Preview of Illinois Game

This week the Spartans face a 3-3 Illinois team that statistically looks a lot like Indiana. Illinois has a decent offense that puts up 35 points a game, but they have a pretty bad defense that allows 32 points a game. MSU should win this one comfortably, if they don't overlook Illinois and if the offense can just be average. 

Illinois is getting blown out by quality teams like Nebraska and Wisconsin, and I expect the Spartans to do the same. As I said for the Indiana game, elite defenses generally tend to stop elite offenses, and so I expect MSU's defense to hold Illinois to less than 21 points, except if the Spartans turn the ball over on their own side of the field. 

That leaves it up to the offense to put up at least 21 points to win this game. Can they do that? Not if Connor Cook plays like he did most of last week. I do, however, expect Cook to bounce back this week. 

The thing is that Cook just needs to be average for this offense to be pretty good. The o-line is good and getting better, Jeremy Langford is on the verge of becoming a star at running back, and the receivers are flashing some serious talent. Even the tight ends seem to be emerging. Seriously, all we need is some consistent decent play from the quarterback position for MSU's offense to be among the B10's best.

As for special teams, they're looking good, except for the occasional damaging turnover. As I've said before, it would be nice to see them contribute the way they did when K-Mart was returning punts.

The coaches were on a roll until the offense sputtered again last week. But as I said last week, it's tough to evaluate the performance of the offensive coaches when Connor Cook is struggling. For this week, it's probably best to focus on how the coaches handle Cook's struggles and whether the coaches get outsmarted by the Illinois coaches at a critical point in the game.

Final score: MSU 23  Illinois 16