When Jim Harbaugh was hired to resurrect Michigan, the thinking was that he and Urban Meyer would start the next great “Ten Year War.” Harbaugh would act as Bo Schembechler and Urban Meyer would play the part of Woody Hayes.

That obviously hasn’t happened. Harbaugh has yet to beat his rival to the south, and if it’s been a war, it’s been an awfully one-sided one so far.

Harbaugh vs. Mark Dantonio has been the much better rivalry the last 3 years. The teams have traded off victories so far, which is a trend that the oddsmakers expect to continue on Saturday in East Lansing. That’s why the Wolverines are touchdown favorites on the road, despite the fact that Dantonio still has the upper hand on Harbaugh with a 2-1 advantage.

But as far as treating each other as true rivals, everybody wins when Dantonio and Harbaugh go back and forth.

When Michigan State was passed over in favor of Michigan to play in the Outback Bowl last year, Dantonio’s comments started a mini Twitter feud that blew up the internet.

“You know, the records are what they are. I’ll just continue to concentrate on beating Michigan and thing will sort of sort out,” the MSU coach said last December.

Harbaugh’s response to that was the most Harbaugh response of all Harbaugh responses:

And Dantonio’s response to that was the most Dantonio of all Dantonio responses:

Dantonio is right. It is just getting started. This rivalry has the makings of an epic 10-year battle that enters an intriguing chapter on Saturday. One could argue it’s at its most intriguing chapter yet, and not just because this is the first time those no-love-lost coaches will meet on the field since those comments last year.

Saturday’s matchup has perfect timing. Both teams are coming off wins against top-25 teams. Though both teams suffered early-season losses, both coaches are heading into the weekend with the mindset of “hey, remember when everyone wrote us off for the B1G Championship?”

The winner of Saturday’s game will still control its own destiny in the B1G East. And even though MSU is likely eliminated from the Playoff hunt with a pair of losses already, it’s sort of fitting that it can instead continue to play the role of underdog spoiler.

It’s Michigan that enters Saturday as the team with momentum galore. This is the fourth straight year that the Wolverines will enter the MSU game riding at least a 4-game winning streak without a loss in the B1G. As a result, Michigan has had its best in-season ranking for each matchup against Michigan State.

Twice, obviously, MSU spoiled that. Saturday can be a third time for the Spartans.

But in a matchup that’s been decided by single digits each of the first three years, this still feels like it could be the best chapter of this Dantonio-Harbaugh rivalry yet.

That’s not to say it’ll have a crazy finish like what we saw in 2015, but this is the first time since Year 1 of this that both programs are ranked at the time of their matchup. That’s significant. And while neither program is unbeaten like MSU was as a road underdog in 2015, we’re still talking about two teams with B1G title aspirations.

So what makes this 2018 matchup more interesting than it was in 2015? We didn’t really know what Michigan was at that point. The Wolverines were a team that already had a loss in the opener to Utah, not to mention they were still coming off a 5-win season. Yeah, they were ranked No. 12, but Michigan was still somewhat of a mystery in the first year of the Harbaugh era.

These narratives have been defined in the last three years. Now, we know how evenly matched these teams have been and it’s not just Year 1 Harbaugh hype:

[table “” not found /]

Both had their dud season in that stretch — MSU’s was obviously a bigger dud — and now both are top-25 teams again.

Michigan looks like a team that has figured out how to win, unlike that 2015 squad in close games. Michigan State looks like a team that has figured out how to be the customary thorn in the side of the B1G’s elite again. Michigan is riding high and Michigan State is thinking about how satisfying it would be to be that buzzkill yet again.

A 3-1 mark for Dantonio against three ranked Michigan teams would be a major, major edge in recruiting. The “hype over substance” card could be played in every living room he walks into in the state.

And for Harbaugh, evening the score at 2-2 would be one thing. Getting a win over a ranked team while being inside the top 10 would be a different kind of boost. That hasn’t happened since No. 4 Michigan beat No. 8 Wisconsin in Week 5 of 2016. Up until last week’s win against the Badgers, Michigan hadn’t beat a ranked B1G team since then, either.

This game will do more for the perspective of Michigan than it will for the 2-loss Spartans. Many want to see if the Wolverines can exercise some of their run-game demons against top-25 foes like they did last week in a 320-yard rushing performance against Wisconsin. Against MSU’s No. 1-ranked run defense, that’ll again be a high hurdle to clear.

Michigan basically tried to run around that hurdle last year when it threw the ball 35 times in a monsoon instead of trying to best the Spartans’ top-ranked run defense. That won’t be an option this year. Well, at least if Michigan does find itself in throwing situations, Shea Patterson is a better option to turn to than John O’Korn.

That Patterson excitement has only added to the “this is finally our year” buzz in Ann Arbor. Michigan fans have felt like every year of the Harbaugh era was supposed to be their year — with the exception of the post-Michigan State game part of 2017 — while Michigan State fans have felt like every year of the Harbaugh era was supposed to be their year to bring Michigan back down to earth.

The latter has obviously been the more common occurrence in the beginning of this different 10-year war. Who knows? Maybe Dantonio and Harbaugh are destined to trade off victories for the next 20 years.

To paraphrase from Dantonio’s viral tweet, “it’s not over, it’ll never be over, it’s just getting started.”