Five years ago, Michigan State and Michigan brought undefeated records, top-10 rankings, and national attention into this rivalry.
This year, the most consistent emotion on either side might be frustration with our own teams.
Michigan State has lost six straight. Michigan is trying to establish some offensive stability behind a new quarterback. Both programs have first-year head coaches, and neither fan base seems particularly interested in celebrating how things are going.
Still, give the Spartans a fourth-quarter lead in Ann Arbor, and I suspect we will all remember how to enjoy this game pretty quickly.
Michigan State enters Saturday at 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the Big Ten. Michigan is 5-3 and 2-3, with four consecutive victories in the series. The Spartans have been waiting to reclaim Paul Bunyan since their 37-33 win in 2021.
I caught up with Chris Castellani of Big Play Detroit to work through Michigan’s strengths, its weaknesses, and how much nervous energy the Spartans might be able to generate inside Michigan Stadium.
There are reasons Michigan should control this game. There are also reasons its fans might spend a little more time checking the scoreboard than they would prefer.
The challenge for MSU is finding enough healthy players to take advantage.
