'M' faces old-time rival

When the talk turns to the Big Game, fans around the state of Michigan split their families.

Wives don't speak to husbands, brothers divide their allegiances and the state's very core splits over the fall Saturday when Michigan plays Michigan State (i.e. tomorrow at 12:10 p.m. at Michigan Stadium.)

Some of the players will tell you that this game means everything. Some will say it's just another week.

But beyond the facade, deeper in the soul, lie the feelings of hatred. For Michigan natives it may be that the opposing school didn't recruit them or that they grew up on one side. For the out-of-staters it's because the intensity is forced upon them.

DANA LINNANE/Daily LSA sophomore Mary Olsen gets an "M" drawn on her cheek yesterday with face paint she purchased to show her spirit row at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines will take on the Spartans in the annual in-state rivalry tomorrow.

Regardless, it's all about war.

"Every guy in this game on both sides of the ball knows the importance of it," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "The state is immersed."

This year's game has less national luster than in the past, but the game plans are just as intense for the coaches.

"The intensity and emotion (this week) are the highest they will be all year," Carr said.

At Michigan State, the players could fear inciting a sleeping giant. Michigan, despite its 1-2 record, possesses a big-play potential that belies its conservative running tendencies.

But Michigan, on the other hand, has probably seen the best of Michigan State. As the Wolverines sat home two weeks ago, licking their blue-and-orange wounds from Syracuse, they saw the Spartans throttle Notre Dame.

They saw Michigan State quarterback Bill Burke pass with uncanny efficiency on the deep ball, opening the interior for Sedrick Irvin to run wild. The game was decided by halftime and Michigan State regained the swagger it lost to Michigan that year.

That's what makes this game so pivotal. Much of the media talk has swirled around the game's early-season placement (usually it's scheduled for mid-October) but the participants are unfazed by such talk.

"Fan interest is better served if the game is played later in the year," Michigan State coach Nick Saban said. "From a coach's standpoint, I don't ever think of it as one (way) or another."

The reason it's a big game - every year - is because of the season-long repercussions. Last season, after Michigan thoroughly dominated the Spartans, 23-7, Michigan State entered a tailspin, winning just two more times the rest of the season.

But as much as this game and this rivalry is about teams, in recent years, individual players have assumed center stage.

In 1995, Derrick Mason made two huge fourth-quarter returns for the Spartans, sparking game-winning drives before a frenzied Spartan crowd.

In 1996, Todd Schultz began to feel the pressure of the rivalry and tossed away the game in a third-quarter flurry.

But 1997 is the year the Spartans hate. Last year, when Michigan entered the game 6-0 and Michigan State 5-1, state-wide pressure to win was as intense as ever. Two individual Wolverines from that game (Charles Woodson and Marcus Ray) took control, intercepting two passes each to secure Michigan victory.

The rest is storybook for Michigan fans. The Wolverines gained the state's favor, winning the national championship in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. Michigan State never recovered, bottoming out in a devastating Aloha Bowl defeat on Christmas Day.

After coaching in every state battle since 1980, Carr knows the importance of the game to the teams, the state and the sport.

"I don't remember a Michigan-Michigan State game that didn't have intensity," he said. "It's one of the game that exemplify the sport of college football."

Michigan-Michigan State
Saturday, 12 p.m.
The Big(ger) House and ABC Channel 7 in Ann Arbor

09-25-98