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Michigan State - Notre Dame Preview |
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Monday, 13 June 2005 |
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Sep 20, 2002, 2:23
Football fans, here it is: the return of the much anticipated Big Ten weekly preview. Last week I received a lot of e-mails from angry Ohio State fans who disputed my prediction that Washington State would win a close game. I hereby offer a full apology to the fans of The Ohio State University. You were right and I was wrong. One thing I learned last week is that the Buckeyes are for real. Clarrett is already a star. I also want to send a heartfelt thanks to Joe Paterno and Penn State for making me look good on that prediction. That said, let's preview the Michigan State-Notre Dame game!This is the one and only interesting game going on in the Big Ten this week. The Spartans of Michigan State University will host the revived Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. Michigan State has the talent to win the Big Ten this year. They always have a great deal of talent, but always seem to come up short in the conference. Last week they came up very short in a game against Cal. As I sat in another Big Ten stadium last weekend and heard the scores from East Lansing, I could hardly believe my ears. Michigan State is a much better team than that.
Led by Jeff Smoker and Charles Rogers, the Spartans have a very potent passing game. Their running game is also solid, led by Dawan Moss and David Richard who average 5.8 and 5.7 yards per carry, respectively. Thi game will really test Notre Dame's secondary, which has done a good job with interceptions thus far. The problem that MSU had against Cal was their defense. The defense gave up big plays several times against Cal. They'll need to improve for MSU to beat a Notre Dame team that still isn't too sure about its offense. Don't look past the Spartans though. They are a better team than the way they looked last week and they have beaten the Irish five times in a row.
Notre Dame is out to a 3-0 start for the first time since 1996. They won a very close game last week against Michigan, which was clinched by a controversial call on an apparent fumble. They did a tremendous job on defense by limiting Michigan to only 97 yards rushing. The defense also gave up 230 yards through the air. Michigan State will offer a much better challenge to Notre Dame's secondary. Expect to see Michigan State put the ball in the air more often than Michigan did. In the past two weeks against Big Ten teams, Carlyle Holliday has completed just 38% of his passes while the rushing attack for Notre Dame has averaged just 3.26 yards per carry. However, the Irish have still prevailed in both games by close margins at home.
The past two weeks, I have predicted Notre Dame to lose to their opponent from the Big Ten. Notre Dame is better than anyone, including myself, expected. This week I am going to give Notre Dame one more time to prove me wrong. The Spartans have Notre Dame's number, so... Michigan State by 4. |
