Michigan turned its attention to rival Michigan State immediately following a 38-7 win at Maryland, practicing for two days during the bye week. On Saturday, some Wolverines — including senior left guard Ben Bredeson — watched Illinois rally for a 37-34 win over the Spartans in East Lansing.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh likely did, too. He and his staff moved on quickly to MSU film knowing head coach Mark Dantonio would likely pull out all the stops (yes, this is the week for clichés) for U-M like he has in the past. They’ve faked punts, blown through the long snapper and everything else on special teams … last year they ran a reverse pass back to the quarterback after a Chris Evans fumble inside the 10, setting up their only score.
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“We’re on high alert for everything. Specifically, we understand Coach Dantonio is a master motivator,” Harbaugh said. “It could be trick plays, special teams punt fakes, field goal fakes … everything needs to be alerted and prepared and ready for.”
The common thread in games between the two teams would be “very competitive and intense,” he added, then calling it the “most important game of the season” …
“Because it’s our next game, and it’s a huge, big game,” he said. “I think everybody would share those feelings.”
Beyond the trickery, the Spartans — despite having lost four in a row and scoring only 17 points in the entire month of October (not per game, but total) — showed signs of life against Illinois before folding. The Illini are awful defensively and were missing key starters in the front seven, but MSU still managed 526 yards of offense.
On the other side, MSU's front seven is stout even without middle linebacker Joe Bachie, who was suspended by the NCAA for PED use, and Harbaugh called the defense “one of the best in the country.”
“We’re on alert and have heightened intensity in our preparation, understanding it’s got to be at its highest level,” Harbaugh said, once again addressing the potential for trick plays. “We hve meeting time and practice time set aside to defense those types of plays.
“You look at everything a team has done in terms of fakes, misdirection, set types of plays, prepare for that but also what is a possible complement to something they’ve already done that they could be working on or practicing. You prepare for everything. I would say it’s more than most games because they’ve done more of those types of plays — fakes. Out of necessity, we’re spending more time on it than normal.”
He offered a cliché of his own in responding to all of the Michigan State “wounded animal” talk.
“I think high alert. It’s an important game for both teams, [so] throw out the records," he said with a grin. "There’s the old cliché you can use when you play this type of game.”
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