Michigan-Michigan State: 5 Key Figures in Historic Football Rivalry

Michigan and Michigan State play for the 104th time Saturday at East Lansing. The rivalry pits family members and neighbors against each other for nearly a week every autumn.

And there's plenty of reasons for animosity.

Michigan State is a land grant university which in its early years prided itself on agriculture. Michigan, on the other hand, is an internationally recognized academic institution.

According to Michigan lore, Wolverine graduates practice law in Manhattan, Spartan grads herd sheep in Fowlerville.

All kidding aside, it's the Spartans who have the upper hand this week. 

They've won the last three games, and they're slight favorites to do it again. 

Which first-year Michigan coach is set on doing something about. After all, losing to the Spartans in anything doesn't sit well in Ann Arbor.

While this rivalry might not have the hatred of Michigan-Ohio State, it's had its share of characters to fuel the fire. 

Let's examine five of them:

Bo Schembechler

Most Michigan football fans know the late Bo Schembechler was somewhat of a hothead. Back in 1973, Bo was a bit teed off after tying Ohio State 10-10 to spoil a perfect season. The Wolverines ended up sharing the conference championship, and it was up to the athletic directors to vote for the Rose Bowl representative. Michigan had clearly outplayed the Buckeyes, but Michigan quarterback Dennis Franklin suffered a broken collarbone during the game. It was unsure if he would be ready for the New Year’s Day classic.

Michigan State athletic director Burt Smith was about to cast his vote. Bear in mind that several athletic directors were miffed at Michigan’s Don Canham for spearheading a drive to prevent the Chicago Bears from using Northwestern’s Ryan Field. A year earlier Michigan and Michigan State battled over television revenues. There was no question how Smith’s vote would go.

Combined, the ADs voted 6-4 to send the Buckeyes. A 5-5 vote would have sent Michigan, since Ohio State went the previous year.  Even worse, only one Big Ten team could go to a Bowl game, so the Wolverines stayed home. On the morning of the game, Franklin was seen throwing passes near his campus residence. Bo Schembechler was still enraged over the whole thing.  

"I thought the Bowl trip was a reward for the team, win or lose," Schembechler said then. "Why penalize the whole team for one injury?"

"We remember," one Wolverine player told Sports Illustrated. "We don't talk about it, but we remember." Remember they did. Michigan won nine of the next 10 games with the Spartans.

Darryl Rogers

Darryl Rogers was only Michigan State's football coach for four seasons, but he made quite an impact while he was in East Lansing. Michigan had won eight straight over the Spartans, and Rogers was there for two them them in 1976 and '77. Spartan fans were not only peeved at their own football team, they were also miffed at Michigan, because Ann Arbor's level of disrespect worsened with every defeat.

Our own Greg Eno said it best: "The Spartans were still losing football games again when the 1978 season began. Ready or not, they were on a collision course with their in-state rivals, the Michigan Wolverines, for a tilt in mid-October. The game would be played in Ann Arbor. The usual posturing began as the game drew nearer. Then Darryl opened the good side of his mouth and called the folks from U-M "arrogant asses." Not that he was lying or anything."

Wolverine fans laughed it off, claiming they invented the slogan years before and reminded Spartan fans that "arrogance is bliss."

Michigan radio icon Bob Ufer took it a step further. In one of his often repeated poems, he read the following:

"

Today, October 6, 1979 is the day that 22 Michigan arrogant asses put on the gloves of green, and as Richter played the Victors, they picked Darryl Rogers clean.

 

"

Michael Hart

Michael Hart had good reason to be ecstatic after Michigan's win in 2007. The Wolverines had just come from behind to win the sixth straight in the series.  

Hart finished his career 4-0 against the Spartans and along the way rushed for 674 yards—nearly 170 per game. In the press conference after the game, Michigan's resident comedian had no trouble voicing his opinion: “Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you’re playing basketball and stuff," Hart said, "let them take the lead, and then you just come back and take it back.”

Spartan fans, coaches and players were upset, to say the least.

A few months later, Michigan State star running back Javon Ringer chimed in on the subject.   

"Guys were (ticked)," Ringer said. "But that just varies from player to player. Some players, that's still eating them to this day.

"And the rest of us...it still eats us, but we're just good at hiding it."

Since Hart's comment, Michigan state has won three in a row. Some believe it was Hart's comment which provided the incentive. Others thought it was Rich Rodriguez.

Mark Dantonio

Spartan coach Mark Dantonio is getting very little love from Michigan fans these days. Many have a special place in their heart for Dantonio, who took Michael Hart's comment to the extreme.

“I'm very proud of the way our football team handled themselves after the game, "Dantonio said. "You don't have to disrespect people. If they want to make a mockery of it, so be it. Their time will come."

The real question is, who was more disrespectful, Dantonio or Hart?

Paul Bunyan

If you're keen on folklore, you'll know all about Paul Bunyan, the mythical lumberjack who supposedly carved out the Grand Canyon with his magical axe.

Bunyan's likeness appears on the trophy which is awarded to the winner of the Michigan-Michigan State football game each season.

Symbolic of the Spartans' acceptance into the Big Ten, the Paul Bunyan trophy was donated to the rivalry by former Governor, G. Mennen Williams.

The trophy, which is definitely real, has gone to the winner each year since 1953. In the 58 meetings since, Michigan holds a 34-22-2 edge.

Michigan and Michigan State actually played their first game in 1892, with the Spartans drawing first blood, 10-8. The Wolverines lead the total series, 67-31-5.

Early odds have installed the Spartans as one-to-three point favorites.