Big Ten Football Q&A: Players Trading Places at Michigan and Michigan State?

On Thursdays on The Big Ten Blog, we will feature questions from the B/R inbox, Twitter and e-mail. Do you have a question for next week's Q&A? Send them to Big Ten lead blogger Adam Jacobi via the B/R inbox, on Twitter @Adam_Jacobi or at [e-mail].

Phillip Johnson (@doworklaroy): How many Michigan players would start on MSU's defense? How many MSU players on Michigan's offense?

I'm glad you asked. Michigan State is comically defense-heavy this season, to the point that the Spartans may have the best defense in the nation.

As to who I'd rather have on Michigan's defense, well... in the front seven, I'd take Will Campbell at nose tackle (as long as he stays away from flimsy car hoods), but only him. In the secondary, Jordan Kovacs would be a safe bet to start at free safety, and I can't really decide if I'd rather have one of Michigan's duo of J.T. Floyd and Blake Countess or MSU's Darqueze Dennard to start alongside Spartan CB Johnny Adams (a mortal lock to start here). So two or three Michigan men would start there—I'm leaning two.

And then we get to offense, where the Spartan passing game is bombed out and depleted by graduation. The rushing game, though, is in phenomenal shape. I like Travis Jackson at center way more than Michigan's Ricky Barnum, Fou Fonoti is a beast and an upgrade at RT, and Chris McDonald is one of the conference's best RGs. Michigan's line isn't bad, it's just not on MSU's level.

Dion Sims would start at TE for Michigan almost by default, but other than those four along the line, I think Michigan's in better shape with its current personnel. DeAnthony Arnett and Jeremy Gallon would be a fascinating battle at WR, though.

So to answer your question: 2-3 players from Michigan's defense would start for Michigan State, and 4-5 from Michigan State's offense could start for the Maize and Blue. That doesn't make Michigan State better as a whole, mind you, but it does reflect quite aptly where Michigan State's strengths and weaknesses are.

Stephen M. (@packer_hawk): Who will have more passing yards, Miller or Shoelace?

Oh, this is a great bar room debate, and I'm glad you asked. I almost don't want to answer it because I know how much of an authority I am and how many of you will be like, "oh, Adam said this, so end of story." That would be very correct of you to do in nearly every instance, but here, in this limited scope, you readers are allowed to disagree with me.

That all out of the way, I could theoretically throw this question out on the technicality of "it's probably Denard because he'll have at least one more game and maybe two," but let's just amend it to "more passing yards per game" instead.

Miller's obviously going to pass for more than the 89 yards per game he racked up last season, which is right around half of what Denard Robinson has done as a starting quarterback. That said, Urban Meyer's offenses have been pretty run-heavy, even out of the spread, and there's little about Ohio State's personnel that would lead me to believe Miller's got an average of 200 yards per game in him this year. 150, probably. 175 is in play. 200 seems a bit much.

Meanwhile, Denard Robinson has been cited as improving substantially in the passing game, and even though he doesn't have a ton of talent at wideout this season, he's got experience and a second year in Al Borges' system on his side. Michigan won't need him to throw for 300 yards very often—it'd probably be disastrous if they did—but he should be more productive on a week-to-week basis.

Ben Dawson (@BenjaminJDawson): Do you believe that there is a player that will touch the ball in the conference more than Indiana's KR?

Well, this is a silly question, but I'm glad you asked. Clearly... clearly, uh... wait...

/looks at Denard Robinson
/looks at Indiana's defense
/looks back at Denard Robinson
/looks back at Indiana's defense
/notices Indiana's defense is a haphazardly arranged set of metal trash cans

Indiana's kick returner it is.

Elliot Mann (@elliotmann): What is the biggest, specific issue (not like, lack of wins) that could hold the Gophers back from bowl eligibility this year?

You can't tell me lack of wins is off the table! That's cheating! But I'm glad you asked.

At any rate, the Gophers have the misfortune of playing in a Legends Division that basically has no cupcakes. Minnesota has a two-year winning streak against Iowa (which does matter), but the talent level just isn't there yet.

As for specific on-field problems the Gophers have, this is going to be a very run-centric Big Ten this season. As much as I like, say, moving Mike Rallis to middle linebacker, the fact is Minnesota is still dreadful against the run and the Gophers are going to face a lot of rushing attacks.

And also they will not win six games.