Denard Robinson may be two years removed from his time as a member of the Michigan Wolverines, but there's still no love between him and the Michigan State Spartans.
Denard Robinson is going to keep calling Michigan State ‘little brother’
Rivalries never say die.
Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
The former Wolverine quarterback, now a running back with the Jacksonville Jaguars, was asked about Sparty's recent Rose Bowl win. He used a very familiar phrase in his answer, via MLive.
“It did sting,” Robinson answered. “But at the end of the day, the Big Ten won the Rose bowl. It was good that they won it, our little brothers won it, and pulled it out for the Big Ten.”
It all started in 2007, when then-Michigan running back Mike Hart referred to the Spartans as the Wolverines' "little brother" in a post-win press conference (his fourth win in four tries against Michigan State). Since then, it's caught fire as a dismissive Michigan dig towards their in-state rivals,
Robinson did not have nearly the same level of success against the Spartans, winning just one of four games against them in his career. That hasn’t stopped him from making the same dig, and he doubled down when asked further about it.
"You know people are going to run with that, right?" Robinson was told.
"I mean, it's the truth," he said. "I mean, when it was first said (by Mike Hart) it was the truth, and now it holds true."
This isn't the first time Robinson has used the dig against the Spartans: previously, he was asked to rank Michigan's rivals.
"Of course we've got to say Ohio (State's) the biggest one," Robinson said. "(Then) Notre Dame and (No. 3) Michigan State, our little brothers."
Since Hart’s original “little brother” comment, Michigan State has not missed a bowl game, with two Big Ten championships, 59 total victories and five wins against the Wolverines in six games. Michigan has won 42 games in that same period, missing two bowl games and recording just one double-digit win season.
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