Four-in-hands, tally-hos, tandem drags, English carts, mail phaetons, carriages and all sorts of fashionable vehicles were in the stream.

Noses were bleeding profusely, every man's lips were cut and swollen faces were plastered with mud, and lame joints and twitching backs were many.

Crawford, who led the undefeated national champion 1884 Yale team and was "the most famous halfback of his time, "Snake" Ames, who had set the college scoring record with 730 points and was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, Ben "Sport" Donnelly, the second professional player in football history, and William C. Malley, who had played for Michigan in his student years.

"[21] In the fall of 1892, the University of Chicago fielded its first football team with Amos Alonzo Stagg serving as both head coach and starting right halfback.

On November 13, 1892, the Maroons and Wolverines played their first game, on a wet and muddy field in front of a crowd estimated at between 700 and 1,500 spectators at Olympic Park in Toledo, Ohio.

In January 1893, Ralph Stone (1868–1956), who later served as a Regent of the University of Michigan, expressed hope that a rivalry with Chicago might help overcome the "woeful" lack of loyalty to alma mater.

The Chicago Daily Tribune wrote: "The Ann Arbor men are mainly short and fat, weighing an average of 185 pounds, and their attack is like the rush of a battering ram.

Two hours before kickoff a "driving sleet storm" hit the city, and when the players lined up "the grounds were better fitted for skating rink purposes rather than a gridiron.

According to a newspaper account, "the grand stand and outfield were packed with yelling collegians, and the boxes and carriage rooms were well filled with society people.

[35] Michigan's first scoring drive came in the first half when the right halfback, John Hollister, took the ball on Chicago's 45-yard line and ran around the right end for a 35-yard gain, a play the press called "a prettily-executed criss cross.

Bloomingston received the ball, and, dodging the tacklers, who sought to bring him to the ground, ran back the entire length of the kick.

Even the worried Chicago substitutes and coaches on the side line could not refrain from an occasional word of admiration at the perfect defense of the visitors.

[37] Chicago's scoring came on a blocked punt resulting in a safety and a drop kick (worth five points under the rules at the time) by Clarence Herschberger from the 45–yard line.

While the other fields about Chicago were sloppy and the players were floundering about in the seas of mud, the athletes in the Coliseum played on dry surface and secure from the elements.

[45][47] One newspaper noted: "Michigan, with the exception of one or two double passes, relied almost altogether on straight football, line bucking and runs around the end.

[58] With Michigan leading 6 to 5 at the half, the most unusual moment of the 1900 game came during the intermission when 30 candidates for Chicago's "Three-Quarter" club gathered on the field to sacrifice a yearling rooster named Iphigenia.

"[60] 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.

... End-running was impossible, and we were compelled to make our gains by line-bucking which is a slow process ..."[60] In 1902, Yost's second "Point-a-Minute" team finished the season undefeated with an 11–0 record and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 644 to 12.

One Michigan fan, described as "a long-haired collegian wearing a yellow and blue streamer, told a reporter, "That is the way we will toss Chicago up in the air.

[10] Stagg's 1903 team featured three future College Football Hall of Fame inductees: Walter Eckersall at quarterback, Hugo Bezdek at right halfback, and Tiny Maxwell at right tackle.

The game, played in 35-minute halves, featured several College Football Hall of Fame inductees, including Walter Eckersall and Hugo Bezdek for Chicago and Willie Heston and Germany Schulz for Michigan.

The game was lost in the final ten minutes of play when Denny Clark was tackled for a safety as he attempted to return a punt from behind the goal line.

Michigan's fullback Roy Hudson scored two touchdowns in the game, and Stanley Hozer added an extra point and a field goal.

In October 1931, the Maroons lost to the Wolverines by a 13–7 score in Ann Arbor, but the Chicago Daily Tribune wrote that Stagg "can go back to the Midway feeling right proud of his boys.

"[84] Having been an underdog by a much larger margin, the Tribune called it a "moral victory" that Chicago scored a touchdown, something the team had failed to do in four meetings with Michigan since 1920.

Days before the Chicago trip, the future U.S. president wrote to a friend joking that he may not have time to see Sally Rand, a famous fan dancer performing at the fair.

"[89] Chicago's 1933 football team was led by a new head coach, Clark Shaughnessy, and by Jay Berwanger, who won the first Heisman Trophy two years later.

The Chicago Daily Tribune called the game a "sweet victory" for the "long oppressed" Maroons who had been "starved and bullied these many moons by unsympathetic neighbors in the Big Ten.

Chicago's lone touchdown came on a long pass from Lew Hamity to Big Ten sprint champion John Davenport who caught the ball in stride at Michigan's 45-yard line and ran the remaining distance for the score.

With the first string playing only 20 minutes, Michigan registered 461 yards of net offense, scored 55 points in the first half, and intercepted three Chicago passes.