Michigan v. Michigan State Football: The Greatest Games

2007 – “Sometimes you get your little brother excited… you let him get the lead.”

Michigan, after losing a stunner to FCS Appalachian State and getting blown out by Oregon in the first two weeks of the season, had rattled off seven wins in a row and were back up to #15 in the AP Poll by the time they visited East Lansing in November in head coach Lloyd Carr‘s final season. The Spartans, on the other hand, had started 4-0 in their first game under Mark Dantonio before losing four out of their last five going into the game.

Michigan State scored first with a field goal on the opening drive, but the Wolverines responded with two Chad Henne passing touchdowns, one to Mario Manningham and one to Carson Butler to take a 14-3 lead in the second quarter. The Spartans, however, would score 21 unanswered points, Jehuu Caulcrick scoring to cut the lead to four, Brian Hoyer throwing a touchdown to Kellen Davis and Caulcrick scoring again to give Michigan State a 24-14 lead with 7:40 remaining in the fourth.

Henne, however, who had left the game briefly earlier with a knee injury, quickly led Michigan down the field and found Greg Mathews with a beautiful pass for a touchdown to cut the lead to three. After the Michigan defense came up with a stop, Henne threw his fourth touchdown of the game, Manningham making an amazing catch to give Michigan the lead once again. The Spartans turned the ball over on downs and the Wolverines won their sixth straight against Michigan State, 28-24.

After the game, Michigan senior running back Mike Hart, who rushed for 110 yards in the game and had beaten Michigan State each of his four years at Michigan, caused a stir by referring to Michigan State as Michigan’s “little brother.”

“I was just laughing. I thought it was funny,” Hart said, “they got excited, it’s good. Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you’re playing basketball and stuff, let him get the lead, then you just come back and take it back.”

Dantonio did not take too kindly to Hart’s comments, saying, “This game is an important game… they want to mock us all, they want to mock us, I’m telling them, it’s not over. So they can print all that crap all they want all over their locker room. It’s not over, it’ll never be over here. It’s just starting… But just remember, pride comes before the fall.”