Michigan Football: Sizing Up The Spartans

There’s little doubt that Michigan State is on its way to a better season than it had in 2016. Then again, Michigan football is in pretty good shape.

Siblings quarrel. Who doesn’t want bragging rights? To be the best in the family?

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Michigan and Michigan State are friendly rivals. Outside of this Saturday’s game, many Michigan fans wish the Spartans well as they play the rest of their schedule and especially as they play Penn State and Ohio State in November. Rivals nonetheless, the Wolverines look forward to dispatching the Spartans with efficient, no-nonsense, high quality Big Ten football prowess.

The Detroit Free Press has been working hard to pump up this game, attempting to convince readers that Michigan’s greatest rivalry is with MSU, and we can understand the impulse. MSU comes in as an underdog this year after a disappointing season last year. The lingering whiff of inferiority complex, the “Little Brother” resentment, has to be part of the Spartan mindset.

As far as Freep columnist Shawn Windsor is concerned, the rivalry has even larger implications, roughly those between a nationally admired research university and what some may have once called a “Cow College”.

“To recap (using cheap stereotypes): the Wolverines are elitist, soulless, pinheads; the Spartans wanted to be these things but couldn’t get accepted to U-M.”

Ouch!

So, let’s assume emotion may enter into MSU’s preparation for Saturday’s game. What else do they bring to Ann Arbor?

Well, at the top of the list is one of the most respected coaches in college football, Mark Dantonio.  How effective has Dantonio been? How about beating Michigan for seven of the last eight years? How about three conference championships? How about picking up at least 11 wins in five of six seasons? Dantonio is smart, resourceful, a great game manager, and a coach who brings out the best in his players.

Let’s start with wide receiver Felton Davis III, named co-offensive player of the week after his performance in the win over Iowa. He’s averaging more than 60 yards per game and racked up 114 and two touchdowns against the Hawkeyes. He’s a smooth operator and receiver with hands like glue, exactly the sort of challenge Michigan’s secondary has been waiting for. If they can shut down Davis, they can handle anyone in the Big Ten, including DaeSean Hamilton, Penn State’s premiere receiver.

The Spartans also have a rapidly improving defense that hurried Iowa’s quarterback eight times and pulled down three sacks. Nathan Stanley had been the Big Ten leader in touchdowns until Saturday when MSU allowed him none. The most impressive part of the defensive unit is the linebackers: Joe Bachie, Chris Frey and Andrew Dowell. Bachie is quick and cagey with a nose for the ball. He came away with a sack and nine tackles against the Hawkeyes. Add his recovery of a fumble and Bachie contributed as much as Davis in taking Iowa down.

Spartans fans are counting on momentum from the Iowa victory to carry Michigan State past the Blue on Saturday, but those of us who have seen the progress this Michigan team has already made would argue that the momentum is actually swinging the other way. Defense looks better and better, the special teams are on a roll, and the offense has finally clicked into gear.

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Odds makers have Michigan over MSU by double digits. While the game will tell the story, this may be the year in which Michigan takes a second victory in a row, on its way to reversing the nightmarish seven-year stretch in which the Wolverines could not properly discipline their “little brother.”