OK, so it's widely considered that this game will tell us quite a bit about this MSU team. This Notre Dame team is clearly not as good as the team they had last year, but Notre Dame always has top athletes, they usually play well in big games, and Brian Kelly is a pretty smart coach. So yeah, this game should tell us a lot about things like whether the offense really has turned the corner and whether the defense really is tops in the nation.
Obviously, it would be nice to discover that the game against YSU was a sign of good things to come, that the Spartans have finally developed an offense worthy of their defense. I'm not asking for MSU to put up 50 on Notre Dame, but if they can hang something like 24 points on them, then suddenly we can start dreaming big, Spartan nation. I'm talking championships, folks!
BUT, as delusional as I tend to be, even I know that it's more likely that YSU was more of a blip. We're talkin about one good offensive performance in the last 12 months. I gotta see more before I become a full member of this church.
In fact, the probabilities are likely pointing towards another offensive struggle. I do think the offense showed signs of progress, but the bottom line in this game is that they are now going up against a defense with a decent secondary and an above-average defensive line. That means the receivers will have a more difficult time getting open and the offensive line will have its hands full. Especially this year, MSU has not shown me much that would lead me to believe that it can respond to such challenges. Basically, when some part of the offense is struggling (especially the wide receivers), the offense tends to fall apart completely.
I hope I'm wrong, but I do expect major struggles. So my tempered hopes are that the offense will score at least 14 points. That's not confidence-inspiring, but if they can do so, MSU will have a great chance to win this game and it would be a decent sign that this team may be able to battle their way to a respectable season.
If Cook and the rest of the offense can't score more than 10 points, we can immediately return to the sense of foreboding we felt most of last season and after the first 2 games of this season. We could pretty much expect this season to go like last year.
Final score: I do think the defense will mostly shut down Notre Dame, but I also think our offense will be held to one touchdown. So I'll go with an ND win for this one, sad as it makes me to say that.
MSU 13 Notre Dame 16
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