Michigan hosts Michigan State this weekend, as you might have noticed. It's also the first meeting between two elite coaches: the Spartans' Mark Dantonio and the Wolverines' Jim Harbaugh.
That provides us great fodder for a Take Two: Assuming everything else is equal, which coach would you rather have if you needed to win one game?
Mitch Sherman: What Harbaugh has done in a short time at Michigan is remarkable. What he did at Stanford was incredible.
Again, though, Dantonio is the invisible man in the room. Although everyone fawns over Harbaugh (and his one bowl victory), Dantonio just keeps winning. All he does is win, in fact. He wins big games. He wins the ugly games. He wins the games you forgot he coached.
As coaches tumble from the pedestal each week, Dantonio plugs along.
He’s as steady as they come in this business. He’s the guy who had a heart attack shortly after a thrilling 2010 victory against Notre Dame. Let me know if your coach has done that and continued to win.
Look, Dantonio doesn’t come with the flash of Ohio State's Urban Meyer or the background and quirky nature of Harbaugh. He doesn’t often generate headlines, but he belongs in the same category with the most accomplished coaches nationally.
His record in big games speaks loudly -- from a 2008 win against Michigan in his second season to snap a six-year losing streak in the series, to the 2013 Big Ten championship against Ohio State.
MSU has won six of seven against the Wolverines, by the way, since that landmark 2008 win. And Dantonio has led the Spartans to four straight bowl victories -- against Georgia, TCU, Stanford and Baylor.
What more do you want? Dantonio in 2014 missed his shot by one year to reach the College Football Playoff, as the Spartans won the Big Ten championship game in 2013. MSU remains alive this season. To get there, Dantonio needs to own the big-game stage. He did it in Week 2, when Oregon was still viewed as Oregon.
The next chance arrives Saturday. Count him out at your own risk.
Brian Bennett: There is no wrong answer here. Both guys are tremendous coaches, although they're both probably known better for building programs than for their prowess on game day.
For the long haul, I'd want Dantonio. He's so steady, and his program is a model of stability. He's the guy you want leading your team for years and years.
But if it's just one game -- say, Earth vs. Aliens for galactic supremacy -- I'd go with Harbaugh. There is no more competitive human being on the planet, and I think he would work his players into a frenzy with his motivational skills. Harbaugh has coached in a Super Bowl, three NFC title games and an Orange Bowl, so he has seen it all. He has also led major underdogs to unthinkable upsets, such as Stanford's 2007 win against USC when it was a 41-point underdog.
You know Harbaugh wouldn't sleep, eat or maybe even blink until he'd found an edge, however small. He'd demand the same level of fire from his players.
Is that kind of intensity sustainable over a period of time? That has always been the one question with Harbaugh and remains the case. That's why Dantonio is the better long-term option. But in one game, for all the marbles, I'd ride with Captain Comeback.