Michigan Football: New OC Chip Lindsey speaks on rivalries with Michigan State, Ohio State

New offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey has been around football for quite awhile and wherever he’s gone — there’s a rivalry. Most recently, Lindsey was with North Carolina, and the Tar Heels battle NC State and Duke. Previously, Lindsey was with Auburn for some time and the Tigers and Alabama are bitter rivals.

But not many rivalries are as heated as Michigan’s. In football, the Wolverines and Michigan State are also bitter rivals with actions carrying over into games — such as the tunnel incident in 2022. While the Spartans and Wolverines don’t like each other, no rivalry is greater than Ohio State and Michigan.

The Wolverines have had the better end of the deal with the Buckeyes. Ohio State hasn’t beaten Michigan since 2019 and the Wolverines have won four in a row against their arch-rival. Lindsey understands the rivalry, but he admitted to Jon Jansen on In The Trenches that he might not fully understand it until he’s in it.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Lindsey said of the rivalries. “Everywhere I’ve been, there’s been a rivalry that’s big for that place. And you know, North Carolina, it’s NC State, it’s Duke. Those are two big ones there. At Auburn, it’s Alabama, it’s Georgia and the Iron Bowl and all that. And that’s kind of the one I grew up in the most, being from that state. But, from everything I understand, Michigan State, that’s obviously an in-state deal that it’s a big or important game for both sides and that’ll be exciting.

“And, then the one down South too, you know, I hadn’t been a part of it yet. So next year I’ll probably be able to answer that. But, at the end of the day, once the game starts, the focus is on your team and how you’re executing what we’re trying to do.

“And as a coach, you really better kind of focus on that as much as anything, but you can tell, you can feel the juice here though. I mean, it’s one of those things important to our place here, and our guys. I’s been a lot of fun hearing them talk about those different things. But at the end of the day, right now our focus is on our team, but that time will come. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

Lindsey will hope to lead the Wolverines’ offense to a fifth-straight win over Ohio State and a fourth-straight win over the Spartans in 2025.