Michigan 24, Michigan State 17: Pride, progress and Paul
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When it comes to the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, there are very few words that have been used as frequently as “pride” over the past few decades.
If you’re here reading a Michigan newsletter, you already know that stems from Mark Dantonio’s “pride comes before the fall” comments back in 2007 — which, coincidentally, came on the heels of Mike Hart’s comments during my senior year of college where I covered the team as The Michigan Daily’s managing sports editor.
Pride — that thing that Dantonio accused Michigan of having too much of — was the exact thing many Michigan fans were afraid wouldn’t be present on Saturday against Michigan State, or at any other point remaining in the 2024 season. Not after the way this season has unfolded so far.
And let’s be clear here. I’m not talking about the hubristic, we’re-better-than-you type of Michigan pride that clearly irked Dantonio to the point of (smartly) building his program around “fighting” it. I’m talking about the good kind of pride. The sense of purpose that drives you to play for what the winged helmet is representing — not the name on the back of your jersey. The pride that helped build a culture in Ann Arbor under Jim Harbaugh where everyone truly loved playing football, and that love was apparent through how the team played and what it accomplished the last three years. The pride that would hopefully take over and help keep things on track even once the team’s goals became unachievable for the first time in four years.
After Michigan’s 21-7 loss to Illinois where the vast majority of those goals disappeared, the early signs were that the pride that drove this team in years past would vanish alongside those goals.
But on Saturday night, when a laser-focused Michigan State team came into Ann Arbor off on the heels of its best on-field showing since the 2021 season, Michigan’s players showed up, too. And so did this program’s pride.
I’m not here to romanticize a battle between a pair of deeply flawed 4-3 football teams whose 2024 ceilings are berths into bowls I wouldn’t be caught dead buying championship merch from. I’m not going to sit here and blow smoke up your ass and try and convince you that the 2024 season is saved, or even in position to be saved at this point. In fact, I made sure not to downplay the situation leading up to the game when I said the following in my preview on Saturday’s game:
The biggest benefit to winning on Saturday night would be that you’re not losing on Saturday night. Because a loss to this Michigan State program one year removed from 49-0 in East Lansing is pretty devastating.
Hell, Michigan wasn’t even an underdog in this game. But make no mistake about it — this was a game that was trending more and more in Michigan State’s direction by the day heading into Saturday night. Case in point: The Detroit Free Press’ six-person expert panel all unanimously picked Michigan State to beat the defending National Champions on the road. I don’t blame anyone for making that prediction, either. It honestly felt like I was doing some mental gymnastics went I ended up predicting the Wolverines to win by 1.
On paper, Michigan State had a clear edge at QB, WR, special teams and coaching. Beyond paper, the human element of this matchup kept pointing more and more to the Spartans, too. It would have been far easier for Michigan players to just pack it in, cash your NIL checks and look ahead to 2025 than to do all the hard things without the carrot of a true prize dangling at the end of the treadmill.
Michigan opted not to take the easy route, though, and I’m not sure many programs in a similar spot would have responded the same way.
Michigan’s pride showed up on Saturday. As a result, progress was made. And because of that, Paul stayed home.
That’s three important Ps for a Michigan program that just delivered its in-state rival a third straight L. And no matter how bad Michigan State’s program may have been in recent years, Saturday marked the first time a three-game Wolverine winning streak has happened in this rivalry since the 2007 win that elicited Dantonio’s initial remark.
It’s something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. And it’s something Michigan fans and players alike shouldn’t feel ashamed to celebrate.
I’ve got plenty to say about the game — including the extracurricular activities after it — that I’ll address below the paywall jump. Let’s get to it. 👇