MSU, U-M pregame atmosphere festive and calm ... for now

Cody Tucker
Lansing State Journal
Michigan State fan Sonia Deif, left, and her fiancee and Michigan fan Will Guy walk to their tailgate before the game on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, outside Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Deif, who attended MSU, and Guy, whose dad attended Michigan, came up from San Antonio to watch the game.

ANN ARBOR – Jaclyn Hirschfield’s watch started to beep.

It’s a reminder to hydrate.

“Ryan, water,” she laughed.

Hirschfield and her boyfriend, Ryan Shugart, have been tailgating at the Ann Arbor Golf Course south of Michigan Stadium since noon. They made the hour-plus drive from Auburn Hills. In four hours, Michigan and Michigan State are meeting on the field that is 50 yards north of their car for the 110th time in the series.

They are pacing themselves.

This is only the fourth night game in the history of the Big House. They aren’t used to this much tailgating time around these parts.Neither is Busch's Fresh Food Market on South Main Street. At 2 p.m., the shelves of the grocery store were going bare. The 24 packs of Coors Light have been sold out for hours.

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For Shugart and Hirschfield, Bud Light, turkey legs and laughs are on the docket today.

And Hirschfield hopes a Michigan State victory will serve as the night cap.

Shugart, on the other hand, is praying for the opposite.

“I’m going to go Michigan, 24-13,” he said with a smile. “We are going to grind them down and put one in late to end it.”

Hirschfield, wearing a Spartans tank top with MSU eye black stickers, said the game will be a close one.

“Michigan State will win,” she said. “It will be 20-17. A last-minute field goal.”

Thirty-two acres of pristine green grass is home to hundreds of vehicles, flags, tents and makeshift bars on Saturdays when the Wolverines are in town. Bean bags fly through the air and a variety of smells from smoking barbecues lofts in every direction. Fans of both teams laugh and mingle. The scene is a joyous one. 

For now, anyway.

Shugart, who is a regular in this $60-per-game “parking lot,” said Spartans and Wolverines tend to get along before the game. He said it’s much worse when Ohio State is in town.

Message boards and social media posts throughout the week would suggest otherwise.

“After the game is when things get crazy,” he said. “After the 2015 game, my friend got his nose broke.”

Like hundreds of other people in this lot, Hirschfield is eyeing a beer-pong championship. Wind gusts are wreaking havoc on each toss. 

Shugart and his friends didn’t buy tickets to this game. Prices on ticket sites are in the triple digits. Instead, the pro-Michigan group will take advantage of the rare night game and set up a screen between two light poles on the golf course and use a projector to watch the game. As far as they are concerned, the later kickoff is, the better.

Plus, there’s a bathroom 10 feet away and they have plenty of suds and grub to go around.

It’s a new tradition. The people in this lot, no matter what school is pasted across their chest, are welcome.

Depending on the outcome of the game, of course.

Contact Cody Tucker at (517) 377-1070 or cjtucker@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @CodyTucker_LSJ.