Michigan hopes to restore order at Michigan State

[October 02, 2009]  EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan State had one of its best seasons in a while last year when the Michigan Wolverines were at their worst, tripling the number of wins they had and beating them at the Big House for the first time since 1990.

The Spartans' nine-win season earned them a bowl bid on New Year's Day for the first time in nine years.

College football's winningest program, meanwhile, was home for the holidays after losing a school-record nine games.

Mark Dantonio stock was soaring.

Rich Rodriguez's was slumping.

A month into this season, Michigan has a chance to restore the pecking order in the state that has stood since Michigan State was a national power in the mid-1960s and Bo Schembechler hadn't arrived in Ann Arbor yet.

The 23rd-ranked Wolverines (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) are off to a strong start -- albeit without a road game -- and Rodriguez is regarded as an offensive genius again.

After being picked to be one of the Big Ten's better teams, the Spartans (1-3, 0-1) are hoping to snap their three-game losing streak Saturday at home.

"This game right here is going to salvage (and) turn our season around," Michigan State defensive end Trevor Anderson said.

If the Spartans beat Michigan, they'll have consecutive wins in the series for the first time since winning three straight from 1965-67.

Rodriguez insisted he wouldn't use that fact to motivate his players.

"I don't ever look back and say, `Oh this happened 20, 30, 40 years ago,' it's really not relevant to this year," Rodriguez said.

Michigan State linebacker, Greg Jones, acknowledged it would be a "huge deal" to win two in a row against Michigan for the first time in four-plus decades.

The Spartans usually have more invested emotionally in the matchup than Michigan does because the Wolverines are their archrival while the Wolverines have three: Ohio State, Michigan State and Notre Dame.

When Dantonio returned after the 2006 season to Michigan State, where he was a Nick Saban assistant, he made it clear that beating the Wolverines was the priority.

In Michigan State's football facility, Dantonio had clocks installed that counted down the time left before the Michigan game. He was peeved when former Michigan running back Mike Hart referred to the Spartans as his "little brother" following a victory two years ago at Spartan Stadium.

"Every program needs a game, that's just the way I want to always deal with our program," Dantonio said. "I want our players to be excited about playing one particular game.

"Because I've been here before, that game was the Michigan game. I think you can safely say for most people in this state, that's probably the same thing -- at least if you're green."

 

Dantonio has passed along his distaste for Michigan to his players.

"Coach D told us, `If you haven't played Michigan, within 30 seconds you'll realize why we don't like them,'" Anderson recalled. "And after about 15 seconds I realized why I didn't like them, just the total lack of respect that they have for our school in general.

"We're always taught as Spartans to respect our opponent. And just the lack of respect they have, period, is just sickening."

Michigan State offensive tackle Rocco Cironi is from Ohio and his feelings for the Wolverines took root as a kid.

"I think everybody has a hatred for Michigan," Cironi said.

The Wolverines, though, are much more diplomatic when speaking publicly about the Spartans.

"I wouldn't say we were warned, but we're smart about not saying anything," cornerback Donovan Warren said. "We have a lot of motivation ourselves, they beat us at our house."

[Associated Press; By LARRY LAGE]

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