Michigan State 27, Michigan 24 - Nail in the Coffin of M football

[Hannibal]

Here's what I want to see this Saturday:

In the pre-game meetup, Harbaugh hands Mel Tucker a pillow. Mel says "what's this for?"

Harbaugh replies -- "you're going to need to hang onto this tight. I'm going in dry today".

[WingsFan]

MSU's HC doesn't want to say Michigan

It's .....'The Team Down The Road'

[THE_WIZARD_]

Big Bro

[WingsFan]

efz

[Tom W]

Sparty is overmatched just about everywhere and this should be a 40+ point win for Michigan. Except that only seems to get served AFTER the wheels have already fallen off (2002, 2019). Tucker's barely had a chance to assess this mess, much less lose his team.

They don't realize just how badly they suck yet, so this one will somehow be like 2016. Sparty has no business being even competitive in this game, yet somehow they find themselves getting some miraculous breaks and find themselves in this game well into the third quarter before they finally wear down and end up losing in something like 38-24.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Only thing that could save Sparty...is Covid...

[Mike]

Lay the points all day long. Losing to Rutgers SOUNDLY has to sow seeds of doubt in Sparty’s mind. Then again, they are pretty fucking stupid. Rocky Lombardi trying to read Don Brown’s defense will be like a Spartan trying to understand the terms of his plea deal. Confusion, pain, and loss. Confusion, pain, and loss. This is Sparty’s present and future.

[lineygoblue]

Its time to pay for the sins of the Dantonio era.

[WingsFan]

The Freep (I know) Shawn Windsor is sad


Jim Harbaugh has taken the fun out of Michigan-MSU football rivalry




Two years ago, in the lead up to the Michigan-Michigan State football game, two of the Wolverines’ best players spoke about their hatred for the Spartans. They even explained why they detested MSU players more than Ohio State players.

A decade earlier, such talk would’ve been heresy — not to mention laughable — mostly because it would not have been true. But when your in-state rival beats you eight out of 11 years?

The blood curdles a bit.

Because, to paraphrase former Michigan football coach Gary Moeller: Nothing feels better than beating the Buckeyes, and nothing feels worse than losing to the Spartans.

This week, there hasn’t been a peep from the Wolverines. Nothing more than boilerplate talk of what the game means, and that it’s the state championship, and yada yada yada.


You can thank Jim Harbaugh for that. He has made the U-M-MSU rivalry feel like a foregone conclusion.

He has gutted it. Muted its buzz. Re-established the Wolverines as the dominant player.

And while he started off slow — he went 1-2 his first three years — he has won three of the last four, including a thrashing last year at Michigan Stadium.

Well, thanks to a scheduling quirk, the game is back at Michigan Stadium for a second year in a row, and almost no one expects more than another blowout. Which means U-M's players — and coaches — had little reason to say anything this week.

Why bother?

Which is too bad, as the rivalry week was a lot more fun when U-M had no idea whether it would beat the Spartans. Which is to say rivalry week now feels the same as it ever was. MSU coach Mel Tucker hopes to change that, of course.

And, who knows, maybe if his Spartans don’t turn the ball over seven times they can hang around for a while Saturday afternoon.

But after watching MSU lose to Rutgers and U-M pummel Minnesota, the gulf between the programs is as wide as Lake Superior. And it looks like it could be that way for a while.


We are in this rivalry lull in part because Mark Dantonio couldn’t sustain his outsized success in East Lansing and left the program about the same — or maybe a little worse — as when he found it. And partly because Harbaugh may be just getting started.

Yes, programs can change in a hurry. When Dantonio took over at MSU in 2007, Lloyd Carr was in his final year at U-M. The Wolverines won nine games that year, including one over the Spartans.

The next season, after Carr's retirement, U-M won just three games. After that — except for an 11-win season by Brady Hoke in 2011, his first season — the Wolverines struggled to top .500 for a seven-year stretch.

Then Harbaugh arrived before the 2015 season. And while he has had a couple of disappointing seasons by his standard, he still has won 10 games three times and wrestled back control of U-M's rivalry with MSU.

Gone now, are the shots at the Spartans — and at Dantonio. Gone are the Twitter barbs and the obvious animosity.

Oh sure, Harbaugh wants to beat MSU as much as he ever has. It’s just easier to contain your disdain when your rival is less threatening.

[lineygoblue]

Both the writers in the Freep and the Snooze have been trying to stir up things this week to hype the game, but fact of the matter is, most Spartan fans know their goose is cooked.

They don't want to admit it, but their goose was cooked the day Jim Harbaugh walked in to the HC's office on State Street. He may not be able to beat OSU, but he knows how to beat Sparty. And Sparty contributed to its own downfall by letting Dantonio bring in questionable characters to the program which has contributed to its demise. Harbaugh took a lot of smack for that "punt" game, but the fact of the matter is, Michigan totally dominated that game. Even if Michigan takes a knee in that situation, they probably still win. And Sparty knew that too.

Sparty is now reaping the rewards of grabbing a few cheap wins by questionable means. They deserve no sympathy, and they certainly deserve no respect. Mel Tucker signed on the dotted line to coach that bunch, and maybe he will eventually build a decent team over there. But, as long as Harbaugh is at Michigan, he's not getting past the Wolverines.

[Niffla]

It's fun beating the brakes off your rival and not really letting up on the gas. Very good times.

You would know wouldn't ya you a-hole!! 😉

[Hannibal]

The line movement in this game is a bit ominous.

[Mike]

Hopefully that’s just because too much money was on State to cover. Maybe they missed the mark with the initial line. At any rate, we’re gonna pile drive those idiots into the Huron River.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The line movement in this game is a bit ominous.

Ehh, Mike's explanation is probably correct.

Having seen film on Milton and the Gattis offense with him at QB, MSU will be better prepared for M than Minny was. Having seen just one game in a COVID abbreviated system makes reliably talking about how these two teams stack up against each other a stretch.

There is always the rivalry factor that, in most cases, narrows the final point spread. Harbaugh reversed his frustrating trend to have his teams play poorly on the road and especially in road openers by beating Minny and the final point spread in that game indicated that wasn't a fluke.

I remain skeptical of Don Brown's defenses. I don't think there's any question that his apparent shift to more zone is less a reawakening in response to osu beat downs but more adjustments to cover for a weak front 4.

I've seen a pattern in the early CFB going for teams you expect to blow the doors off their competition come out of the gate slowly. Dominance for teams like Alabama and Clemson doesn't start to show until mid-way through the 3rd quarter when the talent differential takes the game over.

I thought M's start v. Minnesota, after the disastrous first possession, was an encouraging sign. Think about if Charbonette doesn't break that long TD run on M's second possession and down 0-7 and instead the Gopher's get a three and out? Complexion of the game, at least the dominant first half that ensued, is going to change. Big plays are absolutely key in CFB. You get them and those impact the game's complexion in favor of the team that's getting them and deflates the team that isn't. M had few of them in 2019 and one game where M had several doesn't prove M's offense is now lightening in a bottle.

M 35, MSU 24

[WingsFan]

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