ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A rivalry game living up to the hype, Michigan held off Michigan State, 24-17, as Colston Loveland scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion, 24-17. It was an ugly ending to the competitive game as a fight broke out after the final Michigan kneel-down. Triggered by a heated exchange between Loveland and MSU’s Anthony Jones, a fight broke out with punches thrown right after Davis Warren ended the game.

“I told the team that was unacceptable,” said Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore. “It’s disappointing. That’s not what Michigan football is about. That’s now how we represent our program and this university. That’s uncalled for. That’ll be dealt with and handled, but that’s just very disappointing that our football team was a part of that.”

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MSU head coach Jonathan Smith commented, “It’s an emotional game. You don’t love finishing kind of that way. I thought, for the football game itself, it was physical. I think the guys were playing really hard, and I thought it was a pretty clean game. It was tough to finish that way.”

Michigan won with only 265 yards of total offense, with 119 yards rushing and two passing touchdowns. Warren and Donavan Edwards both had passing touchdowns, and Alex Orji rushed for the other. MSU’s Nate Carter collected 118 yards rushing on 19 carries and one touchdown as Nick Marsh had the receiving touchdown.

Loveland finished with six receptions for 67 yards, scoring the first and last touchdowns. After MSU took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, Loveland scored with 29 seconds left in the first half on a 10-yard pass from Warren. Michigan missed the extra point and trailed 7-6.

MSU fumbled the ball two plays later on a Josaiah Stewart at the MSU 34-yard line with 15 seconds left. Two plays later, Dominic Zvada hit a 37-yard field goal for the halftime lead, 9-7. Michigan never lost the lead after that. Orji ran in a two-yard touchdown at 9:49 in the third for a 16-7 lead, and the Wolverines held MSU to a field goal late in the quarter, 16-10. Loveland then caught a 23-yard pass from Edwards at 13:20 with the two-point conversion in the fourth quarter, making it 24-10.

Seven minutes later, MSU cut the lead to seven, 24-17, when Aidan Chiles threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Marsh. The Spartans had a chance to tie the game by driving to Michigan’s 16-yard line, but the Wolverine’s defense held strong as MSU had two incomplete passes, a false start, and a five-yard run. On fourth-and-five, Chiles final pass was incomplete, turning the ball over with 1:43 to play as Michigan ran out the clock.

MSU’s Smith ended with, “I will look at both ends of the halves as we didn’t finish well at all.”

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After the game, talking to the Big Ten Network, Loveland let the world know how he felt about the rivalry, saying, “Little bro, stay doing little bro things. MSU, the little bro. They can do whatever they want. We knew it was going to get chippy. Everything within the confines of the game, we do right, and then after the game, they want to get busy, we’ll get busy.”

For another year, Michigan holds the bragging rights for the state as the game lived up to the hype.