Our MNC Wednesday miniseries continues with prequel installments: we are reviewing the pre-Associated Press mythical national championships prior to 1936, in reverse chronological order. Sabermetric data exists in minimal form, and we will sort through all other information available to make careful decision, even as several experts have done this already. Their names/systems will come up, aplenty. We have rules!

The 1933 MNC: Michigan (Helms, NCF); Michigan (DMP)

The Michigan Wolverines went 7-0-1 to claim the mythical titles from the usual suspects, and here are the modern-day facts: the team was first in the SRS and second in the SOS, with a 0-0 tie against Minnesota in Ann Arbor as the only blemish on the resume. Yet this team didn’t go to play in the Rose Bowl. How come? It clearly was the “best team” in the mathematical systems, but the Western Conference wouldn’t allow it.

That’s amusing, to say the least. Michigan played in the first-ever “Rose Bowl” and then didn’t go back to Pasadena until 46 years later. Seems quite “chickenous” to us, in truth, but we’ve given MNCs to teams that didn’t play in bowl games before, when it wasn’t their own fault, so to speak. These Wolverines qualify under that provision: they also won their league, even though another team also finished undefeated.

Yes, Minnesota finished 4-0-4 in 1933, while ending up 11th in the SRS and No. 7 in the SOS. Let that sink in, although one score does not define a season. Michigan, on its home field, couldn’t score/win against a team ranked significantly below it. Maybe the Wolverines had a bad day, but it’s not a pretty blemish to have on the record, is it? In addition to the scoreless tie, Michigan also won two other games by five points.

The other five games? Yeah, the Wolverines outscored their opponents by a 114-6 combined margin. The three teams Michigan struggled with were all in the Top 14 of the SRS, so maybe that was to be expected. But beating up on weaklings and slinking by the better teams you play isn’t usually a recipe for “awesome” … our guess is they would have lost the Rose Bowl to Stanford, which finished No. 16 in the SRS and repped.

Doesn’t matter now, though: eastern teams traveled poorly at the time, but maybe Michigan would have blown out the Northern California “Vow Boys”—we will never know. Are there any other teams to match the Wolverines for this specific MNC? Well, the USC Trojans finished second in the SRS—yet third in their own conference, believe it or not, thanks to a home loss against Stanford. So, they’re out as an also-ran contender.

Nebraska was third in the SRS, winning the Big Six Conference, but the Cornhuskers lost a road game to Pittsburgh (No. 5 in the SRS) in mid-November that cost them dearly. Ohio State lost to Michigan while finishing No. 4 in the SRS, and the Panthers themselves lost to Minnesota. We know the Golden Gophers were good enough to tie Michigan on the road, but they also tied against Indiana, Northwestern, and Purdue.

That’s just too weird. But we digress: Princeton (No. 8 SRS) went 9-0 and was snubbed by the Rose Bowl, which invited Columbia (No. 13) instead. The Tigers’ SRS rating was in the 80s, though, so maybe that was understandable. Alabama won the SEC, giving up fewer points per game than Michigan, but the SOS was much lower—and the Crimson Tide also had a loss and a tie on their slate. So, the Wolverines stick here.

This is only the fourth MNC, though, we’ve given to Michigan over the years (1947, 1948, 1964). The school itself claims a lot more, just as Alabama does, but we have found some of those accolades to be undeserved (1997 and 2023, for example). Argue away until you’re Maize & Blue in the face; we don’t care here for cheats. Future U.S. President Gerald Ford was on this 1933 Michigan team, and we know where his morals stood.