Naturally, the State News will claim Michigan is entitled and arrogant, its fanbase consists of “Wal-Mart Wolverines” and for the past six years, the Spartans have been the better team on the field.

But no matter how much we debated, we were only talking in circles.

That is, until you finally provided something original in last year’s column. The one that said, “The faux aura around the U-M football program is as big a sham as a newspaper staffed by kids that don't even major in journalism.”

You were right; Michigan students can’t get a degree in journalism. I major in communication studies and minor in writing. So allow me to change the script. I’m going to do what you think you inherently do better: journalism.

I reached out to students at Michigan State University, people from different years and programs, to ask them about their news reading habits.

But I know not everyone reads the news often (we can agree that’s a shame). Which is why I also posed a hypothetical: if they were to read one news outlet on campus, which would they choose, Paper A or Paper B?

Imagine both papers are on the same campus covering the same events, but staffed and run differently.

Paper A is a large paper with an active staff of more than 100 students and provides coverage on news, sports, arts and campus life.

The Society of Professional Journalists nominated Paper A for two reporting awards in its region just last year. It placed second in best all-around newspaper category.

Paper A is sourced by larger, non-campus papers in the local area when it shares news. It has a credible reputation among other news organizations.

Paper A’s sports section, in particular, provides coverage from both home and away football games with stories on volleyball and soccer amongst others, but nothing as extensive as the bigger sports.

Within the past three years, Paper A has produced reporters who write at small, to mid-level newspapers.

And lastly, Paper A staffs writers from a journalism program.

Meanwhile, Paper B also has an active staff that covers the covers the same topics, but does so with a bigger staff that produces a wider range of content in any given week.

Paper B was nominated for six reporting awards by the SPJ in its region and took first place in two of them (including sports writing). Paper B was declared not only the best paper in the region, but also a finalist in the entire nation.

National outlets such as The New York Times, ESPN and CBS Sports have sourced or cited Paper B in its reporting of events. So have local outlets. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart did a five-minute segment featuring Paper B.

Paper B’s sports staff covers every athletic team on campus in some capacity, but provided more stories per team, even the smaller ones.

Alumni from Paper B, in the last three years alone, have gone to work full-time at The New York Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, Los Angeles Times and The Tennessean.

Paper B’s staff doesn’t learn at a journalism program.

Yet Michigan State students, after I went through the list one-by-one, picked Paper B. In this case, of course, Paper A is the State News and Paper B is The Michigan Daily. The superiority of one over the other is so obvious. But don’t let me do that talking.

There’s Marshall W, a senior, who said, “If I wasn’t affiliated with Michigan State, and I was presented with both facts, I would stick by my answer.”

And Sara S, a junior, said, “Based off those conditions, I would say B.”

Stephen P, also a senior, said, “I think each paper has its own reputation, and I think that carries more weight than anything else.”

I used a small sample size — only six people — but not a single one picked the State News. And it shouldn’t take more than them to tell you: If they didn’t go to Michigan State, students would prefer the work done by a paper like The Michigan Daily.

I won’t pretend the Michigan football team will win on Saturday. It’s a team with an offense that can’t stay on the field and a defense that can’t record turnovers. I won’t try to stick up for a coach and athletic director who risked a player’s safety by putting him back out with a concussion.

But I do know that the school without a journalism program kicked your ass in the very subject within the last year alone.

And after we beat you in football on Friday, for the 10th year in a row, we’ll return to the newsroom and continue to do our job better than you.

Just as we always have. And that’s not up for debate.

Garno is the Co-Managing Sports Editor and a football beat writer at the Michigan Daily. He can be reached at ggarno@umich.edu