Michigan vs. Michigan State: Score and Twitter Reaction

When the first College Football Playoff rankings are released Tuesday, the Michigan Wolverines will have a reason to smile.

Roughly a year after the Michigan State Spartans stunned Michigan with a return touchdown off a fumbled punt exchange as time expired, the second-ranked Wolverines exacted their revenge with a 32-23 win at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing on Saturday.

The Spartans (2-6) have lost six straight, while the Wolverines (8-0) remain undefeated thanks to their first win over Michigan State since 2012 and first road win against their intrastate rival since 2007.

Michigan's offense made light work of the Spartans defense. Quarterback Wilton Speight went 16-of-25 for 244 yards, and running back De'Veon Smith paced the ground game with 11 carries for 38 yards and two touchdowns.

According to Michigan sports information director Chad Shepard, Saturday marked Smith's first game with multiple rushing touchdowns since Sept. 12, 2015.

Wolverines wide receiver Amara Darboh was superb with eight catches for 165 yards, including a spectacular one-handed catch down the left sideline in the third quarter: 

Michigan State passed for just 184 yards—most of which came when the offense was in catch-up mode—but its rushing attack was solid. LJ Scott rushed 22 times for 139 yards and one score against a Wolverines defense that entered the day ranked third in the nation with 672 total rushing yards allowed.

Thanks to Scott's vision, Michigan State was able to make an emphatic opening statement.

The Spartans embraced a power-based approach, gashing Michigan's front seven for 63 yards on 11 carries during a 12-play drive that Scott punctuated with a five-yard scoring scamper.

That drive—which ate up nearly half of the first quarter—figured to galvanize Michigan State, which made the Wolverines defense look mortal, according to MLive.com's Nick Baumgardner:

But Michigan wasn't bothered.

The Wolverines didn't punt a single time in the first half, and they poured it on with a balanced attack thanks to Speight and Smith.

Speight beat the Spartans secondary over the top throughout the game's first 30 minutes, and Smith bludgeoned the opposition with his bruising running style.

Michigan also embraced its ability to burn opponents. Although head coach Jim Harbaugh has become renowned for his smashmouth approach, he didn't hesitate to let Eddie McDoom, Chris Evans and Jabrill Peppers loose as a way to keep Michigan State's defense guessing. 

In fact, Peppers played as the Wildcat quarterback on a few key red-zone plays, including one that produced a three-yard rushing score:

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Wolverines deployed Peppers in all three phases en route to generating a 27-10 halftime lead:

The Spartans, meanwhile, couldn't find any success against Michigan's stingy defense. Michigan State managed only 73 total yards in the first half following its impressive 75-yard possession at the start of the first quarter, according to Baumgardner. 

The second half started in more encouraging fashion for the Spartans, who intercepted Speight and marched deep into Wolverines territory, but they squandered a golden chance to seize momentum in brutal fashion.

MLive's David Mayo broke down the questionable short-yardage play-calling that allowed Michigan to stay in control: 

The Spartans put a scare into Michigan when they trimmed the deficit to 13 and drove late with a chance to make it a one-score game, but the Wolverines defense stood up on fourth down again and put thoughts of an upset to rest.

Michigan State got the ball back and scored a touchdown with one second left that had no effect on the outcome. 

Now 8-0, the Wolverines will eagerly await Tuesday's CFP reveal.

While it's hard to envision Michigan leapfrogging the Alabama Crimson Tide and claiming the No. 1 spot right off the bat, they have an ironclad case to be ranked No. 2 following Saturday's win over the Spartans.

Once its position is revealed, Michigan will begin preparations for the Maryland Terrapins—who are slated to travel to Ann Arbor for a Big Ten showdown next Saturday.  

The Spartans, who have fallen off hard, will have an opportunity to snap their six-game losing streak next Saturday, when they'll hit the road for a get-right meeting with the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Postgame Reaction

Once the final horn sounded, Michigan returned to the locker room and celebrated in style: 

"We came in expecting to get it back," Speight said of the Paul Bunyan Trophy, according to the Detroit Free Press' Mark Snyder. "So it wasn't a surprise."

Speight and Darboh both talked about the significance of the rivalry win during postgame availability, as the Detroit News' Angelique S. Chengelis documented: 

Speaking of the the Paul Bunyan Trophy, Michigan Recruiting on Twitter posted a photo of Peppers posing with the newly acquired hardware:

As for Michigan State, head coach Mark Dantonio explained his decision to go for a two-point conversion with one second remaining before an errant pitch was scooped up and returned by Peppers.

"I'm going to scratch and claw for every point, that's why I went for two," he said, according to WEYI's Tom Eschen.