ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There is certainly no love lost between these two teams.
Jim Harbaugh and Michigan got their first win against Mel Tucker on Saturday after defeating the Spartans, 29-7. The Wolverines moved to 8-0 on the season and Michgian’s Big Ten and CFP hopes are still well alive.
The score really doesn’t indicate how dominant the Wolverines were in the game.
The maize and blue outgained MSU, 443-252. The Wolverines ran the ball down the Spartans’ throat. It’s what Michigan has done all season, run the opposing team into oblivion. And Michigan State happened to be the latest victim.
This in-state showdown happens once a year and the team that won the latest game will have bragging rights until the next game. Michigan State had won two straight against Michigan going into the game. These Michigan players heard all about the Spartans’ victories over the maize and blue and they finally had enough.
After the game ended, Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy were the two offensive players that the media had a chance to talk to. Running back Blake Corum came into the press conference with an opening statement ready to roll.
“Y’all like that? I thought Tuck was coming,” said Corum. “I thought Tuck was coming! That’s what they said this offseason, right? All them shirts? Tuck was coming. I just saw him running”
Michigan State isn’t the first team that has come into the Big House with confidence and using words to express themselves. In the last home game, Penn State players threw PB&J sandwiches at Michigan and a scuffle started in the tunnel. McCarthy says that the Wolverines allow the opposing teams to run their mouths and the Wolverines believe in allowing their football skills to do the talking.
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve had multiple, numerous teams come in here just yapping their mouth,” said McCarthy. “And we just like to come back with action. We don’t like talking back with words. That’s just all extra stuff. We just want to do what we do.”
Ohio State and Michigan are the biggest rivalry in all of football. But between Ohio State and Michigan State, which game is dirtier? Well, after the first video surfaced showing Michigan State players attacking a Wovlerine — I would say the MSU rivalry is extremely dirty.
Blake Corum was blunt when saying he doesn’t like the Spartans and that whenever his team beats a rival, it does the trick by shutting them up until the next game between the two teams.
“I don’t like them,” said Corum.
“I mean we don’t talk we just do,” Corum said. “Our side of the game is always clean we just try to punish we don’t do much talking. The coaches always preach ‘don’t talk just beat them’. That’s what we take pride in so you know obviously everything — you know whether it be Michigan State or Ohio State, but we don’t we don’t really feed into that. I don’t really know which game is cleaner. But when you beat them they shut up.”
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