Читать книгу Michigan Motivations. A Year of Inspiration with the University of Michigan Wolverines онлайн

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Michigan Agricultural College entered the game with a 1–1 record. The 1902 game was their second contest ever versus the University of Michigan. Their first meeting in 1898 had ended with a Michigan victory, 39–0.

The University of Michigan entered the second contest on the back of two overwhelming victories against Case Western Reserve University and Albion College for a combined total score of 136–6. But those victories came at a cost. Michigan had announced that star players Willie Heston and Everett Sweeley would not play in the game against Michigan Agricultural.

That fact alone had to give Michigan Agricultural a spark of hope. They may actually have stood a chance against the vaunted Michigan team.

But the rivals from East Lansing struggled in the game. They managed only three first downs and were able to hold Michigan on downs just one time. The Detroit Free Press noted that if Heston and Sweeley had participated, the result would have been much worse: “The opinion is quite general that if Heston and Sweeley had been in the game, the Buffalo record would have been beaten, but, as it was, Michigan was simply fagged out for running down the field for touchdowns.”