Then-junior defensive tackle Ogemdi Nwagbuo reacts after jumping offside during an October 7, 2006 game in Ann Arbor.
Ever since head coach Mark Dantonio came to MSU, the Spartans have been seeing red.
The glowing red digits on the clock he installed in their locker room remind them just how much time remains until their chance to prove they’re not “little brother.”
It’s something no player on this MSU football team has done. No one in that locker room can say he’s beaten Michigan. And with that clock winding down, no one is getting more excited for the chance to topple the Wolverines than the seniors.
Senior linebacker Kaleb Thornhill said he’ll struggle with it long after the end of the season if the Spartans come up short against U-M this Saturday.
“I’m sure it’s something I’d think about my whole life,” Thornhill said. “Telling my kids I never beat these guys.”
After months of waiting, he’s had the clock’s numbers burned into his retinas, and when he enters the tunnel on Saturday, with the screams of a sold-out Spartan Stadium pounding in his ear drums, his eyes might just glow red.
“It definitely turns inside your stomach as you get closer to the game,” he said. “Things start to boil up, and you just can’t wait.”
Boiling up are the close losses and crushing defeats of the past three seasons — the triple overtime loss three years ago, falling short by a field goal in 2005 and getting pounded 31-13 last season.
Dating back to 1996, U-M has won nine of the last 11 meetings, and Dantonio is calling on his players to make a stand this year. He asked them a question last Sunday after their double overtime loss to Iowa, hoping they’ll have the answer on Saturday.
“How long are we going to continue to bow to the University of Michigan?” Dantonio said Monday at his press conference, repeating it to the media.
Ever since he was hired at MSU, Dantonio has embraced the in-state rivalry. At the all-state football banquet at Ford Field last December, Dantonio cut off his speech to send a message to a table of several U-M assistant football coaches.
He made it clear to them that he would have his Spartans coming out swinging when the teams face off. He made it clear that with him at the helm, they’re going to war with the Wolverines every year.
Dantonio has made the rivals from down the road a measuring stick for the Spartans in every sense imaginable.
“We compete against them in everything we do every day,” he said, “Whether it’s for a recruit, whether it’s for fans, whether it’s for a 9-year-old’s heart, whatever it is.”
This will be junior running back Javon Ringer’s second shot at beating U-M, and he said he’s sick of his team being labeled Big Blue’s little brother.
A knee injury forced him to watch from the sidelines as the Wolverines dismantled the Spartans last year, and he still hasn’t forgotten the disappointed looks on his teammates’ faces.
He watched former MSU quarterback Drew Stanton and former wide receiver Matt Trannon walk off the field as seniors — their last chance to beat U-M emptying down the drain.
“I don’t know any good athlete who likes to go through their college career without beating their rival school,” Ringer said.
Now that he’s healthy again, he said he’s looking forward to helping his teammates get the satisfaction of beating U-M.
“We’re all trying to send our seniors out happy,” Ringer said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Senior running back Jehuu Caulcrick said losing to the Wolverines is painful, but in football you can’t afford to dwell on the past.
“Even if we win, we can’t stand happy with this season because we beat Michigan,” Caulcrick said. “You’ve got to move on to the next game.”
But there is a lot riding on this game.
After starting its season with back-to-back losses to Appalachian State and Oregon, U-M is rolling on a seven-game win streak.
At 5-0 in the Big Ten, the Wolverines are currently tied with Ohio State for the best record in the conference. A win Saturday is crucial to keeping their Big Ten title hopes alive.
A victory for the Spartans would give them their sixth win of the season, making them eligible to play in a bowl game.
Not to mention the respect that also is at stake.
“Coach D would say you get to walk the streets the whole year, and if you lose you have to walk in the alley,” Caulcrick said. “That’s how we’re looking at it.”
At 3:30 p.m. today, the countdown clock strikes 24:00:00.
Twenty-four hours until Caulcrick, Thornhill and the rest of the Spartan seniors get their chance to slap that monkey — or Wolverine — off their back.
“This is my last year,” Thornhill said. “I have nothing to lose.”
