From the moment the GLIAC schedule is published, all eyes both in the league, nationally, and fans of football in general, begin searching for when the Anchor-Bone Classic is played. The game is always sold out well in advance, and is one of the best rivalries in college football in terms of skill on the field, with both teams typically featuring multiple NFL talents on the roster.

In addition to it usually being a classic game, the winner of the rivalry showdown has typically ended up as the GLIAC champion, and with it, the top seed in the region come postseason time. This is the type of game that when ESPN’s College GameDay makes the rare trek to a non-FBS location, should end up on the short list of games they need to check out.

It’s a rivalry that despite a recent run by Ferris State in the win column, could not be more equal. All-time, Grand Valley State holds a narrow 12-11 edge, with the teams an equal 6-6 in games played at GVSU in Allendale, and the Lakers holding a narrow 6-4 edge at games in Big Rapids.

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Despite Ferris State taking seven of the last eight games, the final score in six of those games has come down to the wire. Other than a blip in 2021 when the Bulldogs rolled by 34, and a 15-point win for Ferris in 2016, the winning margins have been as follows: 3, 1, 7, 5, 4, 1.

It’s two teams who have a genuine dislike for each other on the football field and a game that has swung as the program's fortunes have.

Back near the turn of the century, it was GVSU who was the talk of Division II football, winning four national championships, and opening the rivalry in a big way, taking the first nine in the series, and only one of those games decided by fewer than 18 points.

Fast forward to today, and it’s the Bulldogs who have controlled the rivalry and won national championships.

Much as they might not like to admit it, the two teams are mirror images of each other, with both boasting high-scoring offenses that can beat you both through the air and on the ground. Both Grand Valley State and Ferris State enter the game in the Top-12 in the country in scoring offense, and the Top-5 in total offense, all while backing it up with defenses that have been brutally tough to score on.

The two teams could also not be hotter coming into the game, with Ferris racking up 116 points and giving up 20 in its last two wins, while GVSU has scored 120 and given up 21. Have we mentioned that these two teams are pretty even?

Even the one loss each team has this season has been impressive. GVSU dropped its lone game on the road, in the dying seconds, to last season’s national runner-up, and the current No. 2 team in the country, Colorado School of Mines. Ferris State’s single blemish was on the road to a Top-25 in the FCS-ranked Montana, falling by just seven to one of the premier FCS teams of the past couple of decades.

Because of that, the players, coaches, fans, and even potential playoff opponents know that the stakes are impossibly high in this game. Barring somebody tripping up down the stretch, or upstart Davenport finding a way to get on the same level as the Lakers and Bulldogs, this game is probably for the GLIAC regular season championship, and likely the top-seed in the region in the postseason, where home field advantage until the national semifinals could await.

And lest you think that having a home-field advantage in the postseason isn’t a big deal, keep in mind that four times since the 2016 season they have gone on to meet in the postseason. So there is a very real chance this is not the last game between the two teams in 2023, as was the case in 2022 when the Bulldogs ended GVSU’s season and best shot at a title since those teams from around 20 years ago.

If you’re a GVSU or Ferris State fan, you likely view Saturday with a mix of dread and anticipation, wanting to beat the other for bragging rights, with a loss potentially ruining what will be an otherwise fantastic regular season.

For those of us on the outside, it might be the best regular season football game of the year at any level of the college game, while giving us our first look at what might await down the line come playoff time.

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