The battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy will go down this weekend in East Lansing, MI as the Michigan football team will hit the road to take on rival Michigan State football. The Wolverines are coming into this game as huge favorites after both of these teams have started the season in very different ways. The Spartans are coming into this matchup with a 2-4 record, on a four-game losing streak and without a head coach. Michigan is coming into it as one of the best teams in the entire country as they are currently ranked #2 and have a perfect 7-0 record. Michigan State isn't expected to have a chance in this game, but the Spartans are still coming into it confident.

“You all can doubt us all you want, but we’re going to come out there and give them our best shot,” Michigan State football CB Dillon Tatum said, according to an article from Sports Illustrated. “Really this is the game. The game. For real. It’s important. It matters, and it matters the freaking most. We’re going to go out there and ball I believe. And I believe we’re going to win this football game.”

After last year's postgame incident that saw a group of Michigan State players beating a Michigan football player with their helmets in the tunnel, the Wolverines like have some extra motivation to run up the score. Dillon Tatum doesn't think the Spartans will allow that.

“They’re going to try to go out there and really put the beating on us…That’s not going to happen,” Tatum said. “We’re not going to let that happen out here.”

Michigan State knows this is going to be a tough one to win, but that's the great thing about this rivalry, it's not easy, but it brings the best out of both teams.

“We’re never going to lay down for just anybody, and really just staying mission-focused on playing this game and winning this game,” Tatum continued. “Because that’s what we’re going in here to do. We’re not gonna go in and sit there and lay an egg. That’s not nothing we do here at Michigan State University. A game like this is very important to everybody that’s came through this school, and we all know that we have to represent to the fullest.”

As for Michigan, they have all the motivation in the world to go into East Lansing with the intent of blowing out their rival. After last year's tunnel incident, and seeing the confidence that the Spartans have this year, the Wolverines will want to go out there and prove something.

At the end of the day, Dillon Tatum should have confidence in his team's ability to win, no matter what. It's good that he does, but Michigan will still use anything they can find for motivation, as that's just how it goes in a bitter rivalry like this one.