Bouncing back from a four-overtime loss to Penn State, the Michigan Wolverines offense propelled the Maze and Gold to a 63-47 over Big 10 rival Indiana last weekend. Quarterback Devin Gardner set the school record for passing yards, throwing for 503 yards and five scores in the impressive offensive performance. Heading into the usually entertaining in-state rivalry game against Michigan State however, the Wolverines will surely need to improve their play on the defensive side of the ball, especially since the Spartans have reeled off four-straight victories, including a 42-3 victory over Illinois last weekend. Dropping four of the last five games to their Big 10 rivals, Michigan head coach Brady Hoke knows the conference games hold a heightened level of important and hopes his team is able to do enough to get another win over MSU.
"As a competitor, there's no question that the goals are always high, the expectations are high," Hoke said. "So when you don't achieve those aspirations, which everyone in this conference has which is to win the conference then it obviously hasn't been the kind of year that you want." Michigan will also have to overcome the loss of tight end A.J. Williams since the sophomore is being benched for a violation of unspecified team rules. "It's certainly disappointing when one of your kids makes a very poor decision," Hoke said in a disappointed manner. "A.J. realizes he has let a lot of people down, including himself. As families do, we will help A.J. as he learns a valuable lesson from this."
While the Wolverines own a 6-1 overall record and 2-1 conference mark, Michigan State will enter the showdown with an identical record but a perfect 4-0 record in conference play. Knowing a win will certainly help propel them down the final stretch of the conference season, Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio says the important thing is just to keep winning games.
"I think our main focus is what's going on in our conference right now and playing ourselves to the end of the regular season," Dantonio said. "I have been on football teams that have been ranked early in the season and faded out. Been on teams that never have been ranked and ended ninth in the country. I think you play things out to the end and you have to understand that a lot of this is motivated by votes. If you just keep winning your games, good things happen."
No. 21 Michigan vs. No. 22 Michigan State: DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Saturday, November 2
TIME: 3:30pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: ABC
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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