In its tenth year under head coach Fritz Crisler, Michigan compiled a perfect 10–0 record, won the Big Ten Conference championship, and defeated the USC Trojans by a score of 49–0 in the 1948 Rose Bowl game.

[2] The 1947 Michigan Wolverines included five players who have been inducted into the College or Pro Football Halls of Fame: left halfback Bob Chappuis (who finished second in the 1947 Heisman Trophy voting), right halfback Bump Elliott (who received the Chicago Tribune trophy as the Big Ten MVP), defensive quarterback Pete Elliott, defensive end Len Ford, and tackle Al Wistert.

Offensive tackle Bruce Hilkene was the team captain, and quarterback Howard Yerges was the field general who became known as "Crisler's 'second brain.

In November 1947, Time magazine ran a feature article about the 1947 Wolverines focusing on the new era of specialization marked by Crisler's decision to field separate offensive and defensive units.

[4] The Time article noted: "Michigan's sleight-of-hand repertory is a baffling assortment of double reverses, buck-reverse laterals, crisscrosses, quick-hits and spins from seven different formations.

[5] The 1946 Michigan football team compiled a record of 6–2–1 and closed the season with four consecutive wins over ranked opponents by a combined score of 162 to 19.

[7][8] Other returning starters included quarterback Howard Yerges, halfbacks Bump Elliott and Gene Derricotte, fullback Jack Weisenburger, ends Len Ford and Bob Mann, and linemen Hilkene, Bill Pritula, Quentin Sickels, Dominic Tomasi, and J. T. White.

Michigan's ten touchdowns were scored by Mann (2), Derricotte, Jack Weisenburger, Bump Elliott, Don Kuick, Tom Peterson, and Len Ford.

Highlights of the game included a 59-yard punt return by Gene Derricotte and a 52-yard touchdown run on an end around by Bob Mann.

Michigan's seven touchdowns were scored by Jack Weisenburger (2), Bob Chappuis, Bump Elliott, Henry Fonde, Tom Peterson, and Mann.

"[16] The New York Times wrote that Michigan's "overwhelming superiority" was too much for the Badgers as Bob Chappuis "threw passes long and short and sliced through the Wisconsin line with increasing effectiveness.

After these games, Allison Danzig wrote:"While Notre Dame was yielding as many touchdowns to Northwestern's intercepting Couriers as its six previous opponents combined had scored, the Maize and Blue was furnishing one of the season's finest offensive displays in rain, snow and mud.

Against a Wisconsin eleven that had won first-ten rating, Bob Chappuis, Bump Elliott and associates executed Crisler's clever concepts of attack with a speed, power and finish in their running and passing operations that marked one of the campaign's high spots.

[18] Despite the Wolverines' win over Ohio State, Notre Dame, after defeating Tulane 59-6, overtook Michigan in the AP Poll released on November 24, 1947.

In the final AP Poll released two days later, Notre Dame received 107 of 146 first place votes and edged Michigan by 1,410 points to 1,289.

[21] Although Michigan would defeat USC three weeks later by an even larger margin that Notre Dame, the final AP Poll in the late 1940s was taken at the end of the regular season and before any bowl games were played.

The 49-point margin was the worst defeat in the history of the USC football program, and Michigan's 491 yards of total offense set a Rose Bowl record.

In the third quarter, Michigan added to its lead on 18-yard touchdown pass in which Chappuis rolled out to his right and threw across the field to quarterback Howard Yerges, who was open at the nine-yard line.

"From Grantland Rice down through the ranks of the nation's top sports writers assembled in the Rose Bowl press box yesterday there was nothing but glowing expletives for the synchronized Michigan Wolverine wrecking crew that powered over Southern California, 49-0.

While for the most part hedging from a comparison of Michigan with Notre Dame, the consensus of the scribes was that the offensive-minded Ann Arbor squad deserved no less than a co-rating with the Irish as America's Number One Collegiate eleven.

"[24] Grantland Rice, the dean of the nation's sports writers, wrote of Michigan: "It is the best all-around college football team I've seen this year.

[25] Detroit Free Press sports editor, Lyall Smith, argued the debate should be answered by comparing the two team's performance against common opponents.

Notre Dame dropped USC, 36 to 7, in what Coach Frank Leahy termed his team's 'greatest game of the year,' while Michigan slaughtered the same Trojans, 49 to 0.

The AP's final poll of the top ten teams, released December 8 at the conclusion of the regulation season, resulted in Notre Dame winning first place with 1,410 points.

"[27] Another AP report indicated the special poll was "conducted by popular demand" to answer "the burning sports question of the day" and to do so "at the ballot box.

The AP reported: "The nation's sports writers gave the final answer Tuesday to the raging controversy on the relative strength of the Notre Dame and Michigan football teams, and it was the Wolverines over the Irish by almost two to one—including those who saw both powerhouses perform...

In the over-all total, 226 writers in 48 states and the District of Columbia picked Michigan, 119 balloted for Notre Dame, and 12 called it a draw.

Opinion of the 54 writers who saw both in action last fall coincided at almost the same ratio, with 33 giving the nod to Michigan, 17 to Notre Dame, and four voting for a tie.

"[30] Commenting on the special poll, Michigan coach Fritz Crisler said "the men who voted couldn't have made a mistake if they had picked either team."

"[33] Despite the magnanimous statements of Coach Crisler and Father Cavanagh, the reversed decision in the post-bowl poll only stoked the debate over which team was best.