The Week Ahead In MSU Sports

SB Nation

Hey TOC Nation! We are at that time of year when we have multiple sports seasons going on at once. So rather than have separate individual “How To Watch” articles for each game, we will combine it into

one massive “Week Ahead” column. I started this last season and people seemed to like it. So here we go.

Friday, October 24

Men’s Hockey: Michigan State @ Northern Michigan

When: 7 PM ET

Where: Berry Events Center; Marquette, MI

Records: MSU (3-1-0); Northern Michigan (0-6-0)

TV: WILX 10 (Lansing & Mid-Michigan)

Saturday, October 25

Men’s Hockey: Michigan State @ Northern Michigan

When: 6 PM ET

Where: Berry Events Center; Marquette, MI

Records: MSU (3-1-0); Northern Michigan (0-6-0) *records ahead of Friday’s game

TV: None

Football: u*m @ Michigan State

When: 7:30 PM ET

Where: Spartan Stadium; East Lansing, MI

Records: MSU (3-4; 0-4); u*m (5-2; 3-1)

TV/Stream: NBC/Peacock

Bet: MSU +14.5; over/under 47.5 (FanDuel)

Game Thread: Will go live 3 hours before the game

Predictions

Mike: Maybe there’s a path here if MSU can execute a huge number of quick-hitting plays on offense without a lot of mistakes. It worked for a couple of drives at Indiana but then the mistakes started to pile up. Even if the Spartans pull this off on offense, they still have to stop Michigan’s running game and Michigan would probably have to make some mistakes of their own to help with that. I suppose it’s possible but it just doesn’t seem likely. MSU loses 31-19.

Steve: Walmart 30, refs 17, MSU 14 It’s tough enough to beat one opponent with no defense let alone two when you’ll likely have more players ejected by biased refereeing.

Lucas: I give MSU about a 25% chance to win this one. um will undoubtedly control the line of scrimmage, but with a freshman QB and lack of weapons on the outside, I think State should be able to hang around. Create a couple turnovers, and the Spartans might actually have a chance to pull this one off. Ultimately, I think this one goes down to the wire, but I just don’t think this year’s MSU squad has the toughness and culture to weather the storm and come out on top. Would love to be proven wrong. Good guys 28- Bad Guys 31

O: There are a couple of trends worth noting for this game. First, u*m QB Bryce Underwood has been significantly worse in road games in his freshman season. Second, u*m seems to be very up and down, having one good game and then following it up with a poorer performance. Those two factors line up. Paul Bunyan is getting out of that awful town. MSU wins 34-24.

Tuesday, October 28

Men’s Basketball: Michigan State @ UConn (exhibition)

When: 7:30 PM ET

Where: Harry A. Gampel Pavilion; Storrs, CT

TV/Stream: WFSB Channel 3 (if you live in CT)/ UCONN+ ($)

Elsewhere in college football this weekend, there are three top 25 matchups, all coming from the SEC. That got me thinking, as much as I have been opposed to all this conference realignment over the past 20 years, one benefit we are seeing in the reduction from 6 major conferences (don’t forget the Big East used to be a power) down to 4 is that we have an accumulation of the ranked teams in fewer conferences leading to more opportunities for top 25 matchups throughout the season. Here are this weekend’s games with our predictions.

1. #8 Ole Miss @ #13 Oklahoma