page_title: Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry
section_title: 2014: The stake game
hierarchical_section_title: Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry / Notable games / 2014: The stake game
caption_attribution_description: English: Spartan Stadium in 2014 vs. Michigan
context_page_description: The Michigan–Michigan State football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the University of Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State University Spartans. The teams first played in 1898 and have met 112 times. The winner of each year's game receives the Paul Bunyan – Governor of Michigan Trophy, a four-foot wooden statute of a lumberjack that was first presented in 1953 to commemorate Michigan State's beginning football competition as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
  Michigan leads the series with an overall record of 71–36–5, though the series has seen several ebbs and flows during which one team or the other has experienced periods of dominance. In the earliest years of the rivalry from 1898 to 1933, Michigan was the dominant program with a record of 23–2–3. The Spartans' first victories were in 1913 and 1915 under head coach John Macklin. Prior to 1958, 44 of the 50 games were played on Michigan's home field. The teams began alternating home fields in 1958.
  The Spartans had four consecutive victories from 1934 to 1937 under head coach Charlie Bachman.
context_section_description: On October 25, 2014, as they were coming onto the East Lansing field prior to the game, the Michigan team drove a stake into the turf, angering the Spartans. Michigan finally scored its first touchdown against MSU in three years with just 3:40 remaining in the game, but, after Michigan made the 2-point conversion, Michigan State marched downfield and scored a final touchdown with 0:28 remaining. This was notable because four of the previous six games ended with the Spartans taking a knee inside the Michigan red zone, instead of adding a final score. In his postgame press conference, Mark Dantonio referenced the stake incident in explaining the decision to add a final touchdown.
caption: Spartan Stadium in 2014 vs. Michigan
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