When Michigan and Michigan State play football, a whole state takes notice

G Mennen Williams, the 41st governor of Michigan, left at least two enduring legacies for this state. 

In office from 1949-1961, Williams — known affectionately as “Soapy” — is largely responsible for pushing forward the construction of the Mackinac Bridge. The five mile behemoth of mid-century steel towers more than 500 feet over the Straits of Mackinac and took half a decade to complete, creating the key link that joins the upper and lower peninsula and standing now as a testament to a state brought closer together. Williams paid the first toll, $3.25, to officially open the bridge on schedule on Nov. 1, 1957.

Before that, though, on Nov. 14, 1953, he introduced his first lasting totem for the Mitten: A four-foot tall wooden carving of Paul Bunyan.

Known now as the Paul Bunyan Trophy colloquially, it’s officially the “Paul Bunyan — Governor of Michigan Trophy,” reflecting its origins. Williams decided to introduce the trophy as a token for Michigan State joining the Big Ten to compete in football that year. Williams, who got his law degree in Ann Arbor yet became known for a signature green-and-white polka dot bow tie, likely couldn’t have known that this figurine of a folklore figure some 70 years later would be the first bridge he built. 

The Spartans won that day, 14-6, clinching a share of the Big Ten crown as Biggie Munn and his team went on to win the Rose Bowl against UCLA. And every fall since, for one weekend, Michigan and Michigan State’s football teams are the nucleus the state centers on, brought together over being pitted against one another. It’s fueled decades of sibling spat analogies, with fans at loggerheads learning to coexist the other 360-odd days between matchups. 

And some 72 years after Williams first introduced Paul Bunyan to this rivalry, it’s time once more: Michigan vs. Michigan State meeting on the gridiron, the 118th matchup coming from Spartan Stadium in the latest installment of a series integral to the fabric of a state. 

And along with the trophy, a lot is on the line this Saturday night. Michigan State (3-4, 0-4 Big Ten) is in free fall, losers of four in a row and navigating a plethora of injuries as Jonathan Smith is under the microscope in East Lansing, about to coach his 20th game for the Spartans. Michigan (5-2, 3-1) righted the ship with a win over Washington but has little margin for error in nursing along a bubble case for the College Football Playoff, and getting upset scuttles those hopes. As important as this game is in the greater context of the season for both teams, though, just beating the other side is satisfaction enough. 

“We know we got a big game next week that I already got my mind on right now,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said Saturday after beating Washington. “I gotta give myself 24 hours. Gotta give ourselves 24 hours. But I find myself wanting to go to the building and go watch the film on them right now.”

Moore, 1-0 against MSU after a win last year as head coach, will be the head man on the Spartan Stadium sidelines for the first time. And he got his introduction to the rivalry on the very same field, as an assistant coach on Jim Harbaugh’s staff in 2018.

Amidst the now-infamous spat between Devin Bush and the Spartans which resulted in Bush kicking and tearing up the Spartan logo at midfield, Moore intervened to be the one holding Bush back. 

“Pretty intense,” Moore said. “It was 2018, Devin Bush stomping on the field. So I got a quick one to that one. I was holding Devin back as he was trying to fight half their team. So I was introduced fast.”

That incident, ahead of a 21-7 Michigan win in East Lansing, is but one of many charged moments this rivalry has produced in the last decade — and that’s without getting to Mike Hart’s infamous “little brother” line.

In 2015, Blake O’Neill had trouble with the snap. Michigan State got “defeated with dignity” in 2016. The Wolverines choked in a rainstorm at home in 2017 and came back with the win in 2018 to make it up. The 2019 game ended up rather unremarkable, as Michigan won, only for the 2020 Covid game to be an early signature win for Mel Tucker in Year 1 as Ricky White played the game of his life. The follow up act in 2021 is one of the best football games in the history of this rivalry, as two Top 10 teams battled to a one-score Spartan win behind five Kenneth Walker III rushing touchdowns. The 2022 game ended with the Michigan Stadium tunnel fight. And the 2023 game, a blowout win by Michigan, came on the heels of the Connor Stalions impermissible scouting scandal breaking. 

Last season’s 24-17 win for Michigan in Ann Arbor ended up being a rather uneventful matchup for the teams, given recent history, but they still dusted it up at midfield briefly postgame. 

And experiencing the rivalry for the first time in Michigan Stadium, Smith learned a lesson. 

“I can still feel a bitter taste in my mouth after that one, after experiencing it,” Smith said. “I think of leaving the experience with the passion of it. I think about the preparation and using more of that fuel, that passion, for our preparation and then obviously playing with it within a disciplined approach."

Now approaching his second opportunity with this rivalry, Smith is leaning into the rivalry fuel for the week of preparation. He used the word passion repeatedly and emphatically when talking about the rivalry. 

“Rivalries are not all the same, right?” Smith said Monday. “For this particular one, I really felt like galvanizing that fuel, that energy, that focus, that want-to and passion behind it, boiling that into our preparation, using that in our play, not to where it’s hurting us. But we want it to help us.”

For his part, Moore isn’t running from this being a week of heightened importance, but is also drilling into his team that focusing on past fracases won’t help win this game. 

“It actually takes away the energy from you winning the game, so all we have to do is rinse, repeat,” Moore said. “But urgency is the key word right now. Urgency in everything we do. Urgency in the detail. Urgency in us going to class. Making sure everything is aligned perfectly for us to win this game. We can't worry about the past, but we can learn from it and learn about those things. So we're just going to continue to harp on that all that stuff doesn't matter, you know, just work on things we need to work on in the game.”

Whether or not Saturday’s game veers into wacky territory likely hinges on Michigan State’s ability to hold up at the point of attack on both sides. 

The Spartans have a solid but unremarkable run defense, and the pass rush and back seven have struggled. Conversely, the offensive line is heavily banged up and the healthy players have struggled to be consistent at times. 

If the Michigan front seven can get in the backfield and harass Aidan Chiles and the Wolverines offensive line can be working forward most of the night, Michigan can probably keep this game under control. 

But Michigan also has a true freshman quarterback, its own share of injuries, and gets to play before a crowd that, while ready to turn sour on the home team amidst a losing streak, can just as easily turn Spartan Stadium into a fortress if the Wolverines get on the ropes. 

“We need our crowd into it to impact the game,” Smith said Monday. “We’re counting on that. And then we want to do our part to put a good product out there in this game. It’s going to be highly competitive and all that. Need it for four quarters: Our play and our crowd.”

Whoever wins on Saturday, one thing can be certain: There will be a new chapter of this rivalry, another sticking point of debate, another memory — good or bad — that carries forward to the next matchup, and the next, and the next. 

This game doesn’t exist in a vacuum, nor could it ever. There are too many stakeholders, too many hopes riding on it, countless classmates and coworkers itching to bask in victory or commiserate a loss for this to ever just be another game. 

Michigan vs. Michigan State is as much a part of what makes this state this state as Ford, the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Mackinac Bridge. 

And every year now, waiting on a sideline to greet the winners, is Paul Bunyan, a legacy predicted by the Battle Creek Enquirer on Nov. 15, 1953, the day after Michigan State won the trophy for the first time. 

The Enquirer published an “interview” with the statue, which predicted Paul Bunyan’s place in the rivalry would long outlive Williams, bridging a gap amongst Michiganders. 

“Look, why don’t you go away? I’ll be here long after Williams is gone,” Bunyan said, per the Enquirer.