Frank Lorenzo
Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans (-17, 49.5 o/u)
The Michigan State Spartans (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) are one of the many one-loss teams trying to earn a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff. If the Spartans want to keep that dream alive, they can’t afford a slip this Saturday when they host their arch rival, the Michigan Wolverines (3-4, 1-2 Big Ten), at Spartan Stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans (-17, 49.5 o/u)
The Michigan State Spartans (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) are one of the many one-loss teams trying to earn a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoffs. If the Spartans want to keep that dream alive, they can’t afford a slip this Saturday when they host their arch rival, the Michigan Wolverines (3-4, 1-2 Big Ten), at Spartan Stadium. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Since losing at Oregon early in September, Michigan State has won five in a row, including last week’s 56-17 thrashing of Indiana where the Spartans covered as 16 points favorites. That game brought the Spartans ATS record above .500 for the season (4-3). Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio knows that every game is do-or-die from here on out and that, just because its Michigan coming to town, the Spartans have to stick to their game.
“We have to keep our edge regardless of who we play. If we can’t do that, then we’ve not succeeded,” Dantonio said Tuesday. “We keep it the same way we keep it with every team that we’re playing against. We find a way.
“We have a method. I don’t know; there is a story in every game we play, there is usually a story of some sort.”
In their last game, the Wolverines took the first step toward salvaging their (so far dismal) season, beating Penn State 18-13. The Wolverines are 3-4 both straight up and against the spread this season. After finishing last season at 7-6 (3-5 Big Ten), Michigan coach Brady Hoke knows that his job is all but lost. He will be anxious to leave at least one good grade on his Michigan report card, though, and a win at Michigan State would do the trick.
Hoke will have his work cut out for him though, as the Wolverines are 17 point road dogs and the Spartans have covered seven of the last ten meetings against the Wolverines. Spartans QB Connor Cook is also playing some of his best football lately, and is challenging Marcus Mariota for top QB prospect in the 2015 NFL draft.
(Photo credit: larrysphatpage (flickr) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)
