Fansided

Ranking the 10 best college football fight songs

By Phil Poling

12 November 2016: USC quarterback #14 Sam Danold leads the Trojan band in a song after the game against Washington. USC defeated Washington 36-13 at Husky Stadium on November 12, 2016, in Seattle, WA. (Photo by Jesse Beals/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
12 November 2016: USC quarterback #14 Sam Danold leads the Trojan band in a song after the game against Washington. USC defeated Washington 36-13 at Husky Stadium on November 12, 2016, in Seattle, WA. (Photo by Jesse Beals/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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ANN ARBOR, MI – SEPTEMBER 10: Former University of Michigan player and 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard is honored for his introduction into the College Football Hall of Fame prior to the start of the game on the field prior to the start of the game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on September 10, 2011 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Notre Dame Irish 35-31. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MI – SEPTEMBER 10: Former University of Michigan player and 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard is honored for his introduction into the College Football Hall of Fame prior to the start of the game on the field prior to the start of the game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on September 10, 2011 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Notre Dame Irish 35-31. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /

No. 7: Michigan Wolverines

The University of Michigan’s, “The Victors!,” is one of college football’s oldest and most-recognizable fight songs. It was written in November 1898 by music student Louis Elbel after the football team defeated the University of Chicago. The victory gave UM their first Western Conference (eventually the Big Ten) football championship.

The Wolverines’ fight song wasn’t created out of thin air, though. Rumor has it that Elbel wrote the lyrics on the train ride following the Western Conference championship, hence the lyric, “Hail! Hail! to Michigan, the champions of the West!”

Michigan enjoyed plenty of gridiron success to kick off the 20th century, claiming national championships in 1901, 1902, 1903, and 1904. “The Victors!,” rang aloud so often opposing fans undoubtedly got sick of it. But since then, things haven’t been the same, claiming only one national championship in the last six decades.

With Urban Meyer no longer at Ohio State and Jim Harbaugh entering his fifth season at the helm of UM, now is the time to revert back to those victorious ways.