EAST LANSING – In case he had forgotten in his two-decade absence from East Lansing, Mel Tucker was quickly reminded last year just how important the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is to football fans in this state.
Since he was hired in February 2020 as Michigan State’s new coach, Tucker said he’s heard from Spartans fans every single day – from friends and strangers, via text, email or in person – about the rivalry game and how important it is to them.
Heading into a game that’s even bigger than most, with undefeated No. 8 Michigan State hosting undefeated No. 6 Michigan on Saturday (noon, FOX), Tucker is well aware of what the outcome means to people.
“There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that someone hasn’t mentioned to me something about this game,” Tucker said this week.
And when preparing his team for that game, Tucker said he places a similar extra emphasis on this game that those outside the program do.
“It’s a big game, we embrace it,” Tucker said. “I don’t try to play down the expectations or anything like that.”
In terms of being Michigan State’s head coach in the rivalry game against Michigan, Tucker had big shoes to fill.
From when Mark Dantonio took umbrage to Mike Hart’s 2007 “little brother” comment and famously declared that “pride comes before the fall”, he endeared himself to Michigan State fans. When he proceeded to beat the Wolverines in seven of the next eight matchups, he became beloved for turning the tables on the rivalry and for emphasizing it to the degree that Michigan State fans do.
Tucker, though, is off to a good start in filling those shoes after beating Michigan last year in his debut season, becoming just the second Spartans coach in program history to do so (his former boss, Nick Saban, is the other).
Veteran players say the treatment of the rivalry inside the Spartans’ football offices, meanwhile, has stayed the same through the coaching change.
“They both took it seriously,” senior safety Xavier Henderson said. “Coach D was here for so long. They both kind of feel a way, but I don’t think either of them feel differently. They’re going to prepare us. They don’t feel any different from each other, they’ve got the same kind of notion toward it.”
Tucker has given the rivalry special treatment both within his program and outwardly.
Part of Michigan State’s Monday morning team meeting included a history lesson of the Paul Bunyan Trophy – how the trophy was first awarded by Michigan Governor G. Mennen Williams in 1953 upon Michigan State’s entry into the Big Ten conference and has been taken home by the winner each year ever since.
He then reminded players that their legacies as Spartans players will largely be formed in games like Saturdays.
“When you have rivalry games like this, at the end of the day, ultimately, your legacy, your reputation really, a lot of it is formed by how you play and how you coach in these games,” Tucker said. “That’s the reality of the situation. It’s a good thing.”
Publicly, for the second straight year, Tucker did not utter the word “Michigan” in his press conference the week leading up to game, preferring to refer to the Wolverines as “that team down the road.” No other opponent on the Spartans’ schedule receives that treatment.
Spartans senior Connor Heyward, though, said that the emphasis on the game comes from the players themselves as well as whoever is occupying the head coach’s office.
“It doesn’t matter who’s the coach at Michigan State, I feel like everybody knows,” Heyward said. “Everybody in the building knows it’s the biggest game of the year.”
Ad Choices