Michigan State and Northwestern equally open Big Ten and Northwestern play, looking to shield its Western Division crown.
The Wildcats have won eight straight regular-season Big Ten games and 15 of their past 16. They’ve also beaten Michigan State three decades in a row, averaging 40.6 points a game against the Spartans.
Northwestern’s offense is struggling to overcome injuries to important players, however. Quarterback T.J. Green was missing for the season at Northwestern’s opening match loss to Stanford.
Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson shoot at quarterback, and he had a strong but far from magnificent match in the win over UNLV last weekend, passing for 165 yards on passing.
Coach Pat Fitzgerald seems like he’s expecting Johnson to be a game supervisor, not the celebrity.
“He took what the defense gave him. He did not try to force anything,” Fitzgerald said in his weekly press conference.
At running back, northwestern is also banged up. Isaiah Bowser suffered a knee injury in the opener. He has been practicing but overlooked the UNLV game.
Jesse Brown went down leaving the errands that were conducting who ran for 141 yards
Even the Spartans come to Evanston with one of the best defenses in the country.
Michigan State is allowing 23.3 yards per game to the ground, good for the No. 2 rushing defense.
The Spartans are the No. 3 overall protection, at 216 metres per game allowed.
They’re also called in sacks (4.3 per game), twelfth in scoring (11.3 points enabled ) and No. 20 in turnovers, with 6.
Head coach Mark Dantonio is not happy, however, stating that the D wants to”be perfect” and hammering them for permitting a late touchdown drive by Arizona State in a week’s 10-7 loss.
On offense, the Spartans are led by Brian Lewerke, that ranks second in the Big Ten in passing, and receiver Darrell Stewart.
The line is a issue, yet. The Spartans are on their handle, having lost AJ Arcuri and Cole Chewins in the year.
Last week, Kevin Jarvis will miss seven or six weeks with a knee injury and went down.
The line appears sky high for a street team, however, with Northwestern’s crime hobbling and confronting the Spartan D, it’s difficult to see that the Wildcats setting up enough points to pay. Start Looking for Michigan State to win by double digits.
Free Pick: Michigan State -9.5 (-112) together with BetOnline
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