The team's sole loss was to Cornell in a game in which halfback Jimmy Craig, quarterback Shorty McMillan, and lineman Miller Pontius were all sidelined with injuries.

Stanfield Wells, who played three games at right end and three at right halfback, was selected as a first-team All-American by The New York Globe and Henry L. Williams.

[2] However, with games against Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Penn, and Nebraska, the team faced "one of the hardest schedules ever arranged for the Wolverines.

Before the season began, several press reports noted that, with five veteran players returning from the 1910 championship team, head coach Fielding H. Yost was optimistic.

"[11]Much of the pre-season had been spent focusing on the development of a quarterback to replace Shorty McMillan, who had announced in late July that he intended to give up college and accept a position in his father's business.

[12] However, Coach Yost ultimately persuaded McMillan to return to Michigan, and he joined the team on October 10, 1911—shortly after the first game of the season.

[13] The team also lost the services of Arthur Cornwell, who had been selected by Yost as the All-Western center in 1910, due to academic ineligibility.

[3] On October 7, 1911, Michigan opened its season at Ferry Field with a 24–0 victory over the team from Cleveland's Case Scientific School.

"[15] No serious injuries were sustained in the Case game, and the Free Press noted that the team was showing "remarkable early season speed.

The Detroit Free Press wrote: "The pace that the Wolverines set was too fast for the men from Ohio and Coach Vaughn was forced to send in a substitute back field.

"[25] With three impressive victories to open the season, the Free Press opined that the 1911 team had few weaknesses and called the backfield the "speediest Yost ever has had.

[30] Before the game, Coach Yost reminded reporters that Vanderbilt's 1911 team included the same veteran line that had held Yale scoreless in 1910.

In the fourth quarter, Stanfield Wells ran five yards for a touchdown, and Conklin kicked the extra point to give Michigan a 9–3 lead.

[32] In the Detroit Free Press, E. A. Batchelor wrote: "Vanderbilt's failure to execute properly one of the simplest plays in the football catalogue was all that saved Michigan from the humiliation of a tie score with Dan McGugin's peppery Dixie lads this afternoon.

"[32] Batchelor opined that, with the exception of halfback Jimmy Craig and center "Bubbles" Paterson, the Wolverines "played their worst game of the season.

Eckersall wrote that Michigan's offense suffered from "an air of overconfidence," its tackling was poor, and the team was completely fooled on forward passes.

[37] Adding to the disruption, quarterback Shorty McMillan was unable to play against Syracuse after dislocating a knee during a practice scrimmage.

[39] With the injuries and the wholesale shift in the lineup, the Detroit Free Press called the week leading up to the Syracuse game "without doubt the most eventful one in the football history of Michigan.

[41][42] Michigan scored a touchdown in the first quarter against Syracuse on a "line buck" by George C. Thomson, and Thomas A. Bogle, Jr. kicked the extra point.

[44][45] In his account of the game, E. A. Batchelor wrote that the Wolverinews played "miserably" and credited fullback Thomson with saving Michigan from defeat with his "splendid" running and kicking.

[49] In the days leading up to the game, the Detroit Free Press noted that the usually communicative Yost was quiet with an "air of mystery" surrounding his latest maneuvers.

[52][53][54][55] In the final home game of the 1911 season, Michigan defeated Penn, 11–9, in an icy blizzard before a crowd of 17,000 persons at Ferry Field.

Since leaving the Big Ten Conference, Michigan had played annual rivalry games against Penn at or near the end of the season.

Despite the seemingly hopeless odds, the old Michigan spirit was there, was in every practice under the electric lights, in every sharp cry of the quarterback, in every weary run to the gym, and was a factor more potent than ever before.

The Times called Craig Michigan's "offensive and defensive hero" in a "clean, snappy, spectacular, thrilling" game.

He also called Craig the hero of the game and wrote that Michigan gave "a remarkable exhibition," played "hard and aggressive football" and "executed cleverly and faultlessly" an intricate formation.

Although George C. Thomson returned to the lineup after attending his brother's funeral, Stanfield Wells and Miller Pontius were unable to play in the Nebraska game.

[73] The Chicago Daily Tribune wrote: "Conklin broke through, blocked it, turned like lightning and sped without interference across the goal line for Michigan's first touchdown.

"[79]At the end of the season, Stanfield Wells was selected as a first-team All-American both by The New York Globe and Dr. Henry L. Williams, longtime coach at the University of Minnesota.

[82] Three Michigan players, Wells, Frederick L. Conklin, and Jimmy Craig, were selected for Outing magazine's Roll of Football Honor.