Countdown to Kickoff - 29 days

October 14, 1989
Michigan 10 - MSU 7

"The toughest team won." Losing to his arch-rival in a close game had to irk George Perles, having Bo tell the press Michigan won because they were the tougher team, must have driven him crazy.

This was my third trip to see Michigan play at Spartan Stadium. My cousin Barry got the tickets this year and my parents came down to the game too. I rember riding to the game with Barry and his brother Jim and getting a sweet parking spot right near the stadium. We must have gone to the traditional family party after the game, but I don't remember...

Michigan was 3-1 with their only loss to Raghib Ismail. While the Spartans were 2-2, coming off of losses to Notre Dame and Miami and a close victory over Iowa, just as they had been before beating Michigan in 1987. The 1987 game with Demetrius Brown's 7 interceptions, will not be discussed in this countdown series!

Elvis Grbac was still starting for the injured Michael Taylor, He threw an early interception that would lead to a Spartan field goal attempt. One of the kick-blocking safeties - Wellborne/Murray blocked it. Michigan moved down the field finally facing a 4th and goal from the 2. Leroy Hoard punched it in to put M up 7-0. JD Carlson made it 10-0 midway through the second quarter.

MSU finally mounted a drive late in the 3rd leaving them with 4th and goal from the 1 as the teams switched ends to start the 4th quarter. Then Wellborne stuffed Blake Ezor at the goal line to keep the Spartans out.

The Spartans finally scored with about 5 minutes remaining to make it 10-7. Michigan moved to midfield but had to punt it back to MSU. If I remember correctly, this drive included some interesting "momentum stopped in-bounds" calls along the Michigan sideline that burned clock and MSU's timeouts. Finally a 4th down Enos pass was picked off to seal the victory.