WINNINGEST Team in Football
Michigan marches closer to history. Here are the all-time records as of today:
- MICH: 995-353-36 (73.20%)
- OSU: 953-331-53 (73.26%)
- BAMA: 953-335-43 (73.22%)
Michigan is 5 wins away from an unprecedented 1,000 wins. (math is easy!)
Michigan can also take the lead in total win percentage if they accrue fewer losses than both OSU and BAMA the rest of the year. The percentages are close enough now that any loss moves the leader behind the other two. (math is less easy!)
#FunFact: With 1,384 total games played, Michigan could conceivably overtake Rutgers (1,395) for most games played (among current FBS teams) by playing more postseason games than them over the next 5-10 years.
Sources: List of NCCA football teams by wins, Winning Percentage Calculator (advanced)
October 13th, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^
Did you take out all the games Ohio had to forfeit?
October 13th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
Clearly, AN osu kisses their sisters and/or cousins much more frequently than what would be considered normal.
October 13th, 2023 at 4:19 PM ^
I was gonna say that the last time the Buckeyes kissed anyone, it was with you.
...but then they kissed someone else the following year.
October 13th, 2023 at 6:01 PM ^
I feel like there is a Cayman Nebraska joke in there somewhere
October 13th, 2023 at 2:32 PM ^
What about wins we will have to have to vacate once they find out we had extra onions on them cheeseburgers?
October 13th, 2023 at 2:51 PM ^
Rutgers stopped playing football many years ago. Now, only a team known as “Rutger” plays football.
October 13th, 2023 at 5:34 PM ^
They play Michigan Tate this weekend and the winner gets the S.
October 13th, 2023 at 2:51 PM ^
That's quite a tie collection OSU has.
October 13th, 2023 at 4:18 PM ^
E. Gordon Gee would be proud.
October 13th, 2023 at 2:55 PM ^
According to MSU fans -- certified statistical geniuses -- almost all of those wins were in 1901 against Ann Arbor High School
October 13th, 2023 at 3:00 PM ^
Depressingly amazing that RichRod and Hoke racked up 42 losses between them.
Also, the three LOSINGEST football teams ever are Indiana (704), Northwestern (697), and Rutgers (689).
Indiana is also the worst P5 team in Win % at 42%
Jesus
October 13th, 2023 at 3:03 PM ^
I’m not done: the three TYINGEST teams of all time are Kansas (58 ties), Navy (57), and TCU (57)
Wisconsin is tied with Ohio State at 53 ties, which would be a 4-way tie for 9th on the list of all-time ties
October 13th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^
To be fair, Indiana and Rutgers do play in a pretty tough conference/division . . . .
October 13th, 2023 at 4:18 PM ^
yea but so does Hail State, and in the '90s Vanderbilt, and Baylor in the '00s
October 13th, 2023 at 7:56 PM ^
Hoke and RR are not even similar.
RichRod had the first losing record since 1891 at Michigan with a winning percentage of about .4
Hoke’s winning percentage was close to .6
October 13th, 2023 at 9:42 PM ^
Do you mean losing record for his entire tenure? I’m having trouble parsing your statement: according to SportsReference, Michigan has had plenty of losing seasons since 1891.
Also, I’d like to make a feelingsball disagreement: RichRod had the worst Year 1 team you could imagine, and won more games every season he was here. He was responsible for 22 losses.
Hoke inherited a great offense, and lost more games every season he was here. The fact that he recruited well just underscored how poor he was as a coach. He was responsible for 20 losses.
Those two eras were horrific in different ways, but they were both terrible to live through.
October 13th, 2023 at 3:05 PM ^
I'm gonna be at number 996 this weekend!
Hopefully it doesn't rain
October 13th, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^
Pretty sure exactly one of those two things will occur
October 13th, 2023 at 3:06 PM ^
Rutgers has not played the most games, though. Penn is ahead at 1,423.
Lehigh is breathing down our neck at 1,381.
October 13th, 2023 at 3:40 PM ^
Rutgers and Michigan are #1 and #2 among current FBS programs.
October 13th, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^
I object to the way the NCAA calculates winning percentage (ties count as half of a win). If you only count wins in winning percentage (wins divided by total games), Michigan is already significantly ahead of OSU and Alabama because of significantly fewer ties.
October 13th, 2023 at 3:28 PM ^
Wins / total games is an abjectly unfair calculation. Clearly a tie is better than a loss.
Having ties as half a win / half a loss helps Michigan compared to ignoring them entirely, which is the only other fair approach. That's because the half-losses are more damaging to a team above .500 than the half-wins are helpful.
October 13th, 2023 at 3:09 PM ^
I remember when our games with Notre Dame used to determine who had the all-time winning percentage.
Rutgers made the list of the Top 100 teams in total wins. But they come at the bottom of those 100 in win %. Still, golf clap for that. Not every Big Ten school is even on the list.
October 13th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
That stupid Covid season really hurts. In 2020, while we went 2-4, Bama went 13-0 (!) and OSU 7-1.
Toss out that season and you get:
Michigan - 993-349-36 (.7336)
OSU - 946-330-53 (.7318)
Bama - 940-335-43 (.7295)
October 13th, 2023 at 3:34 PM ^
When you're the "winningest" you're all lone, at the top.
GO BLUE
October 13th, 2023 at 3:48 PM ^
Could be wrong on this but I thought ND was much closer to us a few decades ago. Same with Nebraska. Nebraska I can understand falling, ND more of a surprise
October 13th, 2023 at 8:18 PM ^
Yes, it was Michigan and ND 1 & 2 in win % for a long time (Michigan had the lead in total wins and passed Yale(?) decades ago for most wins.
ND is currently 4th in win % (just behind Michigan), and tied with Oklahoma for 5th in wins.
October 13th, 2023 at 4:12 PM ^
Michigan will get to 1000 wins this year.
Michigan will pass Rutgers in games played by the end of the decade*
*JH gets his deal signed.
October 13th, 2023 at 4:51 PM ^
Thanks for not narrowing it to CFB. It is ALL of football. At least in this part of the world.
Michigan has about a 200 game win cushion on the GB Packers.
Yeah we probably had about a 40 year head start, but they've actually played around 50 more games than Michigan.
October 13th, 2023 at 4:57 PM ^
I like it better being the leader in wins without being the leader in total games played.
October 13th, 2023 at 5:25 PM ^
How many of those early Rutgers games were soccer? Their "first" game absolutely was.
October 13th, 2023 at 8:41 PM ^
The first American football game was played six years later. I've never understood the reasoning behind declaring the 1869 game to have been football, except in the sense that soccer was then called "Association Football."