Report: Michigan-MSU rivalry matchup could be a night game on Oct. 21

Indianapolis — Cue the lights.
It looks like the in-state rivalry game between Michigan and Michigan State and for the first time, it would be a night game at Spartan Stadium, according to a report by Brett McMurphy of Action Network HQ.
The post on social media listed the Big Ten games this season that will air on the NBC Network and it included Michigan State hosting Michigan at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 at Spartan Stadium, provided the conference and its network partners do not “flex” the game to another timeslot on a different network.
“We’ll be there,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said Wednesday at Big Ten media days.
If the game does kick off under the lights, it will mark the third time the rivals have played in prime time. Michigan State won the first matchup, 14-10, in 2017 at Michigan Stadium and the Wolverines won, 29-7, last season in Ann Arbor. This would be the first night game between the teams to be played at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
For Michigan State fifth-year senior Tre Mosley, when the game is played only highlights the importance of what the rivalry means, especially for Michigan natives like Mosley, who is from West Bloomfield.
“We could play that game at 9 in the morning or 9 at night,” Mosley said. “Those are the games we live for. It’s a legacy game. You live to tell talk about those games 20 years from now, 40 years from now, to your family, to your kids. That is how you’re remembered at a school, how you perform in rivalry games.”
The news comes as emotions in the rivalry have reached a near-toxic level. Following last season’s game, a fight ensued in the tunnel to the locker rooms that resulted in the suspension of eight Michigan State players, including cornerback Khary Crump, who was initially charged with a felony for swinging his helmet at Michigan’s Gemon Green. Crump later pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and faces a suspension of eight more games by the Big Ten.
After the scuffle in the tunnel, there were calls from some to find a way to lessen the vitriol between the schools. On Wednesday, Tucker was asked how that could be accomplished.
“How do you rein it in?” Tucker said. “I don’t know how you do that.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I haven’t heard something about that game. I mean, every day of my life I hear about that game, so I don’t know how you rein that in. It just is what it is.”
As for the idea to have the Big Ten not protect the rivalry in scheduling, allowing for a break for the teams and fan bases, Tucker was dismissive, focusing instead on the benefits of traditional rivalries.
“No, that’s never gonna happen,” Tucker said of not playing the game. “That’s not even a reality. Why would we want to do that?
“(The rivalry is) what’s great about college football. I’ve talked before about when I coached in Cleveland-Pittsburgh, Chicago-Green Bay, Alabama-Auburn, Georgia-Florida, Colorado-Nebraska. Those are big games. That’s why we coach. That’s why we play, to be in those games and ultimately win those games.
“You’re often judged by how you do in those games. I think it’s great. From the day I got here, I said I’m not shying away from the challenge of the rivalry. It’s the biggest game of the year for us, and it’s always gonna be like that as long as I’m the coach here.”
Also according to the report, NBC would carry the game with Michigan hosting Purdue on Nov. 4 in a night kickoff at 7:30, Michigan State would play Ohio State on Nov. 11 in a night kickoff and the Spartans would host Penn State on Nov. 24 for a 7:30 kickoff.