1887 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1887 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1887 college football season . The team compiled a 5 – 0 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 102 to 10 . The 1887 season capped three consecutive undefeated seasons in which Michigan won its games by a combined three - season total of 258 to 10 . The captain of the 1887 team was John L . Duffy . Game summaries . Michigan 32 , Albion 0 . On November 12 , 1887 , the team opened its season against Albion College at the Ann Arbor Fairgrounds . " The Chronicle " of Ann Arbor reported : " The weather was fine , and the contest was witnessed by a fair crowd of spectators , but one that might have been larger . " The game was preceded by the continuation of a wrestling match between two heavyweights named Malley and Jackson . Three - hundred spectators watched the wrestling match , which lasted for between 30 and 45 minutes . The football game began between 3 : 00 p . m . and 3 : 30 p . m . Albion kicked off to start the game and Duffy immediately kicked the ball back to the middle of the field . In a scrimmage that followed , John Duffy " slipped through " , scored Michigan ' s first touchdown , and kicked the goal from touchdown to give Michigan a 6 - 0 lead . Michigan scored two additional touchdowns and a safety in the first half ( or " inning " ) , with the scores being made by Jim Duffy , Royal Farrand and Ernest Sprague . After a ten - minute break between halves , neither team scored in the first 18 minutes of the second half . John Duffy scored Michigan ' s fourth touchdown , and the kick for goal was successful . James Duffy scored Michigan ' s fifth touchdown , " the ball coming to him on the bound from the punt - out . " " The Michigan Argonaut " summarized Michigan ' s play as follows : " On the whole the boys played a good game . Their passing and running were excellent . Some of the new material is a great strengthening to the eleven . The inability to hold the rush line well was the greatest fault but they will take away with them a stronger one . " Michigan 8 , Notre Dame 0 . Two of the players on Michigan ' s 1887 team , George Winthrop DeHaven , Jr . and William Warren Harless , had previously attended the University of Notre Dame . In October 1887 , DeHaven wrote to Brother Paul , who ran Notre Dame ' s intramural athletics program , telling him about the new game of football . Michigan had planned a game in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day , and the three men , DeHaven , Harless and Brother Paul , persuaded their respective schools to play a football match on the Notre Dame campus on the day before Thanksgiving . On November 22 , 1887 , the Michigan football team departed from the Michigan Central Railroad Depot in Ann Arbor on the late train . After breakfast in Niles , Michigan , the team changed trains and arrived in South Bend between 7 : 00 a . m . and 8 : 00 a . m . The team was greeted by Father Superior Walsh and spent two hours touring the university buildings and departments of Notre Dame . The game was the first played by Notre Dame , and the Michigan team was credited with teaching the Notre Dame team the game before play began . The Notre Dame student newspaper , " Scholastic " , reported : " It was not considered a match contest , as the home team had been organized only a few weeks , and the Michigan boys , the champions of the West , came more to instruct them in the points of the Rugby game than to win fresh laurels . " Newspaper accounts differ as to whether the football game started at 10 : 00 a . m . or 11 : 00 a . m . The proceedings began with a tutorial session in which players from both teams were divided irrespective of college . For the first 30 minutes , the teams scrimmaged in a practice game with Michigan " exchanging six men for the same number from Notre Dame . " After the practice session , the Michigan and Notre Dame teams played a game that lasted only half an hour which was described by " The Chronicle " as follows : " The grounds were in very poor condition for playing , being covered with snow in a melting condition , and the players could scarcely keep their feet . Some time had been spent in preliminary practice ; the game began and after rolling and tumbling in the mud for half an hour time was finally called , the score standing 8 to 0 in favor of U . of M . " Between 400 and 500 students watched the game . After the game , the team ate at the Notre Dame dining hall . The Notre Dame student newspaper reported on the gratitude of Notre Dame officials for Michigan ' s tutorial in the game of football : " After a hearty dinner , Rev . President Walsh thanked the Ann Arbor team for their visit , and assured them of the cordial reception that would always await them at Notre Dame . " Brother Paul arranged for carriages to take the team to Niles in time to catch the 3 : 00 train to Chicago . The Notre Dame paper reported : " At 1 o ' clock carriages were taken for Niles , and amidst rousing cheers the University of Michigan football team departed , leaving behind them a most favorable impression . " Michigan ' s lineup against Notre Dame was J . L . Duffy ( fullback ) , J . E . Duffy and E . McPheran ( halfbacks ) , R . T . Farrand ( quarterback ) , W . W . Harless ( center rush ) , F . Townsend , E . M . Sprague , F . H . Knapp , W . Fowler , G . W . DeHaven and