The Michigan Wolverines roll into Saturday night's rivalry game against Michigan State as the Top 10 team and the double-digit favorite. The scrappy, oft-disrespected Spartans have won seven of the last nine in the series and covered all nine-point spreads over that span. Here are five places where the stats offer some insight about how this game will play out.
1. Rushing defense
Michigan and Michigan State are run-oriented offenses. The Wolverines have rushed on 61.2 percent of plays in 2017. The Spartans have rushed on 54.8 percent. The latter number would have been higher had MSU not fallen so far behind early against Notre Dame.
What the numbers say about how MSU/UM will play out
