Central Michigan vs Michigan State: 5 storylines to follow

On the season, the Central Michigan Chippewas average 341.0 yards in passing and 80.7 yards in rushing. Head coach Mark Dantonio expected Davis to have as strong of a season as any linebacker that he’s had since coming to East Lansing. Brian Hoyer, Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles, all of whom played under Dantonio at Michigan State, have started NFL games this season and have had spurts of success in the league.

While the Chips have had a couple of moral victories against power conference teams, it would really take a colossal effort here.

“It’s very unfortunate. He’s a great player and a good person”, Dantonio said. Led by potential first-round draft pick Connor Cook, the Spartan aerial attack was a strength against Air Force. “So my feeling is that we’ve got depth on this football team, and [injuries] won’t be an excuse not to play well”.

Last week, Michigan State was out-gained in total yards by the Falcons.

Michigan State (3-0) will look to remain unbeaten by knocking off Central Michigan (1-2) in this one.

For now the Spartans have their sights set on Central Michigan’s visit, not where they might be at the end of the season.

Klatt appeared as a guest on The Herd Thursday and told listeners why he believes the Spartans deserve the No. 1 ranking in the country right now. “We have good running backs and a good offensive line, but it takes a lot of different pieces to run the football”.

The Spartans aren’t the same defense they’ve had in the past, but they should be able to play well enough on the outside as Central will continue to struggle in the run game. “We know people are going to give us their best shot”. Michigan State is being given the benefit of the doubt as a sure-thing top three team, even No. 2 according to some, it’s not playing at the highest of levels. Cook may need to spread the ball around a bit more as the season progresses. It’ll be an easy day for the Spartan offense with balanced scoring in the first half on the way to a big performance. As good as Michigan State’s defense has been, it can be thrown on.

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio is concerned about the depth of his team after redshirt freshman cornerback Vayante Copeland was lost for the season to a neck injury and junior middle linebacker Riley Bullough will have to sit out a half after getting ejected for targeting in the victory over Air Force.

FAMILIAR FOES: Michigan State’s biggest in-state matchup, of course, comes next month against Michigan, but the Spartans opened the season with a win at Western Michigan, and now they’ll host CMU. Now the college football odds for the game have the Spartans favored by a comfortable margin in this one.