- [Narrator] It's October 17th, 2015.
We're in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The University of Michigan Wolverines
lead undefeated Michigan State 23 to 21.
Michigan's Blake O'Neill is set to punt the ball away
on 4th and 2 from the Michigan State 47 yard line.
We're 10 seconds away from the debut season
of Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor re-establishing Michigan
as a Big Ten and national power and,
most importantly at the moment,
the dominant program in the state.
All the Wolverines need to do is pin Michigan State
deep in their own territory and prevent maybe one play.
This might look like just another Big Ten clash
in the storied Big House between two in-state rivals,
but the roles these two schools
have traditionally assumed are,
at least for the moment, flipped.
But to understand what this inevitable,
all but certain Michigan win means
for both of these programs, we need to rewind.
(calm electronic music)
Michigan is one of the most storied, successful,
and richest programs in college football.
While the Spartans of East Lansing
are the definitive state school stereotype,
blue collar, less successful have-nots.
And when it comes to their battles on the field,
Michigan State is the quintessential little brother.
But every little brother gets their moment.
State's happened in the beginning of the 2010s.
The Big Ten door was cracked wide open
when the conference's three biggest programs
all started losing
and Mark Dantonio was ready to step through.
But first, remember Michigan State Head Coach Nick Saban?
Yeah, that happened, but he left the Spartans in 1999.
The program posted just two winning seasons
in the next seven years
leading to Dantonio's arrival after the '06 season.
When the former Ohio State defensive coordinator
and Cincinnati head coach arrived to the league in 2006,
the Buckeyes and Wolverines were coming off
of typical top 10 seasons,
and Penn State was just a year removed
from winning 11 games.
So at first, Dantonio's arrival didn't turn many heads,
maybe that's why he decided to poke the big blue bear.
Just moments after winning his first game
as MSU's head coach, Dantonio was informed
about Michigan's monumental upset loss to FCS App State.
that same day.
Quote, "Should we hold a moment of silence?" he joked.
Michigan did not forget that quip.
And after they beat State 28-24 2 months later,
Wolverine players held, quote, a moment of silence
for Sparty at the middle of their field.
Michigan running back Mike Hart famously described State
as a little brother.
Before Dantonio, Michigan had won 29
of the previous 37 meetings against State.
But undeterred by his debut loss in the rivalry,
Dantonio doubled down.
He referred to Michigan's antics as amusing
and hinted at their downfall to come.
Quote, "Their time will come," Dantonio promised.
He was right.
Dantonio started to marry MSU's football philosophy
to its cultural stereotype,
slowly crafting a developmental system
of good but not great talent.
MSU leaned hard into the classic coach 'em up archetype.
And it started to bear fruit
just as scandals both minor and monumental
began to claim the conference's Tiffany brands
at the beginning of the next decade.
Entering today's game,
Michigan State has posted a 59 and 14 record since 2010,
with two conference titles
and their first Rose Bowl since 1988,
most importantly, at least for today,
Dantonio's six and two record versus Michigan.
So what the hell happened to the blue?
How was this scrappy Spartan program
allowed to leap frog Michigan, even if just for the moment?
Unlike their elite brethren,
the Wolverines didn't have an obvious headline
to explain their decline.
They just played bad football.
After longtime Coach Lloyd Carr was pushed out after 2007
because he couldn't beat Ohio State,
the Wolverines became a parody of themselves.
Controversial outside hire Rich Rodriguez
went 15 and 22 in 3 seasons and won only 6 Big Ten games,
a result so offensive,
Michigan media wrote books about the lingering damage
he'd supposedly caused the school's brand.
His replacement, quintessential Michigan man Brady Hoke,
started promising but collapsed quickly,
and he was fired after 2014.
If the Rich Rod experiment convinced UM
its decision makers were unworthy and incapable,
the Hoke failure struck a referendum on their very identity
since a Michigan man's mismanagement of the Michigan way
managed to mire Michigan in more mediocrity.
Jim Harbaugh was the only name capable
of satisfying the Wolverines' angry, fractured fan base.
And just as he neared the nasty end
of his time with the San Francisco 49ers,
his alma mater called the former college head coach
and Michigan quarterback back home in December of 2014.
At a crossroads, Michigan had doubled down on their way.
They didn't just grab another Michigan man.
They grabbed THE Michigan man, this man,
a weird, weird man but also a recruiting dynamo
and a proven winner in the Power Five.
What followed was an instant perfect storm
of Harbaugh media coverage,
both his character idiosyncrasies
and the recruiting noise created by
his controversial national satellite camps.
