Michigan State Football: Spartans hope to avoid upset vs. Arizona State

Michigan State football and Arizona State are both looking to establish themselves in this late-night matchup of two conference title contenders.

The first week of the season brought us a lot more questions than it did answers to our preseason questions. With no major upsets, we aren’t really able to make quick decisions on which teams are awful and which teams are underrated, but plenty of close calls have raised serious questions. The two conferences with the most questions right now are probably the Big Ten and the Pac-12, and this weekend, we get a late night matchup between the two.

Michigan State, one week off of a near-loss to Utah State at home, is set to travel to Arizona State to take on the Sun Devils in what should be an awesome and immensely stupid game. Arizona State didn’t come into the season as Pac-12 South favorites, but after a huge win over UTSA, while Arizona fell to BYU, ASU’s stock has risen a bit.

This game will tell us a lot about the Big Ten East race, the Pac-12 South race, and above all else, it’ll tell us about what we can really expect to see from two pretty confusing teams this year. It should be a late night, defense heavy battle, and after a long day of football, that sounds like a great way to end it. Here’s how you can watch this culture clash in the desert.

Date: Saturday, Sept. 8
Time: 10:45 p.m. ET
Location: Tempe, Ariz.
Venue: Sun Devil Football Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN or FuboTV

Michigan State keys to victory

Michigan State cannot afford to get off to a slow start this week like they did last week against Utah State. Arizona State is significantly better than the Aggies are, and if Michigan State can’t find the end zone early and often, they’ll have a ton of trouble. That need to score leads into the second key, and the most unlikely of the three, which is that Michigan State desperately needs better play calling.

For years, they’ve depended on big plays from quarterbacks on third down after unsuccessfully running on first and second down, and that just isn’t going to cut it in every game. Brian Lewerke is great, and they need to give him a better chance. The last thing is that this defense has to be better than it was last week. Utah State was able to score with relative ease, and Arizona State’s offense will give Michigan State fits if they don’t tighten up, especially in the backfield.

Arizona State keys to victory

Despite their big win last week, and Michigan State’s struggles, Arizona State is still a pretty big underdog here. That means that they need to put together a great performance to win, and I think the best way to do that is by sticking to what they know. That means there should be a large number of Manny Wilkins to N’Keal Henry connections, because frankly, I don’t know if Michigan State has anyway to stop the big bodied star receiver.

That also means playing lockdown defense, and forcing Michigan State into long third down situations. This is not a situation where Arizona State can afford to play bend-don’t-break, and if they want to win, they need to be aggressive on defense. That could mean some exotic blitzing and strange coverage schemes from Herm Edwards.

Betting odds

Courtesy of OddsShark

Point Spread: Michigan State -6
Over/Under: 53

Prediction

Michigan State didn’t kick the season off the way the wanted to, but that’s a pretty common issue for them under Mark Dantonio. I think the Spartans are one of the most talented teams in the country, and with their returning production, it’s really hard to see them losing more than two or three games. I don’t think any of those losses are coming in non-conference games, so while Arizona State will keep it close, Michigan State holds on for a big win.

Final Score: Michigan State 23, Arizona State 21