Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez told his players, "The more you win, the more is at stake."

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

The recent history has been well documented.

The Michigan football team has lost two consecutive games to Michigan State. Should the Spartans win again Saturday, it would mark the first time since 1967 that they have won three in a row in the rivalry.

As far as Rich Rodriguez is concerned, Paul Bunyan’s past is irrelevant.

“Didn’t you see the Lion King?,” he chided a reporter last week. “Monkey hits the lion in the head. The lion says, ‘What’d you do that for?’ Monkey says, ‘it doesn’t matter, it’s in the past.’

“Last week is last week, and last year is last year.”

Rodriguez’s focus is on the future, and in the short term, the outcome of today’s game between No. 17 Michigan State (5-0) and No. 18 Michigan (5-0) shapes which team continues to chase a Big Ten title.

For the Spartans, who don’t play top conference dog Ohio State this year, a win gives them an inside track.

For the Wolverines, a win would mean bowl eligibility, one more sign that Rich Rodriguez are on the right track following two of the worst seasons in decades. “As I told the team, the more you win, the more is at stake,” Rodriguez said. “That’s always the case.”

For both schools, today’s game (3:36 p.m., ABC) presents a chance to win state-wide bragging rights among friends and fans.

Michigan linebacker Obi Ezeh, a Grand Rapids native, remembers how much the game meant to relatives and friends as a high schooler, and remembers watching U-M running back Chris Perry carry a school-record 51 times during a 27-20 win over the Spartans in 2003.

“It’s year-round that I hear from my ex-classmates who have gone to Michigan State, so I get a lot of grief from those guys,” he said. “There’s a history behind those games, and you feel compelled to leave a good legacy against those guys.”

If the Wolverines intend to start building one Saturday, they’ll have to fix the defensive mistakes that have allowed opponents to compile an average of 433.6 yards per game against them - worst in the Big Ten.

Against Indiana last week, quarterback Ben Chappell shredded the Michigan secondary for 480 yards passing, the most any U-M team has given up in program history.

Five true freshmen have played in the team’s secondary this season - six, if you count hybrid linebacker-safety Carvin Johnson. The Wolverines must grow up in a hurry to have a chance today.

“We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do,” safety Jordan Kovacs said. “We’re going to be tested. This is probably our biggest test so far.”

It’s also the biggest test so far for sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson, who spent the first five weeks of the season thrusting himself from the bench straight into the Heisman Trophy conversation.

He leads the nation in rushing with 905 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s third in the nation with a 180.0 quarterback rating, and has thrown seven TDs to one interception.

Robinson will face what most believe is the best defense Michigan has seen to date. Something must give.

“Denard is an outstanding player,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. “He makes people miss. ... The one thing he has is the ability to make a guy miss and go the distance.

“Everything seems to be, four to five plays in a row, (the defense) gets some semblance of containment, then boom. He throws the ball effectively and has good skill players around him. We’ll work at it.”

Pete Bigelow can be reached at (734) 623-2556 or emailed at petebigelow@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeterCBigelow.