5 Predictions for Michigan Football against Michigan State

Michigan football will host Michigan State Saturday in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy and here are five predictions for the Wolverines.

As we are now in the sixth year of the Jim Harbaugh era at Michigan football, one of the biggest changes he has enacted has been in the rivalry with Michigan State.

Certainly, Harbaugh’s produced disappointing results against Ohio State, the team he hasn’t been able to beat and starting off, he lost two of his first three games to Mark Dantonio and the Spartans.

But things changed in this rivalry in 2018. Devin Bush and his pre-game altercation with Michigan State will always be remembered, as will Donovan Peoples-Jones and his legendary touchdown reception, which ended with the Paul Bunyan pose in the end zone.

The Wolverines won that game 21-7, but it wasn’t as close as the score and in 2019, Michigan football put an exclamation point on the in-state turn around with a 44-10 thrashing of the Spartans at the Big House last season.

Now, as first-year head coach Mel Tucker gets set to lead his 0-1 Michigan State team into Ann Arbor, fresh off a loss to Rutgers, the gap seems as wide as ever between the two programs.

The talent difference is significant and honestly, looking at each roster top and bottom, you would be hard pressed to find a single position where Sparty has a clear advantage.

However, the one thing Michigan can’t do, even as a 25-point favorite, is overlook Michigan State. This is a rivalry game and crazy things can happen and there is nothing that can dampen the positive start to the season quicker than an ugly loss to MSU.

How likely is that? Not very, but we break it all down with five predictions.