College Rivalry Pride

Table of Contents

• Historic Rivalries
• Team Spirit and Accomplishments
• Anticipation and Preparation
• Personal Experiences and Choices
• Regional and Cultural Significance
• Other

Historic Rivalries

You come to Michigan to play teams like Notre Dame. The game means that much more to me because it's my last year and I only have one more chance to play this team. It's one of the greatest rivalries in college football between two schools that have the most tradition.

We held serve at home and I'm really proud of our seniors and our veterans the way we fought back. And I can't say enough about Michigan State.

A lot of people talk about the Fab Five, and they were wonderful, one of the best teams you'll ever see in college basketball. But the '89 team is the best one to ever play at Michigan in my opinion because they won the national championship. Winning a championship is winning a championship.

We are proud to be in the game against Michigan. You have two outstanding programs and two teams that are anxious to win and want to finish in the top 20 or 25 in the country.

Coach always says this is like a backyard brawl. For some reason, us and Michigan State have always just had a thing for each other.

It's a great rivalry with the Buckeyes. You just know that neither team, no matter what the score of the game is, will never be out of the match so you can't back off and expect them to hand it to you.

We're smelling blood, too. They lost to Michigan. We're all the same right now.

This goes to show how many people support and love the Buckeyes. You can't find this somewhere else.

Because my brother liked Michigan, I liked Michigan, and by the nature of that, I didn't like Ohio State.

It's not as if I dislike Michigan. I have a lot of respect for the university - not only the athletic department but how they educate young people. The only reason I dislike them is because they are the No. 1 rival for OSU.

If we have somebody who may be ranked a little higher than another person, if one of them wants to be a Buckeye, wants to play in that rivalry game, play in the Horseshoe, that matters to us. We take all those things into consideration and we try to be as aggressive as we can on the recruiting trail.

Team Spirit and Accomplishments

It was a fun week and a great game. The difference in that and our last game with Michigan was we could enjoy that one for six months. Now we've got to go back to work this week, and look forward to Rice coming in, and stop talking about Ohio State.

What a great victory for the Buckeyes. It doesn't get much better than that, guys, over here in Happy Valley.

I know that the Bucks have established a winning tradition. I wanted to come here because the team is in the playoffs every year and has a chance to win.

I can't be prouder of my team's accomplishment. We had nothing to play for and Western Michigan is a pretty good team.

The Buckeyes lose all their linebackers to graduation. So there is a good opportunity for me there.

I'm excited to play Michigan State. Michigan State played in the championship game last year. You always like to play good competition.

We're not done. We're not quitting at all. We're gonna practice (today) and keep fighting and get ready for a big game with Michigan. We're gonna come out and play hard. It shows what kind of person you are when you fight back from things like this.

It's huge. This is my fourth year and playing Michigan is definitely No. 1. I love it. The intensity, the hard work and everything that goes into it.

It's huge. This is my biggest win at Michigan State with the magnitude of the rivalry and beating a Top 10 team on the road. This is a great momentum builder.

It's neat to look back on our four years and know that every time we played Michigan, we came out on top. We don't really think about it a lot. But it's pretty neat.

Michigan's the kind of program that recruits well regardless of its record. Because of the tradition, the great rivalries and because of the helmet, Michigan is a big deal.

It's a nice honor and a neat tradition they've started there (Buckeye Central). Especially considering there have been a lot great athletes and coaches come out of there.

We are trying to do some fun things. With Western Michigan coming in, it's a rivalry game and it's going to be a good game. It always is.

This is the culmination of a lot of people’s vision. I think this is just another step towards making Central Michigan football among the elite programs in the Mid-American Conference.

Anticipation and Preparation

Absolutely. To win here with the great memories I have of Grand Rapids is really special.

It's good sometimes when you can say, 'Let's keep it going,' ... But I think they could use a little bit of time to gather themselves and get ready to play Michigan State.

We were really trying to get a game with Michigan State this year. Both schools worked really hard to make this happen. Both schools wanted a home-and-home. The dates just didn't work out. I'm happy to be playing Michigan State. I wish it was in the state of Michigan.

We hear about it all season. People always ask me, 'Who do you have next week?' I'll tell them, 'San Diego State' and they'll say, 'You play good in that game ? and make sure you beat Michigan this year.' And, man, we'll still have five games left!

We are at the turn, we are halfway around the track. It's just about respecting Michigan State and approaching like we have the other seven (Big Ten games).

It's as competitive as it's been since I've been at Michigan State.

We don't like them at all, and they don't like us. A tie is like kissing your sister, especially because it's Michigan and the way the league is you need two points every time out.

