1952 Michigan Wolverines football team
1952 Michigan Wolverines football | |
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Conference | Big Ten Conference |
1952 record | 5–4 (4–2 Big Ten) |
Head coach | Bennie Oosterbaan (5th season) |
MVP | Ted Topor |
Captain | Merritt Green |
Home stadium | Michigan Stadium |
1952 Big Nine football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 11 Wisconsin + | 4 | – | 1 | – | 1 | 6 | – | 3 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 18 Purdue + | 4 | – | 1 | – | 1 | 4 | – | 3 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 17 Ohio State | 5 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michigan | 4 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minnesota | 3 | – | 1 | – | 2 | 4 | – | 3 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Illinois | 2 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Northwestern | 2 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 6 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iowa | 2 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indiana | 1 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1952 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1952 Big Ten Conference football season. In its fifth year under head coach Bennie Oosterbaan, Michigan compiled a 5–4 record (4–2 against conference opponents), tied for fourth place in the Big Ten, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 207 to 134.[1][2]
Defensive end Merritt Green was the team captain, and quarterback Tony Branoff received the team's most valuable player award.[2]
Lowell Perry was selected by the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) as a first-team defensive back on the 1952 College Football All-America Team.[3] Five Michigan players received All-Big Ten honors: linebacker Roger Zatkoff (AP-1, UP-1); guard Bob Timm (AP-1); center Dick O'Shaugnessy (UP-1); left halfback Ted Kress (UP-1); and defensive tackle Art Walker (AP-1).[4][5]
The team's statistical leaders included Ted Kress with 559 passing yards and 623 rushing yards and Lowell Perry with 492 receiving yards.[6]
Schedule
Date | Opponent# | Rank# | Site | Result | Attendance | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 27 | No. 1/1 Michigan State* | Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry) | L 13–27 | 96,490 | |||||
October 4 | at Stanford* | Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA | L 7–14 | 25,000 | |||||
October 11 | Indiana | Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI | W 28–13 | 53,840 | |||||
October 18 | at Northwestern | Dyche Stadium • Evanston, IL | W 48–14 | 40,000 | |||||
October 25 | No. NR/20 Minnesota |
No. 19/14 | Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI (Little Brown Jug) | W 21–0 | 72,404 | ||||
November 1 | No. NR/20 Illinois | No. 15/14 | Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI (series) | L 13–22 | 65,595 | ||||
November 8 | Cornell* | Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI | W 49–7 | 48,614 | |||||
November 15 | No. 10/9 Purdue | No. 20/NR | Michigan Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI | W 21–10 | 58,964 | ||||
November 22 | at Ohio State | No. 12/13 | Ohio Stadium • Columbus, OH (rivalry) | L 7–27 | 81,541 | ||||
*Non-conference game. |
Game summaries
Northwestern
Statistical leaders
Michigan's individual statistical leaders for the 1952 season include those listed below.[6][8]
Rushing
Player | Attempts | Net yards | Yards per attempt | Touchdowns |
Ted Kress | 135 | 627 | 4.6 | 6 |
Tony Branoff | 86 | 342 | 4.0 | 2 |
Dick Balzhiser | 75 | 327 | 4.4 | 2 |
Passing
Player | Attempts | Completions | Interceptions | Comp % | Yards | Yds/Comp | TD | Long |
Ted Kress | 85 | 45 | 7 | 52.9 | 559 | 12.4 | 4 | 52 |
Ted Topor | 58 | 33 | 4 | 56.9 | 440 | 13.3 | 2 | 25 |
