Preview of Indiana Game

Folks, we're all excited now that MSU's offense seems to be on track. Some of us, like me, won't learn our lessons and will allow ourselves to dream of national championships. We may even make the mistake of thinking of the Indiana game as a gimme. But folks, this is not typical Indiana team. This is an Indiana team that's currently 3-2 and is ranked 11th in the nation in total offense, scoring 44 points a game. They just blew out Penn State 44-24. So if the Spartans take them lightly, we could be in for a similar shock.

So here's the thing, MSU is more talented and more developed as a program, so the Spartans have no business losing this game. If they come in focused, they will win. If they overlook Indiana, there could be trouble. 

If MSU is focused, I look for the Spartan defense to slow down Indiana's offense in much the same way that Auburn slowed down Oregon's high-powered offense in the championship game a few years ago. In general, elite defenses seem to have a lot of success against elite offenses, and as long as MSU is focused, this pattern should hold for this game.

I also look for Connor Cook and the offense to at least replicate what they did against Iowa. Indiana's defense is much worse than Iowa's, allowing nearly twice as many points per game, so you would be justified in thinking that MSU's offense should actually score over 30 points in this game. But I'm not quite ready to believe that yet. I need to see the consistency from week to week before I start assuming that this offense has become that explosive. Nonetheless, if they can at least do what they did against Iowa, MSU should win this game.

In this game, I'll also be looking for some other key things that will tell us a lot about how good this team could actually be by the end of the season. For starters, we need to see consistency and progress from Connor Cook and the wide receivers. They can't play well one game and then slide back the next. If they at least play as well as they did against Iowa, then I'm going to start dreaming big. The running game also needs to take that next step. The talent is there on the offensive line and among the running backs, and they've done OK so far. But MSU could and should have a dominant running game. Iowa's tough run defense may have muffled some of that dominance, so I'm hoping we really get to see it emerge against Indiana's softer run defense. 

I also need to see the special teams continuing to be a strength, rather than a liability. And finally, I need to see that the coaches are well-prepared and not getting outsmarted by the Indiana coaches. Like I've said, this MSU team is more talented than any other team MSU will face the rest of the way, so any losses the rest of the way will fall mostly on the coaches. It's a lot of pressure to place on coaches, but they have to do their part, just like the players do.  

Final score: MSU 27  Indiana 20