The sun is setting earlier. Mariah Carey is defrosting. And Paul Bunyan is waking up from his slumber, as Michigan and Michigan State prepare to play for the trophy named in his honor for the 74th time.
It’s rivalry week in Ann Arbor. So let’s hear about it from the men who are set to take the field when the Wolverines take on the Spartans.
Hogan Hansen, tight end
“Just think of the history, and really the magnitude of importance of this game,” Hansen said. “I think everybody in this building thinks that up until this point
of the season, this is our biggest game, the state championship. So I mean, it’s not really much that needs to be said for that motivation. Everyone knows what we need to do Saturday.”
Hansen’s been here before. Though he didn’t play in either the 2024 or 2025 editions, he was on the team for both. He knows what it feels like to beat the Spartans, and this year, he’s hoping to get to do it on the field.
Eli Owens, tight end
“This is a game you have to win from both sides,” Owens said. “Like this is a game they have to win, but this is a game that we are going to win, and that’s just the mindset that we have, and that’s the mindset that they have as well. And I think that is what makes this great football. When you have two teams that have a rivalry like we have with State, it’s memories and great games like they have been. I can’t remember a Michigan-Michigan State football game that hasn’t been good.”
Owens was on the roster when the Wolverines carried Paul out of East Lansing last year, but he didn’t get a snap in the game. He’s hoping to see that change this year, having already notched a couple starts in 2026.
Evan Link, offensive line
For Link, he didn’t grasp the gravity of what he was stepping into until he planted a foot onto that field in 2024.
“I think it didn’t really hit me until I had that first snap out there,” Link said. “As soon as that happened, I was like, ‘Oh, so this is how this works.’ And so I think guys will kind of start to feel it, and you’ll hear it from guys that have been in it.”
Link started at right tackle against the Spartans in 2024 and played snaps in 2025. This will be his third straight appearance in the rivalry game.
Trey Pierce, defensive line
“I’m excited,” Pierce said. “Rivalry game, and it’s a good opportunity for our team to go out there and show we can do something on a big stage.
Pierce is marking his fourth straight year playing for Paul Bunyan, and his second straight year as a starter. He lodged two tackles in last year’s edition.
Koy Detmer Jr, quarterbacks coach
“I want to beat the hell out of them,” Detmer Jr. said.
There’s perhaps no better way to sum up what this game means to both teams than that. This is not a friendly rivalry. The enmity on both sides is visceral, as the running list of postgame skirmishes from the last year proves.
Michigan and Michigan State may both be having deeply disappointing seasons, but that doesn’t change what the calculus will be for either team. Regardless of how the season’s unfolded up until now or unfolds further, there’s only one objective: beat the hell out of them.
