2009 Week 5

With last years 35-21 victory in Ann Arbor, the Michigan State Spartans had captured the Paul Bunyon trophy for the first time in 7 years. This clearly did not sit well with the Wolverines and new head coach Briggs mentioned at the beginning of this year that regaining this trophy was one of his main goals this season. Well, coach Briggs can put a checkmark in that particular box as his Wolverines had their way with the Spartans on their own home turf. As is becoming a theme this year, the Wolverine defense was dominant and didn't allow a single touchdown on the day. On the offensive side of the ball, the Wolverines got it done mainly on the ground.

Michael Shaw would begin the scoring with a 12 yard TD run, which would be the first of 4 rushing TDs for the Wolverines. After another Shaw TD run and a 9 yard rushing TD by Brandon Minor, the Wolverines took a 21-6 lead into the half. Minor would score again in the 3rd quarter and the Spartans could only muster 1 more FG and would lose by a score of 33-9. In what would prove to be a key part of the game, the Wolverines were efficient on third down (completing 61% of their conversions) while the Spartans were held to only a 27% third down conversion. Because of this, the Wolverines would dominate time of possesion 18 minutes to 10. Turnovers were another factor as the Wolverines protected the ball very well and didn't turn it over while forcing 2 interceptions against the Spartans. Brandon Minor would earn player of the game honors with 121 yards and 2 TDs rushing the ball.