Big Ten College Football Week 5 Odds: Purdue vs. Michigan State

He certainly sounded comfortable with anticipating the Spartans’ schemes at his Tuesday press conference.

The nonconference part of the schedule is over, even if it didn’t go as planned with a 1-3 record.

There’s no change in this week’s power rankings, though Ohio State closed the gap between itself and the Michigan State Spartans. You can use your strengths to match up against their weaknesses. The Spartans are a solid team and usually don’t beat themselves.

“It’s the start of something special every year when we get to the Big Ten Conference”, Dantonio reiterated, “and that’s the way it should be”. By and large, I’m not a big trend bettor, but this spot screams Minnesota. Finley played in six games last season as a redshirt freshman, and there was obviously a spotlight on him last week. “We played a very good running back at Marshall”. He has a strong arm, not as big as Austin (Appleby)… “I want us to be us and I just didn’t feel like at this point in time that that was something that we should do”.

-CB Frankie Williams (No. 29 cornerback, 248th overall) – Williams picked off his first pass of the season in the Bowling Green game. “That is what you are seeing in our guys’ eyes in the locker room”. It’s a nice tandem. “Their offensive line averages 6-4 and over 300 pounds, and they have two senior wide receivers”. Scott have combined for 505 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Purdue’s defense has been vulnerable against both the run and the pass, while turnovers plague the offense.

“They showing a lot of the same things they did a year ago”, he said.

The Michigan State defensive end has heard the description plenty of times over the past few seasons. It will be an uphill battle for the Terps but it is a match they should be competitive in.

Defensively, Purdue will have to do whatever it takes to keep the Spartans out of the endzone. The defense is the bigger question for the Spartans as they start league play. It’ll win, and it’ll win easily, but unlike certain times this year, it’ll do it by getting off to a hot start and ending the fun right away with two quick scoring drives. Opponents are converting third downs at a 42.4 percent clip.

Based on what he observed from his players when the team met Sunday night after losing 35-28 in the final 10 seconds on Saturday to Bowling Green, Hazell believes Purdue will be well prepared to play Michigan State. With all the negativity surrounding Maryland of late, I just think this number is too high for the Wolverines to lay on the road. MSU and Purdue open their Big Ten slates Saturday afternoon in East Lansing. It’s also four more than any other team in the Big Ten. Two missed field goals by Paul Griggs swung the momentum in Bowling Green’s favor. Missed tackles and penalties are holding this group back from closing out games. He ranks eighth in Big Ten receiving yards per game with 62.5 and third in average yards per catch at 19.2, trailing only Indiana’s Ricky Jones (22.8) and Nebraska’s Brandon Reilly (19.8). But the heart of the Spartans attack, Hazell said, is their power running. “He drops his shoulders better than anybody I’ve ever seen. You’ve got to eliminate gaps, get the linebackers close to the line of scrimmage, hit the gaps, and make sure we wrap them up for a 2-yard gain and not a 7-yard gain”. He knows what he’s doing.

“I think it was just the fact I really haven’t played as much since I’ve been here so there’s always those nerves of, am I going to block this person right, am I going to do that right?” he said. They have to stay healthy in a lot of areas, but they need more playmakers, especially on the perimeter to jump start their offense. This is an example of one program knowing how to win and the other still trying to figure things out. Facing a different Purdue quarterback is nothing new for MSU.