You heard it all last week, and the week before that. One way or another, you almost always hear something from Michigan when it takes on Michigan State. You even heard it before kickoff Saturday morning in East Lansing when star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson gathered some of his teammates in a huddle and screamed, "We're some fuc*ing dogs, man! They can't fu*k with us!"
Look, Hutchinson had every right to be confident -- and every right to get his guys going. Who's delivering some pregame words if not a captain and the best player? But Hutchinson was wrong. The Spartans are dogs, too. They took Michigan's best shot and still won the fight. Down 16 in the third quarter, they rallied behind Heisman frontrunner Kenneth Walker III and took down the Wolverines, who can't Tuck with Michigan State.
Hutchinson made himself felt, but he wasn't the force that he's been most of this season. He finished with one sack and three tackles -- and a fumble recovery for a touchdown that was overturned by a questionable review -- and couldn't stop the Spartans from putting up two touchdowns and well over 100 yards in the fourth quarter. He said he felt like Michigan had control of the game in the third. Until it didn't.
"I thought we were really stopping them well. At the end of the day, we just weren't executing our game plan. I thought we had the momentum, things were going our way, just couldn't capitalize completely on that momentum like we'd like to," said Hutchinson.
He wasn't the only one forced to eat his words -- and his weren't meant for the public. Taylor Lewan's were. The former Michigan offensive lineman echoed Mike Hart in 2007 and reminded everyone this week that "Michigan State is our little brother" and claimed the Spartans were "going to get donkey'd, at home, in East Lansing, whatever that podunk-ass town is."
So were those of Braylon Edwards, the former Michigan wide receiver who dared anyone last week to "name me one player on Michigan State's defense ... because they don't have anybody that has stepped up." So were those of former Michigan defensive end Chase Winovich who crowed after a win in Spartan Stadium in 2018 that "sometimes your little brother starts acting up and we just gotta put 'em in place."
Michigan State senior safety Xavier Henderson has a question:
"What they talking about now, huh? What they talking about now?"
The Spartans will use disrespect as fuel until the disrespect stops. They've shoved Michigan's superiority in its face since Mark Dantonio showed up in 2007, and now they've won 10 of the last 14 games in the rivalry. Henderson, by the way, had seven tackles, a bone-crunching pass-breakup in the fourth quarter and a darn good view of freshman Charles Brantley's one-handed, game-winning interception with a minute to go. All that talk?
"It sounded good," he said. "It sounded good before the game. Thanks, Mike Hart. Coach D said it'll never be over; it's still not over. Thanks, Winovich. Thanks, Lewan. Thanks, Braylon Edwards. I bet you know Chuck Brantley's name now, don't you? It sounded good, but I don't know what they're talking about now."
They weren't talking about much, stunned into silence. This was Michigan's game to lose, and they went ahead and lost it. They were outscored 23-3 down the stretch as their perfect season and their inside lane to Indy went up in smoke.
"This one stings," said quarterback Cade McNamara. "But our backs are against the wall now, so we gotta respond."
It was the Spartans who responded on Saturday, to things better left unsaid.