M . Wade ( rush line ) . This was the first game in the Michigan - Notre Dame rivalry . Michigan 26 , Chicago Harvard School 0 . The team left Notre Dame on the afternoon of November 22 , changed trains in Niles , and arrived by train in Chicago at 7 : 00 p . m . After a night enjoying the sites of Chicago , the team returned to the hotel at 11 : 00 p . m . The team had planned on a Thanksgiving Day game against Northwestern , but the game could not be arranged . Instead , a match against the Harvard school team was played . " The Chronicle " noted that the team from the Harvard school was superior to Northwestern , " having defeated Northwestern 28 to 4 and having never before been beaten . " The Michigan team lounged around the hotel before departing for the game , which was played on a wet and muddy field at the grounds of the Wanderer Cricket Club ( referred to in some reports as Wanderers ' park ) at 37th Street and Indiana Avenue . The game had been scheduled to begin at 3 : 00 p . m . , but was delayed until 4 : 00 p . m . John Duffy scored the first touchdown , and the goal was made for a 6 - 0 lead . Jim Duffy scored the second touchdown on a play described as follows : " Farrand sends it accurately back to Jim Duffy who makes the circle of the field , passing all opponents and secures the second touchdown . " Harvard was held for a safety to make the score 14 - 0 . The remainder of the game was played in darkness . William Harless scored Michigan ' s third touchdown " by good rushing " and breaking through all opponents . Jim Duffy scored Michigan ' s fourth touchdown . After five more minutes , the game was called with Michigan leading 26 to 0 . " The Michigan Argonaut " wrote that Michigan ' s score " would have easily been doubled " were it not for the " treacherous nature of the field " and a ball so slippery that " it was almost impossible to hold . " " The Chronicle " described the return from the game as follows : " Tired out , wet , and covered with mud and glory we returned to the hotel . Some swallow a hasty supper and hurry to catch the train but most of us wait till the next day to start for home . All the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and voted it a big time . " Michigan ' s lineup against the Harvard club was Harless ( center ) , Fowler , Sprague , Townsend , Knapp , Wade and DeHaven ( rushers ) , Farrand ( quarterback ) , John Duffy ( fullback ) and MacPherran and J . E . Duffy ( halfbacks ) . Michigan 26 , Notre Dame 6 . After Michigan ' s visit to South Bend in November , football became a popular game on the Notre Dame campus . A football association was formed with Brother Paul as the president . In the spring of 1888 , Brother Paul challenged Michigan to return to South Bend . On March 24 , 1888 , the Notre Dame student newspaper reported , " Mr . DeHaven writes from Ann Arbor that the boys of the University of Michigan have such pleasant remembrances of their Thanksgiving game here that they are anxious to play here again . " The games were scheduled for a Friday and Saturday , April 20 and 21 , 1888 . Due to injuries , several of Michigan ' s best players were unable to participate . Quarterback Royal Farrand was left home with his knee in a cast and was replaced by Ball . Sprague and Townsend from the rush line were injured during practice the week before the trip and were replaced by R . S . Babcock and Button . DeHaven recalled , " We were totally unprepared , but I got five starters to go , and with Harless and I ( we wanted to see our South Bend friends ) and four of our friends , who had never played , and a referee , we went . " In his history of the Michigan - Notre Dame rivalry , John Kyrk contends that two of the players who DeHaven recruited for the trip , G . Briggs and E . Rhodes , were non - student " ringers . " Michigan won the first game on April 21 by a score of 26 to 6 . The game was played at Green Stocking Ball Park before a crowd stated to be as low as 300 and as high as 800 spectators . Before the game was played , a 100 - yard dash was run with players from both teams participating . Michigan ' s James E . Duffy defeated Harry Jewett , the American sprint champion , in the race . The game bean at 3 : 20 p . m . , and James Duffy scored the first touchdown after three - and - a - half minutes of play . " The Chronicle " summarized the game as follows : " The feature of the game on our side was the tackling of Duffy , Harless , Babcock and Briggs , long runs and good passes by Rhodes , DeHaven , Wood , Ball and Button . As usual J . L . Duffy got in some good kicks . " Michigan 10 , Notre Dame 4 . The second game of the spring trip was played on the Notre Dame campus , after the players were taken on a boat ride in St . Joseph ' s Lake . The game began at about 2 : 00 p . m . Michigan won by a closer - than - expected score of 10 to 4 . The spring games were a disappointment in that the Michigan football team had not allowed its opponents to score a single point since November 1883 — a span of more than four years . The Notre Dame team had scored 10 points in two games . DeHaven recalled that , when the Michigan players returned to Ann Arbor , they were booed on their arrival : " It was a badly battered team that landed in the crowded Ann Arbor depot , and we received a proper razzing for breaking a four - year record . " No Michigan football team returned to play at Notre Dame until 1942 .