88th Michigan Mud Bowl
ANN ARBOR – The dirtiest tradition in college football has returned to Ann Arbor ahead of Saturday’s game between Michigan and Michigan State.
The 88th Michigan Mud Bowl raised more than $52,000 for C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital’s Charles Woodson Clinical Research Fund.
As it has for almost nine decades, the contest took place on a muddied field outside Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s fraternity house at 1408 Washtenaw Ave. Brothers from the host fraternity faced a determined squad from Alpha Epsilon Pi for bragging rights, with the “True Gentlemen” of SAE winning 20-18. This year, a play-in tournament on the same muddy field saw Alpha Epsilon Pi defeat reigning champions Fiji to earn their berth in the title game.
The game, traditionally scheduled for homecoming weekend, has in recent years taken place later in the season on big game days. This year’s Mud Bowl kicked off at 10:30 a.m., well ahead of the Saturday’s rivalry night game at Michigan Stadium.
The event began in the 1930s as a friendly contest between Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Pi Delta Theta, but in recent years has taken on a more philanthropic mission, with organizers seeding fraternities based on their level of fundraising leading up to the event. Including 2022′s total, the Michigan Mudbowl Club has raised more than $250,000 for Mott Children’s Hospital in the last seven years.
