East Lansing — Michigan State could win enough games to earn a bowl bid in Pat Fitzgerald's first year at the helm. The Spartans could also finish worse than they did last season.
Heading into Friday's opener against Toledo, one thinks Michigan State's offense might be a little better with a retooled offensive line and a star running back in Cam Edwards. One thinks the defense will benefit from having Jordan Hall and Nikai Martinez running the show, and a crop of adequate starters who are healthy. However, ***** ody knows until pads start cracking, crowds start roaring and TV networks cram as many ads as they can into mandatory commercial breaks. I think even Fitzgerald is curious to see just what he has on his hands once his guys line up against somebody else.
With a roster full of transfers and a new coaching staff leading the way, what exactly Michigan State has to work with this season is unknown — especially compared to the rest of the Big Ten. And it's that comparison where things have gotten tricky for the Spartans in four straight losing seasons.
The great challenge for MSU has been to make some noise in conference play, in which it is 9-27 the past four years and went 1-8 last season. It's a bleak record for a program that once put fear into opponents who walked into Spartan Stadium and proceeded to crawl out. Fitzgerald's task is to make this program scary again. Frightening to some, that process might take some time — longer than some may be willing to wait.
Where Michigan State benefits this season is its schedule. Five of its opponents are ranked in the bottom half of USA Today's preseason Big Ten poll. Likewise, using that poll the Spartans tie for the fourth weakest schedule behind Penn State, Illinois and UCLA. That doesn't consider travel nor the usual attrition of injuries, but it does show that there are a lot of what should be winnable games.
#state #last #line #running
Heading into Friday's opener against Toledo, one thinks Michigan State's offense might be a little better with a retooled offensive line and a star running back in Cam Edwards. One thinks the defense will benefit from having Jordan Hall and Nikai Martinez running the show, and a crop of adequate starters who are healthy. However, ***** ody knows until pads start cracking, crowds start roaring and TV networks cram as many ads as they can into mandatory commercial breaks. I think even Fitzgerald is curious to see just what he has on his hands once his guys line up against somebody else.
With a roster full of transfers and a new coaching staff leading the way, what exactly Michigan State has to work with this season is unknown — especially compared to the rest of the Big Ten. And it's that comparison where things have gotten tricky for the Spartans in four straight losing seasons.
The great challenge for MSU has been to make some noise in conference play, in which it is 9-27 the past four years and went 1-8 last season. It's a bleak record for a program that once put fear into opponents who walked into Spartan Stadium and proceeded to crawl out. Fitzgerald's task is to make this program scary again. Frightening to some, that process might take some time — longer than some may be willing to wait.
Where Michigan State benefits this season is its schedule. Five of its opponents are ranked in the bottom half of USA Today's preseason Big Ten poll. Likewise, using that poll the Spartans tie for the fourth weakest schedule behind Penn State, Illinois and UCLA. That doesn't consider travel nor the usual attrition of injuries, but it does show that there are a lot of what should be winnable games.
#state #last #line #running
2 months ago
