Michigan State football: 3 bold predictions vs. Prairie View A&M

Michigan State football will host an FCS squad in Week 3 with some fixes to make ahead of a loaded slate of opponents.

A week ago, I may have had my best-ever Michigan State football bold predictions.

For one, I said that we’d see Aidan Chiles bounce back in a big way. I did claim he’d have no interceptions, but fortunately, the two picks he did throw did not end up hurting the Spartans. He did throw for nearly 370 yards and three touchdowns, so I’d say that prediction was correct.

Following that, I said that Nick Marsh was going to eclipse the 100-yard mark with Alante Brown out and a bigger workload. Well, he did just that — and actually did so in the fourth quarter alone. He finished with 194 yards and a touchdown on eight catches.

Lastly, I said that the game would come down to a last-second field goal. Let’s just gloss over the fact that I said Maryland would be kicking it and just realize that this is an insane thing to predict and come true. Sure, I got the winning team wrong, but I was close enough, right?

I’m calling this a 3-for-3 week (with a tiny asterisk).

I’m looking to go 3-for-3 again this week with Prairie View A&M coming to town. Let’s get into it.

3. No turnovers for Aidan Chiles

In Week 1, Aidan Chiles threw an interception on his first pass attempt as a Spartan. Sure, it probably should’ve been caught by Montorie Foster Jr. and also probably ruled an incompletion, but I digress. He added another pick and threw zero touchdown passes in the slim win. In Week 2, he had two interceptions and a lost fumble. That means he’s had five turnovers in two games and that’s way too many.

I’d be willing to bet that ball security was the theme of practice this week and we’ll see that mindset enacted on Saturday.

Chiles won’t turn the ball over at all and he’ll complete 12-of-16 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. He won’t play much in the second half which will help, but don’t expect any turnovers from the sophomore.

2. Two 100-yard rushers

The run game has been less than impressive through two weeks, but Smith and Co. are ready to change that. We’re going to see a steady dose of carries from both Nate Carter and Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams on Saturday afternoon.

Michigan State will run to open up the pass game but the Spartans won’t need much of the latter because the run game will finally be effective. We’ll see Carter break the 100-yard mark for the first time this season on 11 carries and Lynch-Adams will also break 100 yards. Both guys will break off big runs and add to the total on the ground for Michigan State which I’m predicting will be around 300.

1. Touchdown Tommy

If there’s ever going to be a game in which we see backups play a healthy amount, it’s this one. Michigan State football will build an insurmountable lead early and Chiles will be out midway through the third quarter to avoid injury.

That means it’ll be ‘Touchdown’ Tommy Schuster time. He’s going to come in and score his first touchdown as a Spartan quarterback and he’ll actually look pretty solid in mop-up duty. Fans are going to see just how much healthier the quarterback room is this year compared to last.

Schuster throws a touchdown pass and has 80 yards through the air in a 45-13 win.