2B — Monday, October 22, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday

Saturday shows why Michigan, Michigan State rivalry is great

During 
his 
weekly 
teleconference 
Sunday night, 
more than 24 
hours 
after 
it 
happened, 
Michigan 
State 
coach 
Mark 
Dantonio 
was 
asked 
about Saturday’s pregame fracas 
between his team and Michigan.
“I’m 
not 
gonna 
bother 
commenting on it,” Dantonio 
said. “The whole thing to me 
was sort of juvenile to me.”
You can call it juvenile. You 
can call it bush league. You can 
call it B.S. Those are the words 
Dantonio and Jim Harbaugh 
used when talking about the 
incident.
I don’t care how anyone 
describes it. What happened 
yesterday was amazing.
This is the best rivalry that 
both teams have going for them 
right now. With the exception of 
2016, every game in the series’ 
current chapter — Harbaugh vs. 
Dantonio — has been incredible 
and incredibly weird, at the 
same time.
It makes for high-quality 
television. 
It 
makes 
for 
outstanding football games, no 
matter how sloppy they may 
get.
But the previous three games 
were missing something.
They were missing exactly 
what Dantonio thought was 
“sort of juvenile.”
Let’s go back and examine 
what happened. Around two 
hours before the noon kickoff, 
a group of Michigan players 
were on the field stretching. 
Michigan spokesperson Dave 
Ablauf said that the Wolverines 
thought the Spartans would 
arrive for the team’s traditional 
pre-game walk at 9:50; hence 
why Michigan was on the field 
at 10, for the warm-ups before 
the warm-ups.
We don’t know whether there 

was a miscommunication, but 
Michigan State did not arrive 
at 9:50. The Spartans arrived 
at 10 and began walking down 
the field with their arms locked 
and 
helmets 
strapped on at 
10:02.
Michigan’s 
players 
didn’t 
want to move. 
Michigan State 
kept 
walking. 
Which 
meant 
everyone 
else 
got 
to 
watch 
both teams play 
a weird version 
of Red Rover. Fifth-year senior 
defensive 
tackle 
Lawrence 
Marshall 
got 
into 
it 
with 
several Spartans. Sophomore 
cornerback Lavert Hill’s pair 
of very nice black headphones 
were not-so-nicely ripped off. 

Junior linebacker Devin Bush 
Jr. was held back as he yelled at 
Michigan State. Then, minutes 
later, he dug his cleats into 
the ground and mangled the 
Spartan logo at 
midfield.
Damn. 
I 
haven’t 
even 
gotten 
to 
the 
game itself yet 
— which was an 
absolute doozy.
There was a 
long 
weather 
delay. 
There 
were improbable 
completions 
off deflected balls. The bad 
weather came back. Michigan 
State paid homage to Nick Foles 
and the Philly Special. There 
was a one-handed snag by a 
punter, who proceeded to rip 
one for 60 yards. One offense 

heated up down the stretch. 
The other stayed cold all game.
When 
the 
game 
ended, 
Michigan 
rushed 
the 
field 
— as if it had won a national 
championship, 
said 
Michigan 
State 
play-by-
play announcer 
George 
Blaha 
during the live 
radio broadcast 
— and Bush did 
several backflips 
to 
celebrate 
his team’s 21-7 
victory. 
Later, 
Harbaugh sat at a podium 
and made his “bush league” 
comment. In the room next door, 
someone relayed Harbaugh’s 
comments to Dantonio, who 
said, “That’s B.S. You heard me. 
That’s B.S.”

“You guys get your cameras 
out,” he continued. “It’s all on 
Fox. I’m not gonna go to that. 
Go ahead, next question.”
A 
few 
seconds 
later: 
“Bush 
league? 
Mmmhmm.”
Like I said, 
incredible.
We are back 
to 
where 
this 
rivalry was 11 
years ago, when 
former Michigan 
running 
back 
Mike Hart called 
Michigan State 
“little 
brother” 
after 
winning 
his 
fourth 
consecutive game against the 
Spartans.
Dantonio, then in his first 
year coaching the Spartans, hit 
back.
“I find a lot of the things 