The Michigan game is always a fun game to play in. The importance is just another two points at our building. We'll be geared up and ready to go.

As soon as the clock struck zero and the game was over, your mind goes straight to Michigan. It's always in the back of your mind through the season. Now it's at the front of your mind.

It's going to be a tough situation because we are all entering with heavy hearts. But I think it's good for (Michigan) to come down and get off campus and compete.

We've seen a lot of games. I was actually watching ESPN Classic the other day and they showed four Michigan games in a row from this year. We've seen plenty on them, and we know what they're going to do.

Eastern Michigan is one of the favorites in the conference to compete against Miami for the MAC title. EMU has some of the top freestyle swimmers and top divers in the conference and this should tell us where we stand going into the last couple of weeks of the season.

You're like, if this doesn't fall, we're still alive. But if this does fall, it's over. I just saw it heading toward the rim, just saw all the Michigan State fans ready to explode, and he hit it, and the place went bananas.

I haven't had a chance to pick where I wanted to play since 2007 when I chose to go to Michigan State.

Personal Experiences and Choices

I watched the heartbreak the last two years and everyone said we couldn't beat Michigan. When there was 1 second left, I kept looking around and wondering, 'Where's the Jug?

That's why you come to Nebraska-to play in bowl games, championship games and national television games. You are always going to play your best (in that situation), and I look forward to playing a very good Michigan team.

I'm still kind of new to the program. I don't really know too much about the rivalry. I know a lot of guys really don't like Michigan at all.

Michigan was one of my choices going to school. It's going to be a big rival for me and the whole team.

I'm having a great time. Other than the crowd size, the television and the interest from the media, there's no difference than playing or coaching at Iowa or Michigan.

Top to bottom Michigan is about excellence, greatness. You have my pledge I will carry forward the excellence of Michigan football.

I don't think I'm alone in saying that Michigan is my favorite track,

That's going to be a lot of fun. Michigan State was in the championship game last year so I'm really looking forward to it. That school was at the top of my list for a long time, but when I went to visit Kentucky, I felt that was the place I fit in best.

This is my fifth year. We've never beat Michigan since I've been here.

This is a wake up call for Michigan.

Michigan State means so much to my life and me.

I've called the spring game for Big Ten Network for Michigan State. It's a great opportunity to still stay around the game, to be able to feel like you're close to the action. I'm very analytical, so I think it fits the way I think.

There'd be a call from Michigan Scout, then Michigan Rivals, then Iowa Scout, then Iowa Rivals. These guys are competing, and I'm just the guy in the middle giving them the story.

Regional and Cultural Significance

I'm impressed with Buckeye Local. The whole team has greatly improved from last year, ... Girls on both sides gutted it out and made efforts to get to every ball. We just got to more of them and held our serve more.

If you would have told us we were going to beat a Michigan team like that by 28, I would have probably laughed at you.

We play every game to win. We try not to take anyone lightly. And this is Spartanburg.

It's a game we have to learn from very quickly and stay together as a team, then move onto Central Michigan, which is obviously a huge game for us.

It's obviously a great opportunity for us to build our program. One day we want FSU to be where Michigan is.

We really wanted to involve the entire mid-Michigan community. We want as many people as we possibly can to join in here and help us from the whole region to name the whole team.

We need to keep doing what we do. Buckeye Valley still has a chance and every game is important.

This is the culmination of a lot of people's vision. I think this is just another step towards making Central Michigan football among the elite programs in the Mid-American Conference.

We've talked a lot about the fact that the kids would like to defend the league title they got last year. If we keep winning in the OCC-Buckeye and pick off Reynoldsburg, we'll need them to lose one more game. Reynoldsburg's a good team and we're going to try and pick them off.

So if you want great sports, Michigan's the place to be.

I've been there many times since I've been to Buckeye. We've lost by a total of 21 points in games this season.

We're coming into the reception to the 'Buckeye Battle Cry,'

We've always developed it with the close proximity and the Ohio-Michigan thing. There's a lot of enthusiasm at games, and that will just add to it, I'm sure.

Other

Somebody gave me that buckeye today, and I put it my pocket for good luck.

We want to play whatever you want to hear. We're here for you, Toledo.

Right now, hail to the Michigan State Spartans.

was a territorial match in the Midwest because Michigan was always good, a big rival.

We really want to win that (tournament), not only because it would be good for us but because Ann Arbor Huron is a team that beat us early in the year, and we thought it was a game where we could have won. ... We want to play them again and have a chance to win.

Since day one, that's our only goal. We want to play in the last Class A game of the season. We want to get back to East Lansing.

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