Anybody still wonder if Michigan State is for real?
Contemplate no more.
The Spartans took Michigan’s best shot, got up from the canvas and delivered an exceptionally hurtful dagger into the heart of Jim Harbaugh’s program.
The Spartans own this rivalry. They have won 10 of the last 14 meetings. Mel Tucker is getting done in two years what Jim Harbaugh hasn’t in seven. It figures the MSU-Ohio State game will be the Big Ten’s marquee game. Again.
Kenneth Walker III is unquestionably the front runner for the Heisman Trophy. He had 197 yards and five touchdowns, including the game winner, Saturday. Walker was at his best when it mattered most. It was a scintillating performance that will be recalled for generations.
Walker and wide receiver Jayden Reed were the difference makers in this game. They were so good they off-set the brilliance of Michigan’s extraordinary edge defenders Aiden Hutchinson and David Ojabo, and a surprisingly explosive Michigan passing attack led by QB Cade McNamara.
This game, more than anything else, is a credit to Tucker and an indictment of Harbaugh.
Tucker has used the transfer portal brilliantly and restored MSU’s grit, which had waned during the final seasons of his predecessor, Mark Dantonio.
Yes, LSU is going to be interested in Tucker. But that’s a postseason issue. The Spartans are in the driver’s seat.
Conversely, this was arguably the most important game in Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan. And it was just another loss in a rivalry game.
He is 3-9 combined vs. MSU and OSU. This is a good Michigan team, but its chances of playing in the Big Ten Championship Game have plummeted. The Wolverines’ fate is out their own hands, unless MSU loses two conference games.
It’s a wonderful scenario for MSU, and a terrible one for Michigan.
And so typical of what the Michigan-MSU rivalry has been for 14 years.