Rivalry week is finally here for Michigan and Michigan State as they both prepare to face off against each other this upcoming Saturday from Spartan Stadium.
This past weekend, Michigan visited Evanston, Illinois to take on Northwestern where the Wolverines were able to pull off a 42-24 comeback victory over the Wildcats.
Meanwhile, Michigan State’s signature victory this season came over Ohio State a couple of weeks ago. The Spartans traveled down to the horseshoe, dominated the Buckeyes on defense and managed to pull off a 10-7 victory.
Now both teams enter rivalry week ranked in the polls and eager to keep their seasons going on the right track.
In the AP polls Michigan is ranked #11 while Michigan State makes their return to the AP coming in at #23.
Saturday’s game proves to be very pivotal. Last season both teams went into the matchup at Michigan Stadium undefeated. However after Michigan State’s 34-17 victory both teams started going in different directions. After that, Michigan State ended up going 6-0 on their way to a Big Ten Championship. Michigan on the other handed ended up going 2-4 on their way to a new years day bowl game but the end of the Rich Rodriguez era at Michigan.
This year could very much prove the same. Although both teams don’t enter this matchup undefeated (Michigan 6-0, Michigan State 4-1) they enter in again looking to keep their season’s going on the right track hoping for a chance to make an appearance in the first ever Big Ten Championship game.
Ref: FBSchedules.com, Getty (image)