Duncan McDonald | 17 | 7 | 2 | 41.2 | 90 | 12.9 | 2 | 38 |
Receiving
Player | Receptions | Yards | Yds/Recp | TD | Long |
Lowell Perry | 31 | 492 | 15.9 | 5 | 52 |
Ted Topor | 18 | 208 | 11.6 | 4 | 32 |
Thad Stanford | 12 | 200 | 16.7 | 0 | 48 |
Kickoff returns
Player | Returns | Yards | Yds/Return | TD | Long |
Tony Branoff | 6 | 145 | 24.2 | 0 | 31 |
Don Oldham | 7 | 123 | 17.6 | 0 | 30 |
Frank Howell | 6 | 100 | 16.7 | 0 | 26 |
Punt returns
Player | Returns | Yards | Yds/Return | TD | Long |
Lowell Perry | 12 | 73 | 6.1 | 0 | 15 |
Don Oldham | 5 | 31 | 6.2 | 0 | |
Dave Tinkham | 4 | 27 | 6.8 | 0 | 6 |
Players
The starting lineup of the 1952 football team was made up of the following players. Players who started at least four games are shown with their names in bold.[2]
- Fred Baer – started 3 games at fullback
- James Balog – started 8 games as defensive right tackle
- Richard Balzhiser[9] – started 5 games at fullback
- Richard Beison – started 8 games at offensive right guard
- Donald Bennett – started 4 games as offensive left tackle
- Tony Branoff – started 6 games as right halfback
- George Dutter – started 9 games as defensive right guard
- Merritt Green – started 9 games as defensive left end
- Frank Howell – started 3 games as right halfback, 1 game as safety
- Gene Knutson – started 9 games as defensive right end
- Ted Kress – started 9 games as left halfback
- Laurence LeClair – started 9 games as linebacker
- Don Oldham – started 4 games as defensive back, 2 games as safety
- Dick O'Shaughnessy – started 9 games at center
- Lowell Perry – started 9 games as offensive left end, 4 games as safety
- Bernhardt Pederson -started 6 games at offensive right tackle
- Russell Rescorla – started 3 games as defensive back
- Thad Stanford – started 9 games at offensive right end
- Dick Strozewski – started 5 games as offensive left tackle
- Bob Timm – started 8 games as offensive left guard
- David Tinkham – started 9 games as defensive back
- Ted Topor – started 9 games as quarterback
- Art Walker – started 9 games as defensive left tackle
- Ronald Williams – started 7 games as defensive left guard
- Roger Zatkoff – started 9 games as linebacker, 1 game as offensive right tackle
Awards and honors
Honors and awards for the 1952 season went to the following individuals.[2]
- Captain: Merritt Green
- All-Americans: Lowell Perry[3]
- All-Conference: Roger Zatkoff, Art Walker, Bob Timm, Dick O'Shaughnessy, Ted Kress
- Most Valuable Player: Ted Topor
- Meyer Morton Award: Gene Knutson
Coaching staff
Michigan's 1952 coaching, training, and support staff included the following persons.[2]
- Head coach: Bennie Oosterbaan
- Assistant coaches: Jack Blott, George Ceithaml, Cliff Keen, Bill Orwig, Don Robinson, Walter Weber, J. T. White
- Trainer: Jim Hunt
- Manager: Gerry Dudley
References
- 1 2 "1952 Michigan Wolverines Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "1952 Football Team". University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- 1 2 ESPN College Football Encyclopedia. ESPN Books. 2005. p. 1228. ISBN 1401337031.
- ↑ "3 Badgers on AP All Big Ten Team". The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin. November 24, 1952. p. 19.
- ↑ Ed Sainsbury (November 26, 1952). "Michigan, Badgers Each Land Trio On All-Big Ten Squad". Nevada State Journal. p. 11.
- 1 2 "1952 Michigan Wolverines Statistics". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ↑ University of Michigan Football Record Book Pt. 1
- ↑ "Michigan Football Statistic Archive Query Page". University of Michigan. Retrieved November 6, 2017. (statistics retrieved by entering "1952" in the box for "Games & Totals by Season" and then, at the next screen, choosing "Display Season Totals")
- ↑ Balzhiser was the first University of Michigan athlete to be inducted into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame.