Michigan football steals all signs of hope from Spartans during emphatic shutout victory in rivalry game

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The No. 2 ranked Michigan Wolverines stole all signs of hope from the Michigan State Spartans during their emphatic 49-0 shutout victory in their rivalry game for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

The Spartans were leary about playing the Wolverines under the lights on Saturday (Oct. 21) due to all of the outside noise pertaining to Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff stealing signs from opposing teams’ sidelines.

MSU said they almost canceled the game after the allegations ran rampant due to the safety and health of their players, and from the outcome of the matchup, they should’ve followed their first mind because they were no match for the men in maize.

Michigan State football has been playing at Spartans Stadium for 100 years, and Saturday’s boat race was the first time in the rivalry game they were held scoreless since 2000 when they lost 14-0.

The shutout was also the first time the Spartans were held scoreless at home in the rivalry since 1985, when the men in maize won 31-0.

Losing by 49 while being held scoreless is the largest margin of victory in the rivalries’ history, and the onslaught began with junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

J.J. McCarthy

McCarthy had himself a career day against MSU as he threw four touchdowns, with three coming in the first half.

The second-year starter set the tone early and never looked back as he finished the game completing 21-27 passes for 287 yards and the four touchdowns as mentioned above.

“I thought our guys played really hard, and the dropback pass game was especially good as the tight ends had one heck of a game, and J.J. was on fire,” said Harbaugh. “Colston (Loveland), AJ Barner, I mean, the whole team had a heck of a game.”

McCarthy was diming up Barner all night long as the senior tight end led the team in receptions and receiving yards as he caught eight passes for 99 yards and one touchdown.

Loveland, who is Barner’s fellow tight end, had his first career multi-touchdown game of his young career as he was second in receptions and yards, catching four passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns.

“We knew what we could do coming into the matchup, but I think both sides of the ball did a great job,” said Loveland. “There will definitely be some things to clean up, but it was a good win.”

Loveland continued:

“J.J. is a leader. We love that quarterback, and we wouldn’t trade him for anything. He always has positive vibes. He’s always bringing that positive energy and bringing up everyone around him, and we love him.”

The Wolverines offense finished the day with 477 total yards, 357 through the air, and 120 from the rushing attack with 28 first downs.

Harbaugh had high praise for McCarthy, who was a man amongst boys. He was looking like East Lansing’s own Erving “Magic” Johnson on the field, the way he was dishing and moving up and down the field, play after play.

“I think J.J. is a once-in-a-generation quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “J.J. has shown to be on path to be the best quarterback in Michigan history, and I think going forward, J.J. will be the quarterback that all future quarterbacks are compared to.”

Superstar running back Blake Corum had himself a ho-hum day as he toted the rock 15 times for 59 yards and another rushing touchdown. He now sits in third place with 44 all-time.

Corum spoke about the brilliance of McCarthy’s performance and how he’s a Heisman-type player.

“He’s on fire,” said Corum. “He knows how to make a play out of nothing. He’s a heck of a player. When it comes to the Heisman, put him up there, he deserves it.”

Defense

The Wolverines defense reached one of their goals of the season, and it happened at the right time as they finally pitched a shoutout as it only took eight games.

MSU was held to two first downs in the first half and a total of 190 yards with 133 passing and 57 rushing with 10 total first downs throughout the entirety of the game, thanks to a plethora of playmakers.

Junior Colson led the team in total tackles 11 followed by Will Johnson with five and Derrick Moore with four and one sack.

Junior defensive back Ja’Den McBurrows was able to rock the Turnover Buffs after making one of the team’s two interceptions. He was one of the players that was attacked in the tunnel by some of the Spartans players inside Michigan Stadium last season.

To see him come back one year later in the same matchup and overcome that adversity while accumulating the interception plus three total tackles shows that he is a true stud who can overcome anything.

The loudest defensive came from senior defensive back Mike Sainristil, who outscored the Spartans by himself as he took the pigskin to the house for 72 yards.

The interception, return, and score were his second of the season.

“The gameplan for our defense tonight was to come out here and handle business,” said Sainristil. “The coaches dialed up a great gameplan for us which was just to go out their, you know they’re going to try those trick plays but they scripted us for success all week. We were well prepared. We knew what was going to come. So, a big shoutout to the coaches.”

Sainristil continued:

“We, as the No. 2 ranked team in the country, have prepared the same as we go out there and dominate. Our mindset is just like a game like tonight, right, we won 49-0, but the thing about us is, ‘How do we get better even after a 49-0 win?’ We all have each other’s backs. We’re one team. We care for each other. We live for each other. When they (The offense) are out on the field, we’re lifting them up. Sometimes I’ll ask J.J. like, ‘Aye man, why don’t you give us like six-seven minutes to let us rest for a little bit, and we will get you the ball back.’ I call him the ‘Miracle boy’ that’s my guy.”

Michigan (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) has won 18 consecutive Big Ten conference games, which is the second-longest streak in school history, and will look to continue their winning ways after their week nine bye when they play host to the Purdue Boilermakers on Nov. 4 inside the Big House.

For the Spartans (2-5, 0-4) during the second half of the onslaught, the going got more brutal as the school had to issue a statement regarding their pregame scoreboard quiz showing Adolf Hitler’s image while asking what country he was born in.