Michigan State enters 2008 as a team on the rise in the Big Ten. After underachieving for the entire watch under John L. Smith, it's looking like Mark Dantonio has things at least headed in the right direction.
Will Sparty compete for a Big Ten crown this fall? Not a snowball's chance in hell, my friends. But will they continue to be more competitive? Absolutely.
Although the Spartans went 7-5 in the regular season last year, only three of those wins came against Big Ten opponents. Returning 16 starters this year gives the Spartans to have a realistic opportunity to reach a January bowl game.
Brian Hoyer will man the offense, as the senior quarterback showed he was very capable last fall. Couple him with a very strong running back in Javon Ringer, and Michigan State has a pretty good QB/RB combo.
Is it great? Not really, but it will do damage if not taken as a serious threat.
Today's Must Reads
The Spartans enter 2008 without a proven wideout for Hoyer to find as his go-to man. Devin Thomas is gone to the NFL, leaving Mark Dell and Deon Curry to fill his much-missed production. Can they do it? They're capable of being decent, but nothing extraordinary.
The offensive line is the giant question mark entering 2008 for the Spartan offense. Pretty much the entire starting core from a year ago is gone, and that usually does not spell success. Granted, Georgia had a pair of freshmen starting on their line last year, and we are all aware of what they did.
However, teams like Iowa and Notre Dame had several first year starters on their lines, and both played very poorly. It seems that more often than not, replacing almost an entire offensive line just about kills you, so this is a big reason for concern here.
With so many questions on the offensive line, I have real trouble expecting this team to soar over .500.
The defensive line tells nearly the same story as the offensive side. Can they fill gaps left by departing seniors? Three holes need to be filled from last year's team.
The linebackers don't have much experience starting, but they do have game experience, which should count for something. The secondary seems to be improved with former touted recruits Kendall Clark and Ross Weaver expected to start at corner.
The Prognosis
Michigan State is starting to return towards the top of the Big Ten. Although the turnaround isn't occurring as quickly as the one at Illinois, Michigan State is improving. This year brings many questions to the Spartans, but the schedule features plenty of winnable games.
Michigan State will finish 7-5 while playing once again in the Champs Sports Bowl.
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about 1 month ago
This year will be an interesting one.. our schedule is tough, as with our normal foes, OSU, UM (which we should beat for the first time since 01), Wisc and Penn St, we've got improved FAU, ND and Iowa all on the docket as well...
7-5 is a good prediction- though, and I know it's scary- we realistically could be 7-0 heading into our home game against OSU...
from about 1 month ago
"7-5 is a good prediction- though, and I know it's scary- we realistically could be 7-0 heading into our home game against OSU..."
Actually, I have Michigan State at 7-0 heading into the home game against Ohio State... and finishing the season with a 10-2 record, with their losses coming against Ohio State AND @ Penn State :)
about 1 month ago
I think 8-4 is probably the mark with losses to Cal, OSU, Wis, and Penn St. But if they can pull of winning at Cal, 7-0 by the time OSU arrives at Spartan Stadium. That would be a College Gameday event. I have to disagree with the author on his assessment of the linebackers. Two of the three projected starters are returning starters from last season. One, Greg Jones, was named a first-team Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America. The linebacking core is looking to be the most solid it has been in years.
about 1 month ago
Michigan State.....going down as the high powered FAU Owls roll through the Spartans.
OK well maybe not, but I think it will be a good game, and any of you State fans that think otherwise are HUGE homers.
GO FOWLS, BEAT TEXAS! (and michigan state later)
about 1 month ago
Michigan State.....going down as the high powered FAU Owls roll through the Spartans.
OK well maybe not, but I think it will be a good game, and any of you State fans that think otherwise are HUGE homers.
GO FOWLS, BEAT TEXAS! (and michigan state later)
about 1 month ago
This guy has no clue what he is talking about. Saying that Mark Dell can be decent but not extraordinary is just a croc. Dell has all of the tools to be a special player in the spartan offense for the next 2-3 years. The offensive line returns 3 starters from last year, so they are actually only filling 2 holes on the OL. This guy says that state is replacing everyone, well thats just not true. Plus he mentions how Iowa ND and Georgia all had freshmen starting on the OL last year, well MSU has Junior Rocco Cironi filling in at the left tackle position, and the chance of a freshmen making the first team either guard position is not very likely. This article was pretty standard to most articles on the bleacher report, it was done with very little research or knowledge about the MSU program.
one last thing, this writer is way off base saying that the Hoyer/Ringer combo at QB/RB is only very capable of doing damage if they are not taken seriously. Let us not forget that before his Champs sports Bowl meltdown Hoyer was one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the nation last season. Pair him with one of the top 5 backs in the country (Ringer) and I think the duo is quite a bit better than, "pretty good," as the writer so obliviously put it.
about 1 month ago
You do have a point when you the group of Cironi, Martin, Nitchman, Foreman, and Miller have more experience than I led on. However, with the research that I did do, I also found Masters, Shane, Clifford, and Gyetvai gone. I said five lineman, I mis wrote I meant the key losses being those four. I aplogize, but those were still four contributors who are gone this year.
Javon Ringer is a very good back. Top 5 in the nation good? I can name more than five I would rather have but still very speedy and talented nonetheless.
Brian Hoyer? Hes a "Don't cost us the ballgame" type quarterback. We will see if they open up the playbook with him more this year. The only real time we saw him tested was in the bowl game vs. BC last year and all MSU fans saw what happened. I would take Boeckman, Painter, Williams, and Lewis all before him in the Big Ten. Heck, by the end of the year Pryor may very well be on that list as a backup as well. 5th out 11 starters = Average, not exceptional.
I will restate that this team is on the upswing but not where it needs to be just yet. For MSU standards of late they are exceptional but when it comes down to it at best still a middle of the road or slightly above average Big Ten teams. 7 wins remains my prediction.
from about 1 month ago
Hoyer is not a "don't cost us the ballgame" type quarterback. Look at his performance against Purdue last year. Or better yet, look at his second half against Penn State. It was the difference between the Motor City Bowl and the Champs Sports Bowl. He's a good quarterback who had some growing pains in his first year as a starter.
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