games , Michigan concluded its season with a 20 - 5 loss to Cornell . The game was played at Recreation Park in Detroit . Cornell led 10 - 0 at halftime and extended its lead to 20 - 0 in the second half . Late in the game , Michigan scored five points on a field goal by James E . Duffy " from the sixty - yard mark . " Michigan ' s starting lineup against Cornell was Roger Sherman ( left end ) , Prettyman ( left tackle ) , Trainer ( left guard ) , Chadbourne ( center ) , Sutherland ( right guard ) , Malley ( right tackle ) , McKean ( right end ) , Holden ( quarterback ) , Duffy ( halback ) , Grosh ( halfback ) , and Jewett ( fullback ) .