Michigan St vs Ohio St

Pick   Ohio St -19

Have watched MSU all season. This is a team that was picked to finish last in the Big Ten East pre season. They have performed way above expectations to say the least. In Kenneth Walker III they have in my opinion the best RB in the country. He leads the nation in rushing and is getting these yards running behind an average at best OL. They have an extremely talented WR in Jayden Reed. Their No 2 receiver, Jalen Nailor is injured and won't play Saturday. Their QB, Peyton Thorne is steady, doesn't turn the ball over, throws a great deep ball but Nailor is their best deep threat and him being out hurts a lot. Their defense is strong up front and stout against the run. Their LB are fast and great tacklers, however they may be without Quavaris Crouch who is their most athletic LB and their starting MLB Cal Haladay is playing with a cast on his hand which has limited him quite a bit. Their DB is where the real problems lie. They are last in passing yards against, giving up 329ypg. They also lead the country in both attempts and completions against. Teams have moved the ball through the air at will against the Spartans. It is when they get in the red zone and the field is shrunk where the Spartan D has forced teams to settle for 3 instead of 7. 

They haven't played a strong schedule. Their biggest win, against Michigan, was at home, and Walker just went off in the 4th quarter. UofM got a ton of yards but turned the ball over and settled for 3 too often and they couldn't stop Walker. OSU will have no problem scoring points. Their strength is MSU's weakness big time. This game will not be close. The only way it is close is if OSU turns it over a bunch. I think the OSU D will be hyped to stop Walker. They will also be looking to make a statement to the playoff committee. MSU will play hard. They have over achieved all year and Coach Mel Tucker has done a great job with the talent he has. They are not the 7th best team in the Country. They will be exposed Saturday by perhaps the best Offense in College football. 

OSU 49 MSU 21

@wizeguy57

 Well put. Totally agree 

plus Mel and MSU zeroing in on that big 10 year extension right now. agreed with the play here. 

Over I think is way to go 

@wizeguy57

 this is why i read these forums

right or wrong your information is incredibly insightful

thx for posting and im influenced enough to ride with you this week

lots of bad weather forecasted for ohio this weekend

hope its holds off until sunday

gl

@wizeguy57

 Great analysis as usual.  Good work.   

Agree with the play

Disagree with the assumption Thorne throws a good deep ball, analytics say otherwise. Also, the LBs are not fast and athletic for MSU.  Quite the opposite, Henderson is going to go bananas when he gets to the 2nd level. 

This game truly is strength vs weakness… on a few levels.

msu defense - can not stop the pass. The back end is terrible. Secondly to that point, they need to bring blitz to get pressure, as they can get a rush with just the front 4,  which again leaves an already shaky secondary vulnerable.

msu offense - they are more big play than ball control. Either they strike quick or punt. Lots of 3 and outs, which is pretty wild considering how good the RB is. That is not the recipe when playing OSU. 

all in all, this is a good matchup for OSU. Limit turnovers and they should win easily. But then again, this is college football 

it's always weird seeing a 20 pt spread in a top 10 matchup