Michigan State football<\/a> program.<\/p>\nOn Saturday, there is a game. A big<\/em> game. Eighth-ranked Washington will pay a visit to Spartan Stadium for the most anticipated non-conference home game in years. For the Spartans and their fans, Saturday can\u2019t come soon enough. For a couple of hours, everyone can just focus on football. The atmosphere might be strange. The mood in Spartan Stadium is unpredictable. But for four quarters on Saturday afternoon, football can be the primary focus.<\/p>\nHere are some keys to watch for and a prediction of the outcome.<\/p>\n
1. Michigan State<\/strong><\/h3>\nTake that in any direction you wish. Michigan State as a team is the most intriguing part of this matchup. The past few days have been extremely abnormal for the players and coaches. In all of the different directions these young men anticipated their season might go, nobody could have predicted this. Their ability to rally around each other and focus<\/em> on their opponent is the number one key to this game on Saturday.<\/p>\nThe Spartans are heavy underdogs. Being physically ready to go isn\u2019t going to be enough. For the Spartans to win, they\u2019ll have to execute their scouting report and game plan perfectly. That preparation falls on the coaching staff. Any ideas as to what to expect there? Me neither.<\/p>\n
Harlon Barnett takes over as the interim head coach for the Spartans. He\u2019ll have an assist from Michigan State football legend Mark Dantonio. Barnett has 15 years of coaching experience at Michigan State. He\u2019ll be ready for this opportunity. But how will he react when it comes to the first fourth down decision? How quickly will he throw out an element of the game plan and make an adjustment? He\u2019s being asked to look at the game from an entirely different point of view than he\u2019s used to. That\u2019s neither good nor bad.<\/p>\n
If there is a silver lining to the situation, it\u2019s that Michigan State now feels like they have absolutely nothing to lose in this game. Nobody was expecting much of them to begin with. Now, with this added distraction, people will applaud them for playing hard. It\u2019s a bad situation.<\/p>\n
The Spartans have to try and make the best of it. We\u2019re about to find out what that looks like.<\/p>\n
2. Washington\u2019s offense and Michigan State\u2019s defense<\/strong><\/h3>\nIf Michael Penix Jr. wants to have a graduation party, Michigan State University would be willing to pick up the tab and buy him a class ring. This guy has torched Michigan State for 1,003 yards and nine touchdowns across three games. A year ago, the country was introduced to Washington\u2019s high-powered offense in this game. Only one quarterback threw for more yards than Penix in 2022 and that was because he played 14 games to Penix\u2019s 13.<\/p>\n
Pick any statistic. It\u2019s impressive. Washington is going to score. Their offense can\u2019t be held down by anyone in college football. For Michigan State, it have to understand that. They can\u2019t let one bad play become two. They can\u2019t let an eight-yard gain become a 48-yard gain. Bend. Don\u2019t break.<\/p>\n
So far, Michigan State\u2019s defense has been a strength. The most talented unit on this team is Michigan State\u2019s defensive line. That unit will need to be repeatedly disruptive on Saturday. If there is a weakness with Penix, it\u2019s his accuracy. For his career, he\u2019s completing 63 percent of his passes with 24 interceptions across 36 games. If MSU can disrupt the pocket and make Penix move around, they might be able to do enough to bother him. Again, it\u2019s not about shutting down the Huskies. It\u2019s about making them execute and earn it. Through two games, opponents are just 4-of-28 on third down against MSU\u2019s defense. To me, that\u2019s the game.<\/p>\n
If MSU can pressure Penix and make him feel the rush \u2013 particularly on third down — then he might miss on just enough throws to let the Spartans hang around. If he\u2019s allowed to stand back there all day, he will pick this defense apart. The wide receiving group is too talented to hold down. Keep things in front of you. Tackle in space. Live to fight another down. Then maybe, just maybe, MSU can give themselves a chance in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
3. Michigan State\u2019s offensive line<\/strong><\/h3>\nIf I\u2019m Jay Johnson and Harlon Barnett, the last thing I want to do is get into a shootout with the Huskies like they did a year ago.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Washington wants. Michigan State football needs a game in the 20s. To get there, it\u2019s going to require long drives from the offense. I want MSU to take advantage of the new clock rules and shorten this game. Michael Penix Jr. and his receivers can\u2019t hurt MSU from the sidelines. That\u2019s going to require an effective running game.<\/p>\n
Through two games, Michigan State\u2019s ground attack has been better with Ethan Boyd and Kristian Phillips in the game. It\u2019s no coincidence that when these two are on the field, the running game has found some space. MSU likes to rotate bodies along the offensive line. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll see both players at some point. In the first real test of the season though, I don\u2019t think MSU has the luxury of waiting to get those two involved. This is also the biggest game that Noah Kim has ever played in. The last thing he needs is to have poor protection up front. Washington will likely look to test him early with some blitzes. It\u2019s crucial that he\u2019s able to hit a couple passes early to get his footing. Part of that is Kim\u2019s responsibility as well. But he also needs time. He\u2019s been prone to some overthrows so far this season. A leaky offensive line is only going to exacerbate that issue.<\/p>\n
MSU has some playmakers on offense. They should be able to score against this defense. It all starts with the big boys up front.<\/p>\n
Prediction<\/strong><\/h3>\nBefore the season, I predicted Michigan State football would win this game. The line was around Washington -12 in the offseason. It has ballooned up to 16 this week. Part of that is due to Washington. Part of that is due to what\u2019s going on at Michigan State.<\/p>\n
Quite honestly, I think this is a great spot for the Spartans. They\u2019re at home. There are zero expectations. The team will rally around each other and their new head coach. At the same time, Washington is too good.<\/p>\n
Kalen DeBoer and Michael Penix Jr. have had MSU\u2019s number since their days at Indiana. The injury to Jacboy Windmon is a potential issue for Michigan State. Even if he goes, MSU\u2019s best pass rusher won\u2019t be at 100 percent. While I do think this Spartan defense has improved from a year ago, this is a bad matchup. Washington\u2019s complex aerial attack should be able to solve Scottie Hazelton\u2019s zone-heavy scheme.<\/p>\n
Michigan State should be able to ride the energy of game day and the home crowd for a half. Eventually, I expect DeBoer to figure things out and calmly put Michigan State to sleep. The Spartans improve to 3-0 — against the spread.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Washington 38, <\/em>Michigan State 24<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How can MSU win?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":6972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[59,191,189,504],"class_list":["post-6965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-featured","tag-michigan-state-football","tag-michigan-state-spartans","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}