Michigan will get another crack at Indiana, Rutgers and Michigan State in 2026, and the Wolverines have already authored some wild chapters against each of them.
Start with Indiana, because the 2015 trip to Bloomington was anything but routine. Jim Harbaugh’s first Michigan team was rolling along with just two blemishes on the résumé - the opening loss at Utah and the infamous “trouble with the snap” game - when it ran into a Hoosiers team that refused to go quietly.
Michigan’s defense opened shakily, giving up 153 yards in the first quarter while holding Indiana to just 6 points, but the game quickly turned into a track meet. The two sides traded blows all the way through regulation, and Michigan needed a fourth-down touchdown at the end just to force overtime tied at 34.
From there, the Wolverines finally made the stop they needed, denying Indiana at the goal line in the second overtime and escaping with a 48-41 win. The numbers tell the story: 1128 yards of offense, 89 points, and a hard-earned road victory that kept Harbaugh’s debut season moving in the right direction.
Rutgers produced a different kind of chaos in 2020, and for a while it looked like Michigan was headed for a disaster in Piscataway. The first five Wolverine drives went nowhere in a hurry: fumble, turnover on downs, three and out, missed field goal, three and out.
The offense was stuck, the coaching looked shaky, and Rutgers had already pushed the lead to 17-0 before the game even had a chance to settle in. Then Cade McNamara entered for Joe Milton, and everything changed.
Six of Michigan’s next seven drives ended in touchdowns, and suddenly the Wolverines had dragged themselves into overtime against a Scarlet Knights team that would not disappear. Both teams missed field goals in the first overtime, Michigan survived, and then two more Wolverine touchdowns set up a final Rutgers push in triple overtime.
The defense held, the prayer didn’t connect, and Michigan walked away with a 48-42 win. Afterward, McNamara spoke to a fired-up locker room and promised big things for a program that was down on its luck.
A year later, those promises had come true.
Michigan State brings the rivalry angle, and the greatest game in this stretch came before 2021, when the Wolverines and Spartans met in a top-ten matchup for the most recent time in the Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Michigan had been stuck in a rough run against its in-state rival, having lost the previous eight meetings, and the setting in East Lansing was a tough one.
Seventh-ranked Michigan was walking into a place where the Spartans were still riding the force of their Duffy Daugherty golden era, a time when they claimed six national championships in under two decades. This one played out like a grind.
Neither team reached double figures until the fourth quarter, when a host field goal made it 10-3 with a little more than seven minutes left. Michigan answered by tying it at 10, then found the shot of separation it needed on a 31-yard double pass from quarterback Bob Timberlake to fullback Rick Sygar and then to receiver John Henderson.
That play gave the Wolverines the cushion they were chasing, and they left East Lansing with a major win, snapped the skid against Sparty, and kept rolling toward a season that ended with a Rose Bowl victory.
In Other News...
Michigans Scandal Mess Just Took Another Ugly Turn
The fallout from Michigans sign-stealing scandal has moved into a new legal phase, with former football assistant Chris Partridge filing a federal wrongful termination lawsuit against the university and several of its top officials. The suit names former president Santa Ono and athletic director Warde Manuel, adding another layer to a mess that has already stretched well beyond the field and into the schools leadership ranks.
Partridges filing does more than challenge the decision to cut ties with him. It points to a broader internal web of issues, including claims that evidence tied to the sign-stealing matter surfaced on former assistant Matt Weisss computer and that an unnamed assistant later contacted Paige Shivers family in December, pushing them to speak publicly. For Michigan, the case threatens to keep the scandal in the headlines while raising fresh questions about who knew what, and when. [Read more 🡒]
Michigans AD Chaos Just Made Michigan States Mess Look Better
Michigans athletic department has spent plenty of time under a microscope, and the latest swirl around Warde Manuel only adds to the sense that things keep getting messier across the state line. Even before any formal announcement, the timing is awkward for a department that has already been forced to navigate one controversy after another, while also trying to steady its basketball program after Dusty Mays departure.
For Michigan State, the comparison is hard to miss. The Spartans have had their own athletic director changes to manage, but the chaos around Michigan has made their situation look a lot more orderly by contrast, especially as Manuels recent move to remove the interim tag from Mike Boynton Jr. now sits in the middle of a much bigger institutional shakeup. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Fans Suddenly Have A Huge Jon Palumbo Question
Michigan States athletic department has turned to Jon Palumbo as interim athletic director, a move that keeps him in place as CEO of Spartan Ventures while giving the school a steady hand at the top of its athletics operation. Palumbo brings a long background in athletic administration and has spent time at several universities, with a rsum that includes donor cultivation and facility work, both of which matter plenty in East Lansing as the department looks to keep momentum in those areas.
What makes the hire especially interesting is how closely Palumbos path overlaps with J Batts. The two have crossed paths at multiple stops and both have deep experience in major gifts, which suggests MSU is leaning into a familiar profile as it sorts out its next move. For now, the interim label is the headline, but the bigger question around campus is whether strong performance in the role could eventually make this more than a temporary arrangement. [Read more 🡒]