Know Your Foe - Michigan State

Saturday will be the 101st meeting between Michigan and Michigan State. Typically I look forward to this game, since we have won it most of the time during my lifetime. Overall Michigan is 67-28-5 against them, and the Wolverines have won six in a row, including a fun comeback win last year followed by some great smack talk. But this is a different team and this series has gotten some renewed hatred. The Countdown Clock is about to strike zero -- so here is what you need to know about our jolly green neighbors.

History: The Michigan Constitution (1850 version) called for the creation of an "agricultural school". In February 1855 Michigan Governor Kinsley S. Bingham signed the bill to create The Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. This school claims the title as the nation’s pioneer land-grant institution. They actually started having classes in 1857 when they opened with three buildings, five faculty members, and 63 male students. Like most land grant schools, the original curriculum shunned classic Latin and Greek studies and focused on farming and practical training. To help offset the costs they required three hours of daily manual labor from the students. In 1859, this curriculum was deemed too elitist and the college became a two-year vocational school. A short time later the school changed its name to State Agricultural College and went back to being a four-year school and developed into the Michigan State we know and loath today.

Michigan State first admitted women in 1870, although at that time there were no female residence halls. The few women who enrolled either boarded with faculty families or made the long arduous stagecoach treks to the campus. I find this little fact ironic, because in the day, I know many male UM students that made the long arduous trek to East Lansing to find women.

Officially there have been six names of this place:
Feb. 12, 1855 :Agricultural College of the State of Michigan
March 15, 1861 : State Agricultural College
June 2, 1909 : Michigan Agricultural College
May 1, 1925 : Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
July 1, 1955 : Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science
Jan. 1, 1964 : Michigan State University

Location: MSU's sprawling campus is located in East Lansing, about three miles from the Capital of the State. Most people don’t know this, but East Lansing was a dry (no alcohol) town until the 1960s, but since then a lot has changed. If you have never been there, this campus can throw some wicked parties. Over the years there have been legendary bashes and spontaneous celebration/defeat riots (mostly after big basketball games). I would not be surprised if a flaming couch isn't a part of the town seal. Most famously, The Cedar Village area and the annual CedarFest party has become such a problem, by the city that it plans to demolish the apartments and develop the area with condos and shopping centers.

The 5200 acre campus is huge, but is considered by many as one of the nicest in the country. The W. J. Beal Botanical Garden is the oldest of its kind in the country. The campus is perched on the banks of the Red Cedar River, which is more of a creek than a river. Although it is named for the trees along the river's source, the trees are actually junipers, not cedars.

Nickname: They call themselves Spartans. The teams were originally known as Aggies until 1925. Looking to move beyond its agricultural roots, Michigan State held a contest to find a new nickname. They decided to call the teams the "Michigan Staters". Local sports writers were unhappy and went through the losing entries to find a shorter and more heroic name. They decided on the "Spartans". It stuck.

Mascot: Sparty is a campus legend in several forms: a couple of statues and a costumed cartoon version during sporting events. The original Sparty statue was dedicated on June 9, 1945. It is made of five large glazed terra cotta sections fired from red Ohio clay; these pieces were joined by mortar joints, with a poured concrete core over a steel frame. The statue stands over 9 feet tall and weighs approximately 3,000 pounds. When the statue was erected, the media claimed that it was the tallest free-standing ceramic sculpture in the world. Recently this original Sparty was moved indoors to be protected from the weather. They replaced it with a more weather friendly bronze version in 2005. Sparty is supposed to be guarded by members of the marching band, but sometimes they fall asleep.

The costumed cartoon version Sparty has been a staple at MSU athletic events since 1989. He's won the Mascot of the Year award three times and was nominated to the Mascot Hall of Fame, although it appears as if he lost to Brutus Buckeye for induction. He has been featured in ESPN commercials and this year he was honored on the cover of the NCAA Football computer game (Wii version). One has to wonder if the cartoon Sparty got his muscles from the same special vitamins that helped Tony Mandarich.

Colors/Logo/Helmet: Details are sketchy as to when Michigan State athletic teams officially began using the school colors green and white. But records of the Athletic Association of the then Michigan Agricultural College show that on April 11, 1899, the organization took steps toward adoption of a green monogram, "to be worn only by athletes who subsequently take part in intercollegiate events." It is generally thought the colors came into wide use with the arrival in 1903 of Chester L. Brewer as the school's first athletic director.

Michigan State has had a lot of different logos over the years. My favorite is the smoking/drunken auto-worker from the mid-60’s. They've gone back and forth more times than Rich Rodriguez has changed quarterbacks this year. The primary school mark now is the “classic block S” (that looks a lot like the number five to me). Over the years they have also had about 300 different versions of the Spartan logo… get it… 300.

