This Saturday, #4 Michigan Wolverines played their rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Michigan came out on top with a win 29-7, remaining undefeated with a record of 8-0. This rivalry has been building up a lot this season with Michigan State being the holders of the Paul Bunyan trophy for the past two years. It made fans wonder if the Wolverines would take back this trophy or Michigan state would pull through and take it once again this year. Both teams did exceptionally well in their games leading up to the rivalry matchup. Michigan State went against the Wisconsin Badgers and came out with a 34-28 win. Their Wide Receiver Jayden Reed stood out during this game, throwing one touchdown plus catching nine passes for one touchdown and 117 yards. Finally, in double overtime a 27-yard touchdown pass from the Spartans Quarterback Payton Thorne to Reed with 0 seconds remaining for the win. Michigan went up against the Penn State Nittany Lions two weeks ago with a win 41-17. Donovan Edwards, Michigan’s running back, was amazing with 2 touchdowns and 173 yards on 16 carries. Special teams got 15 points with Jake Moody giving a perfect 4-for-4 game.  

Now getting on to the anticipated rivalry game. Michigan was expected to get more points in previous predictions made with most of their points coming from field goals and not touchdowns, only receiving 2 touchdowns and 5 field goals. After the first quarter, the Spartans were leading 7-3 with a 26-yard pass to Keon Coleman from Payton Thorne. While Michigan’s kicker Jake moody made a 22-yard field goal. Going into halftime, Michigan started leading 7-13 with a 2-yard pass made to Blake Corum from Quarterback JJ McCarthy for a touchdown and later a 25-yard field goal from Jake moody. After halftime, Jake Moody kicked another field goal for 25 yards and later another field goal for 33 yards with Michigan still leading 7-19. In the final quarter, Michigan gets the victory with a 54-yard field goal from Jake Moody and a 4-yard run from Blake Corum for their final touchdown with a final score of 29-7. Michigan finished with 443 yards of total offense and 252 for Michigan State.  

After the game, there was a huge confrontation between the Spartans and two players from the Wolverines in the Big House tunnel. Social media posts immediately went out with videos of at least three Michigan State players pushing, punching, and kicking Michigan’s Defensive back Ja’ Den McBurrows near a hallway that does not lead to either locker room. Michigan’s coach Jim Harbaugh came out and said another player on Michigan, whose name was not identified, was also attacked, and might have gotten a broken nose. There is an investigation underway into this situation in partnership with Michigan State University Police and Michigan’s athletic department and football program. People have mentioned the fact that this is Michigan’s second altercation in that tunnel this season. The other altercation being at the Penn State Vs. Michigan game when heated words were exchanged and Penn State players threw peanut butter jelly sandwiches at them as Michigan headed to their locker room. Many are bringing up how this tunnel is causing too many problems and will continue to do that in the future. Mel Tucker, Michigan State’s coach, even came out and talked about how unacceptable this was and apologized for the whole incident. Yesterday, Michigan State Football came out on their Twitter and stated, “After reviewing the disturbing electronic evidence collected to the date of the altercations between Michigan State and University of Michigan student-athletes on October 29, 2022, we are suspending Tank Brown, Khary Crump, Angelo Grose, and Zion Young effective immediately.” 

Moving on, the aftermath of this game made people question whether Michigan can beat Ohio State later this season. Michigan is undefeated and has been doing wonderful things but watching them against Michigan State is making people wonder if this is enough to beat Ohio or even have a chance against them. Michigan was not able to score many touchdowns because most of their points came from field goals. The question is can field goals be enough to beat the undefeated Buckeyes? With only three more games for Michigan until they are up against Ohio, they are going to have to prove they have a chance against one of their biggest competitions of the season. Many of the odds are going to Ohio State so we are going to have to wait and see what Michigan can do to change or better these odds.