Even with a win, UM isn’t close to narrowing The Gap
There are many UM fans that seem to assume that Michigan will once again regain its “rightful” title as Basketball King of the State. Those same fans don’t realize for instance that MSU holds a winning record over UM since MSU joined the Big Ten (and that’s even if you gift UM their “wins” now forfeited due to Ed Martin.) In fact, they don’t even realize that UM’s program has never had as much success as MSU has had under Tom Izzo. So it’s only natural for those same revisionist historians to have false notions about what it will take to close the wide gap that currently exists between the two programs. Michael Rosenburg of the Detroit Free Press writes that MSU’s program is light years ahead of UM’s program.
A Spartan loss in Ann Arbor on Wednesday night or even a mythical season sweep by UM wouldn’t change that fact.
Don’t get me wrong. I love rivalry games. And they are more important than the others.
But it takes more than one or two to close a gap. Imagine this: The Wolverines beat MSU tonight, get blown out in the rematch, then lose three straight nail-biters to the Spartans, including one in overtime and another in triple overtime. Would the gap be closed then?
No.
You see, that is precisely what has happened in reverse in the football rivalry between these schools. And nobody says MSU football is about to “close the gap” on Michigan.
Todd Shulz of the Lansing State Journal even goes so far as to say that this game isn’t even a rivalry anymore.
Izzo’s Spartans have turned the annual duel into a dud by winning 12 of the last 13 against by an average margin of nearly 19 points. U-M’s lone win came by two in Ann Arbor, where the teams meet at 8 tonight.
Tobacco Road this ain’t. As usual, there’s plenty of pregame smoke blowing along the 60 or so miles of Interstate 96 linking East Lansing to Ann Arbor.
But there’s no real spark. Only flickers of hope that a long, smoldering feud might flare again.
My advice to MSU fans: Embrace the boredom. Savor the snores. You’re living the dream - the same one Michigan football fans have enjoyed for decades.