They've also changed their helmets A LOT over the years, but the primary look as remained: green helmet with white logo. The current Spartan head design has been used on four different occasions over the years. They've also used the block "S" during two different eras, including the George Perles era where they only had the “S” on one side of the helmet (Perles came to MSU from the Pittsburgh Steelers). The fact is, since 1970 Michigan State has changed their helmet designs more times than they have beaten Michigan (11 helmet changes versus 8 victories).Fight Song: MSU's fight song was created in early 1915 and copyrighted in 1919, when the school was known as Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C.). A cheerleader named Francis Irving Lankey, along with lyricist Arthur Sayles, created the song by combining original lyrics with the melody from an early-20th century hymn called "Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus". As Michigan State has developed from a farmer school the lyrics have also changed.

Original MAC lyrics On the banks of the Red Cedar, There's a school that's known to all; Its specialty is farming, And those farmers play football; Aggie teams are never beaten, All through the game they'll fight; Fight for the only colors: Green and White. Smash right through that line of blue, Watch the points keep growing. Aggie teams are bound to win, They're fighting with a vim! Rah! Rah! Rah! Michigan is weakening, We're going to win this game. Fight! Fight! Rah! Team, Fight! Victory for M.A.C.!

Current MSU lyrics On the banks of the Red Cedar, There's a school that's known to all; Its specialty is winning, And those Spartans play good ball; Spartan teams are never beaten, All through the game they'll fight; Fight for the only colors: Green and White. Go right through for MSU, Watch the points keep growing, Spartan teams are bound to win, They're fighting with a vim! Rah! Rah! Rah! See their team is weakening, We're going to win this game, Fight! Fight! Rah! Team, Fight! Victory for MSU!

Academics: Blah, blah, blah. Michigan State is one of the classic “if you can’t get into college go to State” institutions in America. I don’t think I know anyone from my high school class that applied to MSU and did not get in. Most Spartan Alumni you meet in the business world will claim that they “also got into Michigan” but chose MSU instead. My response… "sure, I got into Harvard". Nationally MSU is ranked 71st in the U.S. News and World Report school rankings, tied with Indiana, Delaware, Virginia Tech, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This also puts them tied for for last place in the Big Ten with Indiana. But, I will admit, they do have hotter women and better bars than Ann Arbor.

Athletics: When the University of Chicago eliminated football and resigned its spot in the Big Ten in 1946, M.S.C. lobbied hard to became a member. Despite the objections of Michigan, the Spartans were allowed into the conference in 1949. Let by one of Fritz Crisler’s protégés named Clarence "Biggie" Munn it did not take long for the Spartans to become a national football power. They won various versions of a football National Championship in 1951, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1965, and 1966. Overall, they are 7-11 in bowl games and won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988.

The 1966 Michigan State played Notre Dame in what was dubbed "The Game of the Century". This game remains one of the greatest and most controversial, games in college football history. The game was played in Spartan Stadium. Michigan State entered the contest 9-0 and ranked #2, while Notre Dame came to East Lansing with an 8-0 record and ranked #1. The game ended in a 10-10 tie after Notre Dame elected not to run out the clock on the final series. Both schools claimed different national championships after the season.

They also have a very strong basketball program (two national titles) led by Coach Tom Izzo. Their hockey team has three NCAA titles and is our primary rival in CCHA. The men’s soccer team also won national titles in 1967 and 1968. Looking at their women’s sports, it is pretty weak. It appears they have never won a NCAA title in anything and only claim about a dozen Big Ten titles over the years. They did go to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four in 2005, where T9 watched them lose to the Baylor Bears.

Famous alums: Michigan State University alumni number around 460,000 worldwide. For a school with that many alumni, there sure are not a lot of famous people that called Michigan State home. Famous former Spartans include actors James Caan and Robert Urich; Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane; Nobel Prize winning Doctor Alfred Hershey; former Howard Stern sidekick Jackie Martling; and every Buckeye pedophiles worst nightmare, Chris Hansen; former MLB stars Kirk Gibson and Steve Garvey. Of course every Spartan fan will jump on me if I fail to mention former NBA star Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

No US Presidents or astronauts. Losers.

The Game: For some reason I am making the trip up to Ann Arbor this weekend for the game. At a minimum it will be nice to see my parents, hang out with T9, and eat at Pizza Bob's. Against all logic, I am feeling good about this game. I know we stink on offense and suck on defense. Maybe it is my standard perspective that we always should beat them on the football field. But MSU is a lot more like Wisconsin than they are like Illinois or Penn State. I just have a calm and confident feeling. I pray I am right.

Michigan 24
Michigan State 21