they do amusing. They need to 
check themselves sometimes. 
Let’s 
just 
remember, 
pride 
comes before the fall,” he said. 
“They want to mock us, I’m 
telling them, it’s not over. They 
want to print that crap all over 
their locker room, it’s not over 
and it’ll never be over. It’s just 
starting.”
Then he coached Michigan 
State to six wins in the ensuing 
seven years leading up to 
Harbaugh’s arrival. In 2014, 
former Michigan linebacker Joe 
Bolden drove a stake through 
midfield. But that gesture felt 
hollow. The Spartans trounced 
the Wolverines that day, 35-11, 
and former Michigan coach 
Brady Hoke later apologized for 
what Bolden did. 
The series has been much 
closer since then. Both teams 
are now 2-2 in the past four 
years. No one is apologizing for 
anything. 
Let’s hear from fifth-year 
senior defensive end Chase 
Winovich: “We knew that they 
couldn’t hang with us. We did 
what he had to do. Sometimes 
your little brother starts acting 
up, and you just gotta put them 
in place.”
After the game, he tweeted, 
“I’d like to take this moment to 
apologize...FOR ABSOLUTELY 
NOTHING! Go Blue!”
These two teams hate each 
other, they have always hated 
each other and now they’re 
not going to bother trying to 
conceal it.
That’s great. That’s how it 
should be. One team is going to 
spend the next year thinking 
about 
what 
went 
wrong 
Saturday. The other team is 
going to remember what went 
right for a very long time. Next 
year, they’ll do it all over again.
Can’t wait.

Sang can be reached at 

otsang@umich.edu or on 

Twitter at @orion_sang.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Wolverines notched a 21-7 win over Michigan State in East Lansing on Saturday, their first win on the road over a ranked opponent since the 2006 season.

ORION 
SANG

FOOTBALL
 Pre-game antics fire up ‘M’ defense

EAST LANSING — There was a 
bit of a show before the Michigan 
football team’s 21-7 win over No. 24 
Michigan State.
The details of it, however, are 
unclear.
The Spartans did their usual 
pregame tradition, the “Spartan 
Walk,” in which each member of 
the team links arms and walks the 
length of the field.
Senior safety Tyree Kinnel said 
Michigan State was late, and that 
the Wolverines had been given the 
go-ahead to warmup on the field.
So when the Spartans began 
their walk, they ran into fifth-year 
senior defensive tackle Lawrence 
Marshall, junior corner Lavert Hill 
and junior linebacker Devin Bush. 
Neither side backed down.
Michigan says Marshall was 
clotheslined and Hill had his 
headphones ripped off. Coach 
Jim Harbaugh says Michigan 
State coach Mark Dantonio was 
walking behind the team, smiling. 
Dantonio says that’s not true.
It all culminated in Bush, 
standing on the midfield logo at 
Spartan Stadium and stomping 
repeatedly on the log, leaving a 
large, noticable mark in the middle 
of it..
“I just heard about it, I didn’t 
see it,” Harbaugh said. “… Total 
bush league. Apparently, Coach 
Dantonio was five yards behind 

and all smiling, so, yeah, I think it’s 
bush league. That’s my impression 
of it. But our guys, they didn’t 
blink. They didn’t come here to 
back down or get intimidated by 
anybody.”
Added Bush: “It was pure 
emotion. I did what I did, and, you 
know, I can’t take it back, so it is 
what it is.”
However you want to describe 
the pregame antics, and however 
you want to describe how it 
affected the game, the results speak 
for themselves. The Wolverines 
involved in the skirmish were all 
defenders, and the defense showed 
out.
Michigan held the Spartans 
to 94 total yards. Michigan State 
quarterback Brian Lewerke went 
5-for-25, throwing for just 66 
yards. The Spartans went 0-for-12 
on third-down conversions. They 
averaged just 1.8 yards per play, 
and they possessed the ball for 
18:57, compared to the Wolverines, 
who held it for 41:03.
The list goes on and on.
“Our defense was lights-out 
today,” Harbaugh added. “Holding 
an opponent to 91 yards of total 
offense, and they were 0-for-12 on 
third-down conversions. I mean, 
that’s the kind of statistics you 
dream, as a dream game.”
The 
defense 
was 
needed, 
too. For much of the afternoon, 
Michigan 
could 
get 
nothing 
going on offense. It squandered 
opportunities, and in the second 

half, it turned the ball over.
In fact, the only time Michigan 
State scored was after junior 
running back Chris Evans coughed 
up the ball and the Spartans 
recovered on the 7-yard line.
The Wolverines did make things 
interesting for themselves at the 
end of the game, on what turned 
out to be Michigan State’s final 
drive. The possession began with 
2:38 left, and on the first four plays 
of the drive, Michigan committed 
a penalty, giving the Spartans 
some life and, eventually, the ball 
on the Wolverines’ 24-yard line.
The next play, Bush screamed 
through the offensive line and 
sacked Michigan State backup 
quarterback Rocky Lombardi. The 
play after that, junior defensive 
tackle Michael Dwumfour did the 
same. Just like that, any hopes the 
Spartans had of getting back into 
things were snuffed out, once and 
for all.
When 
the 
game 
ended, 
Michigan 
grabbed 
the 
Paul 
Bunyan Trophy and paraded 
around the field. Bush did a few 
backflips.
It culminated in the Wolverines 
jumping up and down, holding 
the trophy above their heads on 
the midfield logo, the same spot 
Bush made his statement just a few 
hours earlier.
“I mean, we won,” Bush said. 
“So, I mean, we’re gonna celebrate 
our win. We’re taking Paul home, 
and we let everybody know that.”

