College Football
Saturday, players from Ann Arbor and East Lansing battled the elements and a weather delay to stand victorious at the end and claim the title of Best Team in Michigan. In keeping with tradition since 2015 when Michigan got a new head coach, the Wolverines won the game on the road. The Paul Bunyan Trophy has returned to Ann Arbor. The Michigan-Michigan State game was one to be remembered.
How The Rivalry Game Went Down
Before anyone in uniform stepped onto the field, the Wolverines let the Spartans know they had arrived. Devin Bush, junior linebacker for Michigan, dug his cleats into the Spartan logo at midfield, ruining the grass. Michigan State took exception, and twitter has been blowing up since. No one ever said the Michigan-Michigan State game was going to be pretty.
The first quarter got off to a rocky start. Michigan won the toss and elected to receive, but couldn’t get anything done on their first drive. At 12:23, we saw the first signs of the rivalry as MSU safety Tre Person and Michigan WR Donovan Peoples-Jones each received an unsportsmanlike penalty. These would not be the last such penalties. Less than two minutes later there was an injury timeout as Devin Bush was down on the field.
Weather Delay Doesn’t Affect Wolverines
Lightning near Spartan Stadium caused a 1 hour 15 minute weather delay. Upon returning to the field, Michigan had the ball. It might be hard to keep energy up during a delay, but you wouldn’t know that Michigan had even been in a delay the way they played that first drive back. After a Nico Collins scoop catch and a 26-yard drive from TE Nick Eubanks, Shea Patterson connected with Collins for a TD in the first seconds of the second quarter. This was the first passing touchdown in this rivalry game since 2011.
The rest of the quarter was fairly uneventful. The Wolverines’ field goal unit came onto the field at 1:36 and K Quinn Nordin kicked the ball way wide of the uprights. MSU star WR Felton Davis was carted off the field with 1:10 left in the half. The wind certainly seemed to go out of MSU’s sails at that moment. The two teams headed to the half with Michigan up 7-0. This was the first time Michigan had held MSU to a scoreless first half since 2012. As is to be expected during a rivalry game like this, the exit off the field was eventful. Both teams were seen shoving at each other.
Second Half
The second half was quite a show. MSU intercepted the ball at the Michigan 7 and pulled a Philly Special on the drive for a TD to QB Brian Lewerke. Two minutes later Michigan recovered a fumbled punt. Three minutes later, another turnover to MSU. Michigan managed to score another touchdown just before the end of the quarter, and one more in the fourth, which brought an end to the scoring on the day. The second half also saw a personal foul against Michigan’s Chase Winovich, and two more offsetting unsportsmanlike penalties. The game got dirty.
Michigan Third Downs
Michigan came into this game ranked dead last in college football on third down conversions on third and 7+ with a 12% conversion rate. That held during this game. Anytime Michigan had a third and long, they went three and out. The punter got a lot of work during this game. If Michigan hopes to win going forward against defences like Penn State (2 weeks) and Ohio State (5 weeks), they’re going to have to fix that. Patterson is going to have to get better at converting third and long.
The Aftermath
Both teams have taken to twitter and the media following the game. They are claiming the other team lacks class. Both are claiming their own team showed class. Here’s my two cents: the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is not about class. Was Devin Bush ripping up the Spartan logo with his cleats classy? No. Nor were the unsportsmanlike penalties and personal fouls called throughout the game. These teams hate each other. No one watches this game to see class. They watch the game to see two teams that hate each other destroy each other. Things get ugly. Think Steelers/Bengals for an NFL comparison. Both teams need to step back and evaluate their own actions before calling out the other on anything. No one showed class yesterday.
Looking Ahead
Michigan heads into a bye week next week before facing a struggling Penn State team at home. Penn State struggled against Indiana this week after coming off two tough losses to OSU and MSU. The Big Ten Conference is no picnic, folks. Anything can happen. Michigan needs to be mentally prepared for Penn State’s visit. They cannot ride the laurels from this win for long. Penn State might be struggling, but don’t underestimate them. They’re hurtin’, and they want to win big games. Beating Michigan would prove to their fans that they are a team to be reckoned with. Michigan needs to be on top of their game.
Written by Susannah Schmidt
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Follow me on Twitter @SusannahElyse
Photo credit to rudainah alimah via Flickr
