I don’t envy Michigan State fans this week.

Sure, their Spartans are 9-2 overall, have just one loss in the Big Ten and are playing for a shot at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

But for Michigan State to have any chance of winning the conference title and earning a ticket to Pasadena, Michigan has to beat Ohio State.

That’s before the Spartans take the field against Penn State at 3:30 that afternoon. Of course, if Michigan State loses, Penn State will be in the Rose Bowl and the result of The Game won't have an impact.

So there will be a lot of fans dressed in green and white this week who have a tough decision to make: is a possible trip to the Rose Bowl enough to root for the Maize and Blue, even for just three hours?

Most Michigan fans would have no problem rooting for the Spartans if it would help the Wolverines. But the rivalry isn't the same for the two fan bases.

For Wolverine fans, the Spartans are a second rival, after the Buckeyes. And for most a lot of fans, especially out-of-staters, the Spartans are third behind Notre Dame.

But in East Lansing, matchups don't get any bigger than Michigan.

It’s possible to see this as a win-win situation for Spartan fans. If Michigan wins and Michigan State wins, their team makes the Rose Bowl. If Michigan loses and Michigan State wins, sending Ohio State to Pasadena, well, at least Michigan lost.

But by similar logic, it’s also a lose-lose scenario.

For me, it’s not so cut and dry. As a life-long Eagles fan, I can't imagine ever rooting for the Cowboys, Giants or Redskins (in that order). When any of those teams match up, I root for the game to end in a tie.

From 1990 to 2002, the Cowboys had a special teams coach named Joe Avezzano. For some reason, my dad and I always loved seeing him freak out on the sidelines (a pretty regular occurrence), no matter who Dallas was playing. When you're rooting against a special teams coach, you've got a rivalry on your hands.

It really comes down to the intensity of rivalry fandom. Do you hate your rival because their loss is your team’s gain? Or do you hate your rival because you actually despise players and coaches so much that you want to see them lose no matter what?

Considering the vitriol that flies southeast from East Lansing to Ann Arbor, I get the feeling most Michigan State fans fall into the second category. (Or they’re really good at faking disdain.)

A thread on Michigan State’s rivals.com message board seems to support my assumption. One poster suggested everyone, “Grow a pair…root for UM on Saturday.” The responses to that ranged from, “Yuck!” to “NEVER!!!” to “I feel dirty just thinking about it.”

That last response drives at the basic instinct of rivalries. A true rival is a team you root against no matter what their record or who they’re playing. It would be tough for most Spartan fans to flip that switch for just one week, no matter what it means for their team.

While those kids up in East Lansing may have a better football team to root for this year, and they’ll be watching their team play on New Year’s Day, their happiness won't be complete.

If it’s any solace, either the Wolverines will win at Ohio State, or Michigan State won't have a shot at the Rose Bowl. Win-win, right?

—Sandals can be reached at nsandals@umich.edu.