Michigan State football: Be prepared to be gaslit by Michigan fans (again)

Folks, it’s that time of year again. It’s Hate Week and Michigan and Michigan State football will face each other in Ann Arbor for the latest installment of the rivalry. And for the first time in a few years, this matchup is fairly even.

What has that done to fans? Well, for Michigan State fans, it has provided hope that this game actually feels winnable for the first time since 2021. What it’s done to Michigan fans is quite the opposite. It’s made Michigan fans enter a gaslighting phase.

What does this mean? Michigan fans are playing the “we don’t even care about this game” card.

It’s a predictable play, but I would have thought they’d play a different tune nine months after winning the national title. Going from “we own little brother” to “we don’t even care” just nine months after being atop the sport is just insane. It requires a certain level of copium to reach this type of narrative. Mind you, Michigan is still 4-3 and has a chance to finish strong and ruin some seasons for its rivals.

But apparently the fans just “don’t care” and think of Michigan State as their third-biggest rival.

OK, that last part is a small percentage of Michigan fans, but they do exist. There are Michigan fans gaslighting MSU fans into belieiving that Notre Dame is a bigger rival than Michigan State. Yes, the Irish, a team that Michigan hasn’t played since 2019, are apparently a bigger rival than the in-state foe that they are 6-10 against over the past 16 matchups and who they talk about on a daily basis. That makes sense.

The gaslighting has already started.

Michigan fans will try to lead you to believe that this game doesn’t mean anything to them. I mean, look at how lopsided the all-time series is. It’s not a rivalry because Michigan was flat-out dominating pre-World War II. Those games during the leather helmet era mean something to them.

No, they don’t care that the rivalry has been much more even since Michigan State joined the Big Ten. They don’t care that there are videos of their fans and even players in actual tears after losing to Michigan State. They don’t care that Mark Dantonio is basically their program’s father and they can’t even deny that fact. They do not care. Apparently.

And if Michigan State football can take care of business on Saturday night and win the Paul Bunyan Trophy back for the first time since 2021, Michigan fans will say “congrats on winning your Super Bowl” because it’s the only coping mechanism they have programmed into their brains.

They simply cannot act like they care that they lost. Definitely not that. They only lose to Michigan State because it’s our “Super Bowl” and it means more to us.

And if Michigan wins, they’ll take the time to endlessly talk trash (warranted) and say something about how MSU will always be little brother and that the Wolverines won a game they didn’t even care about (yes, they assume the players just don’t care about MSU).

So no matter what happens on Saturday night, Michigan fans will make sure to tell you incessantly that they don’t care — a sign that they care greatly.