"It's a big week, certainly," head coach Damon Rensing said before the Oakland game. "Two rivalries, it takes a lot of emotional energy." 

In the match-up, MSU enters the game 4-1-0 after the one-goal win from Wednesday's visit to Oakland University. U-M, meanwhile, sidles behind the field at 0-3-3 following their most recent 2-0 defeat to No. 3 Indiana.

"We're excited, we're happy, we're going to be 4-1, and obviously we've got a monster, monster game with a very good Michigan team on the weekend," Rensing said following the Wednesday night victory.

Junior attacking midfielder Ken Krolicki won the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award this week, the first time an MSU player has won the award since 2014. He leads the team in points with five, adding to the team's offensive potency. 

Overall, the offense has scored thus far in all of the games this season. MSU has scored a total of 11 goals so far in 2016 — the Spartans' highest through five games since 2010.

The defense appears to finally have started clicking after a rocky beginning. After shutting out Rutgers and repeating the task against Oakland, goalkeeper Jimmy Hague has found a groove.

U-M, while similarly young, returns a vast amount of talent. Last year's leading scorer, Francis Atuahene, is again the target man for the Wolverines, while Evan Louro, who had the Big Ten's second-highest save percentage in 2015, is again at goalkeeper.

While U-M has yet to win this season, they've had a difficult schedule embodied by their seven accumulated overtimes in just six games. With double-overtime ties to No. 19 USF and Florida Golf Coast on an away tournament, as well as a back-and-forth showdown against Yale, the effort is there, U-M has just been coming up empty handed. 

Their most recent loss against No. 3 Indiana was a relatively even game, and their match against Wisconsin was on the hinges of becoming another draw. 

As far as match-ups go, MSU's defense will be tested by Atuahene, whose pace and conniving guile will force the Spartans to remain painfully sharp. A momentary mental mistake could be decisive.

For MSU, the combination of Big Bear veterans and rookies will shed an interesting light on the contest. Last year initiated Ryan Sierakowski and DeJuan Jones to the animosity between the two teams, and neither was able to succeed, the game ending 1-0 in the favor of U-M. This year, it will be interesting to see how the second-year strike team responds in addition to freshman Giuseppe Barone, who will make his rivalry debut.

The determinative feature of the match could be home field advantage for MSU. While both teams will pack a large support base, the home team has won six of the last seven match-ups. 

The game is slated for noon on Sunday.

Prediction: MSU 2, U-M 1