Michigan butchers rival MSU Spartans in latest Paul Bunyan tilt

The Michigan Wolverines went into East Lansing and demolished their in-state rival Michigan State Spartans on Saturday night, moving to 8-0 with a 49-0 victory. It is U-M’s first shutout since a 59-0 win against UConn last year.

U-M rolled from the start with a large smattering of Maize in the East Lansing crowd that became more and more the majority as the blowout win continued.

It was arguably the best night of junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s career, exiting the third quarter of another contest after going 21-for-27 for 287 yards and 4 touchdowns. Michigan tight ends ruled the night with AJ Barner grabbing 8 catches for 99 yards and a score, while Colston Loveland had 4 catches for 79 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Michigan completely dominated the total yards battle, finishing with 477 to MSU’s 182.

Here’s the blow-by-blow recap from Saturday night’s game from Spartan Stadium.

First quarter

Michigan State won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Wolverines the ball to start the game. Freshman Semaj Morgan fielded the kickoff out of the end zone, returning the ball to the 16-yard line. U-M was methodical on its opening drive, picking up a pair of huge third downs and closing out a 12-play, 84-yard march with a 1-yard Blake Corum touchdown run, his 13th of the year. The Wolverines held a 7-0 lead with 8:50 to go in the quarter.

The Spartans were able to get to midfield on their first possession of the game, but turned it over on downs on fourth-and-2, giving Michigan the ball at its own 49-yard line with 4:47 to go. The Wolveirnes went 51 yards in five plays, capped off by a 25-yard touchdown from J.J. McCarthy to Roman Wilson, their 10th touchdown connection of the season. Michigan led 14-0 after the extra point with 1:55 to go.

MSU went three-and-out on its next possession, then had an illegal formation penalty on the punt. On the re-kick, the Spartans punted to the 32-yard line. The quarter would end with Michigan driving up 14-0 at the MSU 49-yard line.

Michigan 14, MSU 0

Second quarter

Michigan was able to put the ball in the end zone for the third time in three possessions with McCarthy finding sophomore tight end Colston Loveland for a touchdown on a free play thanks to MSU jumping offsides. The Wolverines led 21-0 with 10:44 remaining after the extra point. The Spartan offense then went three-and-out again, giving the ball back with 9:41 to go in the half.

U-M also went three-and-out, punting down to the MSU 18-yard line. Then, the Spartans matched them with another three-down exit themselves. The Wolverines would take over at the MSU 48-yard line with 6:53 to go after a kick catch interference penalty by the MSU special teams. Seven plays later, Michigan found the end zone again on McCarthy’s second touchdown pass of the game to Loveland, this time from 22 yards out. Michigan led 28-0 with 2:54 to go in the second quarter.

MSU gave the ball right back to Michigan five plays later with the Wolverines calling timeouts to preserve time. U-M would take back over and drive 10 plays and 76 yards but had the clock run out at the end of the half thanks to a 10-second runoff due to a false start penalty.

Michigan 28, MSU 0

Third quarter

Michigan’s defense got the score it was looking for at the end of the half early in the third quarter thanks to a Mike Sainristil pick six that was returned 72 yards. On the play, MSU offensive lineman Spencer Brown was ejected for throwing down Braiden McGregor and spearing him in the back of the head with his helmet. The play was reviewed for Sainristil stepping out of bounds, but the call stood. Michigan led 35-0 after the extra point with 9:49 left in the quarter.

After another MSU three-and-out on offense, Michigan added its last score of the game with the starting offense in, this time an 11-yard strike from McCarthy to AJ Barner. After the extra point, U-M’s lead ballooned to 42-0 with 6:44 remaining.

The teams would trade punts to close out the third quarter with Michigan’s reserves continuing to trickle into the game.

Michigan 42, MSU 0

Fourth quarter

The Michigan and MSU reserves traded blows throughout the fourth quarter, but it was Michigan who would wind up extending its lead late. After junior Ja’Den McBurrows, who was one of the players assaulted in the tunnel last year, picked up his first career interception, sophomore quarterback Alex Orji and the backup offense put together a five-play, 33-yard drive that ended in a 6-yard Orji touchdown rush with 8 seconds to go. After kicking the extra point, Michigan led 49-0 and the game would end that way.

Michigan 49, MSU 0

Michigan vs. Michigan State final box score