“I don’t remember going to many games when I was that young, but I remember that one for sure,” Bullough said.

During their time as players, too, the memories have been positive, save for last year’s 12-10 slugfest. Both seniors have played roles in revitalizing the passion and mutual respect in this rivalry, which is primed for another classic installment between closely-matched teams with championship hopes on the line.

“It’s a special emphasis when it’s Michigan obviously because of the importance we put into that game and the work we put into that game, how much we look forward to it,” Bullough said. “It’s a motivating factor. … We’ve felt both sides of it. We know how great it feels to win and how awful it feels to lose it. So I think that just gives us that much more motivation because we want to have that good feeling and we sure as heck don’t want to have that bad feeling.”

Following the 2001 game, which later became known as “Clockgate,” the Wolverines reeled off six-straight wins against MSU before head coach Mark Dantonio put an end to it with a four-year winning streak from 2008-11.

Aside from standing toe-to-toe on the field, Dantonio has reignited the flames of the rivalry with a few well-publicized comments and shots at the Wolverines — the most famous of which came in response to former U-M running back Mike Hart’s “little brother” comments.

“Well, I think for it truly to be a rivalry, it cannot be one?sided,” Dantonio said. “I mean, it can still be a rivalry, I guess, but I think it makes — when it’s much more competitive, obviously — things take on a whole new meaning.”

Riding the wave of four-consecutive Spartan victories in the series entering last season’s showdown in Ann Arbor, Bullough and Treadwell saw the tables turn as U-M came away with a last-second win on a Brendan Gibbons field goal to snap the winning streak.

The battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy will happen at Spartan Stadium for two-consecutive years due to realignment of the Big Ten’s divisions next season.

The rivalry runs deep for the pair of captains. Treadwell’s father, Don, had two coaching stints in East Lansing and Bullough is a third-generation Spartan football player.

“Probably one of the worst feelings I’ve felt,” Treadwell said of the 2012 outcome. “You know, playing (for) Michigan State, that’s one of the first times we’ve lost, (with) me being here and, I’ll tell you what, the locker room and stuff I’ll never forget — I can’t explain the feeling. Especially seeing our seniors’ faces last year of how much it hurt them.”

Senior cornerback Darqueze Dennard, MSU’s third captain, had zero knowledge of the in-state feud prior to arriving on campus from Dry Branch, Ga. He became versed in the rivalry as a freshman, though, by observing how intensely detail-oriented the older players were in preparation for the Wolverines.

Today, that focus is replicated by other veterans, such as Bullough, Dennard said.

“Yeah, I see him take it a little bit more personal,” he said. “I feel like Max is my brother, so I take it just as personal as he (does), … He’s my brother, so I’m pretty much playing with him. So that’s how the rest of the team looks at it, and that’s how we’re going to be.”