Talk:Michigan Wolverines football

Era

Hey @Cbl62! Not sure what dictionary you referenced, but per Mirriam-Webster, an era is "a fixed point in time from which a series of years is reckoned". In this history articles, every coach's tenure is an "era" of time, a way to split the article. See other new coaches, like Washington Huskies football, San Jose State Spartans football, Texas A&M Aggies football, or Mississippi State Bulldogs football. The clear consensus is to use "era". glman (talk) 02:25, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Google's search engine references Oxford Languages with the following definition: "a long and distinct period of history." Merriam Webster defines an era as "1. : a period of time beginning with some special date or event. the Christian era. 2. : an important or outstanding period of history." See also dictionary.com ("an extended period of time the years of which are numbered from a fixed point or event: the Christian era"). The example given by both dictionaries (i.e., "the Christian era", a period of over 2,000 years), is illustrative. Even dictionaries using a narrower time frame require a period of more than a year before something can be called an era. See Wiktionary ("A time period of indeterminate length, generally more than one year."). The assertion that Moore's one-day coaching tenure (with zero games having been played) represents an "era" is ludicrous. Cbl62 (talk) 02:44, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Regardless of the dictionary definition, which provides for both meanings of the word, it is clear that the consensus on Wikipedia is to split these sections and refer to them as eras, marked by the beginning of a new coach, regardless of their tenure, as supported by just a small sample of articles linked above doing this. glman (talk) 02:55, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Huh? Neither definition supports the notion that one day can be an "era". The most liberal definition you have is one that says "a period of more than a year". The fact that the term may be mis-used elsewhere doesn't show either that the usage is correct or that there is a "consensus". If you want to form a consensus for such misusage, open a discussion at the college football project talk page and invite me to participate. Cbl62 (talk) 13:48, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

We can’t see the head coach percentage 2600:1005:B18D:330F:A968:909D:E90E:4A18 (talk) 03:42, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

National Finalist?

Michigan is listed as a national finalist in 2023, without a cite. I removed it and it was reinstated. Can we add a cite if this is true? I'm also skeptical of this particularly nomenclature so if anyone can link to me the consensus on this that would be great. Jjazz76 (talk) 01:58, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Jjazz76, it appears you are talking about the NatlFinalist field in Template:Infobox college football team. I didn't realize this field existed in that infobox template, and I do not recall any discussion around it. Clearly, Michigan was a national finalist in 2023 as the Wolverines appeared in the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship. But the nonemclature is a little strained. Looking at Alabama Crimson Tide football, Alabama is listed is a national finalist nine times, include two times prior to the Bowl Coalition. National title games prior to 1992 were completely contingent and unofficial. We should definately have a discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject College football on how to manage this field. Jweiss11 (talk) 02:39, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Thanks. Yeah the Michigan one was slightly more clear, but then I looked at the ones for Notre Dame and there were a bunch where they were like AP #2 at the end of the year. Seems to warrant a larger discussion just for clarity, especially on the retro ones. Jjazz76 (talk) 13:29, 15 October 2024 (UTC)