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Issue 1465 April 22, 2012
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Michigan linebacker Joe Bolden is surrounded by teammates as he plants tent stake at Spartan Stadium before Saturday's game. (Big Ten Network)

VICTORY STAKE: Michigan's Ill-Advised Insult Adds Motivation to Spartans

October 26, 2014       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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"Them putting a spear in a field before the game is not a product of their team but their program." - MSU Coach Mark Dantonio on the UofM Pregame spear.

At the University of Michigan hospital for a checkup on Friday, yours truly asked a Wolverine fan in an elevator what the secret weapon his team had for Saturday's annual inter-state brawl.

"Enthusiasm!" wryly chortled the blue and gold clad Michigan backer, seeming to dismiss any thought of a victory party being held in Ann Arbor.

Operating under the watchword "everything is political and everything is personal" a certainty which this columnist has long observed, the Wolverine team made it very personal on the field before the game in East Lansing.

In a post-game interview: "I can only be diplomatic for so long," Dantonio said following the game. "The little brother stuff, all the disrespect, it didn't have to go in that direction."

When asked about the final score, Dantonio said "It just felt like we needed to put a stake in them at that point."

A Michigan fan commented on S-B Nation: "This kind of attitude is false pride and arrogance, ignoring the facts on the field. It's foolish."

The last thing the Michigan football program needed, especially with the whole football world watching, was more bad vibes: one commentator observed that this incident "may have put the stake" in Coach Brady Hoke.

Hoke said he was not aware of the staking, or spearing, but then he didn't see substitute quarterback Shane Morris get clobbered a couple of weeks ago and left him in the game. Even the U-M President is paying attention to the grid program there now.

Wrote Kevin McGuire on a NBC Sports website: "Dantonio then took aim directly at the way Michigan's football program is led. Dantonio was not launching a shot directly at his coaching counterpart, Brady Hoke, but higher up."

"We try to handle ourselves with composure" Dantonio explained. "That doesn't come from a coach. It comes from the program. Throwing the stake down in our backyard out here and coming out there like they're all that. That got shoved up -- It got shoved in the last minute and a half."

Dantonio was referring to the last minute Spartan drive for the game-ending touchdown that moved the win into the realm of history in that it secured the largest victory margin -- 24 points -- in the rivalry.

The Wolverine team lost its focus with the staking and the chippiness displayed from the first play -- neither of which transformed to offensive or defensive success on the field.

Certainly the gridiron Wolverines will be back on top some day, hopefully soon, with or without Brady Hoke and athletic director Dave Brandon at the helm. That's what always been good about the Michigan football Wolverines -- bouncing back from adversity, a hallmark of one of the nation's top programs and a credit to everyone, blue and gold or green and white, in Michigan.

Silly and petty displays of bravado like the staking of the grass at Spartan Stadium are no substitute for tough football and competence afield.

###

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

More from Dave Rogers

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