Preview of Purdue Game

I'll keep this preview short and sweet (primarily because I'm working 80 hours a week.)

Folks, here's the deal. Purdue is clearly going through what Illinois went through last year: thoroughly collapsing under a new coaching regime. In the long run I think Darrell Hazell will turn Purdue into a dangerous program, but in the short term he is bringing to East Lansing one of the weaker teams MSU will face this season. A focused MSU team should dominate this game, but an unfocused MSU team could give Hazell a signature victory.

Purdue's offensive and defensive stats are among the worst in the FBS. That means MSU's defense has a great chance to achieve a shutout, while the Spartan offense has a chance to at least match their performance against Indiana. I do expect many 3-and-outs in this game for Purdue, but don't be surprised if they find some way to score 10 or 13 points -- especially if the Spartans turn the ball over on their side of the field.

The offense should put up great numbers -- unless we see the re-emergence of past issues, like dropped balls and inaccurate passes. I'm expecting/hoping to see the o-line continue to improve. They are already pretty good, but if this o-line keeps making progress from week to week, I really think this could be an o-line that could hold it's own against the top teams in the country, including Ohio State in the B10 championship game.

The running backs are benefiting from this good o-line, but they themselves have a ton of talent. We're seeing Langford and Williams take it to the next level, but I think Langford in particular has a chance to get some national attention. I'm hoping he can reach All-American levels in a game like this.

I'm also expecting/hoping Cook and the receivers continue to look like a strength of this team. They have done it 2 weeks in a row, they just gotta keep it up. Perhaps the only thing I could ask from the receivers is that at least one of them emerges as a dominant go-to receiver. Several of them are pretty solid right now, but we need our own Jared Abbrederis. The good thing is that I think we have some guys that could get close to that level by the end of the year.

As for the special teams, I expect to see the kickers keep up the good work, and I'm hoping to see the returners avoiding the costly fumbles.

Finally, I expect the coaches to have another good performance. I think their biggest task is keeping the team focused on a weaker opponent, but this team seems to be pretty motivated, perhaps because of the way they struggled at the beginning of the season.

Final score: MSU 33  Purdue 7