Hoke, Wolverines avoid bulletin-board material ahead of rivalry game
ANN ARBOR -- Brady Hoke isn't going to tell his players how they should feel going into Saturday's game at Spartan Stadium.
He is willing to give them a very strong hint.
The 3-4 Wolverines are traveling to East Lansing for the second year in a row, a year after an embarrassing 29-6 loss to Michigan State, and Hoke said that, were he still in uniform, that would give him some incentive.
"We're a different team than we were a year ago and so are they, but it would bother the hell out of me if I had played in that game and not done my job," he said. "There will be high emotion and high passion on both teams. We're playing for the state championship on Saturday, and that means something."
Hoke couldn't resist one more jab at Notre Dame, saying that Michigan has three great rivalries and then correcting himself to make it two, but he knows exactly what is at stake for his team this weekend. The Wolverines have only won one of their last six games against Michigan State, haven't scored a touchdown since 2011, and are 17-point underdogs.
"I don't worry about 17 points, because the only people who care about that are gamblers, and I'm not a gambler," he said. "We're underdogs, but we've been underdogs before. The only thing that is important on Saturday is playing our game. We need to have a good game plan, and execute. That's how we can win this game."
Hoke and his staff aren't open with the media at the best of times, and this is far from that. On Monday, he and his coordinators made sure they weren't going to say a single thing that might end up on a bulletin board in East Lansing.
"We're playing the defending Big Ten champions, and they certainly deserved that," Hoke said, "They are having another great season this year, with their only loss coming in Eugene, which is a very tough place to play."
Defensive coordinator Greg Mattison was equally complimentary of the Michigan State offense, which has transformed itself from a group that needed the defense to win into a point-scoring machine.
"They are a very good offense," he said. "They do an outstanding job running the ball, but if you give them the opportunity, they can also beat you with the pass. They aren't a passing team -- they are built around the run -- but they have an outstanding quarterback and good receivers and tight ends."
No bulletin-board material, and certainly no information that could give Mark Dantonio any tiny bit of help with his game plan. While Hoke did admit that Devin Gardner took full part in Sunday night's practice, he wasn't biting when asked about freshman cornerback Jabrill Peppers or any of his other injured players.
"We had a good practice," Hoke said when asked about Peppers, and then moved quickly to cut off the next question. "We had a good practice with him, too. Whoever he is."
Hoke said, as he does every week, that he thinks his team is practicing well and will be prepared, and then mocked himself a bit by pointing out that he does, indeed, say that every week. So the message will be on point this week, and Michigan State isn't going to get any extra incentive from Ann Arbor.
The question now becomes if Michigan can do anything that will make them need anything extra.
