Michigan State and Michigan have never played a night game in the history of their rivalry, and it doesn’t sound like one is coming any time soon.

According to mlive.com, Spartans athletic director Mark Hollis is apprehensive about hosting a night game against the Wolverines because he’s concerned fan behavior would be out of control, citing a 2014 night game against Ohio State as precedent.

“When we sit down, our police chief, our president, our provost, myself, we all go through and ask, ‘what’s the impact going to be like on campus?'” Hollis said.

“Based on past behavior, I would be concerned.”

 …

“The number of bottles and the behavior at that (Ohio State) game was about as bad as I’ve ever seen at Michigan State, and that’s not an environment that we condone,” Hollis said. “The folks dropping bottles weren’t 20 year olds, they were much older.

“You want people to be able to come and be able to enjoy themselves, but you want them to be at something that takes place in a healthy environment. It’s not an open invitation to a drunk fest — it’s a tailgate, and it’s a football game, and it’s how can we get the behaviors that would allow us to have more opportunities that people want.”

In 2013, then-Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon was insistent that Michigan and Michigan State never play at night, according to mlive.com, also citing safety concerns.

“We don’t think think it’s a good idea,” Brandon said. “From our perspective, the nature of that rivalry and the intensity of it, when you put that on in prime time and you give everybody all day long to gear up for it.

“Hosting that at Michigan Stadium, that’s probably taking that a step further than it needs to go.”

Brandon is no longer in charge in Ann Arbor (Michigan is currently searching for an AD), so maybe that policy will change, but Hollis for his part seems pretty adamant. The AD’s position on this makes sense, of course. Night games come with extra passion, tension and alcohol, which taken together figure to compromise security.

The Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, one-sided in favor of the Wolverines for decades, has recently tilted toward the Spartans, who have won seven of the past eight matchups, including a wild game in 2015 that ended with a Michigan botched punt returned for a Michigan State game-winning touchdown. Now, with Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor and the Spartans coming off a College Football Playoff appearance, the rivalry is as hot as it’s ever been.

The Michigan-Michigan State game should be something to look forward to for years to come, no matter what time of day it’s played at.

[MLive]

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.