Michigan State’s rivalry win over Michigan has echoes of Western Michigan’s September near miss
The Spartans went to Michigan Stadium and ground the Wolverines into a paste over 60 minutes, mimicking how WMU managed to nearly upset Michigan two months prior.
ANN ARBOR — Michigan State finished the job Western Michigan couldn’t.
With a grinding, methodical, 15-6 rivalry win, Michigan State (3-6, 1-5 B1G) did what its Kalamazoo counterpart could not in Week 1: Get an upset win across the finish line at Michigan Stadium with a flawless plan, executed to near-perfection. It was similar in the abstract, that the Spartans wanted to grind the game down, and the actual on-field results manifested in several eerily similar ways.
And from getting waxed in the turnover margin to being barely on the field on offense, it was a night of brutal deja vu for Michigan (5-4, 2-4 B1G), with no chance for a controversial Hail Mary ending to bail it out as the Spartans pressed all the right buttons.
“I thought our staff put together a really good plan. I thought we executed the plan,” MSU head coach Pat Fitzgerald said.
Andrew Graham
In the aftermath and furor on Sept. 5., after Michigan walked off Western Michigan with a Hail Mary, Broncos head coach Lance Taylor explained that his team had managed to bend the game to their will.
Western Michigan, overmatched as a MAC team might be, entered Michigan Stadium with every intention of harassing the Michigan offense into a bad night with stout, physical defense, and a measured plan on offense built around settling into grinding on the ground in the second half.
It nearly worked, as the Broncos held a 12-7 lead with one second remaining until UM’s walkoff touchdown. WMU outpossessed Michigan, 40:02 to 19:52, won the turnover margin 3-0, held Michigan to 3-of-10 on third down, and gave up 106 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 attempts.
Bryce Underwood went 12-of-22 for 170 yards, the Hail Mary touchdown, and an interception.
Western Michigan found its way to four field goals in that game, scoring six points of the trio of Michigan turnovers.
And subjective as a measurement as it may be, the Broncos were the more physically dominant team for most of that game in September.
Saturday night, intentionally or not, Michigan State borrowed from the same script.
The Spartans played a slow, methodical game, tacking on Liam Boyd field goals until the lead was 15-0. MSU won the turnover battle 4-0, held Michigan to 2-of-10 on third downs, gave up 54 rushing yards on 26 attempts and possessed the ball for 38:07 to Michigan’s 21:53. MSU scored six points off turnovers.
Tommy Carr went 14-of-26 for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Michigan State’s defense was a physical, smothering force, led by Joe Rossi and his celebratory gyrations on the sideline each time his group came up with another stop.
And offensively, Michigan State might not have gotten into any higher gear than WMU did several months prior, but did make a handful more plays through the air than the Broncos did, to pair with a rugged, Brandon Tullis-led ground game that whittled away the second half.
And quarterback Alessio Milivojevic delivered a gutsy 21-of-32 for 188 yards through an undisclosed injury.
“Les is one of the toughest guys I've ever coached. Period,” Fitzgerald said. “He's just a warrior. The way he played today, the way he managed the game, I think he'd maybe like to have one throw back the whole game. He looked pretty, pretty darn special today.”
The big differences between Sept. 5 and Saturday night are that Michigan State is still a better roster than MAC teams, even with all the injuries to the Spartans. The rivalry doesn’t hurt to get players fired up.
And whereas Michigan hamstrung itself with penalties in Week 1, it was giving up five sacks as part of seven tackles for loss to Michigan State that set back the Wolverines.
“Credit goes to the man in the arena, and that’s our players,” Fitzgerald said.
But regardless of the finer contours, it’s a stirring result for Michigan State, delivering a marker of a rivalry win for a first-year head coach staff, and perhaps the nadir for Michigan in the first year of Kyle Whittingham, as the Wolverines reverted to one of its worst forms.
Western Michigan might not have pulled off the stunning upset in Week 1, but Michigan State came and finished the job two months later in Michigan Stadium, following a strikingly similar path.
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