One of college football's best rivalries hasn't been played since 2019. The last time the Michigan Wolverines squared off with Notre Dame was on Oct. 26, 2019,

The Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy renews on Saturday night as the No. 25 Michigan Wolverines (5-2) visit the Michigan State Spartans (3-4) at Spartan Stadium with a 3-1 Big Ten Conference record as part of a seven-team logjam tied for third place.

The Wolverines lost Cole Sullivan vs. MSU in the first half. Evidently, there's another player in the room who is dealing with an ailment, too.

Michigan continues to tick higher in the college football rankings with four games to go. After beating Michigan State on Saturday, the 6-2 Wolverines rose to No. 21 in the Associated Press Top 25 and US LBM coaches’ poll unveiled Sunday.

The Hawkeyes have had the No. 1 stop rate defense in October, getting stops on 88.2% of opponents' drives, and have climbed from No. 30 at the end of September to No. 6 this week after putting together a dominant performance Saturday in a 41-3 rout of Minnesota.

Despite a five-game losing streak and no Big Ten wins, Michigan State football can still win three of its final four games to salvage a bowl berth.

Michigan State edged Maryland 19-16 in the 2019 regular-season finale to become bowl eligible and then-coach Mark Dantonio had hats made for players with “PROGRAM WIN” on the back. That basically meant achieving the minimum standard for a team that had been a national power less than five years earlier.

BYU remained unbeaten after defeating Iowa State 41-27. The No. 11-ranked Cougars improved to 8-0 and are still tied atop the Big 12 standings (5-0) with Cincinnati after overcoming a 14-point deficit in the first half.