Detroit Jock City
Fansided

Michigan State football: Game-by-game predictions for the 2017 season

By Colton Wesley

EAST LANSING, MI - SEPTEMBER 24: Head coach Mark Dantonio of the Michigan State Spartans and members of the team walk to Spartan Stadium before the start of the game against the Wisconsin Badgers on September 24, 2016 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - SEPTEMBER 24: Head coach Mark Dantonio of the Michigan State Spartans and members of the team walk to Spartan Stadium before the start of the game against the Wisconsin Badgers on September 24, 2016 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 13
Next

How will Michigan State football fare in 2017 after a terrible offseason and a 3-9 campaign in 2016? Let’s go game by game and make some predictions.

EAST LANSING, MI – SEPTEMBER 24: Head coach Mark Dantonio of the Michigan State Spartans and members of the team walk to Spartan Stadium before the start of the game against the Wisconsin Badgers on September 24, 2016 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – SEPTEMBER 24: Head coach Mark Dantonio of the Michigan State Spartans and members of the team walk to Spartan Stadium before the start of the game against the Wisconsin Badgers on September 24, 2016 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Bobby Ellis/Getty Images) /

Let’s begin with this: Michigan State football will not go 3-9 again this season. Yup, the guy who said the Spartans would win 11 games in 2016 is making more predictions for 2017.

What went wrong last season? Several things, obviously, but the main problems for Michigan State were things I thought they would not struggle with. Tyler O’Connor was nowhere near as good as he needed to be at quarterback, the offensive line never gelled after replacing some starters and some of the Spartans’ key defensive playmakers, specifically defensive tackle Malik McDowell, went AWOL.

Add to all of that a tough schedule in the toughest division of college football’s toughest conference, an inability to finish games that led to several blown leads, some bad luck in four single-digit losses and a few key injuries and you get a 3-9 season.

So, no, Michigan State will not go 3-9 this season. But don’t expect them to be better.

The Spartans lost a ton of players in perhaps the worst offseason in school history and will once against face a tough schedule, perhaps the toughest in all of college football. Michigan State has the rotten luck of facing a schedule where literally every game can be lost.

Michigan State has a few good things going on: Mark Dantonio is still a good coach, Brian Lewerke seems competent as a quarterback and running backs L.J. Scott, Gerald Holmes and Madre London should reprise their roles in a solid rushing attack. However, the defense is extremely young and thin and there is little reason to expect them to suddenly be good again on that side of the ball.

Huge props to Bill Connelly of SB Nation and his exhaustive college football team previews. They’re a fantastic resource and were extremely helpful in putting this together.

Excited yet? You probably shouldn’t be. Let’s begin.

Home/Michigan State Spartans