It wasn't pretty, but Michigan football got the job done against Rutgers, winning 28-21 in Piscataway. With an equally struggling Michigan State team coming to town next week, head coach Kyle Whittingham will get his first taste of a real rivalry game in Ann Arbor.
Thus far, Whittingham is 0-1 in trophy games, having lost the Little Brown Jug to Minnesota for the first time since 2014. But in the postgame after Rutgers, he noted that he's well aware that this is a different animal with the Spartans coming to town next Saturday.
"Well, I know it's clearly the second most important rivalry that we have," Whittingham said. "I know Coach Fitzgerald very well. Great football coach. Respect him. I think he's terrific and we'll dive into the personnel
and everything tomorrow."
Whittingham knows very little to this point about MSU, as far as the on-field product. The Spartans are coming off a bye, but are 2-6, having only beaten Toledo and Eastern Michigan in each of the first two weeks of the season. Since then, they've lost all six, though they've not exactly had an easy schedule, having played Notre Dame, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, and UCLA. None of their losses have come to a team with a losing record thus far.
But the head coach hasn't watched much of Fitzgerald's team just yet, and says to check back on Monday for more about the challenges that MSU poses.
"I haven't had a chance to watch much of him this year because of timing and all that stuff, so I haven't had a chance to get eyes on him, but we certainly will tomorrow," Whittingham said. "So we've got a lot better answer on Monday in the press conference than we can right now."
Michigan coaches tend to lose their first matchup in the rivalry, with the only ones to win being Bennie Oosterbaan and Sherrone Moore. Mel Tucker and Nick Saban each won their first, but otherwise, the Spartans haven't had too much luck either.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham looks ahead to Michigan State after Rutgers win
