2. What is Michigan State\u2019s plan at quarterback?<\/strong><\/h3>\nLook, I\u2019ve been extremely adamant about my belief that Kim is the best option for Michigan State right now<\/em>. I just don\u2019t believe that in an open competition, the MSU coaches would start their second favorite quarterback. Kim has played deep into every game this year, even after the outcome of the Washington game was decided. After getting pulled in the fourth quarter against Maryland, Harlon Barnett doubled down on his belief in Kim as the starter. Whether that\u2019s the right decision or not is impossible for any of us to know. We\u2019re not in the building. We\u2019re not at practice. We can only judge based on what we see on Saturday. And at some point, the coaches need to judge from that perspective as well.<\/p>\nKim\u2019s play over the last two weeks hasn\u2019t been good enough. He\u2019s not entirely to blame. It\u2019s a bad offense. But at this point in the season, the pieces around the quarterback aren\u2019t changing. If he can\u2019t get it done with this group, then the staff needs to see if someone else can do a better job. They might not think Katin Houser is ready. He might not be ready under normal circumstances. But in a broken offense, in a season spiraling downwards, what do you have to lose? He could surprise us. He could go down in flames. There\u2019s going to come a point in this season where MSU needs to find out.<\/p>\n
Unless MSU completely rolls over, Iowa shouldn\u2019t run away with this game. Watch for Houser to get the call in the second half to try and turn things around if the Spartan offense struggles.<\/p>\n
\u00a03. Who plays for MSU and how is that handled?<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe game against Iowa will be the fifth for Michigan State football. Under the new redshirt rules, players can appear in up to four games while preserving their redshirt status. So, anyone who plays a snap to appear in their fifth game on Saturday night will be using a year of eligibility. There are 10 players on Michigan State\u2019s roster who have not used a redshirt season yet and have also appeared in all four games. Impact starters Dillon Tatum, Malik Spencer, Chance Rucker, Zion Young, Jordan Hall, and Tyrell Henry are all part of that list.<\/p>\n
The Mel Tucker situation has derailed this season. With uncertainty regarding the next coaching staff, opting to preserve a year of eligibility would be understandable. In the immediate context of this game against Iowa though, how will MSU handle that?<\/p>\n
The Spartans were able to hang around against Maryland with the home crowd backing them. This is MSU\u2019s first road game. Kinnick Stadium at night is a place where things can unravel. If MSU is without key players (there are injuries at play as well), and gets behind early, this could snowball on them and get pretty ugly.<\/p>\n
The Spartans have said and done all of the right things since the Tucker story broke. There is nothing to suggest that there will be a mass exodus mid-season. But when the rubber meets the road, I\u2019d be stunned if every member of MSU\u2019s team moves forward with this season.<\/p>\n
We won\u2019t know until the availability report comes out an hour before kickoff. But that is as big of a story to watch as the game itself.<\/p>\n
Prediction<\/strong><\/h3>\nIowa opened as a 7.5-point favorite and has since been bet all the way up to 12.5. Iowa may not even be able to score 13 points to cover this number in a shutout. This is a winnable game for Michigan State because of the variability that comes with these low-scoring affairs. But you simply cannot bet on Michigan State football on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Kinnick Stadium is an extremely difficult place to win. At night, with a shaky offense, it\u2019s almost impossible. Iowa doesn\u2019t give up explosive plays on defense. That\u2019s been Michigan State\u2019s best source of offense this season. To score, they\u2019re going to have to sustain long drives, convert on third down, and cash in their red zone opportunities for touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the Spartans, they can\u2019t seem to go five plays without a penalty, negative play, or turnover. This strikes me as a game that MSU will never feel completely out of because they will always be one play away from making it interesting. But I expect Iowa to be their usual selves on defense and special teams. They\u2019ll wear down the Spartans and get stronger as the night goes on.<\/p>\n
Final: <\/em>Michigan State 6, Iowa 19<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Can MSU get the job done?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":7530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[59,191,189,504],"class_list":["post-7523","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\/7523","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=7523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}