Michigan players planted a stake in the field at Spartan Stadium prior to their game against Michigan State Saturday, ticking off the Spartans players, and ultimately leading them to run up the score in their victory.
Michigan State won the game 35-11 and scored on a 5-yard touchdown run by Jeremy Langford with 28 seconds left rather than running out the clock for a 28-11 win. Not only did the touchdown help cover the 17-point spread, but it also rubbed in the win a little extra just to prove a point.
“It just felt like we needed to put a stake in them at that point,” head coach Mark Dantonio said about the extra touchdown.
“I can only be diplomatic for so long. The little brother stuff, all the disrespect, it didn’t have to go in that direction.
“We try to handle ourselves with composure. That doesn’t come from a coach. It comes from the program. Throwing the stake down in our backyard out here and coming out there like they’re all that. That got shoved up … It got shoved in the last minute and a half.”
The “little brother” stuff goes back to a comment former Michigan running back Mike Hart made in 2007 that ex-Wolverines quarterback Denard Robinson has repeated multiple times.
Spartans quarterback Connor Cook, who went 12/22 for 227 yards and a touchdown, also commented after the game about the stake.
“They disrespected us right out of the gate,” Cook said. “We weren’t having that.”
The Spartans don’t need the respect of the Wolverines when they’ve clearly become the better program of late. The last-minute touchdown just solidifies that point.
Screenshot via @WorldofIsaac
