By the time that the final whistle blew on the Michigan football team’s 24-17 victory over rival Michigan State, Colston Loveland was already central to the story of the Wolverines’ resurgent performance.
With six receptions, 67 yards and two touchdowns, the junior tight end helped define Michigan’s night and drove the Wolverines’ often stagnant passing offense to relative success. But after the whistle blew, Loveland was thrust — or thrust himself by some measures — even further into the spotlight.
While senior quarterback Davis Warren took a knee to end the contest and ran off to find the Paul Bunyan Trophy, Loveland and Spartans defensive lineman Anthony Jones got into extracurriculars. Jones rushed at Loveland during the play, colliding with his helmet with some force, to which Loveland responded with a headbutt of his own, after which things deteriorated. Jones grabbed Loveland’s helmet with both of his hands, pulling him down, and both sidelines responded by rushing the field.
“Lil bro stay doing lil bro things,” Loveland said in an on-field interview with FOX immediately following the skirmish. “(Michigan State) is lil bro. They can do whatever they want, we knew it was gonna get chippy but everything within the confines of the game we do right. And then after, if they want to get busy we get busy.”
It was a moment of high tension, it was a moment that frustrated Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, but acutely, it was a moment that encapsulated Loveland’s night perfectly. All game, Loveland was at the center of the action. And all game, Loveland drove Michigan State crazy.
With Warren back under center for the first time in four games, the Wolverines’ offense took a few drives to get going with three straight punts. But within those struggles, Loveland was one of the only facets working, reeling in two key passes that helped give Michigan its only first downs on those drives.
But late in the first half the Wolverines finally started moving the ball. Both figuratively and literally, it started and ended with Loveland. Warren’s first and last passes of the drive ended up in the tight end’s hands with the last being a touchdown for the wide-open Loveland in the corner of the end zone.
From then on, Michigan’s offense finally got going, and it was in part due to the attention that Loveland drew from the Spartans. All season Loveland has been the key component of the Wolverines’ passing attack, with more yards than all of their wide receivers combined. And that continued Saturday night, but when all of Michigan State’s focus switched to Loveland, Warren found his receivers in the second half and piloted multiple efficient drives.
“He’s just a dude, does dude things all the time,” Moore said of Loveland. “(We) just try to give the ball to him as much as we can, when we can, but people know he’s gonna get the ball at some point. So you’ve gotta do things to make it like he’s not getting it.”
And after two rare drives in which Loveland “didn’t get it,” Michigan drew up a play to ensure that the ball would get back into his hands — even if it required some trickery. Early in the third quarter on the Spartans’ 23-yard line, Warren pitched the ball back to senior running back Donovan Edwards, who delayed, and then launched the ball to Loveland for another six points.
Just when Michigan State’s focus had finally been taken off of Loveland, he put himself right back at the center of the contest. So by the time the game ended, Loveland was already a key part of the story of the Wolverines’ victory. But with his and Jones’ antics after the whistle, he also became a key component of the tension.
With the first part of Loveland’s notoriety, Moore was well-pleased. But with the skirmish, Moore was frustrated.
“I told the team it was unacceptable regardless of what happened and how it started,” Moore said. “Those guys chirping at us, and us responding. The guy headbutted Colston at the end, our job to represent the University is to not respond to that. … That’s not Michigan football, that’s not who we are.”
Between and after whistles, Loveland was at the center of the action Saturday night. All night he gave the Spartans headaches, but with the skirmish at the end, he might’ve just given Moore a headache too.
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