Michigan State @ Wisconsin Preview

Wisconsin takes on its second toughest test so far of the season at 2:30 this Saturday in Camp Randall. While Michigan State just became unranked after getting shelled by Ohio State last Saturday, they’re still a respectable team with a 4-2 record, and a team that usually plays Wisconsin fairly close. First off, I want to be up front and say I absolutely can’t stand Mark Dantonio. I challenge anyone to look at that guys face and say “yeah, seems like a nice enough guy”, just watch him on the sideline and it’ll take 4 plays to see he’s a douche. Unfortunately for him, Urban Meyer retired so Dantonio climbed up the rankings in my “most hated Big Ten coaches” list, which is a list that comes second only to the Ten Commandments. Bias aside, on to the game.

Michigan State is a team that hasn’t quite lived up to their preseason rank. After dropping one to Arizona State, they fluctuated for a couple weeks right at the bottom of the Top 25. All hell broke loose when they walked into Columbus. Their defense looked stout in the first quarter (holding OSU to 16 yards off of 16 plays) and their offense was dog shit. In quarters 2-4, the defense was more like their own first quarter offense, and the Spartan offense still was dog shit. While Ohio State is a legit playoff contender, I think this game showed that MSU doesn’t really have any offensive groove, and any teams defense can only old for so long. While Lewarke is a decent quarterback for the Spartans, he’s not someone who’s going to be able to blow games wide open, and their rushing attack is in the bottom third in the country (100th in YPG). Defensively Michigan State is a very respectable 22nd in the country in yards per game and also rushing yards per game, although they did just give up 323 total yards on the ground last week, including 170 to J.K. Dobbins.

Wisconsin comes in to this game still as hot as we have been all season, completely dismantling Kent State. Jonathan Taylor is 4th in the nation in rushing yards and he hasn’t even come close to playing all 4 quarters in a game yet. Coan looked much better this week than he did against Northwestern, and I think he’s been doing just enough to keep the teams offense from being 100% predictable in certain situations (if we run in to a team that can stop JT). Defensively Baun is a freak, and our secondary has been doing what they need to do, leading the nation in pass yards given up per game.

Keys to the game:

Offensively for Michigan State:

Sustain long drives even if they don’t result in touchdowns. Keeping the defense fresh is going to be key to slowing down the Badgers ground game.

Defensively for Michigan State:

Force negative plays on early downs to get Wisconsin out of rhythm and into 3rd and long

Offensively for Wisconsin:

Don’t get too cute, run the damn ball

Defensively for Wisconsin:

Get to Lawarke early and often, don’t let MSU get explosive plays

Prediction:

I don’t think this game is going to be a complete blowout, but I also don’t think it’s going to be that close either.

Badgers 31

Spartans 17