Despite the long odds ahead for the Spartans, the battle of the Paul Bunyan trophy brings out the best from both teams and always can go either way.

Ahead of the matchup, The State News spoke with Aria Gerson of The Michigan Daily to get a preview of this year’s edition of the heated rivalry.

Q: Last week, Michigan was able to dominate Minnesota on both sides of the ball. What went into the win last Saturday?

A: Last year, Michigan's offense was kind of inconsistent. It looked a little bit scattered at times, but Michigan came out with a really good game plan. They looked like they knew what they were doing, and they called plays that really worked. Joe Milton, the new quarterback, he looked really good in terms of his decision making. They had him doing a lot of screen passes and that kind of thing. He made all those throws, and he was also involved in the running game. 

Michigan had really good field position consistently because Minnesota’s special teams were not good, to say the least. That field position advantage really helped as well. 

Q: Over the course of the offseason, Michigan lost a lot of talent to the NFL and to opt-outs. How was Michigan able to replace that production?

A: I was surprised by how good all the new replacements look. At wide receiver — the guys that have been playing wide receiver — there's a few true freshmen, but most of them are people who were on the team last year, and they did play, but not as much as their main guys, but they did play some and they do have one returning starter Ronnie Bell. They've already shown us that they're pretty talented. These are receivers that Josh Gattis recruited for his offense. He has a really good idea for how to use these guys for what they can do.

As far as the offensive line goes, it's kind of the same thing. All but one of their offensive linemen have not started before regularly, but they're all juniors and seniors. They've all been in the program for a while and worked with Michigan's offensive line coach Ed Warriner for two years. I think they just know the playbook. They know what kind of plays Michigan is going to be running, what they need to block for. Just having been in the program a while has allowed them to step in because the offensive line did look really good. I was surprised by how good they looked. 

Q: Milton was able to get his first start on Saturday after a lot of preseason hype. How did you feel about his performance?

A: I think the surprising thing for me is what we've heard about Milton is, ‘He's got a really strong arm. He can throw it 80 yards.’ He wasn't really doing that on Saturday. He wasn't really asked to do that. He said himself, ‘I wasn’t asked to do too much.’ I think that was by design. Josh Gattis saw the personnel and was like, ‘Oh, I think we can do screen passes, do shorter passes and get Milton involved in the run game on these read options kind of plays.’ That was working really well. Joe Milton was making the right decisions about when to keep the ball, who to throw the ball to and who was open. I think the decision making really stood out for a first-time quarterback. Sometimes they seem a little bit frazzled, but I think that Joe Milton showed that he had a really good handle on the playbook. He was able to do what Michigan was asking him to do.

Q: Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown is one of the best in the business. When Brown and the Michigan defense see Michigan State turn the ball over seven times, how are they going to attack that?

A: Jim Harbaugh said himself, they're not expecting Michigan State to turn the ball over seven times against Michigan because it's just hard to turn it over that many times. Michigan State is always ready for this game. Turnovers are something that Don Brown emphasizes, the blitzes, and all that kind of stuff. 

Michigan does have some really good playmakers, especially on the defensive line and at linebacker. I don't think that Michigan State is going to turn it over seven times but that could help force a couple turnovers just because that is where they have the best playmakers at those positions.

Q: Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker referred to Michigan as ‘the school down the road’ in his most recent press conference. How will coach Harbaugh use that in his locker room?

A: I think that Michigan is always really ready for this game. They downplayed it this weekend, and in the press conference they said, ‘We’re treating this like any other game.’ I think we've seen in past years of this game, once they get on the field — like Devin Bush destroying the Sparty logo — I believe that they're going to come ready no matter what. 

I definitely think Harbaugh could use that as motivation. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some jabs in the post-game presser like there was little brother at one point, that was a thing and ‘go home’ was what they said last year. I would not be surprised if that continues on to after the game.

Q: What’s your prediction for the game?

A: There's a huge history with this rivalry being unpredictable, but I think at this point, Michigan is just a better team than Michigan State. There is a huge difference in how the two teams looked last week. I don't think that it will be that close, which is kind of a shame, because this rivalry is better when the two teams are both at the top of their game. I would say that Michigan wins with a similar score to last year like 45-10.