In their first year under head coach Fielding H. Yost, the team compiled a perfect 11–0 record, outscored its opponents by a combined total of 550 to 0, tied with Wisconsin for the Western Conference championship, and defeated Stanford by a 49 to 0 score in the inaugural Rose Bowl game, the first college bowl game ever played.

[2][3][4] The 1901 team holds the distinction of having won the first national championship claimed by the Michigan Wolverines football program.

"[13] In addition to training, Yost spent time at Whitmore Lake evaluating his talent to fit particular positions.

In a 1952 letter, Heston later recalled: "He brought to Michigan an entirely new brand of football, not known in the Big Ten nor to the Middle West.

[18] Michigan scored nine touchdowns (worth five points each in 1901), including three by Hugh White, two by Walter W. Shaw, and one each by Neil Snow, Willie Heston, Bruce Shorts, and Everett Sweeley.

[19] In its account of the game, The Michigan Alumnus described Heston as a "stocky Californian" who "proved a whirlwind in bucking the line.

"[21]In its coverage of the game, the Alumnus also noted that Michigan's new coach Yost "refuses to have a man on the field who [is] 'yellow' or who is not willing to work and to take his fair share of knocks.

Against a heavier team, on a slippery field which was all in favor of the visitors and directly opposed to our style of play, the 'Varsity was not found wanting and turned victory into a fight for big scores.

[26] Yost later recalled the impressive play of his team in preventing Northwestern to score: "The defense at this point was as good as I have ever seen.

When the ball was held for downs and Michigan had again obtained possession, our goal line had passed its only danger of the season.

"[13] The Pittsburgh Press described the game as follows: "Just to show her superiority during the last few minutes of play, Michigan, put in an all substitute line.

Michigan scored 22 touchdowns in the game, five by Albert Herrnstein, four each by Neil Snow and Arthur Redner, three each by Willie Heston and Everett Sweeley, two by Curtis Redden, and one by Bruce Shorts.

The 1901 Columbia team defeated Eastern "Big Four" power Penn, 11–0, and narrowly lost a game to Yale, 10–5.

[31] The Adrian Daily Telegram opined: "Michigan defeated Buffalo 128 to 0, which clearly demonstrates that she can bump the big eastern four without much fear of disaster.

About fifteen minutes after the second half had started, Yost discovered a Buffalo player, Simpson, "on Michigan's side of the field, covered up in a blanket.

"[35] The Wolverines defeated Pop Warner's Carlisle Indian team, 22–0, in a game played at Bennett Park in Detroit on November 2.

Carlisle played the Michigan game without its star tackle, Martin Wheelock, who was injured one week earlier against Harvard.

[42] The New York Times pointed to the Carlisle game as evidence that Michigan's remarkable season was not limited to small institutions.

The 1901 game was the third meeting in what would become the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry, with the two teams having played to a scoreless tie in their prior match in 1900.

A special train carried 375 Michigan students to the game on the Ann Arbor and Hocking Valley railroads.

When the umpire threatened Ohio State with a forfeiture, coach Eckstrom agreed to play regulation halves of 30 minutes.

[46] The Detroit Free Press noted that Ohio State's players sought to slow the pace of Michigan's "hurry up" style of play.

"[45] After the game, coach Yost commented on Ohio State's tactic: "Their laying down for time took much of the vim out of our team, and rested their tired out players.

[46] On November 16, 1901, Michigan faced its traditional rival in Amos Alonzo Stagg's University of Chicago Maroons football team.

"[13] Yost described the impact of the weather on his team as follows: "Much to our disappointment the game was played on a muddy field in a snowstorm, and the work of our backs was seriously handicapped.

[52] Michigan closed its regular season schedule on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, with a 50–0 win over the University of Iowa in front of a crowd of 10,000 spectators at West Side Park in Chicago.

[54] After the conclusion of the 1901 football season, Michigan, was invited to play against Stanford in the first Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California.

[55][56] The players that traveled to California were starters, Hugh White, Curtis Redden, Dan McGugin, George Gregory, Bruce Shorts, Albert Herrnstein, Boss Weeks, Everett Sweeley, Willie Heston, and Neil Snow, and substitutes Arthur Redner (back), Benjamin Harrison Southworth (guard), James E. Forrest (tackle), and Paul J. Jones (back).

[59] At the end of the regular season, Michigan had fallen slightly short of the point-a-minute mark with 501 points in 540 minutes.

"[61] With respect to the trainer, White noted:"An equally strong element, and one many are apt to overlook, was the work of Keene Fitzpatrick.