While it may have been said a little flippantly, there was some truth in Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham's comments earlier this week that the Michigan vs. Michigan State football game on Saturday was MSU's 'Super Bowl'. The Spartans had failed to win a Big Ten game this season, and a win over their rivals on the road would drastically change the vibes around the program. And that's exactly what Pat Fitzgerald and his Spartans did on Saturday, knocking off the Wolverines in the Big House 15 to 6 to earn their first conference win of the Pat Fitzgerald era.
After the game, a fired-up Pat Fitzgerald spoke to the media, and you can see his comments below:
- Opening statement (0:47): “The credit goes to the man in the arena, and that’s our players.… They’re the definition of one of our values, which is respond.”
- To Spartan fans (1:51): “To the Spartan Dawgs, to all of our former players, and to the Spartan Nation, this one’s for you.”
- On what outsiders think (2:35): “I’d love to tell you I really give a [expletive] what other people think, to be honest with you. I don’t know if you heard, I got fired a couple years ago. And so that’s where that [expletive] went out the window.” The transcript drops the word here, so check the audio.
- On the rebuild (3:01): “We’re trying to build something here on bedrock, and we have not gotten the wins, and I understand that, and I own that. But … the pedal is down, and it’s not going to stop.”
- For the seniors (3:25): “They had not been successful in this game, and how important this game was for those guys and to get Paul Bunyan back in East Lansing is for them.”
- On the 17-play, 10:41 drive (4:27): “Yeah, that was cool, wasn’t it?”
- Perspective (13:31): “I know we’re not going to Indianapolis, and I know we’re not competing for a Big Ten championship. Today was a state championship, and we went 1-0, and that’s all that mattered today.”
- On November (10:30): “They forget what you did in September and October, and they remember what you did in November. And this is a great first step.”
- On kicking field goals instead of going for it (17:15): “Scared money don’t make money.… I told you guys I will be aggressive but not reckless.… I thought we had the upper hand defensively.”
- On the handshake line and sideline behavior (18:29): “I did see when I looked over to the left that some guys didn’t do that. So that’ll be addressed.… One of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten was by the chain crew tonight. They said this is the best sideline they’ve ever had in a rivalry game.”
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: What MSU football coach Pat Fitzgerald said about win over Michigan
