Was there some extra team spear-it on display around the 40-yard line by one of the Michigan players during pregame? Take a look.
Braylon Edwards took to Twitter to criticize Devin Funchess.
ABC openly mocked Michigan on their game broadcast.
The Wolverines were reduced to celebrating a fourth-quarter touchdown that only pulled them within 17 points of Michigan State.
This is about as bad as it gets in Ann Arbor.
"It's a rivalry, so it stings a little more," Michigan coach Brady Hoke said after Saturday's 35-11 loss at Spartan Stadium.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio added insult to injury by having the No. 8 Spartans score a final touchdown with 28 seconds left instead of running out the clock.
Both Dantonio and Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook said that the decision to run up the score stemmed from a bizarre pregame attempt at taunting by the Wolverines, with one of the Michigan players sticking a spear into the Spartan Stadium turf.
Hoke, who didn't complain about Dantonio's decision, said that he was "somewhat aware" of the spear incident, but not "fully aware."
After a week when Hoke and his players had gone out of their way to avoid giving Michigan State any bulletin-board material -- a move that says a great deal about the state of the programs -- it was a poor time to let one of his players directly provoke the Spartans.
Hoke, though, seemed more upset that his players didn't get the reward he thought they deserved for their effort.
"These kids played their asses off," he said in his postgame press conference. "They worked as hard as they could. I'm angry at myself. I've got to do a better job. I'm accountable."
It isn't clear what Hoke thought his players should have gotten because for the second year in a row, the Spartans completely dominated the game. They have outscored the Wolverines 64-17 in the last two meetings and have now won the Paul Bunyan Trophy six times in the last seven tries.
The Wolverines had early chances to score, but the offense couldn't move the ball. In the first quarter, they started a drive on Michigan State's 29, but Devin Gardner fumbled the ball away on the first play. In the second, an interception gave them the ball on the Spartan 31, but the Wolverines ran three plays without gaining a yard.
Gardner also threw two interceptions and was briefly pulled in the fourth quarter before Hoke decided to let him finish his final game against Michigan State.
Gardner was hardly the only problem. The offensive line was blown off the ball time and again, while the defense gave up too many big plays.
"I don't see a talent difference," said Wolverines radio analyst Jon Jansen. "I see an execution difference."
That's the reason that Hoke's job is widely considered to be in jeopardy, a point that the ABC broadcast made in the harshest way possible. After showing highlights of Arizona routing Washington State, studio anchor Robert Flores took a open shot at the Wolverines:
"If Michigan is going to be looking for a new football coach, they might want to look at Arizona's Rich Rodriguez ... oh, right," Flores said, before throwing it back to East Lansing, where Chris Spielman let out an uncomfortable chuckle.
It was Edwards, though, who broke the unwritten rule that former players are publicly supportive of the current team. After Devin Funchess -- who now wears the No. 1 jersey made famous by wide receivers like Anthony Carter and Edwards -- dropped what might have been a touchdown pass, Edwards took to Twitter.
Things got even more embarrassing when offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier was shown wildly celebrating Michigan's fourth-quarter touchdown. Even after a two-point conversion, it was still 28-11 with 3:40 left, but it was the first time the Wolverines had gotten into the end zone against the Spartans since 2011.
At 3-5, the Wolverines have to win three of their final four games just to get eligible for a bowl game, and that includes a visit to Columbus for another rivalry that has turned ugly in recent years.
