ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jim Harbaugh’s bingo card is running out of empty spaces.
In successive games last season, Harbaugh accomplished three things that had eluded him at Michigan. He beat Ohio State. He won the Big Ten. He went to the College Football Playoff. Short of winning a national championship, there’s only one thing Harbaugh could do that would make this Michigan football renaissance feel complete.
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Harbaugh still hasn’t beaten Mel Tucker, his counterpart in the Michigan–Michigan State rivalry. He’s had only two chances, but still. At a time when Michigan is exorcizing all kinds of demons, Michigan State has been the stubborn exception. Though last year’s loss in East Lansing didn’t derail Michigan’s season, losing to the 3-4 Spartans at home on Saturday night would turn this trend into a full-blown problem.
“Our guys really want to win this,” Harbaugh said. “I’m not going to lie to you: I really want to win it.”
The Michigan State rivalry occupies an interesting plot of real estate in the minds of Michigan fans. The Ohio State rivalry is the one that never sleeps, the 365-day-a-year standoff that culminates on the final Saturday of the regular season. When the Wolverines wanted to crank up their nine-on-seven period in practice, they called it the “Beat Ohio” drill, not the “Beat MSU” drill.
The Michigan State rivalry condenses a year’s worth of animosity into a single week. It’s brief, but it’s potent. When the Spartans are beating Michigan with regularity, it messes with the balance of things, at least in the way the Wolverines view the rivalry.
BRING. THE. JUICE!#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/9AYrr87mqa
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) October 26, 2022
Mark Dantonio succeeded in making Michigan worry about the Spartans for more than just one week out of the year. When Michigan finally started to distance itself, Tucker arrived and reset the balance. While the Wolverines were focused on building a team that could beat Ohio State, Tucker was finding ways to beat Michigan.
Rhetorically, at least, the difference was apparent when Michigan players talked about their goals at Big Ten media days. In previous years, most of the talk revolved around the Ohio State rivalry and Michigan’s shortcomings against the Buckeyes. This year, the Wolverines were explicit about wanting to beat both rivals in the same season, subtly elevating the Michigan State game to a place it hasn’t always occupied in the Michigan universe.
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“There are some games that you think about maybe that week or whatever it is, but there are some teams you think about all year when you’re working out, when you’re conditioning,” quarterback Cade McNamara said in July. “Michigan State is one of those teams. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure we don’t lose that game.”
That’s partly the recalibration of goals that comes with finally beating the Buckeyes and partly a testament to the way Tucker has energized the rivalry. The Spartans faced Michigan’s best team in two decades and came away victorious. This Michigan team, 7-0 and ranked No. 4, looks every bit as good, if not better. The same can’t be said for the Spartans, who have the same porous pass defense without the exploits of Kenneth Walker III to make up for it.
That only matters if Michigan makes it matter. There have been times in this rivalry when Michigan had the better team and showed it emphatically on the field. At other times, Michigan allowed the game to be decided in the fourth quarter, often in Michigan State’s favor. That was the case last season, as the Wolverines made a few crucial mistakes that allowed the Spartans to erase a 16-point deficit in the second half.
“I feel like we had it,” said running back Blake Corum, who had a costly fumble on a botched exchange with J.J. McCarthy. “Some things happened. I’m disappointed in myself — a dropped pass and then miscommunication between me and J.J. It was just disappointing.”
Several players referenced the silent bus ride home from East Lansing as an enduring memory from that day. There weren’t many unpleasant moments for the Wolverines last season, but that was one of them. After that experience, there was no chance of Michigan looking past the Spartans or downplaying the rivalry this season.
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“We know we’re the better team,” wide receiver Roman Wilson said. “We’ve gotta go out there and prove it. We just can’t let bull—- happen.”
No guarantees there. It’s hard to imagine a Michigan-Michigan State game without some sort of controversy: a missed call, a pregame confrontation, a weird ending that people will argue about for decades. That’s part of what makes the rivalry what it is. Weird things happen, and you can never trust the point spread to tell the whole story.
Michigan’s goals for the season are bigger than beating Michigan State. The Wolverines want to repeat as Big Ten champions, get back to the CFP and make a run at the national championship. They accomplished two of those three goals last year despite losing to the Spartans, but that’s not a formula they want to repeat.
For all the goals Michigan checked off last year, the list isn’t complete without a win against Michigan State. There’s still an empty spot where the Paul Bunyan Trophy should be.
“We want Paul back,” McCarthy said. “We want him back.”
(Photo: Raj Mehta / USA Today)
Austin Meek covers Michigan football and basketball for The Athletic. He previously covered college sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal and served as sports columnist at The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon. Follow Austin on Twitter @byaustinmeek
