Heading into the regular season both the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans brought new head coaches into the fold. Neither Kyle Whittingham nor Pat Fitzgerald have had the opening year that they anticipated since then.
Now, they battle for the first time as rivals in a newfound era of hate between two schools 65 miles apart in the Mitten State.
Michigan Wolverines vs Michigan State Spartans
- Day: Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026
- TV: Peacock
- Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Ann Arbor, MI
- Weather: 44 degrees, partly cloudy
- Odds: MICH – 13.5, O/U: 39.5
We’ve resorted to the Michigan Wolverines not even being on network television this weekend against their second biggest rival, the in-state
Spartans. Woof.
Neither Whittingham nor Fitzgerald have figured out how to run an offense in the Big Ten this year. Michigan is 119th in yards and 106th in points per game while Michigan State is 129th and 112th in the same categories. Football fans in this great state have seen porous offense and little success.
The Wolverines at least have found a way to win, going 5-3 so far this year and beating Rutgers and Penn State to be in a place of bowl eligibility. Michigan State is 2-6, one of two teams winless in the conference, and only topping Toledo and Eastern Michigan in their first two contests.
Where I have to credit the Spartans is how they’ve performed at home. They lost by a combined four points to Illinois and a ranked Northwestern team. Unfortunately for them, this one is in Ann Arbor, and they have been horrible on the road this year and Michigan State is down to their third quarterback.
Alessio Milivojevic missed last weeks contest against UCLA, QB2 Cam Fancher is also injured, leading to true freshman Kayd Coffman going 4-for-10 with a TD and a pick against UCLA in the Rose Bowl last weekend. The general sentiment based on comments heading into Saturday is Milivojevic could be out again in their most important game of the year at the Big House. It doesn’t stop there, either; three injuries in the running back room and several in the secondary leave the Spartans severely banged up heading into the Battle for Paul Bunyan.
Michigan simply cannot lost this football game. Last week, they went down to the fourth quarter against a bad Rutgers football team in New Jersey. With the injuries that the Spartans are operating through, they may be even worse.
That being said, Pat Fitzgerald has put much more of an emphasis on this game then Whittingham has, which should be a concern. At Big Ten media days, the former Northwestern football player and coach talked about how much he loved beating Michigan. In April, he was counting down the days until this matchup. And this week made this comment, “This is a week that not only our players, our staff but all of our fans, our alums, our former players circle.”
Meanwhile, Whittingham has continuously underplayed the rivalries against both Ohio State and Michigan State. Earlier this week, it sounded like he heard about the tunnel fight for the first time. Who know the kinds of juice his team is going to come out with after everything that has already happened this year.
Two horrible offenses makes me think that this game will go chalk with what has happened historically in this rivalry. In 49 of the last 56 matchups, the team with more rushing yards won the Paul Bunyan Trophy. The total here is low for a reason, and I just don’t see Michigan in a position to win by multiple scores and pull away. They haven’t proven they can do it against competition with a pulse this year. I think the Wolverines win, but it’s not by two scores.
The Bet: MSU +13.5
- Sat, Nov 7. @ Noon ET on ABC: No. 9 BYU Cougars vs No. 3 Utah Utes
- The Bet: BYU +4.5
- Sat, Nov. 7 @ 3:30 PM ET on CBS: No. 23 Oregon Ducks vs No. 12 Ohio State Buckeyes
- The Bet: OSU -9.5
- Sat, Nov. 7 @ 7:30 PM ET on NBC: No. 1 Miami Hurricanes vs No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- The Bet: ND -4.5
