In his 21st year as head coach, Fielding H. Yost led Michigan to a 5–1–1 record, as the Wolverines outscored their opponents with a combined score of 187 to 21.

Left guard Robert J. Dunne served as the team's captain and was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference player.

Michigan's second touchdown followed after Stanley Muirhead blocked a punt and Paul G. Goebel recovered the loose ball on the Mount Union one-yard line.

[8][9] Doug Roby scored Michigan's fourth touchdown on a four-yard run, also in the second quarter, and Steketee again kicked for the extra point.

Clark Dean converted the free attempt by kicking a field goal from placement from Mount Union's 41-yard line.

Harry Kipke scored two touchdowns and was rated as the star of the game by the Detroit Free Press, with the newspaper noting that it "frequently took four struggling opponents to stop him in his smashing, dodging advances.

Substitutes included Irwin Uteritz, Bill Van Orden, Searle, Louis Curran, Donald Swan, Charles Petro, Roby, Ray Knode, Walter Kreinheder, C. J. Smith, Verne Richards, William Crawforth, Herbert Dunphy, John Henry, and J. W.

Goebel recovered two fumbles, blocked a punt which he then picked up and returned for a touchdown, "made 20 or so tackles," and kicked three extra points.

[11][12] In the fourth game of the season, Michigan played without two of its backfield stars, Ted Bank and Eddie Usher, both of whom were injured in the M.A.C.

[15] In the first quarter, left halfback Harry Kipke had an open field run for a 35-yard gain, but he was injured on the playing, leaving the Wolverines without three of their four starting backfield players.

Michigan students raided the hotel dining room and woke the guests with a variety of cheers and songs, including "Varsity" and "Samuel Hall".

"[18] Michigan entered the game hobbled by injuries, with three of the team's backfield starters, Harry Kipke, Eddie Usher, and Ted Bank, all being unable to play.

[18] The lone scoring drive of the game came in the second period and was led by the rushing efforts of left halfback Franklin Cappon and fullback Doug Roby, which advanced the ball to the Illinois six-yard line.

[18] The Detroit Free Press praised the efforts of Cappon, who was moved from tackle to halfback for the game after injuries to multiple backfield players.

With the Badgers breaking through on the play, Steketee hurried his kick which went straight up in the air, advancing no more than 15 yards before rolling back toward the Michigan goal.

Michigan center Ernie Vick was credited with repeatedly breaking through the line and holding Wisconsin to a loss of yardage.

Michigan quarterback Irwin Uteritz was also credited with his best game of the season, intercepting "numerous passes," recovering a fumble, and making several "neat returns of punts.

Substitutes were Harry Kipke, Eddie Usher, Clark Dean, Searles, Petro, LeRoy Neisch, and Louis Curran.

The game was played at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor before a crowd estimated at 33,000 spectators,[2] first in drizzling rain and then in cold weather.

[26] Prior to the start of the game, a ceremony was held dedicating a bronze memorial tablet honoring four Michigan athletes (Curtis Redden, Otto Carpell, Efton James, and Howard R. Smith) who died in World War I.

[27][28] Michigan's quarterback Irwin Uteritz scored two touchdowns, including a 65-yard interception return that the Detroit Free Press called "the most thrilling achievement of the afternoon.

"[26] Left end Clark Dean added a field goal from the 50-yard line that the Free Press called "the longest of the season, and, in most respects, the greatest any Michigan man ever exhibited to the gaze of paid spectators.

[26] The game marked the worst defeat that a Minnesota football team had suffered to that point in the program's history, exceeding a 41–7 loss to Iowa earlier in the 1921 season.

Substitutes included Steketee, Ted Bank, Ray Knode, Don Weiman, C. J. Smith, Louis Curran, John Searle, LeRoy Neisch and William Van Orden.

Other participants making significant contributions, but not sufficient to receive a full varsity letter, were recognized with what was known as "aMa" status.

For his All-Big Ten Conference football team, Walter Eckersall of the Chicago Tribune selected Vick and guard Robert J. Dunne as first-team players.

"[34] Luther A. Huston of the International News Service selected only Dunne as a first-team player on his 1921 All-Star Big Ten team.

In June 1921, he was selected to replace Philip Bartelme as the university's director of intercollegiate athletics, while still retaining his post as head football coach.

In early November 1921, the Grand Rapids alumni association passed a resolution calling on the university to hire a new football coach to replace Yost.