Mel Tucker: No way to tame Michigan State-Michigan rivalry

INDIANAPOLIS – Mel Tucker knew the importance of the rivalry between Michigan State and Michigan before he took over as head coach of the Spartans.
Now three seasons into his tenure, he has even more experience in the heated battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.
“From the day I got here in my initial press conference, I’m not shying away from the challenge of the rivalry,” Tucker said during Big Ten media days at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Wednesday. “It’s the biggest game of the year for us and it’s always going to be like that as long as I’m the coach here.”
Tucker, who began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State in 1997, became the first coach of the Spartans to start 2-0 against the Wolverines. He claimed his first victory leading the program with a win in Ann Arbor during the pandemic-altered 2020 season and Michigan State rallied for a thrilling win against Michigan the following year in a matchup between top-10 unbeatens in East Lansing.
Tucker’s unblemished record against the Wolverines came to an end last season with a 29-7 loss in Ann Arbor. The defeat was marred by postgame tunnel incidents that led to assault charges filed against seven Michigan State players. In the aftermath, there was some speculation taking a break in the rivalry would be beneficial to reduce animosity.
“No, that’s never going to happen,” Tucker said. “That’s not even a reality. Why would we want to do that?”
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It’s not a reality and that matchup is now a protected rivalry moving forward with the Big Ten’s new schedule model that debuts in 2024 after USC and UCLA join the conference. The Action Network on Wednesday reported NBC’s Big Ten schedule this season, barring any games moved to different networks, will include Michigan State hosting Michigan for a 7:30 p.m. start on Oct. 21. Although that kickoff time isn’t official, it would be the second straight night game between the two and first in the rivalry at Spartan Stadium.
“We’ll be there,” Tucker said. “We’ll be there.”
Among the seven Michigan State players who were charged following last season’s game, six were reinstated to the team after the regular season ended although one of them, defensive end Itayvion Brown, was dismissed from the program in the spring after being arrested on gun charges. Defensive back Khary Crump, who took a plea deal after initially being charged with felonious assault, was reinstated to the team in May but is still suspended by the Big Ten for the first eight games this season.
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Michigan State and Michigan have played 115 times in a series that began in 1898. There have been plenty of memorable moments in a heated rivalry that Tucker doesn’t see changing.
“How do you rein it in? I don’t know how you do that,” Tucker said. “There’s not a day that’s gone by that I haven’t heard something about that game, I mean, every day of my life I hear about that game so I don’t know how you rein that in. It just is what it is.”