– Last Updated on June 8, 2018 7:50 am
2017 Football Preview – Big Ten – Spartans
Looking for 2017 Michigan State Spartans predictions? The Spartans endured a very tough 2016 season. After winning the first two games of the season, including a big win over Notre Dame they only won one more game the rest of the season, finishing with a 3-9 record. The defense has always been something Michigan State has been able to hang their hat on but that wasn’t the case last year.
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- 2017-18 College Football Preview – Michigan State Spartans
- Head Coach: Mark Dantonio
- 2016 Record: 3-9
- Michigan State Spartans Odds to win the 2017 FBS Championship: +5000
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So can the defense be better and the team takes a step back to where they are used to? Or will this be another disappointing year for the Spartans.
2017 Michigan State Spartans Predictions: Team Strengths
Back to the Basics: When you think of Michigan State football you think of big bruising offensive linemen and a strong running back, and it’s something that they are trying to get back to this year, and that should be a strength.
They have two running backs that should split time and both could get up to 1000 yards. Last season Scott rushed for 994 yards and six touchdowns.
He broke the 100 yard rushing mark in four of his last six games, and if he has a good year this year you could see him bolt for the NFL a year early.
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Senior Gerald Holmes also had a successful year last year in the action he did receive. He rushed for 431 yards and five touchdowns. When the Spartans only need a few yards expect to see him in.
This one two punch should be effective this year, and they should really not only be effective on the ground, but also open up the passing game, something that really struggled last year.
Big Boys Up Front: When trying to build a defense you usually start with the big boys up front, and the Spartans have some good ones to build around.
Sophomores Raequan Williams and Mike Panasiuk were really good last year and got lots of experience as freshman that will really help them be leaders on this team, even though they are young.
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Although the rest of the defense might be a year or two from being back to the level the Spartans are used too, these guys should help cover some of the inefficiencies that the rest of the defense is faced with.
2017 Michigan State Spartans Predictions: Team Weaknesses
Not Disciplined: One of the biggest issues with last years team, and something that isn’t usually the case with a Spartans team is they weren’t disciplined enough.
The turnover margin was -5 and they had over six penalties a game. When a team isn’t as talented as years past it’s hard to make up for that.
If they want to take a step forward back they can’t turn the ball over, and they can’t keep taking dumb penalties.
Lack of Confidence: One of the biggest problems this team might have is they are used to losing now.
They know what it is like to lose and they probably created some bad habits that they are going to need to get rid of this year.
They need to get some early wins this year to gain the confidence they lost last year, because if they start losing early, it might spiral out of control again.
Michigan State Spartans Prediction: 7-5
Michigan State starts out with Bowling Green and Western Michigan, and both of those games are must wins. In conference play they play Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State so they didn’t get any gifts there.
The only gift they did get was they missed Nebraska, who should be in line for a big year this year.
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I think this team will take a step forward from last year, and honestly it would be kind of hard not to as they finished the season with only three wins. But they aren’t going to get back to the National Title contender just yet.
I think they will finish with seven wins, and get back into another bowl game.
2017 Michigan State Spartans Football Schedule
- 9/2/17 12:00 PM ET BGSU
- 9/9/17 3:30 PM ET WMU
- 9/23/17 8:00 PM ET ND
- 9/30/17 TBD IOWA
- 10/7/17 TBD @MICH
- 10/14/17 TBD @MINN
- 10/21/17 TBD IND
- 10/28/17 TBD @NW
- 11/4/17 TBD PSU
- 11/11/17 TBD @OSU
- 11/18/17 TBD MD
- 11/25/17 TBD @RUTG
What do you think about our 2017 Michigan State Spartans predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2017!
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