So you are a Michigan State fan at Spartan Stadium Saturday to witness the MSU-Indiana game.
It's the early in the third quarter, and the public address announcer comes on and starts giving the scores from the around the country. The first one: Michigan 28, Nebraska 7 or something like that.
Won't you cheer - and loudly? So Michigan State people despise Michigan. Nebraska is the real obstacle to reaching the first-ever Big Ten title game. The Spartans beat Michigan. They have the tiebreaker over the Wolverines. They lost to Nebraska. The Cornhuskers have the tiebreaker over the Spartans. Both teams have two losses in conference play and MSU one. The Spartans do have a testy season finale at Northwestern.
A Nebraska loss and its over. Nebraska wins, and bad things can still happen to the Spartans.
Those Michigan State fans still rooting for Nebraska will be cutting off their nose to spite their face emotionally. The bigger picture has gotten better for the Spartans. They don't need to judge their success any more based on Michigan's failure, but I get this sense they still do.