Good question via Twitter:
Perhaps this has been explored, but the tradition of college football fans belting it out goes way back. We know, for instance, that the The Victors was written by Louis Elbel in 1898 after U-M’s 12-11 victory over Stagg in Chicago to come up with a better song.
It was in the immediate aftermath of the win, which claimed Michigan’s first B1G title. Years later Elbel described the scene:
When the fierce contest was finished we were literally crazed over the result.