Peoples-Jones’ touchdown 
changes Michigan’s trajectory

EAST LANSING — Nico Collins 
and Donovan Peoples-Jones talked 
earlier in the week about their 
touchdown celebrations if they 
scored at Michigan State.
It’s practically a weekly ritual for 
the sophomore wide receivers. The 
duo, thrusted into the spotlight as 
the team’s premier pass catchers, 
knows 
opportunities 
to 
find 
paydirt are more frequent than last 
season. But in a rivalry game, the 
conversation was quick — mimic the 
stance on the Paul Bunyan Trophy, 
the one that belongs to them.
And on the season’s most perfect 
throw at the most critical juncture 
of the No. 6 Michigan football 
team’s 21-7 victory, Peoples-Jones 
did exactly that.
The Wolverines and 24th-ranked 
Spartans were tied, 7-7, with 2:35 left 
in the third quarter. Positioned at 
the Michigan 21-yard line, Peoples-
Jones pushed off Michigan State’s 
Tre Person in man coverage, and 
had a step on him streaking down 
the right sideline.
“We had Donovan in one-on-one 
coverage, good luck with that,” said 
junior quarterback Shea Patterson, 
who finished with 212 yards and 
two touchdowns. “Just threw it up 
to him and he made a hell of a play 
after the catch.”
With all the time in the world, 
and with Sean McKeon and Zach 
Gentry blanketed on mirrored out 
routes, Patterson stepped up and hit 
Peoples-Jones in stride. Patterson 
lunged, and Peoples-Jones kicked 
out of his grip to stroll into a 79-yard 
touchdown and the Bunyan stance.
“From the start, the line did 
a great job of giving Shea time 
to deliver, which I think was 
the most perfect pass that he’s 
delivered,” Peoples-Jones said of his 
touchdown.
Added coach Jim Harbaugh: 
“That was the huge one, the one to 
Donovan. That throw was really 
right on the money. Donovan did a 
great job at the line of scrimmage 
against the press coverage and 
created some space, then created 
more space after the release. Made 

a fabulous over the shoulder catch.
“… That was a great time for that 
play to happen in the ball game.”
The Wolverines, muffled from 
over-conservative play-calling and 
insufficient execution, were initially 
writing a story for another arm-
wrestle with the Spartans. But the 
connection between Patterson and 
Peoples-Jones — the first true deep 
shot of the game — represented 
more than commanding a lead. 
After a laborious game that, up 
to that point, featured 16 punts, 
three fumbles and momentum in 
Michigan State’s favor, the pass 
signified all the differences a year 
can make.
Patterson read his progressions 
comfortably behind a confident 
offensive line — one that senior 
running back Karan Higdon called 
the “best in the country” for the 
second 
straight 
week. 
Behind 
that line, Patterson was a capable 
thrower who can place a football 
with pinpoint accuracy.
The 
touchdown 
deflated 
Michigan State, which struggled 
wire-to-wire to generate any offense 
of its own. It’s No. 1 rush defense 
in the country surrendered almost 
triple its per game average, with 144 
of the yards belonging to Higdon.
“We were motivated from the 

start,” Higdon said. “They were 
talking trash all week, we stayed 
quiet, stayed in our space and we 
knew what it was gonna be when 
we got here and we just elevated our 
enthusiasm.”
It was a dogfight clouded with 
the revelry that this historic rivalry 
possesses, but with a difference-
making touchdown that redefined 
the image of 2018 Michigan football. 
Following resounding wins over 
Michigan State and Wisconsin in 
back-to-back weeks, the noise of 
a team that doesn’t show up in big 
games was muted.
It’s a credit to an unwavering 
defense that has shined each year of 
the Harbaugh era. And now, it’s also 
a credit to the Patterson-led offense 
that can air out the ball when it 
needs it most and succeed.
“That was one of the most gritty 
games I’ve been a part of,” Patterson 
said. “The defense put us in good 
situations, they were playing lights 
out. That gave us confidence to stay 
within ourselves, so that when we 
get that moment to break through 
we’re not gonna give it back.”
And 
with 
PeopleS-Jones’ 
touchdown, 
the 
Wolverines 
never relented. The Paul Bunyan 
Trophy turned from celebration to 
hardware returning to Ann Arbor.

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Wide reciever Donovan Peoples-Jones scored a touchdown on Saturday.

“The whole 
thing to me 
was sort of 
juvenile...”

“Sometimes 
your little 
brother starts 
acting up...”

