Just don’t try and convince anyone of that inside the program. They’re sick and exhausted of hearing that the rise of Michigan must mean the demise of Michigan State.
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Michigan State, ranked #7, will face off against #12 Michigan Saturday afternoon in one of the biggest college football games of the year.
The nearby San Francisco 49ers were impressed enough to hire him and he won almost 70 percent of his games over four years in the league, leading the 49ers to the NFC championship game in each of his first three seasons and making it to the Super Bowl once. “It’s a very meaningful game, don’t get me wrong, but it is one game and I think that collectively, as a group, people don’t decide where to go to college because of one football game”. But few expected before the season it would be a top-15 matchup. Dantonio’s Spartans are 6-2 versus the Wolverines since he was hired in 2007.
And considering the history between the teams, the game will likely deliver on the intensity. The Spartans first moved ahead of USC when multiple prospects, including five-star prospect and Ann Arbor Skyline star Daelin Hayes, decommitted from the Trojans after the Steve Sarkisian fallout.
It’s a run the cadets will take in shifts, in the hopes of honoring one young man, who’s story is bigger than any rivalry. This perception is evident through the odds for Saturday’s game in which the line has hovered around the Wolverines being a 7-point favorite all week long.
The kicking game has been a problem for much of the season and it was again in the win over Rutgers.
The Wildcats had their hot start to the year derailed in Ann Arbor, where the Michigan Wolverines trounced them on their way to a 38-0 blowout victory.
Injuries also continue to mount. Either way with Indiana losing to Ohio State and Penn State, the luster surrounding their team has kind of slipped. Yes, I know the SEC has four in the top 10, but at one point this year, the Buckeyes and Spartans were ranked first and second, respectively.
“I’m not so sure about a shutout, just because Connor Cook, Aaron Burbridge, they’re a good combination”, Jacob Pitcher, U of M student, said. But he was hit often as the offensive line continued to deal with multiple injuries.
Look for Harbaugh to use his dominating defense to control the ball, and keep it in his offense’s hands. He’ll need as much time as he can get against a Michigan secondary that is playing as well as any in the country.
I’m already a believer – anyone who saw them take apart Northwestern last week probably is by now – but there are plenty who aren’t.
RUNNING GAME: The team that ran for more yards has won 42 of the past 45 matchups in this series.
Of course, many Michigan State fans will decry this as the crime of the century, while many Michigan fans will see this as only a response to the opening paint-filled salvo launched by Spartan fans last season. LJ Scott led an ordinary MSU rushing attack with 42 yards on nine carries with a pair of scores with Gerald Holmes adding 37 yards on five touches but the passing attack came to the rescue. It is no small feat that College Gameday on ESPN chose the state of Michigan over highly touted SEC match-ups of LSU vs. Florida and Texas A&M vs. Alabama.
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Michigan State 24, Michigan 23: Anyone remotely healthy for the Spartans will play.
