Sibling Rivalry-Arguably the most emotional rivalry in the game
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In their century-old rivalry, Michigan holds a commanding advantage over Michigan State. But since 1950, the margin is much closer. Michigan has won 34 games, and the Spartans 23. The rivalry is special not just because of the many Big Ten titles it’s determined or the national coverage it attracts. What sets it apart from other long-running feuds is the relationship between the schools, which fuels this duel with more emotion than any other.
The Spartans will tell you it’s their biggest game of the year. The Wolverines will tell you no loss is more painful. Unlike Michigan’s other rivalries against Notre Dame and Ohio State, this duel depends not on the teams’ records but on a constant regional turf war. It is a sibling rivalry, not subject to change. That’s why, even when one team is down, the tension is still high.
Chris Hutchinson, one of Michigan’s former All-American defensive tackles, once said, “Ohio State and Notre Dame were rivalries, but Michigan State was a war, almost a civil war, a real hatred.” He explained that most of the players on both teams were recruited by both schools. Once they pick one, they become polarized. “We just out-and-out didn’t like each other.”
The dislike – okay, genuine hatred – undoubtedly started in 1947.
That was Fritz Crisler’s last year as Michigan’s head coach, and Biggie Munn’s first year leading the Spartans. When Crisler had coached at Minnesota, Biggie Munn was one of his captains. He Crisler came to Michigan, he hired Munn as one of his assistants. So you’d think they would have been close. But for reasons I’ve never been able to determine, they hated each others’ guts.
In that 1947 game, their only contest against each other, the teacher made sure the student remembered the game by sending the Spartans home with a 55-0 pasting.
Crisler got his wish: Munn never, ever forgot that game – nor Crisler’s attempts to keep the Spartans out of the Big Ten. And he vowed to avenge both dastardly acts.
He did – many times over. During the fifties and sixties, the Spartans dominated Michigan, losing only four games over those two decades.
The Wolverines have since regained the upper hand, thanks mainly to Bo Schembechler’s 17-4 mark against State, but only Ohio State has beaten Michigan more often than have the Spartans. In the entire history of college football, only the Michigan-Ohio State games have attracted more fans. And no one, not even the Buckeyes, have upset the Wolverines more often than the Spartans have.
It’s an underrated rivalry – but not to the players.
Almost everybody who’s played in it, on either side, would agree with former Michigan defender Ian Gold: “That was truly the hardest hitting game we played every year."
Whoever wins tomorrow, it’s a safe bet that both teams will never be as sore all season as they will be on Sunday. But it’s just as certain that, whoever wins, will feel a hell of a lot better about it.
Copyright © 2009, Michigan Radio
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Don't forget the role of the vote after the OSU game ended in a tie in 1973. That contributed to the intensity for a while.
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Mr. Epperson,
Certainly not. In that 1973 vote of the athletic directors, in which MSU AD Bert Smith was one of six athletic directors to vote for Ohio State to go to the Rose Bowl, had remarkable consequences, both immediately and for years to come. I'll definitely be writing about that -- perhaps in a year, when this rivalry comes around again.
-JUB
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No disrespect to the rivalry with MSU, but it seems a bit spurious for someone who appeared on the HBO special about the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry to tout the intrastate battle "the most emotional," that the Wolverines play in, let alone in the game of football. All rivalries are unique, including MSU-UM for many of the resaons you mention, but don't tell me the Ohio State rivalry isn't emotional. I think some Wolverines would tell you no loss hurts more, but not all. In addition, the reasons you give to back up the emotion apply even more to the OSU game: that the duel doesn't depend on the team's records and that the tension is still high when one team is down. That is even more true with "The Game." Also, the number of Big Ten titles and national attention drawn are pillars of the OSU rivalry, not Michigan State.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of your work, I just don't think this is your strongest. Your attempt to separate the MSU rivalry from Michigan's others, and specifically the boast that it's the most emotional in the entire game, borders on hyperbole -- a trap many of us have fallen into and need to avoid.
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Seth,
Thank you for your kind comments, and your honest critique.
Yes, I appeared on the HBO special about The Rivarly, Michigan vs. Ohio State, discussing what ESPN viewers voted was the greatest rivalry not just in college football or college sports generally but in American sports, period.
There is no question in my mind that Ohio State is the greater overall rivalry. You raise lots of good reasons why it is, including emotion. My point is, emotion is just one of the many factors that make it a great rivalry, but the biggest are the long-standing competitiveness and high stakes of that game. It's had a role in the Big Ten title dozens of times, and most years since 1969. The exception proves the rule: When one of the teams is down, the game does not reach the same emotional pitch. (Witness the last two games, for example -- plus Tressel's down year at OSU.)
The intensity of the UM-MSU game, however, seems unaffected by records.
I do believe you're right, and I should have softened the claim about the national stakes and attention for the UM-MSU game -- though those are still factors.
The UM-MSU game, however, relies not on prestige or national attention or the stakes, but almost entirely on emotion, even when one team is down - proven again by Saturday's contest.
Measuring the emotional pitch of any game, let alone a rivalry, is clearly a subjective effort, and I'm sure many, including you, would disagree with me on this. But I still believe that, based solely on emotion, the UM-MSU game consistently elicits more genuine hate -- as opposed to desire or respect -- than any other.
Of course, that's just sez me. Which is another reason why I'm glad you wrote.
-JUB
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