Suddenly, the same Michigan team
that finished five and seven a year prior seemed back
before they'd even played a single down under Harbaugh.
But as the off season wound down and the 2015 season neared,
football reality set in.
Expectations might've been high for the Wolverines,
but Michigan State was the loaded powerhouse,
ranked fifth in the AP
and sixth in the coaches poll in the preseason.
(motor whirring)
Sparty enters today undefeated,
but is the former little brother ripe for an upset?
They're 0 and 6 against the spread this season
and most recently survived scares
against Purdue and Rutgers.
And it turns out Michigan's rebuild went pretty quick.
After a debut loss on the road to Utah,
the Wolverines beat the life
out of their next five opponents,
including two shutouts of two ranked teams.
Led by veteran corner Jourdan Lewis
and explosive freshmen Jabrill Peppers,
the Michigan defense allowed only 14 points
in their five-game win streak after the Utah loss.
The Wolverines' aggressive, effective new defense,
a blend of veterans and impact signings surging
under the new scheme of coordinator D.J. Durkin,
was proof of concept
for what hopeful Michigan fans saw in Harbaugh,
a near instant return to Michigan's elite standards.
With a unit ranked second nationally
in total defense entering today,
Michigan could afford to sit back
and play conservatively against their best opponent to date.
The Wolverine's, a six and a half point favorite at home,
could simply pin State back in their own territory.
thanks to Ray Guy nominee Blake O'Neill.
The Australian-born punter was a graduate transfer
to Michigan from Weber State in 2015
and had put eight punts inside the opponent's 20 yard line
during the Wolverines' three-game shutout streak.
So in an otherwise even game between two top 15 teams,
Michigan State and Michigan look wildly different
on fourth down.
Special teams have bothered MSU all season.
Spartans' kicker Michael Geiger
was only five of nine in field goal attempts
and had two kicks blocked already this season.
In the first half,
a very confident Michigan was content to punt,
even from the Spartan 38 yard line,
while Dantonio rolled the dice
and elected to keep senior quarterback Connor Cook
and the offense on the field for a fourth and eight
on the Michigan 28 instead of trying for a field goal.
Cook's pass fell incomplete,
and Sparty's fear of field goal kicking
was directly reflected in Michigan's 10 to 7 halftime score.
Again in the third quarter, Michigan State gambled.
This time it was a fake punt on fourth and eight
from their own 31 yard line
that looked as sloppy as it was desperate.
After both teams traded touchdowns,
Michigan felt comfortable enough playing conservatively
to kick two more field goals and extend their lead
to 23 to 14 with 10 minutes left in the game.
Down by more than one score, Michigan State needed a spark,
and the Michigan defense
that had defined the Wolverines' Harbaugh renewal
finally broke, at least for a second.
Cook hit wide open fullback Trevon Pendleton
for a 74-yard completion that was less of a miracle
and more of a Michigan brain fart,
setting up a one-yard touchdown run by LJ Scott
to bring Sparty to within two,
or less than just one of the field goals
they'd been too hesitant to try.
After trading punts, Michigan State's final drive ended
on a 4th and 19 attempt at Michigan's 45 yard line.
The Wolverines pressured Cook on a three-man rush,
and the secondary swallowed his prayer of a pass
and just look at that Big House celebration.
That's not surprise or relief.
That is a coronation.
After the incompletion,
Michigan took over at their own 45 yard line.
With only a minute and 45 seconds left,
Michigan State had just one time out.
The Wolverines called a series of run plays
to grind the game out.
They even called two time outs
to drain as much clock as possible
and to have their offense prepared
to run clean plays without turnovers.
And that brings us here to 4th down and 10 seconds left.
Michigan is now set to punt, and with almost no time left,
Michigan State is set up in a block formation
with no one back to return.
If they can't block the punt,
State's last chance would be to get one play
to put them in field goal range,
but they've been terrified to kick it all day long.
It's all over.
Jim Harbaugh is about to make a huge statement
to the state of Michigan and the rest of college football.
It's also a clear referendum,
not just on Michigan State's 2015 season
but on the future of Dantonio's usurper Spartans.
Barring total disaster, Michigan is back.
Welcome to a moment in history.
(crowd cheering)
- [Announcer] Whoa, he has trouble with the snap,
and the ball is free.
It's picked up by Michigan State's Jalen Watts-Jackson,
and he scores!
(organ music)
- [Narrator] All right, thanks for watching.
Special thanks to my friend Ace Anbender
at The Bucket Problem.
And if you want to check out more videos,
I would recommend How Jim Harbaugh got to Michigan,
click here.
(tranquil electronic music)