EAST LANSING – Pat Fitzgerald was buying a snow shovel and salt on his day off Saturday when two women helping him at Home Depot brought up Michigan.
“Coach, we’re fired up for this week,” Fitzgerald recalled them telling him.
By then, Fitzgerald had heard about the rivalry from former Michigan State players and coaches, including Mark Dantonio. He had been talking about it with his team since he took the job in December. And on the one day he had to run an errand, two people helping him get ready for his first winter in Michigan were already thinking about whether he could bring Paul Bunyan back to East Lansing.
“Every game is significant. Every game we wanna win,” Fitzgerald said Monday. “This one just means more.”
