Explaining Michigan football’s history with Slippery Rock

Picture this scenario. You’re sitting inside Michigan Stadium watching the Wolverines take on USC three months from now. It’s a late third-quarter media timeout and you’ve just pulled out your phone to check some out-of-town scores.

Just then, the familiar boom of the PA announcer’s voice comes over the loudspeaker to make a special announcement, and a green “S” pops up on the big screen. You find out that Slippery Rock has just defeated Shippensburg by a final score of 34-21. The crowd erupts as if it’s just watched Donovan Edwards take off for a 50-yard touchdown.

The camera then shows the one random guy in the stands wearing a “Slippery Rock” t-shirt, and the questions start flowing through your head. Why does that score matter? What’s Slippery Rock? How was someone wearing a green t-shirt even allowed in the stadium?

If you’ve been to the Big House before, this probably isn’t an unfamiliar scene. The out-of-town scores run on the scoreboard, but there’s always a special time in the game to announce the Slippery Rock score. Even if you are aware that you’ll see the Slippery Rock score at some point during a U-M game, you might not know the reason why.

First, for some background, Slippery Rock is a town in western Pennsylvania between Pittsburgh and Erie. It’s home to about 3,500 people and Slippery Rock University, a Division II school with about 9,000 students. Its football team, the Lions, went 12-2 in 2023, with its lone losses coming against Kutztown in the PSAC Championship and Division II playoffs.

Believe it or not, the tradition of Slippery Rock’s scores being announced at Michigan football games goes far back. It initially began back in 1959, when Michigan’s PA announcer at the time, Steve Filipiak, went rogue to insert Slippery Rock into his normal list of out-of-town scores to be announced during the game.

However, it wasn’t just some random score that was thrown into the mix, as Filipiak intentionally made a big deal out of it. He would usually save “The Rock” for last and proclaim it as the moment in the game fans had “all been waiting for” before announcing the score.

Soon enough, Michigan’s fans began to anticipate the announcement of the Slippery Rock score during games, and it’s been a Big House staple ever since. Interestingly enough, this wasn’t the introduction of Slippery Rock to the big stage of college football.

The Lions first became known on a national level back in 1936 when the AP Poll was released for the first time. While we’re all familiar with the voting process that’s used today, there was a great debate about how to determine team rankings at the time.

While Minnesota was ranked as the No. 1 team in the first poll, an argument was made for Slippery Rock to claim the top spot thanks to the transitive property. A news article argued Slippery Rock was better than Minnesota because:

Slippery Rock beat Westminster, which beat West Virginia Wesleyan, which beat Duquesne, which beat Pitt, which beat Notre Dame, which beat Northwestern, which beat Minnesota.

The article was read and reprinted around the country due to the craziness of the idea and the obsession with the concept that a place called “Slippery Rock” could even exist. This fascination is still widespread today, as the scores of Slippery Rock games are announced at big schools like Texas and North Carolina as well.

These schools might claim Slippery Rock as their own in a way, but there’s still a special connection with Michigan. The Lions have come to play at the Big House three times. The first of these instances was in 1979, when Slippery Rock was invited to play at Michigan Stadium while the Wolverines were on the road.

The Lions also made an appearance at the Big House in 1981 and once again in 2014. Unfortunately, though, Slippery Rock has lost all three times at Michigan Stadium.

While it might seem like a bizarre tradition for a random Division II school to get a shoutout at every Michigan home game, it’s something that always brings a cheer and helps energize the sleepiest of crowds. It’s a quirky and interesting piece of Michigan’s storied history that all fans should be aware of.

So the next time you’re at a Michigan game and you’re friend asks you where Slippery Rock is or why its score elicited a cheer, you’ll be able to tell them the story of Michigan’s adopted ally and its place in college football lore.