Could you imagine a football season without Michigan and Michigan State football playing each other? Until about 2017, the huge rivalry game was one of my favorite sports events of the year, period. Since around 2018, the rivalry, always heated but always fun, has turned into something far uglier.
Like many things in our world today, tribalism and social media seems to have deepened the divide between the two programs, and that division exploded on Saturday night in the now infamous tunnel incident in which Michigan State players attacked two Michigan players following the Spartans’ loss.
Now, I would hope and imagine that the Big Ten, along with both programs and their athletic directors are looking for ideas on how to cool off this rivalry before it gets even worse and may have to be removed entirely for the safety of the players and fans.
Below, I outlined a few ideas I had for how this might be accomplished.