Next Saturday will mark the Odyssey’s return to Spartan Stadium after a 48-year hiatus!! Never have the bitter instate rivals faced each other undefeated at this stage of a season.
Just how much has college football changed over the past 50 years? We offer the following anecdotal evidence from the Odyssey’s other visit to East Lansing for a UM-MSU game in 1971. Michigan won a 24-13 slog in front of MSU’s largest home attendance ever to date, 80,000+. Tom Slade, the UM starter, threw a total of 9 passes, completing 3 for a whopping 45 yards. UM fans are ever grateful that another Tom, Brady, was too young to witness Bo Schembechler’s cave man approach to play calling. He never would have ventured East from San Mateo.
In 1971, the Odyssey learned first-hand just how passionate Spartan fans are when the Wolverines visited. Schembechler, to his considerable regret, had learned that hard lesson 2 years earlier. In the Ohioan’s first visit to East Lansing as UM’s head coach, the wily Duffy Daugherty, made one of the most brilliant maneuvers in this rivalry. The previous week, MSU was embarrassed, 54-21, to an Ohio State team that had been considered one of the all-time best squads. Daugherty unveiled a triple option offense that caught the Wolverines with their pants down. MSU scored a 23-12 upset that would prove to be UM’s only 1969, Big Ten loss. Post-game, Schembechler ruefully admitted that he did fully grasp how intense the rivalry was. Bo learned his lesson exceptionally well. He would finish with a 17-4 record against the Spartans and with one exception, in 1987, the crusty Schembechler would never lose again in East Lansing.
Michigan’s vaunted defense will be tested Saturday. MSU again has very talented receivers, Jayden Reed and Jalen Nailor, while Michigan still has cornerbacks Gemon Green and Vincent Gray that were torched in MSU’s 27-24 upset win last year. Mel Tucker has done an amazing job, using the transfer portal for both quality and quantity. He plucked Kenneth Walker from Wake Forest and has been rewarded with Walker’s gaudy stats that have made him a Heisman contender. (The Odyssey wonders what Wake Forest’s prolific offense would be like if Walker had elected to stay in Winston Salem).
One big change in UM’s defensive philosophy in 2021 will impact this game. In previous years, Don Brown, dubbed “Dr. Blitz”, would often leave his corners in man-to-man coverage. This approach was often successful but its limitations were glaringly obvious in last year’s MSU game as well as the past two games against Ohio State’s other worldly receivers where the Buckeyes embarrassed the UM D to the tune of 118 points. Jim Harbaugh parted ways with Brown and instituted a more conservative defensive approach.
The key to the game may well come down to how well an improved MSU offensive line can handle a very talented Wolverine defensive line, headed by legacy Aidan Hutchinson. If MSU can hold the Blue’s D Line at bay, we believe the home crowd will go home happy. Otherwise, …….