The 2018 clash between No. 6 Michigan and No. 24 Michigan State will always be remembered for one of the most legendary moments in the history of the in-state rivalry, and it happened before kickoff. The incident began with the Spartans performing one of their pregame rituals, which involves linking arms across the width of the field and walking from one end to the other. The problem, of course, was that there were already a number of Wolverines on the field, also performing their pregame routines. With neither side trying to avoid contact with the other, the pregame rituals nearly degenerated into a brawl between members of the two rival programs.

When a video of the incident recently surfaced on social media, former MSU running back Le’Veon Bell said this would never have happened if he were still in East Lansing.

“This would never have happened when I was there,” Bell wrote on Twitter. “With everything.”

Although Bush’s destruction of the Spartan logo at the 50-yard line garnered most of the attention after the incident, the Spartans were certainly to blame for the pregame altercation. After the Wolverines’ 21-7 victory, former UM head coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t mince his feelings about how the whole thing went down.

“Apparently they clotheslined two of our guys that came out with helmets on,” Harbaugh said. “Lawrence Marshall, they went and clotheslined him, the old-fashioned clothesline. Other guys ripped Lavert (Hill’s) headphones off. Total Bush League. Apparently Coach Dantonio was standing five yards behind them smiling, so yeah, I think it’s Bush League, that’s my impression.”

When former UM edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson looked back on the incident during a podcast appearance in 2022, he called it a legendary moment in the rivalry.

“Dude, that moment is legendary,” Hutchinson said. “I mean, we only played one snap in that 2018 Michigan-Michigan State game. But we didn’t really see it. I wasn’t out there before the game, so I didn’t really see it. But when you look on the phone to change the music, I get this ESPN update that says, ‘Devin Bush, blah, blah, blah,’ and I click on it and I’m like, ‘Did he just do that, in a rivalry game?’ Do you know how much pressure that puts? If we don’t win that game, we’re going to get trolled. I saw it on my phone and I was like, ‘We have to win this damn game.’ We ended up holding them to less than 100 yards on offense, so I think we earned that.”

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