Spartans Can Set Tone for Season
- SpartyOnline Writer
- Sep 17, 2016
- 2 min read
The tough thing about early season games is they really don’t tell you much about your team. It’s not until you play a Top 20 team like Notre Dame that you find out what you have. So my sense is you can take the Furman game with a grain of salt. What do we know about Notre Dame? They are big and very physical with some of the best talent in the nation. Irish QB DeShone Kizer (15-24 for 215 yards and 5 TD’s against Texas) is a mobile quarterback that can light it up through the air. The Notre Dame defense gave up 237 yards rushing and 280 yards passing against Texas. The Irish secondary is depleted and subject to the long ball.
How about MSU? Although the Spartans looked sloppy in their first game (to be expected to some degree), Tyler O’Conner looked solid and demonstrated the same business-like approach as he did last season in the win over Ohio State. The defensive front didn’t dominate. The receiving corps looked promising, and the defensive secondary gave us flashes of the “no-fly zone.”
So what can we expect? Notre Dame’s back is against the wall. One more loss and they are out of playoff contention. So expect a very physical Irish team that will look to test the Spartan secondary deep and often. Defensively Michigan State’s front four will need to exert pressure on Kizer to take some of the pressure off the secondary. The Spartan linebackers are among the best in the nation, especially with Ed Davis back, so running the ball could be a challenge for the Irish. If O’Conner and his receivers can pick up where they left off against Furman, they could give the Irish defense fits. If that happens, “game Spartans.” You know Dantonio wants to run the ball and control the clock. If O’Conner and the receivers can make things happen, LJ Scott and company will take over the game.
As with most physical games, this game will come down to performance in the trenches and which team controls the line of scrimmage. I think we see much more intensity from the Spartans this week. Expect a repeat of 2012, although O’Conner is much further ahead than Cook was at the time. This time Michigan State pulls it out in the final drive to win by 4 points.
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