ESPN College GameDay Headed to Michigan State at Michigan for Week 7

In what appears to be a loaded Week 7 of college football action, the sport's premier pregame show is headed to a rivalry matchup between an undefeated powerhouse and the hottest team in the country.

ESPN's College GameDay announced Saturday night it will visit Ann Arbor next weekend for undefeated Michigan State's trip to Michigan, which is coming off its third straight shutout victory.

According to Nick Baumgardner of MLive.com, this will mark GameDay's first trip to Michigan since Week 2 of 2013, when the Wolverines knocked off Notre Dame by a score of 41-30 at the Big House.

Michigan State has already received the massive GameDay spotlight this season. The Spartans beat defending national runner-up Oregon, 31-28, at home in East Lansing back in Week 2.

While Michigan State will be the higher ranked of the two in-state rivals heading into Saturday's meeting for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, Michigan will be entering with much more momentum.

Tony Ding/Associated Press

The Wolverines, whose only loss this season came in Week 1 against a now-Top 5 Utah team, have beaten their last three opponents by a combined score of 97-0. 

In their most recent victory, Saturday's 38-0 home rout of then-undefeated Northwestern, the Wolverines scored 21 points in the first quarter on the visiting Wildcats. Northwestern entered Week 6 allowing 19 points or fewer in its first five wins of the season.

Now first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh, who already has his alma mater in the hunt for championships again, has to prepare his team for a visit from Michigan State.

"As I said early, we've got a tremendous opponent," Harbaugh told reporters following the Northwestern win. "Coming off this impressive win, congratulations—next. It's a heck of a football team, no doubt. We look forward to a great week of preparation. That's really what has to happen."

Despite its undefeated status, Michigan State isn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment.

The Spartans are 6-0 but have failed to cover the spread in all six of their wins. They needed a late touchdown Saturday to knock off struggling Rutgers, which spiked the ball on fourth down instead of attempting a possible game-tying Hail Mary.

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

"Just glad to go 6-0," Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio said, per Justin Dacey of MLive.com. "We got to get better."

Few would've ever predicted the status of this matchup in the preseason—Michigan looking like the favorite against an undefeated Michigan State team. 

As Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press writes, both programs know that more than the annual bragging rights will be on the line in GameDay's spotlight matchup next weekend. 

"The Spartans know that a victory would catapult them into serious College Football Playoff discussion — even if they finished 11-1 with a loss at Ohio State Nov. 21," Sharp wrote. "Michigan knows that a victory over the program that has tormented the Wolverines the past seven years would definitively legitimize the dramatic improvements under Jim Harbaugh."

Michigan State has won six of the last seven in this series—with Michigan's lone win coming in a 12-10 decision over the unranked Spartans in 2012—but Michigan is playing better football at the moment.

That's a recipe for a massive showdown that will go a long way in deciding the Big Ten and possibly even the College Football Playoff races. 

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.