A wise curmudgeon once said about the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry that “Pride comes before the fall,” and there is no doubt that the Wolverines were full of pride following their once-thought-to-be-impressive win over Minnesota to start the season.
Having also seen Michigan State’s season-opening loss to Rutgers, the pride that Michigan was feeling was also mixed with a dangerous concoction of overconfidence and negligence.
And after seeing the way Minnesota struggled against Maryland in an overtime loss Friday night, you would have hoped the Wolverines would have recalibrated things a bit, but that’s never been how a Michigan Man thinks.
So, with the scoreboard already glowing in their minds, Michigan took the field on Saturday as 24-point favorites and completely forgot that the game wouldn’t be handed to them.
Michigan State struck first with a 30-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Rocky Lombardi to true freshman wide receiver Ricky White, which would become an ongoing theme throughout this game. Michigan responded but they never led. The Wolverines never established their superiority in this game, mistaking arrogance for execution. In the end, Michigan State came away with the 27-24 win.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Michigan quarterback Joe Milton was asked about MSU linebacker Antjuan Simmons and his performance (11 tackles and 2 PBUs) against the Wolverines. Milton smiled and responded by saying that Simmons wasn’t on his radar leading up to the game.
There are two possible realities here and neither of them are good. Either Milton wasn’t concerned about Simmons and his coaches should be fired for misconduct, or he was completely aware of Simmons but didn’t have it in him to give the Michigan State linebacker credit for a game well played.
Either way, it’s exactly the reason Michigan lost this game. They thought they had it won after seeing the results last week, never stopping to think that when two teams take the field, anything can happen when only one of them is looking for a fight. This may also explain why so many Wolverines left the field with various injuries throughout the game.
Sparty made Michigan bleed their own blood and there were areas on this Wolverine team that were powerless to do anything about it.
It was certainly a come down for Michigan and will test their mettle the rest of the season.
Unfortunately for the Maize and Blue, Jim Harbaugh seems about as capable of rallying the troops as the manager at your local Taco Bell on a random Sunday morning.
“Come on guys, I know none of you wants to be here this morning, but I want to see quality product flying out of here today. Remember,” the manager says pointing at the sign on the wall, “those who stay will get free chalupas.”