Michigan, Michigan State result hinges less on rushing total than what it represents
The in-state grudge match between the Spartans and Wolverines has seen the better rushing team win, but that's not quite the whole answer.
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THE MITTEN — Four citations of the stat from Michigan players, not a common numerator and denominator in sight.
“Whoever wins the rushing game wins,” Evan Link said. 49 of the last 56, per Hogan Hansen. 57 of the last 63, according to Trey Pierce. 36 of 49, tight end Eli Owens said.
The actual stat: The team that ran the ball for more yards between Michigan and Michigan State has won 47 of the last 56 matchups in this rivalry.
So while they might’ve been off on the specifics, those Michigan players are directionally correct about running the football and, really, the physical edge behind it that defines this game.
“It goes back to, like, at the end of the day, you just got to line up and get the man across from you,” Owens said on Tuesday. “And that's what it's gonna take in this game, because that's what it takes. Like — and there is no way around that.”
Michigan (5-3, 2-3 B1G) and Michigan State (2-6, 0-5 B1G) meet for the 119th time in their respective histories on Saturday night in Ann Arbor. And while both teams are having underwhelming seasons of different stripes, that all goes out the window on the Michigan Stadium turf come this weekend. It’s a bitter in-state rivalry, a score-settling grudge match that might not simmer like The Game for Wolverines but has regularly boiled over in recent years.
And the rushing total manifesting as a bellwether of success is reflective of the physical, intense, line-of-scrimmage-based grudge match.
“Your rivalry game is multiplied by X,” Fitzgerald said, sizing up the importance of this week. “Put the number on it, whatever you want, put on it. And, you know, I watched this rivalry from afar, and they've always been hard fought, very, very physical football games.”
